Laynes' Line

Praying Friends,       You may have given up on us, but we are alive and well. We are in Guadalajara in Cheyenne's house. We had a difficult wait for passports followed by a wait on airline tickets, but we have arrived!     Two quick prayer requests: Sunday, a long time neighbor of ours was hit by a car and has two broken legs. Her name is Maricarmen. The other is from one of our deaf families. The sister of Ana Cecilia, the wife of the man leading the church passed away unexpectedly during the night. Please pray for the family.      Since we are not yet settled in our house with Internet, phone or other utility, it will still be a few days before we have full services. Thank you for your patience. An update prayer letter will follow soon.     Thank you for such a wonderful furlough time. Thank you for keeping us in your prayers as well as these two special requests. God bless you. Gary and Ann

      Our conference in Denver has ended, hearts were stirred and blessed and life has returned to "normal." It turned out to be one of the best meetings we have attended. The church has a goal of $190,000 this year for missions. Praise the Lord!      We decided to take advantage of being a few miles from the Continental Divide and toured both Rocky Mountain National Park (RMNP) and Mount Evans. We found a brochure about the latter and decided to make the drive. It started as a normal drive through the mountains. After checking in at the park entrance, we started a slow, steady climb up towards the summit. When we arrived at Summit lake, it was a lot cooler, but still nice. We almost did not walk around the hill at Summit Lake since a walk is difficult for Ann. However, I started and Ann followed. The result was seeing the 14'ers we had seen the day before in RMNP about 50 miles away. After literally catching our breath, both from the altit...

      Last week I inadvertently left my laptop on all night and several updates were added during the night. It appears that one of them overwrote a section of the program files for the operating system. The next day I was met with the blue screen of death, meaning my system wouldn't boot. Now several days later, I am back up but not totally restored yet. Hopefully, all can be transferred successfully within a few days. I apologize for the unexpected delay.      We are off once again to visit a church an hour and a half away. It seems like that has been the rule of thumb for quite a while. We have enjoyed every church we have visited with. Each one has touched us in a very special way. Recently, we encountered two different folks that I (Gary) graduated from high school with MANY years ago, and whom I have not seen since. We spent Sunday evening with a cousin in her church. Others have been folks we went to Bible college with or childhood friends. Of cou...

     WOW! What a tremendous weekend. We were invited to a deaf emphasis weekend in Lewisburg and then to stay over for Sunday services. We started Saturday with 17 deaf showing up for a devotional, meal and then games. We had a terrific day and couldn't wait for Sunday.      Sunday was just as surprising as Saturday. All but one couple who came from Charleston were there for the Sunday services. I taught SS and interpreted the morning service for the pastor. They took wonderful care of us and the deaf promised to come back for the evening service. All 15 returned for the PM service. For both services, the pastor and the deaf department prepared a very impressive program that featured and used the deaf in the services and in the DVD presentation. The evening service featured a testimony by one of the interpreters as to how the deaf ministry started, followed by the deaf leader leading the entire congregation in prayer. I preached about Christ heal...

     What a wonderful day last Sunday! It all started with a regularly scheduled report to a supporting church. However, the Sunday before, nine people had expressed interest in becoming baptized. The regular morning service was shortened, the whole church made their way to the boat ramp at a local lake, and all (along with a few fishermen and a park ranger) witnessed the baptism. Following that, the church had a church-wide picnic at the nearby area. As one father obeyed the Lord's command, his little son happily yelled out, "Way to go, Dad!" I think that even after 45+ years in the ministry, witnessing nine obeying the Lord  in believer's baptism is very near the excitement of seeing them trust Christ. What a blessed way to begin the Lord's day!      The evening service at another supporting was as exciting as could be, as we have known and loved these folks since the beginning of our call to the field. I would normally say the church was nearly f...

     God has allowed us many neat experiences this furlough with meeting new churches, new pastors, faithful Christians along with several really neat new experiences. Friday we were able to experience a long awaited meeting. Several of us who attended Appalachian Bible College together for three years all got together for a short evening of reliving our "glory" days. Of the seven of us, five were in the same class and the sixth was a year ahead of us (plus Ann who did not attend ABC). Jerry and Kathy Matt have been good friends with whom we have been able to fellowship several times through the years. Jerry Marshall (my roommate) and his wife, Jan, just moved into this area a few months ago. Gene and Laurel Summers are from Huntington, but have not lived there for years. Some of us had not seen the others for about forty four years! We enjoyed a wonderful meal and time together until we all had to depart our different ways. All of us still serve the Lord.  ...

    We had a wonderful trip to Kingsport, TN to visit with a supporting church and with many dear friends. Many years ago, this church responded to reports of our building needs with a group of 17 men and women. Eventually, they came three times in different numbers to help us complete the building. These men were primarily business men: several engineers, mechanics, a doctor, etc. They worked as hard in four days as many would work in a month. They laid the block and then placed the steel beams for our second floor of the church.      These men and women have maintained a close relationship with us through the years and are like brothers to us (as they are in the Lord). It was so good to see and fellowship with them once again. While there, the Lord gave us a good opportunity to share salvation with two, even though conditions did not allow us to complete the presentation. We were able to visit a new church, sit in on a men's prayer meeting, and give...