APRIL NEWSLETTER
April 2009
I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Psalm 139:14.
Dear Praying Friends,
Praise the Lord for a terrific set of blessings the last couple of months. The church in Guadalajara sponsored the Pastor’s Conference this year with a great turn-out of pastors. All of our ministries were represented and we were able to plan this year’s activities including camp. It was one of the best meetings we have had and there was a wonderful feeling of unity among the pastors. The only difficulty was the 15 hour bus ride from the border to Guadalajara since our truck was in the shop.
The day following the conference, we had a celebration of Quinceaños (15 year birthday) for María Consuelo, one of our third generation Christians. We had at least 170 persons attend, all deaf with the exception of about 12 people. There were several new deaf folk who came and several returned the following day for church services. Pray that these can be reached for the Lord. A note of interest to those of you who do not know the culture of Mexico, the birthday girl and her mom and dad arrived about 65 minutes after the ceremony was scheduled to begin with well over 150 people waiting for more than an hour. There appeared to be no one upset with the exception of a few of us from north of the border.
Just prior to our wreck, we had visited Tepic, Nayarit, just two hours farther west than Guadalajara. It is a city which has only three American persons living there and a good number of deaf who have never been reached. We are excited about starting a new work and reaching an unreached city as far as the deaf goes. Our visit seemed a “failure” as we did not locate new deaf, but all the people in the plaza assured us that the deaf are always there in good numbers. It just so happened that they did not show up that day. We have since learned that there is a good group of deaf there and NONE has been reached for the Lord, as far as we know.
Our truck is fixed like new and ready to return to the work. Be sure to check our blog (http://laynesline.blogspot.com/) for updates that are more detailed and are usually completed more often than the regular newsletters.
We traveled to the BIMI field conference this year in Alabama and were greatly blessed by the opportunities provided for us. One of the best blessings was seeing and spending time with other missionaries in Latin America that we only see at these meetings. Our hearts were touched by the preaching and our lives changed by the testimonies of what the Lord is doing in other places. We are presently making a very short visit with family and will soon be on our way back to Mexico.
The swine flu? We left Mexico for the trip to Alabama before any of the flu was news, at least in Mexico. We have kept close contact with our folks there and it appears that it has not reached into our community among the deaf. Our family as well as the deaf is just trying to live as safely as possible without taking risks. Please continue to pray for the safety of our folk in Mexico. We will be returning in a few days and pray that this will all be history by then/
The Lord commands us to pray for laborers and we desperately need more laborers for the deaf. Several of our leaders have moved on to other fields and we are now left with only two families and two single ladies for all of the deaf in Mexico. We are desperate for additional workers to be able to reach out to other areas. There are at present MANY cities with deaf communities that have never been reached and others with a few Christians in the city, but no ministries for them. The harvest truly is plenteous at present but the laborers are few. Please pray with us that the Lord would send forth laborers.
Thank you so much for your faithful prayers and financial support. The Lord gives us opportunities regularly to share the Gospel with the deaf who have never been presented with the Gospel. Pray that we will always be faithful to reach out when others are ready so that we might be the most effective for Him. He is always faithful. Thank you for allowing us to represent you here in Mexico.
For DEAF souls in Mexico,
Gary & Ann Layne
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