“Now know I that the Lord saveth His anointed; and He will hear from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand.”

Psalms  20:6

Hello Friends!                                                               3-Dec-2006

Greetings from chilly San Cristobal de las Casas!                        

We’re glad to be home since the 6th of Oct. from four months of traveling in the US and Mexico !  We’re grateful for the wonderful time spent with family and friends (new and old) this summer. It is not easy to have 5 adults descend on one’s house for three weeks, as we did at my Grandma’s house, and stay sane!

JESUS, THE RIGHT HAND MAN

The Lord blessed us with three relatively easy customs inspections and since we were paying import duty on some large pieces of equipment for the carpentry shop, they didn’t seem to mind that we were very loaded with other things. 

While we were at the border, a man came with a trailer full of used donated items to give to a Catholic church. He had papers in hand signed by a Bishop to prove this, and they wouldn’t let him across without paying a sizable duty. As we witnessed this we were reminded of the many times that the Lord has allowed us to cross even more heavily loaded without incident! Truly only with the help of His dexterous right hand:

GOD’S KINGDOM NETWORK

The open hospitality and help of many brethren on our whole 4 month trip has blessed, encouraged and reminded us of the importance of keeping a “kingdom mentality.” In 15,000 miles we stayed in one hotel!

On our way north, we left our trailer with a ministry on the border in Texas with the plan not to accumulate much until the return trip– ha, that didn’t work! Between Grandma down-sizing to a smaller house, good deals, generous gifts along the way, and Nathan & Julie moving their household, we had more than would fit in the van! So, we picked up a flat-bed trailer from a friend in Colorado , and drove to Texas in faith that the Lord would provide a way to get two trailers to Chiapas .

When we got across the line to Monterrey the Lord had laid it on a Mexican brother’s heart to pull our other trailer with his van to Chiapas !

So up we drove to Texas to get the other trailer left at “Laredo Stepping Stone” – a hub for missionaries working in Mexico . They loaded us up with boxes of Bibles, sacks of beans, diapers, wet wipes, shampoo, toilet paper, clothes etc… It has been clearly demonstrated to us that truly we are ONE body in Christ Jesus!

FAMILY SEMINARS

Various churches & small groups have asked Dad to teach about discipling one’s family. A few times we were each asked to share a testimony of God’s working in our lives: Mom talked about the destructive influence of her feministic thinking especially in limiting the number of children she would accept from the Lord; Leah about how she had let her heart wander; me (Renee) how God showed me that my “hurt” was bitterness and my “frustration” was pride in my relationship with Mom; and Reece told how recognizing that his friendship with his dad was the practical key to comprehending his relationship with his Heavenly Father who alone is able to fulfill the desire of having a perfect dad, thereby releasing him from bitterness & demanding expectations.

ANOTHER TRIP AND FINALLY HOME SWEET HOME

Whew! That’s enough driving for a long time…at least I thought so! After one week home, Dad, Mom, Leah and Reece headed off to Oaxaca for the Wycliffe Bible Translators Mexico branch annual conference.

There has been an increased awareness amongst the Bible translators of the need for audio/video material for literacy projects and simply because many Indian people never learn how to read. Dad presented a variety of helpful A/V productions that could be translated into tribal tongues.

Picture Proverbs is a video with a verse from Proverbs written alongside a related Bible picture with a native speaker narrating, and Acts which is a word-by-word video production just recently made available for dubbing into languages. Several translators approached us about doing these projects in their languages and we were encouraged to hear how the gospel is being advanced amongst oral peoples through hearing the Word.

Two more days’ drive to Guadalajara , they went to a first-time meeting of representatives from several Latin America countries to discuss the success and experiences each one has had with the Basic Life Principles Seminar. They wanted to find out how they could unite efforts to get this effective discipleship material into the Spanish language and distributed throughout the MANY Spanish-speaking countries – we’re talking about the third largest language in the world!

RENEE HOME ALONE?

Not quite – home is such a hub of activity I didn’t have time to feel alone with many people passing through or staying for hospitality!

God placed a burden on a group of 18 Mexican Americans from California to give 15 million Bibles to México. For now they brought 7,000 to our town and also gave Bible cassette tapes to various church leaders for distribution.

Since Dad was gone he asked me to pick them up at the airport and drive them around in our 15 passenger van for 3 days. I praise the Lord that He’s restored my health to the point that I was able to do all this and with very little sleep!

While I was out in an end-of-the-road village with this group, we prayed for a really sick lady who had TB for many years. She took the medication 2 yrs. ago which knocked out the TB, but her immune system was so compromised she still had the symptoms and was quite malnourished. I couldn’t contact Dad to ask him if I could take her home with me, but knew it was what God wanted me to do. Then I found out Rosi had a dream the night before that someone took her to a big town to get medical help and care – by the mouth of two or three witnesses the thing was established!

