January-February, 2014
Blessed be the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ:
Dear Praying Friends,
Thank you
so much for praying for us as we labor here. The year 2014 was one of the best
in a long while. We had many battles and many victories. We were able to lead nine
deaf to receive the Lord and some hearing folks along the way. There are times
when it seems we just cannot get the new ones to understand, and then all of
the sudden the Lord opens the doors and several come to a real knowledge of
Him. We are so grateful for His faithfulness to us.
Our city
celebrated its 473rd birthday on February 14th. It is
obvious from some of the buildings that it is a very old city, but to realize
HOW old is still amazing to us. We have often made comment that 50 years after
“Columbus sailed the ocean blue,” Guadalajara was moved to its permanent spot
and authorized as an official city. It was moved three times before settling in
its present location. It now has become a huge metropolitan area which goes far
beyond the official city limits.
The end of
the year brought our latest wedding and with it a boom in repairs and upgrades.
The building was built between 1990-1994. Many of the rooms needed repairs
and/or upgrades and we had been trying to make some of these repairs. We
started with Gary climbing on the roof to rearrange clay tiles. Quickly,
several of the younger, newer members replaced him voluntarily and they carried
on the work of repairing several damaged areas of the stucco and replacing the
tiles. What a blessing to see the younger generation getting a burden to continue
the work. They painted the outside of the building and parts of the inside,
getting ready for the December wedding.
The wedding
was between one of our youngest members (a third generation Christian who was
born and raised in the church) and our 6 feet 6 inch newer member. There were a
few cold feet at the last moment and a much stressed crowd, but all was
resolved and they happily gave their vows to one another in the presence of
church and family numbering about two hundred.
Each week,
although we are lower in number at present, we are seeing 4-6 visitors each
week, many of them deaf we have not seen in twenty years. Maybe they are just
checking us out, but they are welcome to come and hear the Gospel. One young
man is an uneducated deaf from a neighboring town who was excited to see there
are other people just like him. We are trying to help the missionary couple in
that village learn sign language to better minister to him.
The outward
appearance is that all is calm now in the country but the truth is that they
have narrowed the battles down to fighting each other. In the past, the battles
appeared to be with anyone who might be caught between the factions, but it
seems the battles now are more between the authorities and the criminals.
Fighting is still a daily occurrence, but it seems to be more at night and
between members of certain groups. Continue to pray for the country as they
strive to solve these major difficulties. Many of the churches have suffered
and continue to suffer as their towns are shut off and sealed during these
battles. The work of the Lord continues on, but at times under difficult
situations. Where we are, things seem to have quieted greatly in the last year.
Thank you
so much for your continued faithfulness in prayer and support. As you can see,
God is not dead. He is still working abundantly and without fail. We so
appreciate your allowing us to be part of your ministry.
For
DEAF souls in Mexico,
Gary
& Ann Layne
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