One Of Those Days

 Ever have one of those days?

Of course the question in my life would more appropriately be, ever have one of those days, weeks, months, years - LIVES?

Evidently I have had a very severe infection for sometime.  I wondered why I felt like I was dying a slow death!  This past Saturday you could have come to my house and watched a grown man cry in agony on his knees.  But that's a different story that I'll fill you in on later.

Today started normal enough.  After breakfast my first thought and business was to get to the bank so that I could send some money to a Mexican pastor who will be traveling here to Magdalena next week to be with us and to send our mission's support to a missionary that we support.  Well, I go out to the van and it refused to start.  My neighbor across the street happens to be out working on his car and comes over to see what's up.

Jesus, my neighbor, is a good man and a good neighbor but his family is VERY Jehovah Witness.  I have prayed for the three years that we have been in this house for his and his family's salvation.  I also am aware that God often uses everyday life to bring others to Christ.  So Jesus comes over not necessarily because my van will not start but because he has been waiting on me to come outside because he needs help with his car.  So he says, "I am working on my car today too."  "Do you happen to have this tool?"  So I go across the street to see what he needs and end up helping him take apart his front seat so that we can bring it over to my house and weld it up.  We weld it up and then go back and help him put it all together and into his van.  He takes off.  It is now 1 PM.  I have not gotten to the bank and my van still doesn't run.

I get a bite to eat and start working on the old GMC.  I replaced the fuel pump, then I replaced the fuel filter (taking a diesel bath in the meantime) but it refused to start.  I knew it was a fuel issue to start with but who knows.  Of course by this time the batteries were down and I had it plugged into life support and finally had to change out the main battery - still would not start.  Remember I am trying to get to the bank, now before it closes.  It turns out a Schroeder valve was leaking and pulling air.  Finally the good old GMC is running again!  Thank you Lord.

Well I cleaned up and took off to the bank - it was closed.  So, tomorrow I'll start again. 

It's all good as long as God gets the honor and glory from my life.  It's all good as long as God uses this life to bring others to Him.  Ever had one of those days?  I'll take them as long as God is honored!
 


Spending An Afternoon With Good Friends

Sofia

More Church Building Supplies



All Kids Love A Pinata

God Is At Work!





The Happy Couple

So we had a good trip to Navojoa and back for Martin and Imelda's wedding. Once they arrived here in Magdalena, the church had a Welcome Party for them on a Sunday. We had a big day and Peggy fixed a great American meal that was enjoyed by all. We tired to get them to add some Mexican to it but they were all excited about a real American "Thanksgiving" meal.

The church showered the happy couple with some more wedding gifts and made them feel welcomed. It was a good day for all.

The Hopeless Cause:

In contrast to the happy couple you had me for the past two weeks. I caught some type of summer cold and was worse than useless for a week. I even lost my voice and still whispered my way though the mid-week service. I finally got over that and promptly got food poisoning for a Saturday and Sunday. Of course it had to be a "big" Sunday when we were celebrating "Day of the Children" with a cook-out and fiesta for the whole church. It was great to see our people recognize that I was in a very bad way and pick up the slack and make it a great day.

I sure am glad that God can even use hopeless causes such as I!

OUT OF RETIREMENT

This past week we had to call our 99 GMC van out of retirement for a trip to Navojoa for a wedding. Although the GMC is our main use vehicle here in Magdalena we retired her from long trips as she has become less than dependable on long efforts. True to form we had gone less than an hour when she began to complain. Thankfully she endured to the end and took us there and brought us back although at one point we were traveling at the break neck speed of 35 MPH!

We traveled the eight hours down and eight back with two of the families of our work. What a tremendous blessing it was to be able to travel with them and enjoy the few days of fellowship. This is the first for both families to see and experience other churches of like precious faith. We gave them a self guided tour of our former labor in Navojoa, they saw their first christian wedding and enjoyed being part of the christian reception that followed. Now they too want to have their own christian wedding!

We had fourteen in our twelve passenger van on the way down but if we thought we were full going we were sardines returning! We added a washing machine, two sacks of 120 pounds of potatoes and all of the brides presents and suitcases. Space was at a premium!
We also took them out on Friday to an excursion to the colonial town of Alamos. They have added stairs to their lookout point since our last visit some four or five years ago. 474 to be exact. We drove everyone to the top but the youth wanted to go down the stairs and back up. Not to be left out (actually to keep an eye on the younguns) I exercise my legs and lungs. Maybe I need to be retired like the GMC from such strenuous efforts!

Doing Good

In 1 Peter 2:21 we are given our marching orders as Christians "that ye should follow His steps:" and in Acts10:38 we find those daily steps are that Christ "went about doing good,".

Really a simple formula that somehow seems to get lost in the life of most believers. Interacting in lives makes a difference and it is our goal to make that an eternal difference.

We continue to see God bless and our group slowly grow. All the while we stay active in reaching out to more and helping build those who have been saved.

I am currently building a classroom division for Peggy's Sunday morning and Abigail's Sunday evening class.

A few months ago Juan's truck gave up. What started as a small problem ended up a major issue. To say that every "mechanic" he met was dishonest and incompetent would be to put it mildly. He asked for my help and thankfully we were able to get his motor back together and running better than ever. Juan is a good man and a very real part of the work here.
The activity is our normal after service "fellowship". The above 40 crowd enjoys talking while the under 40 crowd enjoys activity.

"ANIMO" - Activity and Application

"Animo" means encouragement or to take courage. We recently had a visiting Mexican preacher with us and his comment about what stood out about the work was the "animo" that our people had both for the Lord and towards one another. I don't know if I could have asked for a better compliment!

Although I am not and have never been a "youth pastor", God has given us a good quantity and quality of youth. We have found it necessary to encourage them as they grow with their families in the things of the Lord. To this end we plan sporadic activities that are designed around an application of God's Truth. Of course we fill them with sumptuous snacks, we reward the games with simple sweets and then we focus on scriptural study.

Here are a few pictures of the last youth activity. We used our Juan Y Romanos as our study to both teach those who are saved how to share the plan of salvation with their friends and to share that plan with their friends that came to the activity.

Preparing for the Bible Study





It's a Sack You Jump In It





Not As Easy As It Looked!



Email Troubles

Earlier this week there were some issues regarding our email. The issue seems to be resolved now. Our email has not changed and it should be working now.

EXCITEMENT IS BUILDING!

I write a weekly update for our home church which our son Ezra reads before the church during their mid-week service each Thursday. To do so I keep a diary here and although the reports are a little long - they are actually condensed versions of what I keep here. I attempt to be completely honest in my perspective of the work and be neither all flowery nor alarmist.

Still, almost each contain the comment for our services "Great Services". That is the simple truth. I strive to be an optimist but must admit to leaning pessimistically. I say that to say that I am not just saying that we have great services to bolster some idea but it is the simple truth. Yes, I have been in services that were not great but after all these years in church planting the majority of any not so great a service that I have been in were in dying churches not in churches being born. I have been blessed.

So, we have great services! Our people come excited, listen attentively and hang around after services. God has allowed us to rent a building that has some elbow room and the kids and the men love to play indoor soccer after the service. This keeps everyone inside where the only safety concern is from a soccer standpoint. The ladies fellowship and the older men (that now includes me) watch and talk. It is not uncommon to have one of our closer families ask to ride the whole route so that they can be dropped off last and enjoy the fellowship just a little longer. Yes, excitement is building!

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Anna loves avocados. This was her expression when opening this one. Mostly seed and very little flesh. I bought three for her that day