We can hardly believe that it has been so many years since we left for Parras de la Fuente, Coahuila, Mexico that Labor day weekend in 1987! Marla and I feel that it has been a privilege to serve the Lord in the countries that he has had us live in. We counted it a privilege to be charged with preaching the gospel in front of 10,000 witnesses in Mexico. We are not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it is the power of God unto salvation.
It is a privilege now, to be in Eastern Guatemala today, serving the Lord among the Chorti villages and carrying the gospel to the unreached. Many of you have been partners with us from the very beginning. We find it difficult to express our gratitude to all of you who stand with us every month. We deeply appreciate all of our partners, and you are a partner if you sacrifice your time to pray for us, or if you sacrifice your money to give, or if you've ever sacrificed yourself to come. So we say Partners, thank you for this many wonderful years of making a difference. For those that have known us since the beginning as well as those that have joined us along the way, we hope you will read this newsletter as a testimony of what we have done together. We invite you to take a look at what we've done together over the years. Sit back and enjoy some photos of what we have done TOGETHER.
A True Mexican Tale!
The Lord knows the beginning from the end, but we don't always know. We couldn't have imagined where we would be today on that labor day weekend in '87. Our world had just changed radically and we weren't sure of anything except that we were following Jesus--wherever he would lead us.
We arrived in Mexico, with no place to stay. The friends that helped us move our few remaining personal possessions sat with us in the streets of Parras until almost midnight that Friday. The man that we were meeting was not home yet and we didn't know where else to go or stay because we didn't know anyone else in the city, nor did we speak Spanish. "We played the guitar and sang songs worshiping the Lord as we waited on him to arrive home", our daughter recalled as we reminisced about our arrival in Parras.
The next day we went to the house that we had rented only to find that it had not been plumbed with running water nor did it have electricity as the owner had promised. So the hunt began for a house to rent...and in Parras that was a difficult chore! The only thing available after searching all weekend was a 500 year old house across from the market square. so we took it! It didn't have running water inside the house but it did have a bathroom out back. The 500 year old tile was black and the commode had no seat but we were sure that we could make it work, after all Jesus said go!
The Lord soon moved us from that house and provided us with one that actually had an indoor bathroom! We soon began showing the Jesus movie in our home and from there sprang Grace Church in Parras. We broke ground in October of '88. Construction began, but we didn't wait for it to be finished to start services!
But it was finally finished!
In 1992 Immigration came and took us away prisoners, and charged with preaching the gospel. They tried numerous times to kill us, but God wouldn't let them. You can read all about it, click here:72 hours in the book of Acts . We turned the church over to a Mexican national that had been working with us. He is still pastoring it today.
God says "Honduras"
The Lord moved us to Honduras once we had been permanently removed from Mexico. There we felt God leading us to begin a Ministry Training School--Flames of Fire. We lived and worked for 5 years in Honduras, seeing over 5000 souls saved through the outreach efforts of the Ministry School. Many have gone out to begin churches in remote villages in the mountains and villages of Honduras. They continue to preach the un-compromised word to entire villages, and YOU helped that to happen!
Guatemala
Where God has us now!
In January 1998 the Lord moved us yet again, this time to Guatemala. We are currently involved with medical teams, evangelistic outreaches, feeding programs, and church planting. You can read all about what we are involved in on the Flames of Fire Ministry home page.
