Rex & Kathy Brace

Wow it has been a while since I have posted to this blog.  I apologize for not being more attentive to this.

 Since our time in Guatemala we have traveled three times to Costa Rica and once to Ecuador.  God has been opening doors for us and giving us many opportunities for ministry.  We feel extremely blessed to be able to touch the lives that are presented to us.

Right now we are in San Jose Costa Rica, it is Sunday afternoon and we are resting before heading out for another service.  We have been a part of a large conference featuring Bishop Bill Hamon and we have been blessed by all the ministry that has taken place.  It has been very good to return to Costa Rica.  Even though it has only been since May that we were here we have been here so ofter over the last 2 years that to be gone 3 months seems like ages.  

 It has been great to see many of the pastors and friends we have come to know over the years and it is always good to be ministering for the Lord.  We appreciate your prayers and your support and look forward to sending you good report after good report as God continues to use us to build His Kingdom.

 Serving Jesus with a Purpose

Pastor Rex & Kathy Brace 

Dear Prayer Partners,

As we prepare to leave to Coban, Guatemala with a medical mission team I just want to take a moment to encourage you to keep us in prayer.  It is a new experience for us to go into an area with a team like this and not have a strong support system already in place.  Kathy and I have visited Coban twice in the last 18 months and we know that it is one of those locations that God has opened to us.  Even so with the taking in of the team it is a very new experience.

There will always be those things that are the “unknowns” that you cannot plan for.  We have tried our best to properly prepare the team and we have been blessed with a local missionary to help us establish the schedule and arrange all those little things that need to be in place to launch this type of mission trip. 

I am feeling the stretching of God like I have not sensed it in a long time.  I am pretty sure that this is a good thing.  Settling into a comfort zone is nice for a period of time but it is good to be back into that area where your spiritual antennae are extended and you are seeking God’s hand more than you have in a while.   

We are prepared to go into this trip as the army of God.  Again I see seismographic waves spreading out as our feet step from the plane onto the soil of Guatemala.  The vision is almost like lightening bolts spreading across the landscape every time we step forward.  I had similar visions when we began to take teams into Nicaragua and I feel like God is telling us that He is going to use us to have as large an impact here as we did there.

We travel out of Indianapolis tomorrow (Saturday) and will return in one week.  I believe we will have internet access so I will try to send regular updates.  We have several first timers with this team and have 3 different churches joining together to form this team.  God has blessed us with supplies and we are excited about the lives He is going to allow us to touch.

We are thankful for your continued prayers and support and we look forward to sharing more with you soon.

Serving Jesus with a Purpose

Pastor Rex & Kathy Brace

THE YEAR OF THE NEW WINE

I feel like the Lord is saying that He is going to pour out His new wine in 2009.  His wine will not be wasted.  His wine will not be poured onto the ground.  His wine will only be released into those wineskins that are able to receive from Him and not be broken.

What and wonderful experience.

The last time we were in Guatamala we felt we had accomplished the task given us by the Lord but left with an emptiness because of another need being revealed.  During our "non-service" time last year we found ourselves continuously in conversation with pastors and leaders concerning marital relationship.  It was obviously a problem and we felt the Lord stirring in us a need to return for that purpose.

<img src=’/images/CentralAmerica2008013_02.jpg’ alt=’Pastor Willy-Guatamala’ />

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<img src=’/images/CentralAmerica2008013_01.jpg’ alt=’Pastor Willy and Family’ />

Earlier this year Pastor Willy Giron of the Nazarene Church asked us to return for the purpose of speaking into families.  It was an answer to our prayers.  When we were there (May 8-12) it was over Mother’s Day and it was the perfect opportunity to share on interpersonal relationships in families.  We were allowed to lead two separate marriage seminars as well as preach at two different services on the importance of family and their roll within the church. 

As we completed these services we could feel the task of the Lord being lifted from our shoulders.  It is awesome how God works to prepare the way for you to accomplish the task He has for you.  We so appreciate your prayers and your financial support for this ministry. 

It has been a bit of a struggle as we have waited for this cancer/surgery/recovery thing to play itself out. I suppose God is teaching me to sit still, listen and trust Him to have things planned and prepared for us.

My surgeon has now released me and the gates are opening before us. We will leave this Thursday (3/13) for San Jose, Costa Rica for a full schedule of ministry. We are being brought in for a Congress on Prophetic Unity. During our time there we will meet with the pastors of San Jose at a breakfast, teach on submission to authority, preach on unity within the body and then meet privately with several leaders and leadership teams. From the time we hit the ground in Costa Rica until we are dropped back off at the airport we are scheduled for ministry. This just excites the heck out of me and I guess God wanted me to rest to be ready. We hold to “what the enemy meant for destruction, God will turn to His Glory”.

We also have confirmed a return trip to Guatemala in May. When we were there last August we sensed a great need for healing in the families of the church leadership. We are being asked to return to specifically minister to families. It is great confirmation that we were hearing correctly. I have told Kathy several times that I would like to return to Coban to teach on communication and personalities in family relations and it is wonderful to see that this was a seed that God planted in me. We are really looking forward to cementing our relationship with the pastors of this town and seeing the hand of God move as He opens gates and prepares the way.

I sense a revving up in my spirit and it is as if I am an arrow being pulled back in preparation to being launched out. In my spirit I see God taking aim and sending us forth. Please continue to pray for us as we seek to go where He desires. Your prayers and your financial support are an important part of this ministry and we appreciate each of you.

