Hands to the Work – Ron Winter

Dear Friends in Christ,

“So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory” 1 Corinthians 15:54

Connie’s Homegoing: Connie had become increasingly weak over the past few months, until she won the victory and graduated to glory on September 6! She had a PET scan in July which showed cancer in her organs and lymph nodes. The doctor in Mexico wanted her to get more chemotherapy. Instead we brought her up to Tulsa Oklahoma so that she could be near our four kids, ten grandbabies, her sister and family, as well as her parents. She weakened, so fast, that we admitted her into the hospital on Sept. 2, before she could start cancer treatments. On Monday, Sept. 5 the hospital allowed all of the grandkids except the 1 ½ year old into the room to see her in the ICU which was a priceless time! Especially because she so loved her family, but had paid the price as a missionary of not being able to see them very often. Connie’s organs were failing, and she could hardly talk or think clearly and they started dialysis all that night.

The next morning Sept. 6, the Lord woke me up at 3:30 AM. When I stood by her bed, she opened her eyes looked at me and asked me, “am I going to die?” “Yes,” I said, and with her radiant face looked up and said, “I’m going to see Jesus!” From morning to mid-day she continued to reassure us, “God is so good!” All four of her kids and Glenda, a longtime friend, came early to see her and got to spend time with her talking and even joking. Her parents and brother came a little later and we all got to say goodbye at 8:13PM. After six years of leukemia, Connie is at home with her Lord and Savior! Amen! We sure covet your prayers!

Insurance: When we returned to Mexico after Connie’s treatments in 2010 to begin a new church, we had to surrender our US insurance. Last month we were able to get insurance on a special enrollment, and started with coverage effective September 1. So now the insurance has to approve everything, since cancer treatments weren’t scheduled to begin until Sept. 8.

Church in Camargo: I challenged the Iglesia Bíblica Bautista, that a church whose pastor can’t be in front of them for a time will either grow or fall back, proving their loyalty whether to me or really to Christ. The church isn’t ready to be on its own, though that is the goal. A pastor from Chihuahua has been preaching on Sundays, and one of our men preaches the mid-week services and they continue knocking doors. It appears attendances have remained fairly constant.

In our last letter we told of Ismael who is moving to Camargo to work with the teens, and with every aspect of the ministry. His wife will deliver their second son in November. Pray that the church will accept them and the Lord is glorified in their lives as they minister in the church and community.

Please pray for a special memorial service this Sunday, Sept. 18, with the church in Camargo.

Permanent residence: Our work visas are in the renewal process and should become permanent this year. Please pray that I will be able to get this permanent residence.

Praise: Jesus’ sacrifice and salvation; Connie’s life, now free from suffering; Church’s faithfulness

Prayer: Comfort for the Connie Winter family; Church in Camargo, Ismael & Family; Residence Visas

In His Service,

Dear Friends in Christ,

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.” James 1:2-4

Camargo: The Iglesia Bíblica Bautista has had some set backs and the devil would like to discourage. But we have seen some professions of faith and 3 baptized recently. Amen!! We have also had special days for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and the Lord’s Supper. There were 18 mothers present for Mother’s Day and Father’s Day brought out 8 fathers. We had special messages and a nice fellowship and gifts for each. The Lord’s Supper was observed, with a good attendance and a spirit of unity and reverence as we commemorated the death that Christ died for each one of us. Karla finished her discipleship course and is now discipling 2 other women, so we are seeing fruit multiplied. Please pray for her and her 2 girls, as they have a difficult family life. Since she has been saved, she has been trying to see her husband saved but Oscar and his whole family is hateful toward her because her Christianity is “tarnishing their good catholic name”.

Special prayer: We asked prayer for Jenny Hogan, who was diagnosed with a very aggressive cancer. God chose to call her home and the funeral was July 1 at Bible Baptist in Carthage, MO. Please pray for her husband, Pastor Kent Hogan and all of their extended family, as well as the church.

Workers: Just as we about had a rental house ready and furnished, we heard that Bro. Gilbert and his family would not be coming to work with us after all. Please pray the Lord would send the right couple to work with our teens and other areas of the church.

Health: Connie is going to a very good hematologist in Chihuahua City and he ordered several tests, which have confirmed the diagnosis of her leukemia. We are waiting on the insurance to cover a PET scan to know if more treatment is needed. In the middle of all this, Connie broke a molar and had to have a root canal. An extraction could have been serious because of her low platelet count. She did well with the procedure.

