Mexico Ministry

The history the missionary ministry in the First Russian Baptist Church (FRBCVA).

The missionary ministry of the FRBCVA has been a big blessing for our church, our youth and other churches that have also participated. The Bible says that the entire world is the Lord’s field and we are called to be the laborers for His great name. It is impossible to mention everyone and every mission trip that the Lord has blessed us to take part in. This is our brief history of how the Lord used us for His work.

The FRBC church was started in 1991 by refugees from the Russia and the former republics of the USSR who immigrated to the United States. Initially, the brothers and sisters helped the churches from the countries they immigrated from as they had great needs. There were and still are, a lot of orphans, and the first mission trips were organized to go to the orphans in various countries and to spread the gospel to the most vulnerable children. Few families have taken part in adopting children from orphanages as a result of this work. Our brothers also participated by organizing a trip to build a house and a church for a missionary in Honduras. A group of 6 individuals went to build a church in Siberia. Two other brothers went to build a church in Far East Russia, the Kamchatka Peninsula.

Michael Savin, a missionary visited our church and show a video of the mission work among the people in the forgotten corner of world. And thus, the first large trip was organized in the summer of 2008 and it was followed up again in 2009 to Elizovo, Russia, on the Kamchatka Peninsula. The Lord called the youth of FRBC to organize a trip to help build a church in the city of Elizovo where there was a small congregation. In 2009, the youth took part in evangelizing in the western parts of Russia along with Christian youth from other states and countries. We are grateful for the Lord for opening the doors for us to evangelize and to build churches in Russia and in the formed republics of the USSR.

The missionary work in Mexico began in 2010, when pastor Petr went to dedicate a church in Ensenada BC, that the Russian churches from California build for a missionary. Our pastor was moved by the need to evangelize in Mexico and how open the people are to the Gospel. The meetings with the local pastors and missionaries, who were on fire for the Lord, played a major role in the decision for our church to work in Mexico. Our brothers flew out to Mexico, along with a brother from San Diego, met with Pastor Jose in Mexicali and pastor Miguel who was the missionary in San Luis Rio Colorado, just south of Yuma AZ. Our brother bought the land where the church was eventually constructed. The first trip to construct the church in San Luis was in December 2010, followed by the group of youth that evangelized in the same area right after the construction group. Over time, we worked regularly to finish the Church, and we were able to dedicate the church in 2011. We continued to work in the area and to pass our tracts, evangelize, gather the children for a Bible program with the help of the youth from Mexicali BC. We were able to passed out over 10,000 tracts and visit the church almost every year to help evangelize. We pray that the Lord does his work in the hearts of the people who hear His word and that there will be a large congregation in San Luis in the future.

In 2010, we were introduced to brother Ruben, who lived in Mexicali while we were working in San Luis. He, along with his family moved to evangelize in La Paz BCS and the Lord put in our hearts to visit him in 2013. His church was growing very quickly, he was evangelizing with the entire church, and he was running a homeschool program and running a Bible college in La Paz. All these ministries were from the church, which was a single room, and they had to have classes outdoors because they did not have a building. The Lord put in our hearts the desire too build a church in La Paz. And thus began our construction of the church in La Paz. We also had the opportunity to pass out tracts, to organize Bible programs for kids and teens. Over the years, we had help from youth from many different churches and states, along with brothers and sisters from Mexico. The church in La Paz was dedicated in 2023, and we pray that many more people will come to know the Lord.

The Lord sent a missionary from the Navajo reservation to our church who presented to us his work with the Navajo Indians. The Lord put in our hearts the desire to help his ministry. The brothers and sisters from our church and other churches drove out to Arizona from 2014 to 2016 on a regular bases to chop firewood, to evangelize and to work with children. The life on the reservation is filled with despair and hopelessness. The rate of violent crime, drug and alcohol addiction far exceeds the rates of average US cities. The children go through a spiritual ritual and are dedicated to dark spirits for all their life. The Native American get payments from the governments and do not go to school, and do not work. They gamble away just about everything at the casinos and leave some money for drugs and alcohol. Very few people leave the reservation to get education or to look for work. Some children grow up not knowing their biological siblings or their biological parents. It truly is a tough place to grow up in and to live in spiritually.

We are extremely grateful to our Lord and God for delivering us from life of sin and we live to serve Him in all that we do. We are grateful for his mercy, for his blessings, and for the protection that He provides us as we do his work. We are grateful for all those who pray for us and who support us financially. There are members of church who individually support other missionaries and mission filed that are not mentioned here. May the Lord bless all of those who commit to serve Him and work in the missionary field and all of those who support this work.