Category: Prayer Letters

Dear Friends in Christ,                                                                 

    But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.        Matthew 13:23

Camargo:  In January the Iglesia Bíblica Bautista had its annual Mission Conference with Mexican missionary Jaime Longoria.  The first message, “Wake Up!” was exactly what both the church and I needed.  I was somewhat discouraged, I think in part, because we continuously knock doors, but don’t see “fruit that remains”.  Though we are very careful to avoid “easy believism”, most every week, I or others from the church, have someone make a profession of faith.  But almost never can we get one of them to come out to a single service.  We realize the work is the Lord’s, that He will build His church! We not only need to be faithful to go and seek the lost, but also to fast and pray, seeking his hand upon us.  My assistant and I regularly fast and have prayer meetings, and we are trying to encourage our church to spend one day a week fasting and praying for our church, that the Lord would bless our efforts to reach the lost, and to baptize and disciple them! 
    The Mission Conference was a success, though the promise was barely more than last year’s.  Some hadn’t kept up, so I was encouraged by their new resolve!
    We sent Arturo, one of my assistants, to a Bible institute in January.  He is doing well, and calls each week, excited about what he’s learned and of ministry opportunities in Torreón, to implement what he’s being taught.  When he was here he worked to help support his mom, Mayra and 3 siblings.  Our church has helped them with some food, etc., besides sending him a love offering  each month.  Then Mayra lost her job and has been a month without work to provide for her 3 teens.  Two are in school and 15 year old Fabian, makes around $5.00 a day, when there’s work, to help out.  Obviously the church and I are helping them more until she can find work.  I believe in part, that it’s because of all this, she’s not missed a single service and her kids are more faithful!  The other day in an invitation, she realized that though she had made a profession of faith, she wasn’t saved!  Right away she started reading the Bible through, with our guide, and in 2 weeks read 2 months’ to catch up!  She wants to be discipled along with some other women who have just been saved or who have never been discipled. She’s also helped clean the church building!
    In the last letter I told of Mónica, who upon trusting the Lord, asked if she could go door knocking with us.  I’m happy to report that she has been door knocking with us!
    One of our ladies had been witnessing to Blanca, but until her husband left her to raise her 2 teens and a 10 year old alone, she was too catholic.  They’ve all been here 3 Sundays in a row!

Kids and teens:  Bro Jorge, my assistant is having neighborhood Bible clubs with the help of some of the teens.  Many don’t continue, but every Saturday a few new kids come!
          Bro. Jorge is doing well with the teen group as well, with attendances of almost 20, besides 4 – 6 teens coming from a good church in Jimenez, about 45 minutes away, who don’t have teen meetings.  That has been a huge encouragement to our teens, as well for them!

Praise:  Souls saved; Good Conference; Church encouraged, seeing fruit; Mayra saved, Mónica

Prayer:  Souls to be saved & baptized; Discipleship courses; Blanca & kids to be saved; Arturo in Institute; Bible Clubs; Teens to be more faithful to church services

In Christ’s Service,
Bro. Ron Winter
Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico

Dear Friends in Christ,                                                          
November & December 2018

Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you:  –2 Thessalonians 3:1

Christmas:  I want to express a special thanks to all who sent a special love offering for Christmas!  It was a huge blessing and real encouragement to see your love for missionaries and for the work of the Lord. God bless you!!  I trust that 2019 will be a great year for all of us!
          The church here insisted and my kids encouraged me to be with them for Christmas.  It has been two years since Connie passed away.  I’m doing fine, though I do get lonely.  I had a couple of days with each of my kids and their families. It was a wonderful Christmas!  I also reported to three supporting churches.  Andrew and Shana and their four girls came back down with me for a few days.  Andrew preached for us and got to see our new church building, and my apartment in the building.  We had a great time, and I really needed the encouragement!

Camargo:  We have people making a profession of faith most every week, at their door. Since my first assistant left in June, first the teens with whom they worked, then some of those parents have been somewhat discouraged, so our attendances have suffered.  But we’ve been fasting and praying, and God is blessing with visitors and some people getting saved and coming out to services. 
          Connie and I met Anita when she was working in a restaurant and had come to one service.  Now, more than two years later I knocked her door and she was excited to get saved!  As I showed her some verses on eternal security, she said that was the most wonderful thing she had ever heard, that Christ had paid it all and that she has eternal life – Forever!  She and some granddaughters came to several services, but then she moved here in town, and I haven’t been able to find her.
          Mónica and her 10 year old daughter have been coming faithfully to services for a couple of months.  Sunday night after the service, she asked one of our ladies if she could get saved!  Then one of the first things Monica asked, was if she could go out with us knocking doors!  AMEN!!
          We will have our Faith Promise Mission Conference this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.  Jaime Longoria, a Mexican missionary to Panama will be preaching for us.