Work Visas: Nineteen years ago, we moved into Mexico and about the time our work visas should have become permanent, Connie got sick and we could not see it through at that time. We are applying for our permanent residence now. Please pray that the Mexican immigration would approve our documents and grant us our residence without any delay.

Praise: People saved and baptized; Mother’s day & Father’s day; Lord’s Supper

Prayer: More saved and baptized; Karla – discipleships – Oscar’s salvation; Hogan family; Young couple – teens; Connie’s health & Insurance; Permanent Residence

In His Service,

Dear Friends in Christ,

“… Stand up and bless the LORD your God for ever and ever: and blessed be thy glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.” Nehemiah 9:5

Camargo: Praise the Lord, there is more work and less unemployed, with planting onions, chilis, tomatoes and etc… The downside is that their work takes some out of church but even at that attendances of the Iglesia Bíblica Bautista continue in the 40’s. Pray that those who attend would surrender to church membership and that others would be saved and baptized.

We had a mission’s emphasis month and our people really stepped out by faith, promising and giving over and above their tithe.  Several have given testimonies as to how God has been providing what they really thought impossible! Amen!

Connie finished discipling Karla and Alicia and we gave them certificates of completion in a service. It was a great testimony to the church of finishing the course! Karla and her girls and Alicia, knock doors with the church. Alicia also stamps all the John/Romans and tracts that we give out and Karla oversees the cleaning of the church building, which is done by the families of the church. We divided the kid’s class and Alicia has started teaching the 10, 11 and 12 year olds! Praise the Lord! Pray the Lord would give each of these ladies someone to disciple as well!

Pastor Kent Hogan and the Bible Baptist Church in Carthage MO donated 2 low-mileage vans to the work here in Mexico. They invited us to their Mission Conference to pick them up. Amen!!

Connie and I got the vans to Oklahoma and our son, Andrew helped us drive them to El Paso, TX. Pray that the Mexican government will allow us to import them for a fair price. We sure need them as we have had up to 28 in our van. A good problem to have!

One of our men took the midweek services and other pastors filled in the 2 Sundays that we were away. They had good attendances and upon our return, the church had a fellowship to welcome us home! It was a quick trip but what a blessing! Amen!

Special Prayer: The week following the conference in MO, Pastor Hogan and wife, Jenny discovered she has cancer. Our hearts are heavy with this news but God knows and is in control! Please pray for Jenny’s health, the family and decisions that they need to make in the coming days!

Workers: Bro. Gilberto, Lucy and family are coming July 1 to work with us. The church can’t provide all that is needed for their housing and salary yet but we sure need their help. Pray for God’s provision.

Health: Connie had more blood tests this week and the counts were some better, though she continues to have a lot of fatigue. Please continue to pray for her.

Praise: Good attendances; Mission commitments; Karla and Alicia finished discipleship; Our trip, safety and church vans in El Paso; Bro. Gil & Lucy coming July 1st

Prayer: People to be saved & join the church; New kid’s class & ladies to disciple someone; Pastor Hogan & Jenny – cancer; Importation of vans; Bro. Gil & Lucy’s needs; Connie’s health

In His Service,

Dear Friends in Christ,

“And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:31,32

Camargo: The Iglesia Bíblica Bautista has been increasing in attendance since the first of the year. In the last month and a half, we averaged in the 50’s on Sundays, with visitors in many services.

In one year, we have knocked about half of the doors in Camargo, a city of 60,000. Our goal with the “Every Creature Campaign” is to get a John & Romans into every house and of course present the gospel whenever possible. As many as 13 come out every week to help us.

Rosa Isela nearly died from a car accident in July and our  church has been praying for her ever since. After several surgeries, amputating one arm, reconstructing a leg etc, and much therapy, she is walking and back home with her parents and siblings and 1 year old daughter. We went out to the village to visit her and she and her parents called on the Lord to save them! Amen!

Karla, one of our faithful ladies, had witnessed to Rocío, who is a trial lawyer. She came to a few services and asked if we would visit her to show her how to be saved! Connie and I visited her and she said she had tried getting more religious, doing more good deeds, being more kind to others, but still had an emptiness that she couldn’t fill. Upon calling on the Lord, she said that was what she had been seeking and that a peace had flooded her soul! Amen! Please pray as the devil is really fighting her.

