Archive for 2007

Update – July 28

July 28, 2007 9:32 pm
  • Trip North
  • Camp
  • Trip South
  • Thank You

Trip North
It was a long slow trip headed up to camp. We have been having a problem with our truck that none of 7 mechanics were able to figure out. Finally we were convinced it had to be computer related. This meant that we were going to try and make the trip to camp and on to the border of Texas where I could pick up a computer module at a junk yard for much cheaper than it was available for here.

In the end, the problem was the fuel pump which lasted, at least, till we got to where we were going to be staying for a few days on the border. We literally pulled into the mission apartment, shut off the truck, and it never started again until after it was repaired. God got us to where we needed to be and then the truck was down for the count.

But before we got to that point, we had finished camp in Tampico and were headed to the border for a few days. About 4 hours after leaving camp our transmission completely died. We had to have it rebuilt along the way. God provided direction through a couple of different people He put in our path as well as He provided the money to pay for the repair.

Camp
On the way up, we stopped in Tampico for camp. Camp was wonderful. We had 93 campers, which is a record for recent years. There were at least 3 salvations during the week.

Though we were in a new location and were concerned with working out all the unknown details, God gave wisdom and we were able to handle everything that came along. Even the dogs walking through the middle of the auditorium during the services did not seem to be much of an issue.

Trip South
When we finally got the truck fixed and running well, it was a blessing to get into it and be able to drive without fear of it losing power or dying every time we slowed down for a speed bump or town.

Other than the 3 hour detour that took us about 30 miles down the road, the trip was uneventful. We left the border a bit later than we wanted, therefore we were pushing to be home in 3 long travel days. The 3 hour detour made that even more difficult, but we were able to make it home safely.

Thank You
Thank you for your prayers. God kept us safe and gave us a great camp. We enjoyed the 3 days we were able to spend doing some shopping in the US. God provided the money for the travel expenses through one of our supporting churches.

Update – July 10

July 10, 2007 8:30 am

We are leaving for camp today. We are a day delayed because of car problems. God gave wisdom and we seem to have things working well. Please pray for us. Breaking down between towns is not a pleasant prospect.

We will be in camp from July 16-20 then we will take about a week getting back home. Should be just short of a 3 week trip. We are using this as a vacation time as well.

Update – July 5

July 6, 2007 10:41 pm

We are getting ready to head north for camp in a couple of days. We have been doing a lot of preparation this year. Seemingly, more so than in the past. I guess that has to do with the fact that camp will be at a new location and we just have so many unknowns.

Pray for these needs:

  • We will finish up the last of the needed truck repairs.
  • Final details about camp (particularly the cooks) will be worked out.
  • Travel to and from camp.
  • Finances will be provided.
  • Lives will be changed at camp.

The camp in the north will be from July 16 to 21. When we get back from that week (approximately the first of August), we will be finishing the preparations for camp here in Yucatán. This will be our first year to do a camp here. Out of necessity, it will be a day camp. The dates will be August 15-18.

June 2007 Prayer Letter

June 13, 2007 11:53 am
  • New visitors
  • Medical mission trip update
  • Camp planning trip went well
  • Camp financial blessings and needs
  • Two salvations

Dear Friends,
God has blessed us with several visitors at church recently. One Sunday we had 7 seminary students visiting us, all of which are interested in special education. Through them, God reminded me of the wonderful blessing it is to be in the ministry and serving Him. One of the students could not stop talking about what a blessing it was to see people dedicated to helping the Deaf. For us, it is what we do because God called us into this ministry. It is easy to lose focus on the fact that God is using us in a special way. As we started the second service, this young man sat on the back row with his wife and cried for 10 minutes praising God for the work we were doing. That was very humbling and a wonderful reminder of the special blessing it is to serve the Lord.

In the last letter I asked you to pray for two upcoming trips. The trip to Valladolid with the medical team was a wonderful blessing. We were able to see more than 120 people come to the Lord! A local pastor worked with us and will be able to follow up on many of these decisions.

