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Newsletter 4

Below is our letter from our trip to Mexico in August. We are now putting together our plans for our trip to India in November. We will be leading a children’s crusade for the week. We also need to raise $3,500.00 for the trip. We need your prayers as we plan for the trip and the money needed. If you could help us with the cost of the trip, please make your check out to Temple Baptist Church and mail to us at 281 Campbelltown Lane, Monroe, VA 24574.

Mexico August 2007
Early in the morning of Friday, August 3rd, long before the sun came up; we were standing in the parking lot of Temple Baptist Church waiting for all of the team to arrive. One at a time they did. Patsy from Appomattox, VA, David and Jane from Roanoke, Dan and his grandson from Lynchburg, and Elizabeth, Faye and myself. This was the team that the Lord had put together for the Mexico 2007 mission’s trip. Before 5:00 AM we were on our way to Dulles International Airport. After a layover in Dallas Texas, we arrived tired but safe in Chihuahua, Mexico at 8:30 PM. Our friends and missionaries to Mexico, Randy and Gwen Ashcraft were waiting for us and after renewed friendship and greetings and a stop at a hamburger fast food place we started on the 3 and ½ hour drive to the city of Jimenez and the La Fe Ranch for boys. Finally, around 2:00 AM and after 22 hours of travel, the team laid their heads down for a short nights rest.

Awake at 6:00 AM we walked out into the cool Mexican morning. It is always a special treat to watch the faces of those who come to the ranch for the first time. They are expecting a desert but they aren’t expecting the beauty of this part of God’s creation. Mesquite trees and cactus dot the landscape of this great expanse. This year the land was “greener’ than usual due to a higher rainfall than usual. In every direction, far in the distance, are cascading mountains stand as silent sentinels to the majesty of this breathtaking land. In all honesty though, it is not only breathtaking because of its beauty, it is breathtaking because of its altitude. At more than 5,000 feet above sea level, the air is thinner than we are used to.

After breakfast we join the members of the Le Fe Baptist church and the orphan boys of the La Fe ranch for bus visitation. The clowns are in full costume and every team member is ‘armed’ with balloons, gospel tracts, a warm smile and lots of excitement as we walk (Americans team up with Mexican believers) on dirt and dusty roads through a Mexican neighborhood. The balloons and clowns attract children and lots of them. While we are making balloon animals for a group of children, our Mexican church member is leading a lady to Christ standing at her front door. When all of the teams assemble at a predetermined place at a predetermined time, we share testimonies of what God did. Our hearts rejoice to hear that 15 precious souls prayed to receive Christ. As we were about to find out, this was just the beginning of the harvest.

After lunch, we traveled to a village about 1 and ½ hours from Jimenez. We had been invited by the pastor of the Baptist church, a new work that was only started about 6 months ago. Teams of clowns and American visitors along with Mexican members of the host church visited for hours along the dirt streets of this village. Finally, as dark was quickly approaching, we set up the props, stages, lights and sound systems and the crowd began to assemble. Children everywhere, along with their parents. There was a fair operating about a block away and we were always in “competition” with the music from their music. But if the children and the adults were distracted, it wasn’t obvious. What was obvious was the delight in the eyes of the children and, as always, the adults as well. Jim Bo, Skittle and Patty Cake and LaLe Pop the clowns entertained the crowd and taught many eternal lessons. A national pastor came up at the end of the program and clearly presented, one more time, the simple plan of salvation. When the invitation was given, more than 39 people, young and old prayed to receive Christ. It was almost 1:30 am when we arrived back at the ranch to eat supper and back to the bunk house that was our home for the week.

On Sunday we were part of an outreach to a local park. Even though it was morning, the Mexican sun was already hot. We set up the puppet stage in the center of the park so that the children who would come could sit in the shade and relative shade. Jim Bo and Skittles began the program with several skits that grabbed the attention of the children and many of the adults who happened by. The puppets entertained the crowd with some funny songs and some songs that presented God’s love for the children as well. The skits brought home the truth of sin, forgiveness and ultimately salvation through Jesus Christ alone. When the invitation was given that morning, praise the Lord, another 35 children prayed to receive Christ.

