The Ruiz Family
Serving the Lord in Tixtla de Guerrero, Mexico
June July August 2026 Update
Dear Praying Friends,
More than one of you has requested an update on our yearly VBS, which I will include in this letter, but as you read on you will see why this letter is a little bit later than normal.
In June I was able to accompany the mission group back to the small village of El Tejoruco again. We arrived right before an incredible rain storm, where we took refuge in a small adobe home of a family we had witnessed to on our last trip here. It rained so hard that we were getting wet inside, under the tin roof. About an hour later, the storm lifted, and after sharing a meal of eggs and tortillas with this most hospitable family, I trudged up the mountain street with the young ladies to see if I could get a group of kids together for a class while my husband stayed down below to witness to a previous contact. I went inviting the few kids I saw by word of mouth, but once I got to the basketball court, Brother Ale had already gathered a small group of kids. Once they saw me, they remembered me and went running to invite their friends. Within about 5 minutes about 50 kids showed up. Brother Ale told me to NOT use the basketball court for the class since we didn’t have permission from the town leader (who had denied permission last time), but the kids didn’t care in the slightest and opened wide the gate to the court. As I taught, more kids kept coming and before it got dark (the power was knocked out by the storm), I was able to teach 85 kids while the team witnessed to all the surrounding adults and teens.
As we left, attempting to leave this unfamiliar mountain area as early as possible for our road safety, a family (who had previously ignored us) invited us for dinner. We weren’t hungry, but we couldn’t turn down an invitation from for another home open to receiving us. So, we ate another meal and praised the Lord for His beautiful protection on the trip home.
As each summer, we had the joy of having our college students home for a short time, both from our own home and other families in our church. We also had a college student (Aaliyah) from California join us for our VBS this year and spend two weeks with our crazily busy family.
(Aaliyah with our family)
And as each year, we had them all involved in all our church activities and VBS. The Lord blessed us with 365 kids this year. We had some different challenges than years past. For example, the town Atliaca which has always supplied us with a very large number of kids had another VBS going on the exact same week from the Presbyterian church located in the same town. But the Lord allowed Samuel’s bus route to bring 60 kids from a neighborhood in Tixtla which last year only brought around 15.
Once again we saw God’s hand as almost every member of our church pitched in to help: inviting kids, driving vehicles, teaching classes, organizing games, acting in skits, mopping floors, cooking meals, listening to verses, keeping track of points and visitors, or just making sure the drinking water jugs were always full. I love VBS because it gives everyone a way to serve in the body of Christ. This year we were blessed by one of our young institute graduates leading the youth group in coming back to the school we use to do a final clean-up which was a job often left up to the faithful few each previous year. One of our young teen workers this year was the boy who won second place for verse memorization last year (a completely new contact). It is always a joy to see fruit that remains.
Brother Alejandro ended up taking over the mission in Acapulco. He still lives in Tixtla but travels every weekend to Acapulco to go visiting and soul-winning on Saturdays and preach on Sundays. Praise the Lord for blessing that ministry with some faithful families that now see Brother Ale as their pastor. We are praying for a piece of property for this ministry as the price of property in Acapulco is quite another story compared to Tixtla.
God provided for the roof to get poured for the new church building in the mountain village of Ajacayan in June, allowing the believers there to have their first rainy season inside! We are still praying for a full-time pastor who can faithfully feed this little flock and continue evangelizing all of the surrounding area.
In August we were able to spend a week up in the higher mountains with my in-laws, and then my husband went back a week later (leaving us in Tixtla) to spend some more time with his dad. On September 1, the Lord called my father-in-law up to heaven. He was diagnosed with cancer in April (I believe), and the Lord saw fit to keep him from suffering anymore. A week ago today we buried him in his home village. We saw God’s hand in every single detail in this whole situation. Just the day before my father-in-law left this earth, he told his oldest son Enedino, also a pastor, “I want to give my soul and body to the Lord.” Enedino had no idea that would be his last prayer. Although he had been saved many years before, he had that opportunity to make things right before slipping into eternity. Hundreds of people came to the house the following day (as is a custom here) to say “goodbye.” My father-in-law was a well-known political figure in his life besides fighting for the church to be established in his village, so both Christians from surrounding towns and villlages and non-believers alike showed up…each with a gift in his hand—home-made tortillas, packs of Pepsi, or money. He was given 30 live chickens which we had to bring from Tlapa to San Isidro and slaughter and prepare the night before the burial. Praise the Lord for a faithful, hard-working group of ladies from Tixtla and my sisters-in-law who stayed up all night with us butchering and cleaning those chickens which were prepared for the two meals we gave out the following day!
The gospel was clearly presented in both Spanish and Mixteco at his funeral and I heard many repeating the sinner’s prayer in Mixteco.
It poured at the burial, soaking us all through to the bone, but we had needed the rain very much so no one seemed to complain.
The following day, Efra’s brothers and sisters had a beautiful family gathering (there are 9 of them!) while all of the grandchildren (and what a lot of them!) worked, played, and sang together.
Now we are back home attempting to organize our new home-school year. I have the added advantage of Samuel as a music teacher. He’s teaching Laura and Benji piano, Ruth violin, and Mark trumpet besides guitar to any interested young person at church. It was such a joy to NOT have to say goodbye to Samuel at the airport this fall. He’s a great help with the youth group, soul-winning, visitation, bus route, and especially special music.
(Youth group activity)
Forgive me for not getting my normal update out after the Acozacan update. With so much going on, time slipped away from me. We are so thankful for your continuous support and prayers for our family. May God richly bless you as you have blessed us!
In Christ,
Laura (for the entire Ruiz family)
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