Miguel, 70 year-old Francisca’s son, said he had heard of us and thought we could help her. Since a son had been gunned down over a year ago, Francisca hasn’t walked, has kidney problems and was depressed. After some Bible study, she called on the Lord to be her Savior! Though Miguel listened to the plan of salvation, he let me know he had sought me out for his mother. They are very kind and every week invite me into their home to study the Bible with Francisca, ‘but they have their Catholic faith’, so don’t listen. Pray that the whole family would also be saved.

When the pope came to visit Mexico, even the news media here was saying that sects like the J. W. and Baptists were tricking people to leave Catholicism by learning the language and communicating to them in their own language! Though I don’t appreciate the association, we must be doing something that irritates the devil! “Beware when all men shall speak well of you.”

Workers: Bro. Gilberto and Lucy, teen-agers Daniel and Dana and 6 year-old Esteban are coming to work with us in June! Praise the Lord! We plan for them to work with our teens, music and etc, and see how the Lord would lead. Pray we can find affordable housing, to be able to take care of them.

In January we went to an ordination service for Bro. Gil and for Bro. Alberto, who have been working in the church that Bro. Jerry Collins started in Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Health: Connie’s white blood counts continue to be quite elevated. She is still under the supervision of a nutritional doctor, who with God’s help has kept them from climbing higher. Please pray for wisdom to know what to do to best help her and for God to heal her if it is His will!

Praise: Good attendances; People saved; Gilberto & Lucy coming

Prayer: Rosa Isela and Francisca – healing; Rocio – spiritual growth; Connie’s health

In His Service,

Dear Friends in Christ,

“And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.” 2 Timothy 2:2

Camargo: Happy New Year! It snowed a couple of inches in Camargo for the first time in 9 years! Thank you so much for the Christmas offerings that many of you sent. Praise the Lord!! The Iglesia Bíblica Bautista is growing spiritually; 7 people read the New Testament in 2015! We continue to have visitors and people saved in services, in the hospital and door knocking. Amen! Joel and Lupita quit coming for about a year but are now attending off and on. Pray for their family! Juan and Luis, from two different families, worked in the U.S. and were saved. Upon coming back home to Mexico, they fell back into the ungodly vices and influences of their former life. Though they want their families to be saved, they are not being a right testimony to their families, that they would desire the salvation they claim to have. Please pray for these families. Two men’s wives left and divorced them and they are with another woman but attending services. Perla got saved and we are praying for Carmen and all of their children to be saved as well. Connie and the kids class had a Christmas program, as to the reason for Christ’s coming. On New Year’s Eve many gave testimonies. We had a Christian video and a message on being Christ-like, giving our lives as a living sacrifice in this new year and then a time of prayer.

Workers: Bro. Gilberto and his wife Lucy and 3 kids, a sweet family that we have known for a few years, came to see the work and are praying as to where the Lord wants them to minister. Please pray that if the Lord wants them to labor with us here or even in some other place, they would know His leading in their lives. They work a lot with youth, so while here, they had a special meeting, with 12 teens in attendance and 3 saved! They could really be a big asset to us and to the church here.

Conference: I preached the mission conference of the Iglesia Bautista, El Faro (Lighthouse Baptist) in Chihuahua City. One young man surrendered to full-time service and many responded to the altar calls, seeking the Lord’s will for their lives. Bro. Samuel (originally from Camargo), his family and church, are always a great encouragement and blessing to us.

Health: My hernia surgery and recuperation was a success; Praise the Lord! Connie’s white blood cell count was way over the normal ranges this time. Pray for her, and for the doctor to have wisdom to treat her, though our faith and confidence is still in the Great Physician!

Family: Our son Andrew and his family came down through the holidays. With 4 girls under the age of 10, we didn’t have much “quiet time”. It was such a blessing to not be alone at the holidays! Andrew preached and our church was so encouraged by their visit, as were we. Amen!

Praise: Christ came to save us; Blessings of 2015; Spiritual growth; Salvation of souls; Health & Family

Prayer: Families of the church; Joel & Lupita, Juan, Luis, Armando & Rebeca, Daniel & Perla, Ramiro & Carmen; Souls to be saved; Workers; Connie – healing, Dr. – wisdom

In His Service,