Tehuacan Mission Report January 2026
My wife Sofia and I had the pleasure of spending two weeks in January in the city of Tehuacan, Mexico. Our trip was led by Tom and Lisa Friesen, they had led us both through the Equip to Serve course some years ago.
This was my seventh trip with DI, six of them have been to Mexico and one to Guatemala. For my wife, this was her second trip to Mexico. We were blessed to be able to spend about a week of our trip with Valdemar, who it was very nice to see and serve with again. Unfortunately, his wife Irma couldn’t attend due to health reasons, we missed her very much.
Ismael, did an excellent job lining up our activities for the two weeks. He had a LOT of ideas, and requests from churches and AA ministries ect. So, we started the first week with numerous evening events added on to our daily outreach times, and some of those had to be cancelled for the second week as our team was getting tired. But the work could not be done as efficiently as it is without all the preliminary work he does with the community before we get there.
We again got to visit the prison to share testimonies, present the bridge, and serve the inmates with food and drinks. What struck me this year is that the local pastor Angel who has faithfully served this prison for many years, had one of the inmates share his testimony. How a man who has been locked up for 24 years can say with joy that he is "free" because of how Jesus set him free right there in prison is amazing! He has been spreading the good news of Jesus in the prison for over 10 years now - "exactly where God needed me to be" he says. That was an encouragement to me, to be content, to serve where the Lord puts me, and to know that message of the gospel is real, alive and life changing!
Over the two weeks we visited about 10 different churches and did door to door outreach in their communities. Not all days were the same, some were harder than others as people did not have time or were opposed to hearing from us. But other days were amazing, and many people heard God's Word and it softened their hearts and they made a commitment to invite Jesus into their hearts.
One particular day stuck out to me, we got teamed up with a young lady from the local church.
She was tasked with showing us which part of the community to minister in. She however, had a different idea than going door to door. She had her family on her heart, which were all very devout Catholics. She was the only one of her family attending an evangelical church. Unbeknownst to me, she was quite certain we would be kicked out of these homes. We started by visiting her aunt’s house, followed by her grandparents. Family members such as her dad and cousin showed when they heard there was some Canadians sharing. As we huddled in a bedroom of the grandparent’s house, it was apparent that the grandma was older and weak, as she didn’t get out of the bed. But she was sure listening and interjecting with her knowledge of scripture!! It was a special because we got to read from their big old red Bible that was prominently displayed on a shelf in their home. As the scriptures were being read, the tone in the room got very sombre, and things got pretty serious. And as it does with a lot of the people we meet in Mexico, when we read Ephesians 2:8-9 followed by Romans 5:8 the light bulb turns on. The realization of this free gift, and the release of having to work to obtain it is freeing. The weight of taking on our own sin and trying to do good works to outweigh the bad, is to too much for us to bear. The softness in the room was evident. And it was a blessing to see the young lady’s reaction, when all of her family present in those houses, came to a saving knowledge of their Savior that day!! Praise the Lord for His divine appointments!
A local pastor who Sofia and I worked with on the first day, sent us a message on the following Sunday. Saying that one of the men, Eddy, who had accepted the Lord, had come to Church that next Sunday and brought his mom as well! We also had one local man join us for a day out in the streets. He had accepted Jesus three years ago with someone from our Canadian team, and was now attending the local church we were working with that day. He now wanted to be a part of going back out and witnessing to others!
It’s comforting to see that there is follow up and connection with the local church. We are only there for a short time to sow a seed, but the church is an important part of growing and discipling these new believers.
There are of course, many similar stories within our group over the two weeks. Many doors were knocked on, Gods Word was read, and hundreds of New Testaments were handed out to those who repented, believed, and received Christ into their hearts!
Richard Heide