Assistants:  Jorge went to Sinaloa on the west coast, to propose to his girlfriend.  They plan to wed in September.  He should get back here this week.  We are excited that he will be starting some Bible clubs in different neighborhoods.
          Arturo just left to attend a Bible Institute in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico.  He will be there for three years, coming back home for a couple of months each summer.  I’m already missing him, he is a good worker and he reminded me of things I needed to do!

Praise:  Souls saved – answered prayer; Great Christmas – Christ’s love for us; Special
Christmas love offerings; Anita and Monica’s excitement to be saved

Prayer:  Anita, to find her; Arturo in the Bible institute; Mission Conf. Faith Promise commitments;
Jorge/ Bible clubs/ kids to be saved/ families reached

In Christ’s Service,

Bro. Ron Winter
Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico

Dear Friends in Christ,                                                     

… pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified …: 2 Thessalonians 3:1

Camargo:  The Bible Baptist Church just celebrated its 5^th anniversary.  The Lord really used Bro. Hector Jimenez from El Paso, TX, with the Bearing Precious Seed ministry out of my sending church, to encourage our church to keep on year after year, living sanctified lives and winning their families and our city to Christ.  The altar was full every service, as people made decisions to serve the Lord in a greater capacity.  We baptized 3 that Sunday, 2 teens and “Beto”, a young mentally challenged man who in another “church” had just been “baptized” to appease him, without dealing with him about his lost state and salvation.  He trusted Christ, repenting of his sin, and was baptized!  Praise the Lord!

Assistants:  Twenty-one year old Arturo who was saved a year ago, has been working with me for a few months, will be going to Torreon to a Bible institute for 3 years.  He is to return here to Camargo upon completion.
Jorge, 26 just came to work with us in October.  He is in his first year of Bible institute training by correspondence.  Pray that I will be able to teach and prepare these young men to be ready to do whatever the Lord would lead them to do.  At 61 years of age, I’m not as patient as I might be, but I’m trying.  I assume they should know common sense things, but they have either never been taught or never learned basic logic and reasoning.  It seems this generation struggles just to pay attention, and working in another language doesn’t help.  And when it comes to building renovation and physical, mechanical things, I have to show them how to do everything and why.

Coxcatlán, San Luis Potosí, MX: Bro. Lucio Hernandez, one of the missionaries our church supports, invited me to preach their mission conference.  Coxcatlán is in the jungle of eastern San Luis Potosí, Mexico, 18 hours from here by bus.  Many of the Nahuactl people there live as rural America, 100 years ago.  Not one house I was in had an indoor kitchen sink.  Some had an outdoor fire pit and the fire pit inside, with ceilings of palm leaves, the smoke rising up into the ceiling.  The walls were a type of large bamboo, with a corrugated metal roof, and or palm leaves.
I bathed with running water, that is, running to get water with a bucket from a tank outside.  It was rainy and chilly, so with no water heater, very refreshing!
They grow about whatever kind of fruit you could imagine and many I had never heard of.  There are banana and orange trees everywhere, with coffee beans, etc. growing beside many houses.
It is absolutely beautiful, but not an easy life.  They are such a sweet, hospitable people when they get saved, but very superstitious, idolatrous Catholics until then.  It was such a blessing to be able to eat in several of their homes, and experience what it is to literally live by faith, something most Americans only talk of.  It was a great time of encouragement for me!  Amen!
It was a challenge preaching, as they show very little emotion, but their conference was a success, with the Faith promise doubling what had been promised and given the year before!  Two new lost men came out every service.  They wouldn’t trust Christ at the time, but they heard the gospel again!  Four people surrendered to be baptized and followed through, a week later.
Our church here wants to raise the money and go help them put the roof on their new building!

Praise: People Saved; Fifth anniversary of Bible Baptist Church, those baptized; Assistants’ desire to learn and serve; Great conference in Coxcatlán and the blessing and encouragement it was to me
Prayer: Arturo going to Bible institute, Jorge studying and working here; Building roof Coxcatlán

In Christ’s Service,

 

 

Bro. Ron Winter
Camargo, Chihuahua, Mexico

Dear Friends in Christ,

Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not;   2 Corinthians 4:1

Camargo:  The Iglesia Bíblica Bautista is trying to recuperate from having to dismiss my assistant.
Three of our teens, Paco, Javier and Cristian have pretty much dropped out, but still come to a few teen activities, so there is still hope!  Our church seems a little discouraged, some missing now and then.  Please pray we’ll recover completely and then some!

Door knocking – evangelism:  We’ve had record numbers of our people come out to knock doors, and have covered a large section close to our church building, this summer!  We are still following up on several who made professions of faith in Christ.  Bro. Joel has started leading people to Christ, being a good example to their three kids.

Teen Camp:  I took eight teens to camp in Huachichil, Cuauhuila in July.  Three of them made decisions to serve the Lord full-time and are working toward that!

