Laynes' Line

     Praise the Lord for another wonderful Lord's day. We had good attendance, good preaching and good attitudes. Our dear friend, Pedro, says he has returned. We trust that is true and that he continues to be faithful.      Folks are getting excited as we are planning our Independence Day celebration for Mexico. Just as we celebrate the Fourth of July, they celebrate the 16th of September. The church is planning a big day on the 12th as a means of inviting more deaf as well as celebrating liberty. Pray that souls will be saved this day.       Please really pray for our country. We have now confirmed that the cartels are approaching churches in northern Mexico and demanding a monthly fee, or pay the consequences (two eye witnesses and an AP report). Some are giving in and some say, "Shoot me." The President of Mexico admitted this past week that in places, the cartels are not just interested in the money, but are taking ...

August  2010 He hath made every thing beautiful in his time...   Ecclesiastes 3:11 Dear Praying Friends, If ONLY we could wait for His own time. God has a plan for Mexico and He is working it out whether or not we are able to see it. Such as, since August 3, we have been without Internet even though we filed several complaints to the company. They eventually got here this week, and we now have Internet, sometimes. Oh if we could only learn during our times of impatience! Our only deacon has been causing a lot of problems because he was not in agreement with the vote of the church that Armando be our permanent pastor (vote was 38 to 3), and so he had been stirring discontent with some of the deaf on the fringes of our membership. Suddenly without much notice, he walked out of the church and has not been back. We certainly pain in our hearts to see them go, since we led them to the Lord in the early 80’s, but if this is what it takes to stop sowing discord, we will be bette...

Hi again!      Since August 3-4 we have been with little or no Internet. We filed three reports of failure and finally got some action yesterday afternoon late. From our front wall at the highway to our yard, there were four patches in the wires which we allowing false contacts. The technician rewired everything except our house. So finally, we have at least a little confidence in starting an Internet connections again. I will be getting an update here and a prayer letter out today. Thank you for your patience. Gary & Ann

     Thank you so much for praying for the direct guidance of God in our lives. He has been so good to show us His will. Thursday afternoon we boarded a bus in McAllen, Texas for our trip back to Guadalajara. We decided to leave our vehicle with a friend there and come in by bus. That obviously puts us at a disadvantage here, but we found peace in the idea. You prayed us through the hurricane and our arrival to Texas. While there, the conditions in Mexico continued to worsen. Without petitioning any information, we learned of Mexican and American missionaries, pastors and American citizens who had been stopped or held for ransom, their vehicles stolen or threatened in some major way (we learned, not third hand stories, but from the individuals themselves). National pastors had begged that American missionaries not enter most of the most heavily contested areas. The day before we left, The US State department issued another warning, the strongest yet, that no American...

     Many of you wrote to expressed that you specifically prayed that going through the hurricane would keep the cartels at bay! We were floored that so many had prayed exactly that way. It worked!       We have just been sent pictures of the damage in Monterrey. Ever wonder why the Lord led us AWAY from Monterrey even though it put us right in the middle of the big band of rain. We have driven these roads many times and know almost each of these locations well. Our deaf folks are all OK. CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE.       

     Have you ever driven through a Category 2 hurricane 2 hours before landfall? We really didn't plan to either. As you are aware, our vehicle permits were expiring and a long chain of events disrupted our schedule to the max. We fixed a heavy tarp over our patio on Monday which probably saved our washer and dryer yesterday. That caused a one day delay in our leaving. Tuesday caused another change of scheduling as the hurricane was originally scheduled to arrive Thursday afternoon/evening.  No trouble. We could easily slip out Wednesday and be settled in before the hurricane set in. Tuesday afternoon they cut 12 hours off the arrival time. Now we are looking at Wednesday Midnight as landfall.Since the border would be 12-14 hours away, we prayed and felt the Lord led us to depart early Wednesday with a mad rush to get out before the hurricane hit.      As it turned out, landfall was another 4 hours less than what had been predicted. We trave...

     Thank you for your interest in our ministry and your faithfulness in praying. I know many of you are praying for us as we make this trip. Yesterday, Cheyenne and Roberto brought a large tarp to cover the patio are of the house and we spent all day on ladders and the roof fixing it so it won't rain in on our dryer and other equipment. Last night my arthritis was acting up so much I knew we could not leave early today. SO, we are planning an early leave tomorrow (Wednesday) with the possibility of going straight through. Sunday are all of the local elections and the government is expecting the drug lords to interfere, stop or make difficult any voting, especially in the border areas. We definitely want to be out of Mexico before the weekend.      Even the less dangerous route we have chosen involves going through two check points where the gangs have this week attacked the Army & Navy who are stationed at these checkpoints. We KNOW He is f...