Serving Jesus with a Purpose Pastor Rex & Kathy

I am very excited to share with you the report on the February Medical Mission Team to Honduras from team leaders Jeff and Susan Strange:

Pastor Rex,

We saw over 1200 patients in 5 days in 5 different churches in Comayagua, Hoduras (northern part of Honduras). The churches were Rios de Agua Viva (Church of Living Water), Inglesia La Gran Cosecha (Great Harvest Church), Avance Misionario (Advanced Missionary), Jesus Cristo El Rey (Jesus Christ the King), and Brisa de Humuya (Breeze of Humuya). There were 352 salvations. Even though it was our smallest medical team yet we saw just as many patients than when we were a group of 20 plus and had a tougher schedule due to packing up and moving each day and having a 5 day clinic.

We know how significant “first” are for you and we had our share of them on this trip: First medical, first time leading a medical, first time we’ve actually had to hike the side of a mountain to get to our destination of ministry and the first time we’ve had to travel over a swinging bridge by car in the town of Ojos de Agua (Eyes of Water) to reach our destination of ministry. We experienced a miracle the first day with the woman who had gangrene from an open sore who had no feeling in her leg whom after the wound was cleansed and through the power of prayer was up dancing praising the Lord that she had feeling once again.
Another highlight was one of the translators who the Lord had revealed on the first day was not saved but the Lord had also given us the assurance that he would be by the time we left and on the last day he gave his life to the Lord. Once again the Lord used us to touch hearts and changed lives but we were touched as well. We will never forget the smiling faces of the people both young and old and those like Pedro Lopez a young man in his 30’s who had only one arm, one leg and half of a foot but radiated the joy of the Lord. He was injured when a train ran over him when he was trying to cross the border in Mexico to the United States trying to find a better way of life.

Our second week of ministry was in Choloteca where we worked along side Dr. Scott Denison seeing patients in a local church for eye exams only. In 3 days we saw over 200 patients. On Thursday of that week the Lord allowed us to travel to San Marcos east of Choloteca and the Honduran doctor who worked with us the previous week who is also a pastor shared his vision and work in that area. We spent the afternoon helping with their feeding program and working with the children making bracelets.

We were very blessed to be able to lead this team. Once again we were able to see individuals grow and find that they were able to do thing for the Lord that they never thought possible. This is our personal reward, to see others touch their destiny and learn the power of God in them. We are thankful for the prayers that covered us during this trip and are looking forward to preparing a team to return to Honduras in the summer.

In His Service

Jeff & Susan Strange

I know it has been some time since I have placed an update to this blog. Since late November we have been dealing with some medical issues that have served to distract me. I have just recently come through surgery and am on the way to recovery. My condition has caused me to have to back out on our next mission trip which is a medical mission team to Honduras. It was very difficult to make the decision but we have been blessed with a great team leader (Susan Strange) and a team with a lot of experience on these trips. They will be leaving on February 16. Please pray for them as they touch lives in that distant country.

Kathy and I appreciate the prayers lifted up for us and are thankful for your continued support for the mission call on our lives. Three days after the surgery dates were set for a return to Costa Rica and Guatemala. So while I have been distracted God has been busily about His business.

Kathy and I are preparing for a return trip to Costa Rica 11/15-19. I was last there in June and Kathy has not been there since March. We are very excited to be returning and are anticipating a full weekend of ministry with Pastor Jose Gonzalez, his wife Cristina, and their church Temple of Faith and Miracles. It has been very difficult to find time to minister with them for the last year or so because our schedule has always been so busy. This time we are making the trip with the intentions of ministering solely in their church.

It is a curious time for Kathy and me. We have spent the last 2 1/2 year building a strong foundation for the 5-fold ministry to grow in Costa Rica while demonstrating the proper functioning of the Apostolic and the Prophetic anointings within the local house. We have established some very strong relationships with several pastors there and know that we desire to continue to interact with them in the years ahead. This is our first chance to return with a single focus church as our destination. Is this the start of a transition where we will walk deeper and wider with specific pastors? We are not sure. What we are sure of is that we are sincerely seeking the face of the Lord and desiring to be firmly planted in the middle of His plan for us.

We hope that you share our excitement as we once again prepare to depart. It is still our desire that the time will come when we will go for extended lengths of time and be able to serve more intensely in the churches that God has opened to us. But for now we are content to have the support of our church and our prayer partners which allows us to go as much as we do. We realize how fortunate we are and we never take your prayers or your financial support for granted. We continue to pray that we remain good soil for you to plant your seed in and that the harvest will be one that always glorifies and magnifies our Lord.

Be blessed and positioned in God’s Grace.

Serving Jesus with a Purpose

Pastor Rex & Kathy

Wow what a fantastic trip. We had no idea what to expect and were very concerned about what we were getting into. But once again God showed His power and might.

We were blessed from the start as we met three men on the plane that talked to us about Guatemala and eased some of our concerns. It was such a blessing to have apprehensions addressed with concern instead of with ridicule.

We had 4 solid days of intense ministry and felt that we really were able to make a difference. It was a time of Godly connection and wonderful relationship. Even though this trip involved 2 very long travel days we have a deepening desire to return and build in the area of Coban. We can see a similar work of what we have done in Costa Rica and hope that the Lord opens the door for us to return.

We hope that you continue to pray for us and that our reports continue to encourage you. We are blessed to have your support and seek to continue to hear God’s voice and answer His call.

Serving Jesus with a Purpose

Pastor Rex & Kathy