May and June 2005

Dear Friends in Christ,

“For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:” Colossians 2:5-6

Furlough: We are reporting to several of our supporting churches in the U.S., as it has been five years since we have been back to them. We’ve been having good meetings, and it has been great getting to know new pastors and churches, as well as renewing old acquaintance. We won’t be able to get to all of our supporters at this time, but hope to report to the rest another time soon. We also have meetings in a few new churches to raise new support to keep up with the expenses of the ministry and the cost living. The Lord has been blessing and supplying our needs. We will be back in Mexico the first week of July, in time to take the teens to youth camp the end of that month.

Another missionary in the area, Warren Klenk, has been helping with services in our absence.

Anáhuac: The Iglesia Bautista Semilla Preciosa is continuing strong, with several of the men taking services and preaching, when Bro. Klenk can’t be there.
Last week, Manuel, a teenager who had been coming for a little while with his dad, got saved after the Sunday morning service. Amen!
The folks have had special activities on a couple occasions and it is good to see them working together.
The teens are staying faithful to the Lord, participating in all of the activities of the church. They are also working, doing different jobs, trying to raise money for camp.
Please continue praying that the Lord will provide the right man to pastor this church, so that we can move on to another place to start another church.

FM-3 Visas: Our Mexican work visas are back from the renewal process!

Family: Our second son, Andrew, married Shana MacQueen on May 14. It was beautiful!!

Praise: Safety in our travels; Church in Anáahuac remaining faithful; Manuel – salvation; FM-3 visas

Prayer: Our safety & that we’d be a blessing to the churches we visit; Youth camp; The right Mexican man to pastor the church

In His Service,

January and February 2005

Dear Friends in Christ,

“That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast, …”
Hebrews 6: 18-19

Happy New Year!! This past year marked many changes in the world, and the wicked grew even bolder. It is of special comfort to know that our Lord is ever the same in His justice and righteousness! May our confidence in Him, and our resolve to win the lost, be even stronger in this New Year!

Anáhuac: The Iglesia Bautista Semilla Preciosa is experiencing growing pains. Amen! We have seen more faithfulness and spiritual growth in our people. Several couples came out to work, painting, and getting some other things done on the building, in preparation for the Christmas program.
The Christmas program with dinner following was a big success, with 86 attending. Each of the Sunday School classes participated in the presentation of the Christmas story. We had several firsttime visitors, who although didn’t come forward to get saved, heard the gospel. .
Adolfo and Marta and their three kids have been coming faithfully since October. They came from a strong Independent Baptist church that was too far away for them to be really faithful. Pray that they would do what the Lord wants.
The day after Christmas, Jesus got saved, after my father-in-law preached, and I translated. Some twenty five years ago, Jesus had studied to be a priest at a Catholic seminary. After seeing the hypocrisies, he dropped out, got into drugs, alcohol, and etc… He had attended our church several times earlier in the year, but then stopped coming. I tried to visit him and his family for months, but they never allowed me to talk with them. His family is still very cold. We’re thankful that he came and surrendered to the Lord. Pray that he will now grow in the Lord and that we can reach his family.

Registration: Two years ago we started the registration of our church and now finally have the papers in hand. Amen! This will make it possible to have the church property in the name of the church and it should protect us from cults that might try to take over the property.

Family: We celebrated Thanksgiving with missionary friends in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico, and had a great time.
On Dec. 1st, Andrew, our second, was engaged to Shana MacQueen. They will be married this summer. We look forward to seeing the Lord work in their lives.
For Christmas, my in-laws and two of our boys, Andrew and Joshua, came down to celebrate the holiday with us. We had a wonderful visit! Seth had to work and we sure missed having him here.

Prayer Requests: Souls saved; Adolfo & family – to join our church; Jesus – to grow in Christ;

Praise: Great Christmas program; Salvation of Jesus; New opportunities to serve the Lord.

In His Service,