Laynes' Line

September 13, 2009 The Lord always outdoes what we think are His limits! Our Independence Day celebration (actually it will be September 16) was FAR beyond what we could imagine. We have been preparing for weeks, but the consensus was that we should plan for 100. The fury began on Thursday with Faithann delivering her fourth child, a boy - 6 lb. 8 oz., 20 inches. We are excited that all went well and she has a happy, healthy boy. Saturday was my (Gary) birthday so we went as a family to Pollo Pepe's, a chicken place nearby. I was getting uptight because of all that needed to be completed before Sunday. Cheyenne and Ann were working furiously most of the night as well as 10-15 of our deaf young people who were busy setting up, decorating and cleaning the church. We left our house at 9:30, picked up Faithann and her children (including the newborn) and headed to church. By the time we got there, the church family was busy scurrying around getting the last minute preparations fini...

Armando's Family Armando Hernandez, our pastor at Guadalajara, took a few days with his folks after camp because his dad was having physical problems. Armando stayed a few extra days because the doctors eventually found cancer in him. Armando returned with his sister, Brenda, and the first weekend they were here, Brenda got her ankle broken playing games. They put it in a half cast, but her leg at the top of the cast turned purple and ached. After a few days, the doctors told her she needed a screw put in the back of her heel to pull the two pieces together. Since she didn't have insurance, she decided to return home where a family friend is a doctor. He immediately told her she would need 3 screws and her leg was fractured at the mid-calf area. She would need surgery to repair the break. Thursday they operated (after 2 churches helped her with the costs) and put only 1 screw in and a full cast. Please pray for this Christian family in Monterrey. The father is in the hospital ...

NEWS It always seems to be that way, good news, bad news. The bad news arrived first, with the first few deaf who came to church. Two of the deaf community (not in our church) were killed Saturday morning in a wild car wreck which sheared the car into pieces. One was 19 and the other was 21. BOTH had promised to come to our Independence Day celebration, September 13. We are planning a big day and will celebrate patriotism much as you would at home. As more and more arrived, it became evident that these boys were well known among our deaf. Some saw them this past week, some played football with them two weeks ago, but most importantly, three of them had witnessed to them several times. The boys seemed to have open hearts, but put off until tomorrow. Tomorrow will never come . Last week a new family came to visit and seemed to drink in everything that was taught. They left without the Lord but with a promise of returning next week. They did. While Armando was preaching, they we...

Please be sure to read the preceding letter to get all the details of camp. BE SURE TO CLICK ON PHOTOS FOR BIGGER PICTURES. SHEEP! What else could they be? Armando Hernandez, Pastor Group from Guadalajara David Peach - 4 year director of camp, changing to field of Argentina soon. Lunch Time Pastor Horacio Gonzalez - 25 years

July 2009 Psalm 8:1 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens . Dear Praying Friends, How excellent are His ways! We, the church, have just returned from a wonderful week at camp. It was the best spirit I have seen at camp in a long time. We have many new (younger) people who had never attended camp, so they came with an open heart and anxious to learn. Our pastors now all have nearly 15 years or more in the ministry, which gives them great wisdom in seeing the needs of the people and in sharing with them the appropriate verses. There were 11 major cities represented from all over Mexico. We honored Horacio Gonzalez for being faithful for more than 25 years as pastor of the same church. There was one decision for salvation, the only unsaved person we knew of at camp. Two hearing families, one American and one Mexican, yielded to work with the deaf full time. This is the first Mexican ...

Several years ago we were invited to an out-of-the-way place that most people have long ago forgotten about. The pastor also stated that he remembered several deaf in the area. We went with him with the idea of distributing clothing and food to the Indian population in the name of his church. At the last moment the pastor of the Huastecos (was- tĕ -kōs) said he would announce we were coming on the local radio and would round up the deaf for us. The Huastecos are very humble people who do not use currency for most exchanges, but rather barter for anything needed. When we arrived, there were five deaf ranging from 9-40 years of age who had never been to school in their life. Unlike most groups of deaf, they had no “home” signs and only communicated by pointing. We started teaching on Monday wondering how to reach them without a language. We started with mime and little by little taught them a few signs. By Friday, one of the boys asked the Lord to save him. The greatest blessing was to ...

Camp Everyone likes to go to camp! In 1983, when we first arrived in Mexico, one of our first “tests” of ministry was attending and teaching in a camp for the deaf. Ronald Henson had started the camp ministry several years before, but because of lack of help and a change of location, they had not been able to maintain a yearly camp. Nineteen eighty-three and the year following, the camp was held with a hearing group at the beach, sleeping in tents and meeting in hot, humid conditions. From that time on, we started looking for locations and teachers to help with both the deaf ministries and their hearing children. Since that time, we have missed two years of having camp, one because a camp location cancelled us out at the last moment and the other the year that the hurricane hit within 100 miles of where we were to meet. We later learned that the camp was covered with more than three feet of water for two days (what if we would have had 100+ DEAF campers to take care of ...