We are honored to welcome Mario and Iliana Motino to our church family.
Meet Mario and IIiana Motino
“Their history in the Church of Christ.”
Mario and Iliana were born in La Ceiba, Honduras in the north coast of the Country. Before they came to North America they were living in La Esperanza a city in the west part of the Country.
Mario was born on April 15, 1968 to Mario Motino and Elsy Aguilar. Iliana was born on July 13, 1970 to German Vallecillo and Olga Madrid.
They met when Mario was 8 years old and Iliana was 6 years old. They grew up in the same neighborhood and started dating when he was 14 and she was 12 years old. They dated for 9 years and got married in La Ceiba, Honduras in 1990. They have 3 children; Nahum Emilio Motino Vallecillo (32 years old), Genesis Maria Motino Vallecillo (29 years old) and Rebecca Alejandra Motino Vallecillo (19 years old).All three of their children are baptized and persevering in the Lord.
They arrived in the United States in 2001 and for 10 years they lived in South Florida where they attended a Baptist Church that was 1 ½ hours from where they lived.
One day they discovered that close to their home was a Church of Christ and they decided to attend there because it was much closer to their home. When they began worshipping there everything was so different, they were looking for instruments to praise their Lord, but there weren’t any. They felt lost in that place so Mario and Iliana started asking the Elders many questions. Every day Iliana told Mario “let’s go back to our church because I don’t like it here, it’s so boring, there’s no joy in here.” Mario told Iliana, why don’t we pray and ask God where He wants us to be.” Then they started praying with humility asking God to give them a sign and that sign was PEACE and JOY at the time of worship. They continued praying, asking questions and worshiping there. They were attending the Atlantic Bible Institute. It was an amazing experience to get to know the bible; their eyes were opened and they loved singing joyful acapella hymns. Since 2006 they never went back to any other church. For the next ten years they became active members of the Church of Christ and Mario was in charge of the Latino group.
After much prayer, they decided the Lord wanted them to move to Palm Coast. They served at that congregation and did missionary work at Central America (Honduras, Panama and
Costa Rica).
Until recently Mario was employed at Bank of America. He also has taken courses online in Baxter Institute. Iliana worked as a Paraprofessional at Flagler school.
In April 2022, Octavio Imana from the Concord Church of Christ in Orlando was the first Spanish Minister at the Mount Dora Church of Christ.
In December of 2023 Mario took over the position as Minister for the Spanish class while still living in Palm Coast. Just recently Mario and his wife IIiana decided to make another big change in their lives. They have moved to Mount Dora and Mario will continue working with the Spanish group as their Minister. IIiana is working at Eustis High School.
Mario Motino and Iliana Vallecillo
“God Bless You”
The audio recordings of sermons and Bible classes are up to date. Click on the “Media” menu option and you will see “Sermons 2024” and “Bible Classes” as another. You should be able to navigate from there. If you can’t let me (Bob Bliss) know and I’ll help you find what you want.
Our Bible classes on Sunday morning at 9:30 AM will have a class for the adults (the teacher is Gene Newton) and one for spanish speaking members(the teacher is Mario Motino).
Food Pantry
We have a great food giveaway ministry. We average handing out food to over 100 households. It is a blessing to us that God provides us with this opportunity. We will have the list of the food we need in next week’s bulletin and on our bulletin board right next to the foyer. Your generosity as a congregation is bearing fruit in our community. Keep praying for our congregation, our community, our county, our state, and our country. Let your light shine during this time when you have the opportunity.
Herald of Truth
We invite you to read this edition of Encourage.
Click to access Herald-of-Truth-Encourage.pdf
Churches of Christ
Simple Christianity
2 Corinthians 5:17
17 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Bible People
2 John 1:9-11
9 Anyone who goes too far and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God; the one who abides in the teaching, he has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house, and do not give him a greeting; 11 for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds.
Always Faithful
Proverbs 3:3-4
3 Do not let kindness and truth leave you;
Bind them around your neck,
Write them on the tablet of your heart.
4 So you will find favor and good repute
In the sight of God and man.
Forgiveness
Colossians 3:13
13 bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
Family
Ephesians 4:2-3
2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, 3 being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
Fellowship
Hebrews 10:24-25
24 and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, 25 not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.