Work Group:  Valley Forge Baptist in Collegeville PA helped us with materials and sent a group of 11 men and ladies to help us insulate and stucco the outside walls of our church building.  The building looks very nice, to the glory of God!  It is also cooler inside, thus easier to cool. The ladies helped get the nursery and bathrooms cleaned, walls painted and decorated.  Wow, what  a blessing!  What would have taken our church several years, was done in one week.  Every time we knock doors, someone says they’ve seen our “new” building on the corner.

Vacation Bible School:  We starting the first day with 56 kids, increasing every day, to 117.  The theme was THE WAY.  Some of the girls from the youth group made the back drop and road leading to the cross at the front.  We had great participation of our church people, many helped teaching, with crafts, refreshments and clean-up.  What a blessing!  I am thankful for our church!
Usiel and Jorge, who have been serving a year in the church we started in Anáhuac, Chihuahua, came down to put the VBS on for us.  What a blessing!  We have a couple of families who come some as a result of the VBS, and we are still working with others.

Civil Association:  We are trying to register our church as a legal entity, as being a service to the community.  This should allow us to have the property of the church in the name of the association and not just one person.  Please pray for this lengthy process!

Assistants:  I mentioned in the last letter that God has called Arturo to preach, and that he is helping me with the youth.  He is also teaching a kids class, and helping me every day with construction, various jobs around the building, as well with visits and such.
Jorge Orozco, brother of the pastor in Anáhuac, will be coming the middle of October, to work with us.  He is in his first year of Bible institute, on-line.  Though he is not officially engaged, he and his girlfriend who lives in Sinaloa, have talked of getting married next September.  Please pray that I know how to help these young men to mature, and grow in the Lord, that they would serve Him to the best of their ability, wherever He would lead!

Praise:  Good number out evangelizing, souls saved; Teen Camp & decisions made; Work group, construction; Great VBS; Assistants, Arturo & Jorge;
Prayer:  Church to recuperate, Teen boys to be encouraged; Follow-up – Evangelism & VBS; Civil Association; Assistants – God’s will.

In His Service,

Dear Friends in Christ,

“O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 15:55 – 57

Camargo: Bro. Anselmo and wife Lina’s 17 year old son, Hugo, drowned in the irrigation canal in their village of San Ignacio, about 15 minutes from Camargo. Anselmo is faithful to services and door knocking, etc. Certainly a difficult funeral, as all in San Ignacio knew of Hugo’s life, that there was no evidence of God in his life, though we had tried several times to talk with him of his need for the Lord. In the message I told them that Hugo would want all of them to know that hell is real, that Jesus would not have died as our substitute if it wasn’t horrible, and that those who aren’t saved will go there. Then that Christ died to save them if they repent of their sin, turning their back on everything else they trust in, putting 100% of their faith in Christ, the Savior of the world. The small funeral chapel was packed and several more at the windows, at least 100 listened attentively to the gospel. At the graveside I told them that death is the proof we are all sinners, in need of the Savior. I challenged them to not let this death be in vain, that they would seek the Lord while they still have breath and hope. A week later, Anselmo convinced all 3 of his grown children and some of their families to come to the service Sunday evening. Please pray for Anselmo and Lina and their family, that God would save those who are lost. Alma, and her 3 boys are faithful to all services. We have prayed four years for her husband Meni to be saved. His parents made a profession of faith in Christ a couple of months ago. Meni came on Father’s Day, and heard, “It is impossible to be a good dad if you are not saved!” I had showed him how several times, but he still wouldn’t come forward at the invitation. Afterward I asked him if he would just surrender to God and be saved. He said, “Wednesday”. I told him if he died before then, he would go to hell, to which he thoughtfully said again, “Wednesday”. On Wednesday he did ask Christ to save him! Amen!

Building: We’ve gotten a lot done on the remodeling of the building the Lord has given us, but there isn’t any more money to be able to do much more for a while. Our people are tithing and giving, and have purchased all the ceramic tile for the auditorium and entry, all the way to the front gate, and have the money for the glue and grout to lay it, and they are praying and giving to pay to have it laid.

Teens: Satan always attacks those most vulnerable, those with the most potential to thwart his efforts. Some of the lost, religious parents here either hinder or prohibit their teen from attending or even speaking to our teens or Bro. Ismael, the youth leader. The amazing thing is the desire their teens have to know the truth. Please pray for our teens to be a witness, and reach the future of the Iglesia Bíblica Bautsta here in Camargo! We took 12 teens to camp, about 8 hours away. There was a great spirit, and the Lord used the preaching to bring one of our teens to Christ for salvation, and another for full-time service!! Amen!

Praise: Gospel preached at funeral; Meni & parents, teen saved; Building progress; Camp – decisions made

Prayer: Anselmo’s family and others who heard the gospel, to be saved, Building remodeling – God’s provision; Teens and their parents; Commitments made at camp to be real & lasting.

In His Service,