After my trip to Valladolid, I flew to Tampico for our planning session about camp. That went very well, even though my luggage took a trip to Guadalajara without me. We have many of the details worked out about camp. There are still a few issues to deal with. Pray that God will give wisdom in those areas. Camp will be July 16-20 near Tampico.

Last year, through the donation of generous churches, we were able to raise a good amount of money for camp. Enough, in fact, to be able to cover most of the cost of camp for this year. However, personally, we are in need of money to help us with our trip to and from camp. It is a 2 or 3 day trip each way (depending on weather, road conditions and traffic). If you would like to help with those expenses indicate that in your donation as being for our camp trip. We estimate the cost of the trip to be $1200.

Recently I was asked to make a visit in the home of a deaf young man. He had told his mother that he was looking for new friends and that he wanted to leave the group he had been hanging around. The mother got word to me to go by and visit. Bill Green and I went to see him. Though he was not home we were able to present the Gospel to his mother and younger sister who both accepted the Lord as their Savior! There are two deaf men in the family, both in their 20’s. The younger brother (not the one we originally went to see) and mother have been in church with us the last few weeks. I have since been able to talk with the older brother and we hope to see him in church with us soon.

Bill and Jennifer Green are the missionaries who will be taking this ministry after we get it well established and head off to start another work. Bill has started taking half of the preaching and teaching responsibilities in the church. It is exciting to see them plug right into the ministry. Bill has some great, God-given, wisdom in managing things in the work. They just passed their 1 year anniversary of being on the field with us. Please pray for them as they will be taking more and more responsibilities within the ministry.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Update – May 14

May 14, 2007 2:48 pm

Wow! I can't believe it has been over a month since I have given an update. That means that I also must be pretty late on getting a prayer letter out. I will work on that this week.

  • Prayer letter coming soon
  • Tampico trip update
  • Church visitors
  • Two salvations
  • Preaching duties being shared

Update – March 31

March 31, 2007 8:57 pm

The trip to Valladolid is over. I got home Friday night. I don't think I will recover from this trip for a while. There were about 40 of us together for the week. Most of whom were in their mid-20s. And since I am who I am, I had to be in the middle of everything. The last one to bed and the first one to rise. They wore me out!

We were in 5 different villages around the town of Valladolid. A new place each day. The essence of the work this week was basic medical needs. There were a couple of very minor surgeries performed, but most of what we did was just give out pain medication and helped with rashes and infections. The dental group gave out tooth brushes and pulled teeth.

The Gospel was presented to well over 700 people. I am not sure how many exactly. Through Thursday there were 119 who had received Christ as Savior! I did not get a count on Friday before our evangelist had to leave.

I was not involved directly in any of the evangelism. The way it was handled was far better than me doing it anyway. We had a local pastor who worked as our evangelist. He now has a list of all the names of the people who were saved and which villages they live in. He lives within 25 minutes of all of these people.

Thank you for praying. This group has been to some of these villages before. Many of the people who spoke with our evangelist told him that they had been saved when the group had been there previously.

Within a few weeks the medication that was given to help these people will be used up. Some results will be permanent, many will not. But the eternal results are that there were well over 100 people saved and possibly more as the pastor follows up these decisions with visits in the homes. Praise the Lord for a wonderful week!

Now I get to sleep 2 nights in my own hammock and then it is off on another week long trip to plan for camp.

March 2007 Prayer Letter

March 24, 2007 11:13 pm

Dear Friends,
“Truly David, the fact that your family and friends have given the message of salvation to me and the other Deaf gives us the hope that there awaits for us something better beyond this world.” This was sent to me by one of the teachers at the deaf school who was saved last summer. This is why we are doing God’s work!

We know that God is working among us as we see evidence of it in the ministry. In the last letter I mentioned that a man had started coming to church after seeing our new church sign. His name is Benjelimer (Ben). He has come very faithfully since that first Sunday. Because he works out of town and travels by bus to work, he is only able to be with us 2 out of the 4 weekly services. But he is always there.

