Summer's Conclusion

Well, summer is coming to a close.  We have enjoyed the summer that God has given us and sought to use our time for His honor and glory.

The highlights of the last month has been the visit of a couple of missionaries.  We have had the Manuel Robles family by who are from "our" state of Sonora and are raising their support to go to Panama.  We were also privileged to have the Angel Cobos Family who have been in Guatemala and are on a furlough. 

One Sunday we also met Juan Perez from Nicaragua.  Juan had attempted to cross (illegally) into the U.S. and had been caught and "thrown back" twice.  The third time brings an automatic prison sentence and he decided that he would rather return as a free man to his own country.  There were some discrepancies in his story but we chose to extended Christian hospitality.  He did have a good testimony of salvation and a letter of commendation from his Baptist Church back in Nicaragua.  

Mexican people like to have fiesta's and the people of our work are no different.  Normally we have a birthday to use as an excuse for the fiesta.  We have had several through the summer but the last birthday was for Leslie.  Leslie is Mario and Marysol's oldest daughter.  They had planned to have the fiesta at their house but at the last minute there was a change of plans due to rain.  It has been a blessing to watch Mario and Marysol grow in the Lord and a blessing to be able to help them celebrate their daughter's birthday in a Christian atmosphere.

Our biggest ministry issue has been the lack of electric power since June 21st.  It is a problem with corruption in general and at this time there does not appear to be any solution in the near future.  Our people have taken it in stride but it does limit the use of our building.  Pray with us that God would resolve that for us.

 Missionary Family Angel Cobos

  Leslie and her family

 Leslie and the church girls

 Leslie and our family

 Juan Perez

THE FULL EXPERIENCE (A Full Week)

We have had a busy start to the summer and I will have to catch you all up with our updates of the previous month latter on in another update.  In the meantime I will share the most current experiences.

EXCITEMENT:  (Youth Camp)

This past week was our annual youth camp.  With the participating churches we ended up with about seventy in total.  This was also Anna's first year as a full time camper and she was EXCITED!  Peggy and I were very hesitant to allow her to stay overnight but in the end (after much prayer) we did allow her to stay and all went well.  We had four others from our work attend and as was our experience last year, it made quite an impact on our youth.  Personally I believe this was one of the best camps to date.  I'll share more on that in a future update.

EXCESS:  (Water)

For the last two month we have not had much water.  For a period of about three weeks we did the bucket shower thing and even then had to leave the faucet on for the whole day to get that bucket full.  About the first of July is our monsoon season and it has arrived.  In fact the Mexican government has declared our area a disaster area after last nights storm.  We enjoy beautiful storms here in Magdalena.  When it rains - it really rains!  Last night it began to rain so hard during the evening service that we had to move into one of our enclosed rooms so that I could continue preaching and still be heard.  We were not there too long when a strong sewer stench overwhelmed us immediately followed by instant flooding.  We ended up with about two inches in the building.  The street outside was at the same level.  Two of our folks homes had over a foot of water in their houses and we spent the rest of the evening helping them bail out their houses and then we met today to clean the church.  The tremendous rains are really beautiful though.

EXTORTION:  (Life in Mexico)

Saturday morning I answered our house phone and my "nephew" was on the other side.  "Surprise Uncle Steven, I am traveling with a friend and want to stop by and catch up with you all."  After making all the necessary plans including telling me my address and other personal information relating to the family he says that he will see us in about an hour.  I immediately called family to see if my nephew was actually traveling, he was not.  A few minutes latter the phone rings again and it is my "nephew",  "Uncle Steven, I have been in an accident.  Let me pass the phone to this guy."  Supposedly my nephew had run into him and his wife and baby were badly hurt and for my nephew's protection blah, blah, blah needed to be handled immediately.  After listening to the whole spiel I informed the man that my only problem with the whole scenario was that my nephew was not in Mexico.  Our conversation was immediately terminated for his part.

Thankfully I had been able to contact family and know the truth.  Still, the unrest for Peggy and Anna were and are a real issue.  We just never know who is watching us and how far they are willing to go for the chance of quick riches.  We thank God for His power, His strength and His peace.  Without those we could not stay here - with God's help we are really having the time of our life!  God is good! 

Fighting the flooding

The water just kept coming

The buildings High Ground

A Memorial Day to be baptized!

Mario is Baptized

Yesterday, I met Chris

 Our normal monthly itinerary is to go up to the U.S. at the end of every month to buy supplies for both the ministry and for the house.  Peggy had ordered some special Mother Day gifts for this coming Sunday which were not yet in on our last trip out but had arrived this past Monday.  In order to have them on time then we made a special trip out yesterday.

On our trip out I noticed a black man walking south with a backpack and a bedroll but not trying to thumb a ride.  People walking on the side of the road is actually quite common and transients making their way south having been "thrown back" is normal fare.  However it is rare to see any black folk in our part of Mexico.  Although just two weeks ago I had met and witnessed with two young black men from Honduras who were attempting to cross into the U.S.   In our time here in Magdalena I have met one other black man who was here from the Dominican Republic playing for our town's baseball team.

Anyway we made our trip into the U.S. to pick up the package and do some other shopping and made our return into Mexico around 2 PM.  Somewhere between the border and Magdalena we passed the man I had seen that morning.  After making it a matter of prayer we turned around and pulled up a little past where he was walking.  I acted like I was digging something out of the back of my truck until he got to where I was and then casually began a conversation in Spanish which he did not understand.  Turns out Chris spoke English.  Chris is from Fort Smith, Arkansas and was headed to the beach.  The problem was that he thought that just over the next hill, around the next bend he would discover the beach but the nearest beach to us is about four hours driving - after a LONG deserted stretch of desert whichever way you go.

