June 1, 2010

     As you can imagine, it has been quite crazy trying to move from three houses (A FEW ARTICLES IN FIVE HOUSES AND THE CHURCH) to one fifteen miles away. We have done it all in my truck with the help of Roberto's VW Combi (van) and Jonathan's pickup truck. But first, a catch-up of the news.

     Mother's Day was a good day with a good number in attendance. The men served the meal after the service and two received Christ. By the way, I am not in pain, I am praying for the meal and the mothers. Since the service, we have been able to lead one mother and three sisters to the Lord because of their attention at the service.

      Last week, Christian Carlos and his girlfriend asked to talk to the pastor and I. They have decided to get married! His girlfriend, Guillermina (Willimina) was one of the many people that Carlos won to the Lord shortly after getting saved himself. He made his rounds of all his friends and won more than 30 of them to the Lord. Guillermina immediately got a real hunger for the Word, and Carlos spent (and spends) a lot of time teaching her. Over the past five years, she has become one of our best soul winners. Recently, she brought a lady to me to lead to the Lord. I expressed that I usually won't deal with a lady by myself if a sister is available to deal with her. I recommended that Guillermina share the Gospel with her. In a few minutes, they came out, the lady happily saved, secure in her decision and Guillermina with another step forward in her Christian life. She had won many of her friends, but had never been called upon to deal with someone after a church service. Pray for them as they begin the process of getting everything lined up for their wedding. They will be married before a judge probably this week for the government documents. but will not live together as man and wife until they have a church wedding, probably in July. That is probably a little foreign to you, but they way things are done here. The government will not recognize a church wedding and the church does not recognize the government wedding, so two are held for every person.

     We are in our new home and thrilled to be "settled in" although that means living with boxes piled high until it all gets settled. We are so happy to be at the outskirts of Guadalajara which now means 15 miles from where it was just a couple of years ago. We have by no means given up on starting new works, but things are changing everyday. Last week the government declared that Guadalajara is no longer considered the neutral zone in the drug wars. What has happened is that even in the smaller cities where we hope to start new works, there are recent battles going on for drug turf. Places where people have always felt extremely safe are now seeing the depositing of bodies along the road almost nightly. We still live in peace, but are made aware of all that is going on daily by the police activity. It is no longer unusual to hear low flying helicopters at any time which are either police or military rushing into action.

     We are scheduled to make a border trip for the end of June to renew papers. It is the border area of Mexico that is the worst so pray for safety to arrive at the border where we will decide whether to return with our vehicle or leave it there and come back on a bus or airline. It appears things have calmed a little, but it could be that the press is just not covering the problems as frequently.

     Thank you so much for praying for us, supporting this ministry and allowing us to continue to reach the deaf of Mexico. We are saddened by the reports of violence everywhere, but are thrilled to know He is still on the throne. Thank you for caring.

Gary & Ann