July 2021
Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
Dear Praying Friends,
We praise the Lord every day for the opportunity to tell others of Him. We are also very thankful that He continues to give health to carry on His work in a foreign country.
We read that in many places the mask requirements are being lifted and things are returning to normal. We are still under a mask mandate and have just read that the numbers have taken an increase here. They are supposedly finishing the vaccination of the 50’s and will soon move on to the 40’s. That still leaves the vast majority of citizens without any vaccination. The churches are finally allowed 75% of their regular attendance to return – after a year and a half. We have talked with folks from parts of the USA, Central America and here that all say their churches have suffered and continue to suffer from the pandemic. It will take many months to restore our church to its pre-pandemic state. Many of those who were on the outskirts of our church – not faithful attenders – have found other ways to occupy themselves during this closure. Our ministries have been shut down with only three weeks to be open with 20% of membership allowed. No one over 60 or under 18 were allowed. The window would be opened for a week and then closed immediately.
Through all of this we recognize that God is still in control. We wonder if He is seeking to clear out half-hearted “followers” and bring back conviction-based faith (the only kind). One large difference with our ministry and others who work with the deaf is that they cannot turn on the TV or radio and continue to get Bible teaching. That leads us to our main ministry right now.
Shortly after the pandemic was declared, everything was mandated to close. All of the deaf in our church were suddenly laid off with no means of support. We sent essential food packages to all who were without means of support. Gary decided that he would post a short devotional in social media to keep everyone encouraged. He started with Psalm 119. He was finishing verse 100 when he was taken to the hospital last September. When he was healthy again, he decided to continue teaching, but with a longer time (previously he was limited to 5 minutes). Since then, he has been teaching Bible principles once or twice a week with a slide/video presentation. With the deaf, they need the visual presentation by slides to see exactly the words being taught, then they need a video presentation signed where they see the lesson in their own language. Usually, the slide is shown followed immediately by the lesson taught in signs. These lessons range from 20-30 minutes. It takes up to 10 hours to prepare each lesson. We are praying that God will use these lessons to bring many of the folks back to relating personally with the Lord on a daily basis. Pray for faithfulness in our church.
We check from time to time with our embassy here just to see how things really are. We are surprised to find we are in a red zone, “should not travel” – not due to Covid but due to violence. Praise the Lord, He keeps us. Thank you for praying and giving to keep the Gospel going forth.
For DEAF souls in Mexico,
Gary & Ann Layne
Comments