Laynes' Line

Dear Praying Friends,      The latest update on our requests is that Tere is better, even though she passed through another crisis during the night. The doctors told her she did not have to worry about another total failure because of the medicine they have her on. She is still in danger, but is in the hospital with specialized care 24 hours a day. That will make a big difference. Please continue to pray for her.      Wendell Drake is home, doing very well after a five by-pass operation. He wishes to thank all of you for praying and for those of you who responded to tell us you were praying. He will continue on through cardiac therapy to strengthen the areas disturbed in the operation, but he sounds very strong and very positive. I promised we would continue to pray for full recovery and would appreciate your prayers as the Lord calls him to your memory. Let me give you a quick background with Wendell. As you realize, a missionary is normally on...

Sunday Dedication of Fernando's Baby      Anna (much like her Biblical counterpart) was unable to conceive but begged God for a baby. After two years, the Lord heard and answered her prayers. The baby is just over a month old and was dedicated to the Lord today. I could not help but think of other second generation "members" and one third generation member. God has been so good to allow us to reach many of these deaf and are now seeing their children filling the pews.      Please pray for Wendell Drake (my hunting partner) who will be undergoing open heart surgery in the morning. Wendell is a faithful Christian who teaches an adult class at his church and has held various positions in the Lord's work. He will be receiving between 3-5 by-passes. Please pray for a speedy recovery and for successful surgery.      More news will be coming this week in our regular letter. Keep tuned.

     How wonderful it is to get people to stop long enough to think about what Easter is all about. Fortunately, here, no one has any idea of what the "mythological quadruped" is (Easter Bunny) . My Greek teacher taught his kids that phrase when they were toddlers. To our folks, Easter means vacation. They say that for these two weeks in certain areas, you cannot find enough room to place a beach towel. For our deaf who stayed in town, it was a chance to be reminded about who Christ is. Our attendance was low, but that is normal for a city that almost empties for two weeks. For us, it reminds us of the city we discovered in 1983, a quiet, laid back colonial city. That city no longer exists.      We are very concerned for the folks with whom we share our lives. This country in is the midst of a struggle for existence. Please note that where we are in Guadalajara, there are problems but consistent with any large city. However, in the last four weeks, mu...

     I apologize for not getting this blog updated for several days, but my main computer was down and took almost a week to repair it. Let's get to the news. Praise the Lord, Junior (the man beaten up) was not seriously injured. The men attacked him as he opened his front door and immediately threw him to the ground. Chances are, they said something to him or asked him something, but since he is deaf, he never heard them. They tried to stab him several times with a knife. He screamed loudly several times and his neighbors ran out and scared off the men. It ended up that they took nothing! He protected his new Bible in front of his chest, and the solidness of the Bible inside his backpack kept the knife from entering his body. He praises the Lord that his new Bible was not damaged and thanks Him that his injuries healed quickly. He bought the Bible THAT VERY DAY!      This country where we minister is in a state of grave danger and appears it will be ...

     Omar opened our services today and led all the activities until the preaching time. What a blessing to see how the Lord is working in their lives! You could imagine that they have been in church all their lives, not just seven months. He usually can answer questions that Pastor Armando asks during the preaching and yet they came totally ignorant of God's Word. It just shows what the lord can do if someone wishes to be in His hand to be used.      It just happened to be our pastor's birthday, but a "party" was never announced. All of the folks just got their heads together and put it together this last week. We all consider him our "young" pastor, but you can see the number on his cake. He preached a good message as always and then invited everyone to stay around for cake. We all pitched in about $3.85 for steak on the grill, nopales (cactus), grilled onions and chorizo (red, spicy, chili flavored sausage) and quesadillas (cheese in tortilla...

     As I mentioned last week, we had AT LEAST 120 in attendance in at our Valentine's Day services. Of those, four asked Christ to be their Savior following the services. One of them was Alicia, a married lady who first came to our deaf church when she was 16 years of age. We have witnessed to her MANY times, but she never really responded. Now, at about forty years of age, she, her husband and best friend all came to know Christ last week. Sometimes, the Lord is so patient with us in preparing our hearts to receive His word!        The other person will remain anonymous, but has attended several times recently. He is married to one of our young ladies who also began attending several years ago. They have had a very difficult marriage with the young lady often coming, begging for counseling and prayer. It seems that their relationship has been one of a cat and dog in the same house. It often came to physical blows. She is a smaller lady a...

     The doctor released Ann today from the hospital. She had done exceptionally well with the exception of a new medicine last night. It seemed that it slowed her down some. However, considering the serious reaction she had Thursday, she is doing well. After CAT scan, tests, two days in the hospital, etc. they decided it was probably caused by ?? The combination of anemia, low potassium and the abscess may have worked together to cause the shut-down she suffered. SUNDAY     Casey and I just returned from deaf church where there were between 110-120 deaf present. The day was planned full of activities but we begged their pardon to be able to return home early to check on Ann. I expect that several of the new deaf will trust Christ as Savior today. Armando preached an excellent message on the Love of God today and presented the Gospel several times.      However, Armando's dad is worse, so it may mean he will have to leave again ...