Rosi is a 35 yr. old single mom who loves the Lord Jesus. She takes very good care of her little 3 yr old daughter especially considering that she’s been at death’s door during Anita’s whole life. With just good nutrition and rest, her fevers and chills have stopped, breathing has improved, she’s gained 6 lbs, and has started copying the Bible – writing for the first time in her life! Please pray that she will regain strength and the use of her right lung, and learn how to read while she is here. May He heal her many emotional wounds from an abusive past.

RETURN TO THE TOJOLABAL JUNGLE

Dad and Reece were invited by brothers from a remote Tojolabal (toe-hoe-la-ball) jungle village behind communist rebel lines (Zapatista), to go out and project the latest satellite-transmitted Billy Graham Festival for three nights  Nov. 9-11.

The trail hasn’t changed any since the trip out to record the Luke film 2 years ago. Five hours of walking/horseback riding – a little slower than last time because of mud from the rainy season. In many parts the horses even had a rough go. Sometimes Dad would slip because of his footwear, but they took good care of him and patiently helped him along.

Because of a satellite schedule mess up they missed Billy’s preaching the first night, but the second night they heard Franklin Graham preach on how the prodigal son returned to his father. Meanwhile Dad and Reece were doing a lot of teaching, visiting in homes, and showing videos during the day (Luke and Noah in Tojolabal and others in Spanish). The church was so encouraged, they decided they wanted Dad to continue with what he was teaching them about “applied Christianity” all day Sunday.

Like Adriana (above) many have parasites and sickness related to their water. There are simple gravity feed ceramic filters available which need to be promoted in the villages. May the Lord bring this about!

As they hiked along the trail one of the guides stopped and drank water out of a stream, Reece asked, “Is it pure?” He answered: “It comes from a spring.” “But if you drink out of the big river you get sick, right?” Reece asked. He said, “Yes.” It is just like that with us drinking out of the world’s system just because it is big and has lots of options. The Indians use loads of firewood to boil their water. May these fathers find ways to purify spiritual and physical water for their families.

Even as isolated as they are, they are losing their young people to the pull of the world and were very encouraged by the message of parents turning their hearts to their children to win & disciple them – not letting their children, or themselves, be deceived by philosophies, vain deceits, traditions of men, or rudiments of the world. Col. 2:8

Reece helped the children memorize 1 Thes. 5:18 and taught them about the character quality of gratefulness. They loved him so much for playing with them especially when he would throw them into the air!  Reece told me that he wants to improve his skills in teaching children. May the Lord show him effective means to minister to children.

BACK TO REAL LIFE

   Dad and Reece have piles of work on their “desks.” Since everything is on the computers, with a touch of a button all the work disappears – makes for a clean desk! May the Lord give them much perseverance and single-mindedness as they catch up.

   Leah & Renee are getting music ready to play for two weddings and park evangelism with a little group of Christian friends who are forming a long-desired string quartet + 2 harps!

   We praise the Lord that Mom’s back is “back to real life” too!  After help from 2 physical therapists, 8 chiropractors, cranio-sacral treatments (by my Aunt Mara), and most essentially the prayers of the saints, she has been sleeping through the night since Sept.

SPECIAL REQUESTS:

1.   Mariano, our Tzotzil grounds-keeper, took care of the property while we were gone. Though he believes in Jesus, he’s trusting that because he quit drinking 18 years ago, has been faithful to his wife, and is a trustworthy worker, God will accept him, yet he’s not sure that it will suffice. He was 14 years in an evangelical Pentecostal church, but went with the Jehovah’s Witness 4 years ago. He understands Spanish enough that he reads his Bible in it and when he doesn’t understand he’ll read it in Tzotzil. May he clearly understand that heaven is not gotten in possession by his own arm, but through God’s right hand, Jesus, He who has favor to us! Psalms 44:3

2.   Dad, Mom, and Leah will be going to Guerrero to record the Jesus film the 8-20th of December with the Ayutla Mixtecs.  May they know how to encourage believers, find those who can delicate their time to record as speakers, and may the Lord draw many to Himself through His Word among the Mixtec people.

“LIVING STONES” WEB PAGE

Often the Christians & missionaries in Mexico ( Latin America too), are unaware of what materials are available in Spanish and the Indian dialects. Nathan has built a web page displaying the audio/video materials we have, and will soon have a blurb from each one of us with testimonies of the Lord’s work and calling in our lives. Living Stones address is: http://www.piedras-vivas.com