This month we had a church activity in which we invited the family members of those Deaf. We had 14 visitors that night. Ben brought two of them. Ben asked me then to be at his birthday party the next week so that I could present the Gospel to all of his Deaf friends. When I stood to give the Gospel, many of the Deaf had not yet arrived. But I shared Salvation with the 25 hearing and Deaf who were there. The father of a young deaf girl who attends our church raised his hand for salvation. I prayed with him and he accepted the Lord that night! This is a man our church had specifically been praying would be saved.

The next couple of weeks will be busy. I will be going to another town for a week to help a medical team. I always enjoy these types of ministries. The missionary who invited me on the trip said that last year he led over 200 people to the Lord in the week! He takes them in groups of 15 while they are waiting in line to see the doctors and shares the Gospel with them. I know that sounds like sensational numbers, but there is a line of people waiting to be seen by the doctors for 10 hours a day. I am not sure if I will be in the waiting room witnessing or helping the doctors with translation, but either way, it will be an honor to be a part of this ministry for a week. That will be March 26-30.

The following week I will be gone to meet with other missionaries working with the Deaf here in Mexico. This will be a planning week for camp this summer. It seems so far away, but there is much to get ready before July. Pray for this trip and that we will get everything prepared as we should.

While I am in and out over those two weeks it gives Bro. Bill Green an opportunity to preach to and teach the Deaf in the church. He will be covering 3 services in my absence. Bro. Green has been working with us since their arrival on the field in May of 2006. This is a great time for him to start stretching his language abilities and start into a more public ministry. Pray for Bill during this time that God will give him the clarity of thought to be able to properly teach God’s Word.

I am eager to share with you what God will do during these next few busy weeks. Pray that God will use all of us here to honor Him in our ministry.

Update – March 19

March 19, 2007 4:35 pm

In the last update I told you about an opportunity that I had to present the Gospel at a birthday party. Benjelimer (Ben) invited me to share something from the Bible for his party since he was inviting all of his Deaf friends. He wanted the Bible presentation to be the first item on the agenda. When we started there were only about 5 Deaf there. Along with his family and other friends there were about 25 people when we got started.

I gave a simple Gospel presentation and had an invitation. One of the men (hearing) for whom we have been praying accepted the Lord as his Savior! This is the father of one of the young deaf ladies in our church.

There were many other Deaf who eventually arrived. There were probably 40 people who came to the party. We praise the Lord for the one saved. Especially since he was someone who we had been praying specifically for.

Then yesterday at church our birthday celebrant brought a couple of Deaf friends to church who I had never met. They are unsaved and know nothing about the Bible. They are in their mid-20s. Pray for us as we work to see Mario and Nidia brought to the Lord.

Update – March 10

March 10, 2007 11:29 pm

We had a great activity tonight at the church. There were 14 visitors!

The activity was an invitation to all the family members of those who attend our church. We did a skit and played some games. I was also able to give a presentation of the Gospel. There were a few who indicated that they were not saved. We did not have any accept the Lord tonight, but I plan to follow up on them over the coming days.

One of the men who has been coming a short time asked me to teach a Bible lesson at his birthday party next week. I am quite thrilled at his maturity in seeing the opportunity to have the Gospel presented to his friends. That will be next Saturday evening.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Update – March 3

March 3, 2007 11:06 am

We have a big church activity coming up next weekend. We are going to have a special meal for the families of those who attend our church. We are inviting parents and siblings of all our attendees. That will be March 10. I will be presenting the Gospel that night to the family members. Please pray that this will be well attended so that we can reach others for the Lord.

Recently I got an email from a church asking us to pray for an event in the church. The writer ended the email with this comment “We thank you so much for your service to the Lord on our behalf.”

That was an encouragement to me and also a reminder of the importance of what we do. Thank you Emmanuel Baptist Church.