Laynes' Line

April 2011 Psalm 121  1 I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help.   2 My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth. Dear Praying Friends, As I write this, we are making final preparations to travel to our BIMI Field Conference near Atlanta. We praise the Lord for His working recently in preserving what He has begun. As I reported in our blog, two families had apparently made a commitment with another disgruntled deaf person that as soon as we left for the field conference, they would jump Fernando Casillas, the acting pastor of the church, take his keys and then work to sell the church from under the deaf. However, the plan was openly discussed by them among LOST deaf who promptly reported it to us! After several days of investigation and prayer, the men decided that we needed to confront them openly and publicly. We did that in March, and were they ever surprised! The main leader attempted to proclaim that he knew nothing about it, ...

     We praise God for His continual blessings on us and the protection of His mighty hand. For yesterday, Fernando asked me to preach and have the baby dedication. The deaf paid good attention and seemed to understand the message. After the main service, we had the dedication service for our two new babies. Both families wanted to make it known to their families, that they were NOT going to have their babies baptized, even though they pressure them greatly. This was their own decision, but they have taken a stand because of their experiences with their family. We praise the Lord for their spiritual strength. One family was dedicating their fourth and the other were newly weds dedicating their first.      Yesterday also brought a rather disturbing announcement from the American Consulate in Reynosa that NO American should cross the border into Mexico because the drug people have announced that they are going to start killing American police person...

Dear Praying Friends,      Sunday God gave a victory that surprised everyone involved. I had not sent out a special request because I focused on trying to be who God wanted me to be for this event. We left for furlough the end of 2007 with the unique desire to return to reach the deaf in other cities in a radius of 2-3 hours from here. Before we returned, the church invited Armando to come and be the pastor. He did an excellent job and we enjoyed every minute of his ministry here.      For approximately five years, Pedro has not been faithful to church, averaging maybe three visits a year. During his absence, the church voted to make Armando the permanent, senior pastor of the church. As you recall, the vote was 38 for, three against. We never saw Pedro at the business meetings nor again for about four or five months after the vote. When he learned the church had voted, he was furious. He wanted to know why someone did not come and tell him so he...

Dear Praying Friends,      We have been praying fervently for our brother, Sammy Birchfield, and his battle with cancer. He was moved to a hospice center this weekend and we just received word that he has  passed on into Eternity. Please pray for the Birchfield family in their loss. Many of the family are Christians and are missing their loved one, but rejoicing that God saw fit to heal him in Heaven. Sandy, his wife, is Gary's cousin. Thank you for your prayers, but please do not forget the family in your prayers. Gary & Ann

     Thank you for praying for us and for Gary's cousin's husband, Sammy Birchfield. Sammy came through a very rough weekend, but has come a long way. He was rushed to the hospital where they discovered that he was bleeding out, internally. They finally got the bleeding stopped and gave him 6 units of blood, platelets and other blood products. Add all of that together and you will see he was very close to crossing the line. Today they are putting filters in his veins to keep blood clots from moving through his body. He is able to get up to go to the bathroom now, so he has recovered well from this weekend. Sammy understands that this is a very serious situation and is ready to face it, even though he may not be fully aware how close he came this past weekend. Please continue to pray for him and the family as they look for an assissted nursing facility that can help him through this next step.      I apologize for dropping the communication, but al...

Dear Praying Friends,      Last week, Valentine, that's his real name (Valentín), accepted the Lord after the service. Most of our reaching the deaf comes after the services, not as a result of the invitation. Remember, our invitations are probably the first they have ever seen. Most of the time, they hear the message, and one of us will begin to chat with them after the service. When they show interest, we pull them aside and deal with them privately. He had been around preaching before but had never wanted to make the decision. He is a bubbly, friendly man who is happy he got saved.       At the end of our fiesta yesterday, Pedro was friendly and chatty like old times, but he had missed the last two weeks. He fumbled around in his pockets and I jokingly asked him if he were looking for his cell phone  (a reference to the phone call made about Armando). He said he didn't have a cell phone, but his face turned red and his countenance fe...

     WELL, it has happened! Last night the bad guys established 8-10 blockades throughout the city primarily to show that they could. If you remember an earlier post, the first one tried ended with 10 arrested and the governor stating that they will not allow such things here. Yesterday was the day the governor was to turn in his state of the state address and it was widely published that he was out of town.      All of the attacks started almost precisely at 9 PM. They stopped a tractor-trailer on the way to the airport, moved it across the lanes of traffic and set it on fire. They boarded a city bus as regular passengers and at the given time, forced the driver to stop at gunpoint. They ordered everyone off and then burned the bus. They stopped a car and a taxi and threw a Molotov cocktail at them causing damage, but a neighboring shop quickly quenched the flames. They tried to make another bus stop on the tracks of the metro train, but he refus...