40 Years of Ministry

November, 2010

Dear Friends,

It has been a while since Joanne and I have had the opportunity to write you and share what has been happening with us, our family and the ministry of motivating, training and mobilizing the body of Christ for the work of evangelism in Mexico and throughout Latin America.

Yes, we are celebrating 40 years of marriage and 40 years of ministry together. Though Joanne and I were already engaged in the Lord’s service before we met, it has been an amazing experience to depend on the grace of God to be able to accomplish His mandate for our lives. We ask ourselves, where did the time go?

One thing is for sure; God has taught us a lot of lessons through all these years and has drawn us closer to Him and to each other. Thank you God for the years of learning, of raising our four children and maturing as your servants!

Also, thank you to all of you for your faithful prayers and financial support. You have been great partners and a tangible source of encouragement; together through the years we have seen a great harvest of new souls for the Kingdom of God, thousands of leaders trained and new churches planted. However, we feel like we are just starting because there are so many open doors for our ministry in Mexico and throughout the continent. God has granted us a strong network of relationships, knowledge and experience regarding the life of the church and the needs of the unreached. Our ministries seem to continue to bear much fruit in people’s lives and in the work of the local churches. We are looking forward to what God is going to continue to do through VELA Ministries in the years to come.

Now our kids are going through the same process of growing, learning and serving:

Our son Billy has 2 kids and is in Canada working for Infinite Air in Edmonton, Alberta. His kids are growing quickly, Emily is 10 and Isaac is 9 years old. Billy loves to spend time with them having learning or fun activities.

Yolanda lives in Mexico City with her husband Israel and their daughter Angelica who is already 2 years old. Israel is a Civil Engineer and works for a large company. Yolanda works as a Bilingual Assistant at the VELA office.

Bettina married Travis Gosselin on July 17 and they are starting their journey together as a married couple in Barrie, Ontario, Canada. Travis is a computer programmer and Bettina serves as a home missionary with “Into All the World”.

Raquel and her husband Paul have been living in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, Canada. After their experience of serving in Afghanistan they are now searching for God’s will in their lives as they make decisions regarding their future. Meanwhile Raquel has been accepted into a Nursing Program in Edmonton, Alberta where they will be moving and Paul will be looking for work.

As some of you may know Joanne faced a hip replacement surgery in March. We are so thankful for God’s hand in the timing of the surgery and in her recuperation process. Weeks after her surgery Joanne was also involved in an accident with a transport truck in which our van was totaled. It is a miracle that she walked away from the accident with only a few scrapes and a broken bone in her foot. Both her hip and her broken bone have now healed. After seeing her live in pain for such a long time it is such a blessing to see her walking on her own and not experiencing pain.

The VELA Ministries in Mexico City and throughout Latin America continue to grow as we see an increasing need for people to come to know Christ in a personal way. The team in Mexico has been working to develop new strategies to motivate and train churches to renew their passion for evangelism.

As the Founders and as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of VELA Ministries it is a blessing to see the team accomplishing their goals. During this year we set up a plan to have 100 evangelistic campaigns in local churches. So far this year 57 “Days of Hope” evangelistic campaigns have been organized by churches that have been trained by the VELA Team. Through these campaigns 1,044 people have made decisions for Christ, and 115 of those who made decisions have already been baptized. It has been amazing to see how God has blessed the ministry in so many ways and we are sure that He will continue to do so as we move forward serving the Lord.

Also, this year, as the Director for Latin American Ministries for BGEA I had the privilege to lead the team that prepared the Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham that was held in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. Through this Festival 3,919 people made decisions for Christ.

We also had the first full evangelistic campaign with Will Graham in Las Piedras, Uruguay. Will represents the third generation of the Graham evangelists and is now following the steps of Christ, his grandfather Billy Graham and of his father Franklin Graham. During his Celebrations of Hope we saw a harvest of 1,723 souls.

We are also excited about the new ventures we are launching with our long time friend and colleague David Ruiz whom through the years we have encouraged to use his gift as an evangelist and now this year he is having two evangelistic campaigns in the interior of his own country, Mexico.

We are also currently working on the preparations for the first Hispanic Festival of Hope with Franklin Graham that will take place in the Greater Los Angeles in June 2011.

As you can see our lives continue to be very busy in the ministry. We rejoice in the fruit that we are seeing and consider it a privilege to serve our faithful Lord who has called us to make Him known, so that people will experience His love and forgiveness. Thank you for your part in our lives and ministry. We are sure that without your prayers and financial support for VELA Ministries we would not have made it this far. Please continue to pray for us and to support the ministries of the whole team.

In His service,

Galo and Joanne Vasquez

For the VELA Team