March 2007

Dear friends and family,

We hope this letter finds you all well. Things have been busy as usual here in Mexico. However, this month has not been without its challenges. Jim has had some health problems that had him in the hospital for some tests because of flashing in his right eye. He has had the problem for seven weeks now and it just doesn’t seem to go away. After all of the tests they still don’t know what is wrong, however, he is being treated now with some medication they give for migraines and it seems to be helping somewhat. We just need for God to heal him. Please pray for him.

Patrick also met with an accident at school playing soccer and tore a tendon in his foot at the ankle. He was in a cast for three weeks but he is on the mend now. Then Lisa ran into a glass sliding door and cut her nose (don’t laugh it really hurt! But it was pretty funny after the fact!) Then our car broke down on our way to Guadalupe Victoria and we had to wait 5 hours in the middle of the desert to get picked up. Of course Jim used this time to take some pictures.
We couldn’t find the right part in Mexico and had to have it shipped in from the states. Thanks to Marty Rhyne and family we are back on the road after 9 days without our Suburban. All of this plus the expense of it all has made for a very challenging month. But, God is faithful and has provided for us in so many ways. One example is that we had to go to this one doctor and the tests cost $100.00. We were both bummed that it was extra money that we just didn’t have. Then when we got home we had a check in the mail from Jim’s sister Donna in Raleigh

Guadalupe Victoria:
Our church services are going very well at the rancho. We have been averaging about 140 people at each service in a room built for 50-60. There is usually another 30-35 more adults standing outside. Lisa preached twice this month and 31 people accepted the Lord. The praise and worship at our services has been awesome. Jim hooked up a projector with the words to the songs and they are really singing out much more than ever. It sounds so beautiful to hear the people singing from their hearts to the Lord. We also need to provide a children’s service while the adults are meeting. We have over 70 children in the services and we really need to have an age appropriate service for them. Please pray for God to bring us people with a heart to help us.
for $100.00. Things like that have been happening over and over. God is so good. The doctor bills have been steep but we know God will provide.

God story! We wanted palms for palm Sunday but had no money to buy them. Told no one but then on the way to church at G.V.we saw the pruned branches from the palm trees in our neighborhood lying on the side of the road for trash pick up. We loaded them in our car and had our palms for Guadalupe Victoria! God knows our hearts and loves to bless us!

Iglesia de Gracia (the church we attend here) bought a new bed for Maria, the 78 year old woman at G.V. that is bed ridden with a broken back. She was so happy to have us visit and bring such a wonderful gift.

General:
We are still taking our Spanish classes and both got A’s on our recent exams!
Patrick continues to do well in school land we are constantly amazed at how God has blessed him with the ability to function so well in all his classes that are totally in Spanish. Imagine... chemistry, biology, physics, history and geography all in Spanish. It was tough for us in English. God is so good!

Jim had the opportunity to bless a couple in a neighboring rancho with pictures of their wedding. It was a beautiful event and the entire village was invited. No matter what their economic level Mexicans go all out for special events like this. It was an honor to be there! It was encouraging to us to find out that the pastor that officiated the wedding was saved through missionaries who came to his rancho when he was a boy. God is faithful.

Coming up:
Lisa is starting a Bible study in our home for English speakers. As we told you earlier we are constantly meeting people from all over the world who speak English and there are no English church services here. We are going to start with a Bible study and see what happens. Though we didn’t have any idea that we would be ministering to Americans and people from other countries while we were in Mexico, it just seems to be something the Lord has put in our path and keeps prodding us in our hearts. It has been a test of our obedience as we just “do it” even though it is not what WE thought we were coming here for. It is not the first time and it will not be the last time that we see again that God’s ways are far higher than our own and His plans are far greater.

We will close for now. We love you and thank you for your continued prayers and support!

Serving Him in Mexico,

Jim, Lisa & Patrick