Dear Friends in Christ,
Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Luke 18:16
Iglesia Bíblica Bautista, Camargo: In my last letter I wrote that my assistant Jorge, his wife Michel and I, took teens to camp in the mountains. While at camp, Michel learned of the death of her brother, in the state of Sinaloa. Since they were already a third of the way there, they went on over the mountains and got to the funeral just in time! (Since they don’t embalm the body it’s normally buried within 24 hours of death!) So we piled everybody else into the van and I brought them home. Less than three weeks later we had our Vacation Bible School, but I had told Bro Jorge and Michel to take a couple of weeks with their families, so they only had one week to prepare for the VBS. But with the help of the Lord, several ladies and many of the teens, they made the necessary preparations! Because of COVID, we planned for a maximum of 60, about half of what we had last year! The first day we had 122, and 125 on the last day, I believe because people are tired of the quarantine! With no age limits, we had over 50 teenagers in attendance every day, and most of them made a profession of faith, and several of the 8 to 12 year olds did as well! Praise the Lord!
Ever since the VBS, we have been promoting, visiting and running multiple routes. Last Saturday we had a record attendance of 79 at the weekly Bible Club, Several younger teens are coming to the youth meetings and from 30-60 coming to the church services! Amen!
Of course these kids aren’t like our church kids, they are wild and unruly, so we’ve had to change some policies and practices! But it has been a blessing and a challenge to minister to these kids, and hopefully reach some of their family members!
I have a request: If any of you would want to help us by sending small, like happy-meal toys, etc., as well as candy, pencils, crayons, school supplies, etc. it would be a huge blessing! Most of these kids come from broken homes, and all that comes with that! We may be too late for Christmas, but whenever we could get some things would be GREAT! If you can help, please e mail me at [email protected] for a mailing address in Texas. Our state of Chihuahua still has a mask mandate, with a limit of 50% attendance. For testimony’s sake, we tried to comply with the ordinance. The first couple days of VBS we were all wearing masks, but only about half of the kids even had a mask, so came on any way! In our regular services as well, we suggested everyone at least come into the building and leave with a mask, but very few have complied! But the Lord has protected us, and no one has gotten sick! So we encourage all who can, to come out to the services! Most people have come back to services since this all started, though some are still not as faithful! We’ve been having some visitors as well, and continue publishing the services on Facebook.
We had a “Noche Mexicana” to celebrate Mexico’s independence the 16 of September, with over 90 in attendance! It was a great time of preaching and fellowship, with several
visitors!
Building: We continue with our building remodeling. The auditorium should be pretty much finished by our church anniversary, the last week-end of October! There is still a lot to do, but we are getting some things finished up, which helps our morale as well!
Praise: Safety in our travels; Great VBS, kids saved and coming to services: No one sick
Prayer: People to be saved; A right balance of ministries in the church; Kids saved and families reached; Attendances to stabilize; Our special services for our 7th anniversary
Thank you for your prayers and faithful support,
Ron Winter
Camargo, Chihuahua, Chihuahua