November 5, 2024

Bible Training Institute Held in Mexico

The following Bible Training Institute report was submitted by Austin Garcia.

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“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass” (Psa. 37:4, 5).

I am not sure if my words will ever be sufficient to express how thankful I am to the Lord for opening the door for my wife and I to be part of Bible Training Institute in Mexico South. A while back, the desire was placed in our hearts to go together on some form of mission trip. We began to save some money and even reached out to Brother Hawkins to express our interest in traveling somewhere for the Lord together. Several years have passed since that time, and many life changes have happened for us, but the desire to go has never left!

When Bishop José Bañuelos invited us to come and teach at BTI, my heart began to swell with excitement at the possibility. The invitation came during this year’s Assembly, which was only about two weeks before the school began, so there were many logistical things to try and work out, but praise God, when He is involved, everything has a way of working out!

Upon arriving at this BTI, we found over 200 students who were excited and ready to learn! It was beautiful to see how the people of Mexico were so excited about BTI. Many of them drove or rode a bus for over 20 hours (with some traveling for more than 30 hours) not even knowing where they would stay upon arrival, but they did it all just to be a part of this school! My heart was challenged and encouraged by the faithfulness of the dear saints.

This school was held mostly outdoors with extreme heat and no access to air conditioning. Most days the temperature was over 95 degrees, and the humidity was very high, causing it to feel even hotter. These precious saints did not allow the heat to stop them from learning all they could though, and each day they came ready to endure the heat so they could learn more about Christ and the Church.

As the week went on, there were several who began to experience symptoms like those with heat stroke, but God was faithful to help us with even that. We made it through the week without any serious instances to the glory of God! Despite the heat, we enjoyed wonderful fellowship and the sincere love of our brethren throughout the entirety of the school. I feel my life will be forever changed for the better after having had this awesome privilege to be part of this BTI. I absolutely LOVE Bible Training Institute and am so grateful for the opportunity to serve as a teacher in the school. My wife and I both felt extremely honored and humbled to be part of this wonderful school, and to see the beautiful faithfulness of these dear brothers and sisters. There is truly nothing better than working for the Lord, and I am so thankful He fulfilled one of my greatest desires to be able to travel abroad with my wife and do His will!