July 6, 2009

Once again God has blessed us with a tremendous Sunday. We started out about 25 adults plus the children. By the time the services were over, we were in the sixties. Three young ladies accepted the Lord as their Savior(circled in red - those in yellow, last week). Remember you can double click the photo to see it bigger.
Federico is a young man we worked with several years ago who came to us from a gang background in the roughest part of town. He often came and went, but he always brought his new friends to us so that they could get saved. A couple of years ago, he took off for the States to work with his uncle. He appeared yesterday and presented his new girlfriend. His first words to me were, "she needs to get saved." He wanted me to present the Gospel, but I recommended that he allow one of our ladies to help her.
It ended up being three new ladies, so several of our ladies had a "class" with them after the service. Sandra, a young lady about three feet tall has come for several weeks. She is always very nice and pleasant; but it has not seemed to sink in that she needed a Savior. After doing so yesterday, she came out of the class hugging everyone with a huge smile and tears of joy pouring down her face. When I asked her did she belong to the devil or to the Lord, she pointed skyward and said "I am going to Heaven (gasping in between signs as she was almost overcome with he thought)." Lupita is the girlfriend that Federico asked me to talk to. She came out, gave him a big hug and said, " I am right (in my heart) - you, no more lies." She was putting him right that he needs to live right. She was very thankful that he brought her, but she felt that he needed to clean up his life now. Olga is a young lady who by her confession does not know very many signs. She understood and was very happy that she could understand and believe God's Word.
Ann is getting a second opinion concerning her surgery, not so much about yes or no, but more about the whole concept and procedure. The tests all came back clean which agrees with her doctor that it is nothing more than a cyst. It is 2.64 inches across, so it needs to come out. After she eats, the normal processes cause pressure on the cyst and the cyst on her intestines. Getting it out should help her tremendously as far as the pain she suffers. Pray for wisdom as Ann weighs through all of this and decides on the date and processes. Tomorrow, I will leave for the border to help other missionaries move out of the country. Jonathan and I will return on Friday. July 20th is our national deaf camp, so it puts great limits on our surgery times. Ann cannot travel 11 hours to camp nor should she wait until the end of the month to do something. However, I would imagine she prefers to have me here when they operate on her. Pray for us as we make these decisions.
TEPIC is on hold until we get Ann taken care of and healed. You can imagine that she will not be ready to move within a couple of days of her operation. Again, we need God's wisdom in knowing EXACTLY what to do. We don't want to move ahead of Him, nor be late in responding to His moving. Thank you for praying and for supporting us that we might do His will.
Gary & Ann