Monday, September 20

^{Psalm 107:8  Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!} 

     ^{Yesterday was another terrific day with the Lord. We had a good attendance and everyone paid really close attention. Hector, whom we see every other year appeared. By the way, our wayward Pedro has not been back since he declared he was returning to be faithful! After the service we had baptisms with two of our newer folks getting baptized. It is always so good when a person gets saved and wants to be baptized without persuasion. We all know that baptism is only the good testimony before the Lord and others and is not part of a works salvation. How wonderful that these folks come forward on their own and ask when they can follow the Lord in baptism, without any pressure from the outside. 
     Our wayward deacon has declared that he will not return, ever. We are heart-broken that a brother for 25 years feels he needs to leave, but his only complaint is that he voted no, so we should send the pastor back from where he came. The only problem is that 96% of the church voted yes. We are praying that the Lord will work in his heart to understand the funcioning of a church body.
     Please put Rev. Earl Kilpatrick on your prayer list. He has been diagnosed with two additional spots of cancer and the doctors are deciding how they will treat it. Bro. Kilpatrick has had four or five cancerous skin growths removed, was treated for prostate cancer several years ago, had the sub-dermal hematoma, and most recently went through a colostomy because of colon cancer. He is a real fighter and has gained victory through all of these. Now two additional spots have appeared from the original colon cancer and they will not be able to do radiation because of past treatment. Please pray that the doctors will again have wisdom in their manner of treating him.
     We will be going out to help the Kilpatricks for a couple of weeks. The mission and the Kilpatricks have been major players in our lives. In 1969, Gary came to Mexico with a mission group and they made a short visit to the mission. He met Brother Reimer who founded the mission. While we were at Tennessee Temple University and were considering where to serve the Lord with the deaf, we talked to Ed Abbott who told us of Bro. Reimer's death. At that time, they knew of no deaf ministries to Mexico except an orphanage on the border. Shortly after we met with Bro. Abbott, Earl Patrick was placed as director of the mission. Later, when God called us to the foreign field and we moved out things to Texas in 1983, Ronald Henson had us come to La Feria where he had friends. That mission contact was Frontier Baptist Mission, Inc. with Rev. Earl Kilpatrick as director! 
     Since that time, the Kilpatricks have allowed us to keep our storage building and trailer there while we are in Mexico. Through the years, they have become special friends and have always been ready to help. As I read the Word (1 John 3:17), I find that if we see a need (a true need) of a brother and are able to do something, we have a responsibility to do so. While he is starting treatment, we will try to relieve his burdens for a few days. We are so thankful for his trust in us and that he will be able to concentrate on treatment and not the daily tasks of the mission. Those of you who really know us, know that we do NOT consider time at the border as delightful. It is NOT a favorite place, except the exceptional friends we have. Since our ministry is very limited right now due to the widespread violence, we will not do harm to our ministry while we are gone this short period of time. Please pray that our help will be sufficient to truly help the Kilpatricks in this time of need.
     I would also appreciate if you would add Sammy Birchfield to your prayer list. He is the husband of Gary's cousin and is a preacher. He has been diagnosed with cancer as well and is about to begin treatment. Please uphold them (the family) in prayer as the doctors seek to treat him correctly.
     Our "Christian Carlos" is getting married in their civil wedding this Friday, but will live separately until they are married in the church on October 23 (as is custom in Mexico). Here, the government refuses to accept a church wedding and the church (Catholic) refuses to accept a civil wedding. So, everyone has two! The accepted practice is that they are not married before God until their church wedding. They have postponed their wedding until after our return. These two are almost like our own children. 
     When Carlos first came, some of the deaf cried out that he was Mormon. Since he was willing to listen and not recruit, I told them he should be welcome. I have shared before how I had planned to "knock heads" with him one Sunday because of comments he had made the previous week. I opened my Bible as he came up after the service and got my verses ready. He sat down and asked me to explain to him how to get saved! My double-barreled shotgun was ready, but he wanted to be saved! For weeks, he had a long list of questions to ask after every service. Then he disappeared. When he returned three weeks later, he told me he had gotten with old friends and had done wrong. He said he could not sleep at night and was grieving all day long. He wanted to know if he needed to get saved again. I was thrilled to explain that God was correcting him AS HIS CHILD, not as a lost person. He made things right with God and quickly became our most fervent soul winner. He led his soon-to-be wife to the Lord a few weeks later. They are very faithful to the church, to the Lord and to his faith. They are now faithfully serving in the church and are continually bringing friends to Christ. We rejoice that God is allowing them to become one in Him.
     Thank you for your faithfulness in support and in prayer. Times are difficult and if you read the newspaper or watch the evening news, you know about Mexico. Pray for peace for this country. We have learned how to live among the problems but realize that could change at any minute. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers.
Gary & Ann}