Anyway we invited Chris to allow us to give him a lift and ended up taking him farther south so that he could get on the right road to the nearest beach.  We then wrote the word PLAYA (beach) on a piece of cardboard with a "map" on the back for him to use.  We used our captive 3/4 hours to talk to Chris and witness to him.  Chris said that he was on a "spiritual" journey and God had evidently put us on his road.  There is little doubt in my mind that there was a spiritual war being waged as Chris would "come and go" on us during our conversation.

I know very little about Chris.  His birthday is today and he will be turning 26.  He is from Fort Smith, Arkansas and has a younger brother who he has not seen for a long time.  He was on foot heading west towards Rocky Point with a copy of John and Romans and a gospel tract with my name and number.  I know he needs the Lord as his Saviour and is heading into some seriously dangerous terrain and territory.

"And of some have compassion, making a difference:"  Jude vs.22

Dia de los Ninos: Children's Day

Children's Day is an actual holiday here in Mexico and is celebrated today (Wednesday 30th).  We celebrated a little earlier on Sunday. 

Our celebration included corn dogs and Otter Pops for everyone and a pinata for the children.  We had a good day and God gave us two new visitors.  Both Catholic ladies who had never been to any other church service.  For their very first time they were presented with the Gospel of Christ.  The text was from Mark 10:13-16 - "The Necessity of Child-like Faith".

Thank you for your continued interest and prayer for the work of the ministry here in Magdalena.

Children's Day Service 2014

  Enjoying our Corn Dogs

 Leslie and the pinata

 Gabriela takes her turn

 Anna, where is the pinata?

 Jesus and Michelle

Missions

It is my conviction that every missionary and every mission work should be fully involved in the work of missions.  That may seem to be a paradoxical statement but observed practice would indicate the need to make just such a statement.  I am appalled at the number of missionaries I know that do not participate in helping other missionaries nor teach their own works to help reach the world for Christ.

 

Here in Magdalena at the Iglesia Bautista de Magdalena we began supporting a national missionary from the very beginning.  Our people have yet to grasp the Biblical importance of the matter but they are learning.  One of the best ways to help them learn is to avail ourselves of the opportunities God gives us to have any willing local church missionary come by an present his burden and calling to the people.  Our latest opportunity was the Manuel Robles family who are Mexicans headed for Panama.  I have know Brother Robles for most of my time here in Mexico and he has served his home church and pastor faithfully as assistant.  They have just begun the deputation road to raise the financial support they are required to have as Mexicans to be allowed entrance into Panama.  We enjoyed the morning service with them and of course a convivio (pot luck) was required!

 

It is my prayer that this work will grow into a church with a true heart for missionary work around the world.

 

After all:  God had but one Son, and He sent Him as a missionary!

The Men's Trio

Missionary Manuel Robles

The Obligatory Convivio

After Evening Service Fellowship

What is that? Who is that?

What is That?  

Most churches have a national flag in one corner and a "christian" flag in the other.  Then they usually have some type of baptismal painting or cross in the middle accompanied by an assortment of flowers around the pulpit and platform area.  Not us, we haven't had any such items.  The front wall in our church building has been quite bare.  A blue wall, a pulpit and two plastic school chairs on each side.  In the summer we add to our decor with about five fans to help circulate some hot air.  So, what is that!

 

Last week we were introduced to our first "adorno" (decoration).  One of our families sells furniture door to door.  Jesus and Fransica were saved about a year ago and God has been at work in their lives.  Jesus is hoping to be able to begin his own line of furniture and so he has been experimenting with how he can go about getting into business.  To that end he created this "Sonora" style lamp and asked if he could give the first-fruits of his business to the Lord!  What a blessing to be able to see God at work in the lives of our people.

 

Who is That?

 

Back in October or November I participated in a conference for couples in the ministry in the city of Hermosillo.  There were three missionary families attending and I invited each to come by and present their burden to our church.  Two were not able to accommodate my invitation and the third family had not actually started their "deputation" but had come to the conference being invited by a pastor friend who rode with them.  They actually returned to the state of Chihuahua but then decided to take me up and come by to be with us as their first church in which to present themselves as missionaries.  I then made a few calls to pastors I know and set them up with several more weeks of meetings.  That was in November.  Since that time (over four months) they have been on the road and are just now coming back through on their way home to Chihuahua.  From there it is their hope to go to the town of Delicias, Chihuahua to start a new work. 

 

What a great blessing it is to be able to have a small part in helping others step out in faith to serve the Lord.

The Grace of God in Life

One of the greatest missionary struggles that Peggy and I have found at our age and time of ministry in our life has been watching our young adult age children grow up and begin to leave the nest.  While that is a normal part of life the abnormal part of it is not being in the same country to help them begin to make their way. 

As you have read in our last post we have just moved Abigail back to Ohio to live with my parents and begin to attend college there in their town.  This past Thursday at around six AM we got that dreaded call.  Abigail had just experienced her first snow accident and had repeatedly rolled her truck on her way to school.  A witness had called 911 and Abigail had immediately called us while still in her truck concerned with possible neck and back injuries.

Well as you can see, the little Ford Ranger that Abigail and I spent so much time on fixing together as a Father and Daughter project had done it's number one job in protecting Abigail but it took the full blow.  Abigail was released from the hospital a short time latter with a clean bill of health.

Thank God for His grace.