The Ruiz Family
Serving the Lord in Tixtla de Guerrero, Mexico
November-December 2025 Update
Dear Praying Friends,
Thank you for praying for us and for giving toward the ministry the Lord has placed in our hands here in Guerrero. Thanks to some generous giving, Efra was able to begin construction on our first building in the mountain ministry. We bought a piece of property a few years ago between two towns where we have small groups of believers being discipled regularly. Some of the brothers willingly offered to help build this church building for half the pay of a normal salary to give to the work of the Lord. They literally made the adobe bricks on the site for the new building. The Lord provided for a cement foundation and cement posts and beams using adobe as the “fill-in” for the walls. They are almost to the point of where the roof will go on. Right now we are praying and waiting to see how the Lord will supply for this next need.
In the meantime, the two small groups of believers are joining their services together now on the construction site. It’s exciting to finally see a place for them to meet together. Continue to help us pray for a pastor to come and plant himself in this ministry and be able to reach the nearby towns as well.
Back in Tixtla, our church saw some major physical changes as we prepared for our second annual youth conference. Blessed be the Lord who provided both the money and the physical strength to meet our goals. The two classrooms got the tile finished, the doors put on, and were painted just in time.
(Kids helping paint the church)
(Finished kids’ classrooms)
One classroom we used to serve meals to the pastors and their families during the youth conference. The boys’ restroom got the toilets and divisions up just in time as well, although we did have to hang blankets up for the doors dividing the stalls. It’s all still unfinished (rough cement, no tile, no doors), but usable! A great advantage compared to the literal hike the guys used to have to take to use the other restroom.
My husband’s older brother Enedino, a pastor and carpenter, got the main doors of the church hung the day of the conference. They are beautiful and a huge improvement of the little bamboo gate we had before. (No more cows coming in!)
We also fenced a small area off in front of the church which we use for men’s Sunday school (held under a tarp) and church fellowships. The Lord provided for us to buy picnic tables and some other large tables from a neighbor at a discount price a few weeks before the conference.
We had around 80-100 young people attend the youth conference, inviting other sister churches in our area. I was pleasantly surprised that the Lord gave us over 10 teens saved in those 3 days! It was beautiful to see His hand working in their hearts. Two young teens in our church also gave their lives to the Lord to serve Him full time, making all the hard work involved in this conference way worth the pay!
(Teens at campfire during Youth Conference)
Personally our family was very blessed to have both Hannah and Grace come home in time to help us serve in the youth conference, and especially with the special music. We also had Maya Cruz, a college student from my home church, come join us for the week of our youth conference. I’m sure she has her own stories to tell of Tixtla! Samuel is also with us right now for a short visit before continuing his service in my home church in Marina, California. Yesterday, he blessed us by tuning and cleaning our church piano. (He said he cleaned about a kilogram of dust off of the inside… and I don’t think he is exaggerating.)
(Our older children singing a special at our outdoor New Year’s Day service)
We are temporarily without electricity out at the church right now, but this has made a neat blessing. We all come on Sunday morning prepared to stay for a general potluck immediately following the morning service and then continue with the evening (afternoon) service right after, getting us all home before dark. I am amazed at how the bus kids’ parents give us permission to literally have their kids with us all day. It is a great blessing (and responsibility).
Although we were extra busy these last 2 months in the construction part of the ministry, God was good in giving us many saved both in the mountain ministry, Acapulco, and Tixtla. Five first-time visitors were saved on New Year’s Day!
Our plan to take blankets to the mountain village of El Tejoruco had to be postponed until January 12. Please keep us in your prayers that the Lord will use this small gift as an opportunity to share the greatest Gift of all with these people. I’m excited to return to this town. And THANK YOU for making this gift possible.
With a very grateful heart for all the Lord did this last year,
Laura Ruiz (for the family—Pastor Efrain, Samuel, Hannah, Grace, Lydia, Laura, Mark, Ruth, and Benji)
Happy New Year!
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