October Newsletter

January's Lanes Lines

January 2009

¹⁴ Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: Psalm 50:14

Dear Praying Friends,

We praise the Lord for all he has done for the last couple of months. He is always so faithful and true. The Lord is always at least a step ahead of us and is opening the way for us, even though many times we do not realize it.

The Christmas program was a tremendous blessing as we witnessed several big victories. First, the total attendance for the program was 103. We have not seen that kind of attendance since about 1985 for any activity. There were deaf there who have not attended for decades and some who have never attended. One young girl who attended turned out to be the daughter of the first lady that we witnessed to in 1983. Another family came for the first time and they have their origins in Morelia. Two received Christ as Savior, including the hearing son of a family that came many years ago. What a blessing to see results come years after the seed was first planted.

Armando presented a powerful message on the value of Christ. He is deaf himself so his concepts and thought processes are purely DEAF. The message was so clear that everyone there now knows their responsibility before God. The Holy Spirit moved among the people and Christ was glorified. The program ended with the drama of the Christmas story. We sat in awe as we saw deaf folks who just a few months ago were involved in all manner of sin, sexual behavior and wicked living. They have been washed in the blood of Christ and now are His children. THAT is what Christmas is all about.

We have updated our blog (http://laynesline.blogspot.com/) and would suggest checking it about every two weeks for the most recent updates. One of the best things about the blog is being able to click on the photos and seeing them larger and clearer. We will attempt to keep this page up-to-date, so be sure to check it regularly. By being a blog, we can go into much better detail along with pictures that is not possible with a letter. Perhaps someone in your church can keep those without Internet updated.

We have just returned from Tepic, Nayarit, where we spent three days researching the possibilities of starting a deaf ministry there. A cute note of interest was that we discovered that no maps were available, except one from the tourist office. It is a finely detailed map with all streets clearly drawn, but with the names of only the four main avenues printed. No other street names were given, so we could follow where we were going but not by the names of the streets. We managed to find three schools that have small programs for the deaf, but nothing for the deaf in sign language.

We waited five hours in the main plaza on Sunday hoping to run into the main body of the deaf society. As is common in Mexico, the deaf usually have a common plaza (normally in front of the main Catholic church) where they meet each Sunday afternoon. During the time at the plaza, we met three deaf, all of them in the lower educational level, barely able to communicate a concept. Most of the communication was mime and filling in between the blanks. We have met two others of the main group, and although they are less skilled in signs than our church in Guadalajara, they are quite capable of communicating clearly. This community has never had a deaf school, so they are teaching one another through daily living.

Please pray for Tepic as we continue to analyze information and seek the Lord’s will concerning this city. The need is definitely there, but we are not sure of the total deaf population, nor of the ability of this community to sustain a full deaf ministry. The Lord already knows the answers, and we know He desires to see these folks come to know him. Pray that we will faithfully walk with Him in order to obey His will, without hesitation.

Thank you for praying and giving. God is still alive!

For DEAF souls in Mexico,

Gary & Ann Layne