Dear Friends,
      We have excellent news to share from yesterday. Many times folks from the States will ask us if we have certain days of celebration here. Obviously, we have them, but do not celebrate as you might because our holidays are different (Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, etc.). On of the biggest days of celebration here is the 16th of September, comparable to your Fourth of July. The 16th falls on a weekday this year so we celebrated early as opposed to after the day. We planned a large Independence Day yesterday planning to feed about 50 with a local plate of pozole (hominy soup) with all the trimmings. We were asked to dress as Mexican villagers as they would have in the 1800's. The deaf also planned to celebrate my (Gary) birthday which is today. 
      Some of the deaf went out of their way to invite other deaf. We left our house about nine thirty AM with the help of one of our deaf couples loaded with food and decorations. We worked almost non-stop from ten thirty until after six PM. I counted about seventy in the adult service plus all the kids. All told there were about 85 deaf in the service. Fernando preached a wonderful salvation message and Ann taught the children. I counseled about ten persons individually and sometimes as a family after the service. The Lord allowed me to lead one new lady to the Lord. She came quickly after the service asking to be saved and quickly seemed to understand completely. 
      There were a few that we had not met, but many were ones we had ministered to years ago. Although they have chosen not to come to the services through the years, they returned to this special service and to help celebrate both the festive day and my birthday. There is a respect that we preach the truth and when they need to know the Truth, they come here. 
     We left the church at dark, excited but totally exhausted. It had been a while since we saw these numbers and we pray that we will continue to have opportunities to minister to these folks.This was possible because folks in the States are concerned enough about the deaf here to keep the doors open and allow us to continue to have an influence in the deaf community. Thank you for caring.
Gary & Ann

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