On Sunday night we attended the La Fe Baptist Church and one of the team members Dr. Reichard was invited to preach. When the invitation was given, many of the church members and several of the “preacher boys’ came forward to commit their lives to Christ in an even greater way. It was back to the ranch for a good nights rest in preparation for a busy day of ministry coming up on Monday.

Monday morning begins as each day begins. Up at 6:00 am and after breakfast we helped the ranch staff with some chores. Shortly after lunch we left for a 2 hour drive to another village. Now we are joined by several members from a church from Texas. By now the team is getting use to the routine; unload the van and the bus, set up the stage and props, divide the ‘wordless’ necklaces and tracts up between the members, make sure you have water and balloons for the balloon animals, and, of course, pray. Pray that God will do something in the hearts of those we visit that will turn heart to His Son. Then, it’s off to the dusty roads of this village of just 100 people. After leading 15 people to Christ the teams return after visiting every home in the village. After a brief rest, the teams return to visit each home again. Presenting the gospel, giving the tracts and ‘wordless necklaces’ and inviting everyone to the service that evening.

When the service begins in the center of the village, almost 95% of the town is there to watch. Tonight, again, our prayers have been answered. When the service is over and the Mexican pastor gives the invitation, more than 40 men, women, boys and girls have prayed to receive Christ and have been given a Spanish Bible and follow-up literature. Then, after supper in a brown bag, we begin the long trip back to the ranch and again, around 2:00 am, get back to our beds. All too soon, the generator starts up and it is time to get ready for another day, our longest day. It is 6:00 am.

On this day, Tuesday, we leave with a bus filled with members of the host church, the boys and staff of the Lafe ranch and the team members. It is along trip, 3 and ½ hours to this remote village. We stop on the way to heat up some burritos and soon we are on the road again. We arrive in the village and ask permission from the mayor to use the newly constructed gymnasium for our program and to spend the night in. Then it all starts all over again, the clowns change into costume, the balloons and tracts are distributed, teams of Americans and Mexicans are sent in different directions for the first of two canvases of the entire village. Soon the program begins and many within the community are in attendance. Even some that we didn’t expect to come. Many have already come to Christ on visitation and at the end of the program many more are saved. When the service is over and follow-up materials have been given out, the gymnasium which had, only minutes earlier, been a place for a gospel crusade, been transformed into a large dormitory. Men and boys on one side and women and girls on the other. By the way, not only was the building filled with people, it was filled with bugs of every kind. (Yes, some of them even had a nasty bite). Eventually morning “mercifully” came and we were on the road again for the long trip back to the ranch. Tired by rejoicing in all that god had done in the hearts of the villagers who had heard the gospel for the first time and for the many who had responded. But we rejoiced in even more.

We rejoiced that even in the depths of our exhaustion, God had done something in the hearts of each and every one of us. We had seen things that we can never forget. We have heard things we can never ignore. We have felt things that will stick with us for the rest of our lives. We prayed that God would use this humble team to touch Mexico for Him. We trust he did. But we know that He used Mexico to touch us and we will never be the same. When it was all said and done, we saw more than 140 souls trust Christ as savior. Was it worth it? It would have been worth it if just one poor dirty face little boy or girl trusted Christ. Yes, it was worth it.

After Wednesday night services in Jimenez and an early night to bed, we rose up at 6:00 am on Thursday and made our 3 and ½ hour trek back to the airport in Chihuahua. Our 22 hour trip back home turned into 27 with flight delays.

I write this while sitting in the Dallas Fort Worth airport waiting for a flight to take us home (or at least closer to home than this). We are tired. Our clown costumes and makeup are somewhere waiting to be loaded on the next flight. I am amazed when I think of how God uses us. Yes, even a Jim Bo and Skiddles, Patty Cake and Lale Pop. But in reality, it is just that. He uses the make up, the balloon animals, the skits, the volunteers who pay money to go and live in a third-world country and give up things like running water, air conditioning, being able to understand the language of the people, telephones, internet, video games, etc. etc. But they don’t feel they have given up anything. They have received. Received the opportunity to live and work among those whom God deeply loves and deliberately gave the live of his Son for. Not one team member would tell you that it was a sacrifice. We did not give. We received. And for that, we give God the praise and glory.