SAN MARTIN, AZCATEPEC, STATE OF MEXICO -- Just outside of Mexico City lie open fields that have been cleared, plowed, and before long they will be planted with corn, but eventually they will be sold and turned into new developments to help house the growing population of the suburbs around Mexico City where more than 22 million people live and work. 
Next door to these fields sits a church that is plowing, planting, and preparing in a different way.


"We are encouraging [and training] new workers in the church to come because of the growth in our area,” said Pastor Reyna Reyes.
As an extension of the Guatemalan ministry of ASELSI, Pastor Reyes has been training up leaders from seven different churches. They are learning God's Word and how to apply it in their lives. These leaders have vision and they’re excited about it.
"One of the visions we have is for discipleship,” Reyes said. “What I like about ASELSI is their seriousness, their commitment, and their experience. They are helping us develop new leaders for the future." 
Today these Mexican believers joined together with friends and family to celebrate the completion of a two-year Bible study course, it’s been a busy time of studying as they worked through the 20 courses, but it’s been worth it. Outside these walls these students are putting what they learned into practice in the neighborhoods and communities around them.
"Based on the classes about missions, we investigated a place, found a family, and started a new outreach," said ASELSI graduate Moises Hernandez. "This week we will hold our tenth class there. All the materials that have been brought to us have been a blessing and enrichment to us and the people we teach."
Hernandez and nine others are graduating today after two years of spending their Saturdays studying God's Word so they can better reach their neighbors and the new neighbors who will be filling the fields around them. This is all part of ASELSI’s plan for equipping leaders in Guatemala, Mexico and across the nations.
"We have had a dozen extensions over the past 10 years here in Mexico.” Said ASELSI International Exetnsions Director Mike McComb. "We have graduated over 125 Mexican pastors and leaders. We’re just so super excited about what God is doing with the church here in Mexico." 
This equipping of students and leaders is a major part of ASELSI's vision to prepare a new generation of leaders who know and practice God's Word across Latin America and eventually the globe.
"This was the first country outside of Guatemala that we started working in. The heart of ASELSI has always been to reach the world. We’ve had all kinds of extensions all over southern and central Mexico. We’ve expanded since then into South America and the Caribbean Islands into Cuba. 
Mexico is a key component of what we’re doing in ASELSI International Extensions in the sense that we believe the God is doing something great here in Mexico. Just like He’s doing around the world. Just like He's doing in Guatemala. God is going to raise up missionaries, Mexican nationals from here and send them to the world.”
So, while the fields beside the church in Azcatepec are waiting to be planted, the church in Mexico and ASELSI’s Extension program is growing and expanding with a harvest that lasts for eternity.