Laynes' Line

     While we were on furlough in 2007, the church invited Armando Hernandez to become the pastor of the church. However, they failed to make anything official as far as offering him a "call" or putting anything down on paper. We have been  working with Armando so we could correct the oversight and make him "official." The church called a business meeting for yesterday following the service. We had 41 of 58 total members present which was a victory in itself. Of the 41 present, 23 were welcomed in as new members. The session went well without problems and the vote was 38 in favor and three opposed (we are a Baptist church after all). It gave Armando a wonderful feeling to know that it was so near unanimous. That amounts to 93% of the vote. Three men were unable to be baptized last week with the other 7. They begged until Armando agreed to baptize them yesterday, without their bringing clothes, towels or anything else and in water that had stood for one week wit...

     WOW! Ever have one of those services in your church? We hope so. That was our service last Sunday. Armando presented a good message on prayer followed by a baptismal service. I mentioned that Omar had approached me about getting baptized. That set off a couple of classes on baptism since a couple of the folks were younger. By the time of the service on Sunday, seven had decided to be baptized.      We had a cool spell come through last week so the temperature was a little cool  and our baptistry is outside. Armando warmed some of the water, but when the younger ones entered, it took their breath. Ruth Irene was the first - one of the children of two of our deaf who met and married in the church. Later, two teenagers (19) followed by Monse, the wife of Omar. These folks (Omar and Monse) came to us from a totally LOST background, with absolutely no interest in salvation. We have since learned that Omar was the "devil" of the subdivision b...

     Ann is home with very few pains and seems to be in good health and a good amount of stamina. Thank you so much for praying and caring. As it turned out, the surgery ended up being a very "normal" surgery and she should recover very quickly. How good God is! Thank you. Gary & Ann Layne

     Ann came through surgery better than could be expected. She has been "up" the last several days and that has helped. Her test yesterday showed only minor problems with her heart. She was scheduled for 8:30 this morning and they took her in at 8:40 and started the actual surgery at 9:20. BEFORE 10:20 she was out of surgery and headed to recovery. A little while later she was brought to the room awake, perky and chatting away in Spanish with the nurses.      The doctor removed her left ovary to be sure there was nothing else there and sent it all to pathology.He inspected the rest of the abdomen and found nothing unusual. When he met Cheyenne and I, he was beaming and said, "It was benign. It was definitely benign. There was nothing else there. Anita is fine."      Thank you so much for praying. She is still a little sore and has had some pain, but looks terrific (I'm prejudiced!!). She will spend the night there and be re...

     Ann went for her pre-op check-up last Friday and was told there was a question about her heart. She had two problems that needed to be addressed. 1. Her heart was extremely slow, much like a marathon runner, but not due to extreme exercise. 2. Some of the "peaks" on her EKG were not present, and the doctor wanted to make sure that it was not a major coronary problem.      Today we went for the sonogram of her heart under stress and all was declared to be within the "normal" levels with the exception that one ventricle is remaining at rest too long on the diastolic. That should not cause a problem with the surgery.      Her cyst has grown from 6.7 cm. to 9.3 cm. That is approximately from the size of a baseball to nearly the size of a softball. It APPEARS to be benign with no shadows and thin walls. With the additional growth, Ann decided to go ahead and have it removed.      Lord willing, it will be ...

      Thank you to all of you who have been praying for Ann's health. We went yesterday for her follow-up tests and they showed that her cyst had grown almost an inch in the last three months. It is now beyond question that it MUST come out soon. Ann is in agreement with this, so we will move quickly towards getting the surgery lined up and executed. Ann has felt a little better for the last couple of days, so that should help her recovery. Please continue to pray for her as she faces this new step in her life.      Armando returned last week to check on the church and then returned to Monterrey to be with his father. After chatting and praying together, he and his father decided that Armando needed to be here. He returned on Thursday and is here to stay unless something changes with his father. Please pray as Armando feels the Devil trying to stick his head in this issue. Seventy deaf folks are all for Armando and ONE is trying to stir thin...

      One solid month of tremendous blessings! We had five straight weeks that deaf were saved in our services, several of them "special." One such salvation was Juan Manuel. JM came for the first time about a week after Christian Carlos got saved. He is one of Carlos' best friends but he had no interest in hearing the Gospel. When he arrived home, he was chastised by his mother since the "Bible came from the United States." He has come for a couple of special services in the last three years but eventually became so hostile that he told Carlos he never wanted to see him again (after shoving him - Carlos is about 5 feet 4 inches and JM is about 6 feet 4 inches). He had not come for over two years.      JM came three Sundays ago and listened carefully to John 4 and our need to worship God in spirit and in truth. After the service, Carlos brought him to me and asked if I would talk to him. I was happy to do so. I shared with him the plan of sa...