The Lord will work!

This has been a year of trials. And with those trials came many tears and hours spent examining our hearts and running again and again to the Lord as He strengthened our hearts as we by faith held fast to what we knew to be true from His Word.

Daniel has been so faithful and strong and the first to encourage me in the Lord. He has reminded me over and over how the Lord is at work here and how much Satan doesn't like it. He reminds me that when the trials come, there is a blessing just on the other side. We have begun to see the Lord work like never before in this town; and how much joy that brings!

Last Thursday, we woke up early to get ready to pick up the people to leave for our church family camp. I was having a rough morning and nothing seemed to be going right. I even contemplated staying home with the little ones, but Daniel wanted us to all go, so we pressed on, got everything loaded and left to pick everyone else up.

We stopped at the gas station on the way out of town to fill up; but when Daniel went to start up the bus, it died. We couldn't get it to run and with 36 people plus all their luggage aboard, we weren't sure what other vehicle(s) we could take that would fit us all. We prayed and then Daniel left with Hno. Juan to try one last thing; they brought back the battery from Juan's car and praise the Lord it worked!

We drove for about 2 hours and then pulled over to stop for a bathroom break. Again, the bus would not start; the fuel pump had stopped pumping. Samuel, Daniel's brother, crawled under the bus and began to work on it while Daniel worked on the top end of the engine. We prayed, and praise the Lord, about a half hour later, we were on the road again.

We had a wonderful time at camp! Sweet fellowship, lots of food and fun, and most importantly, we were spiritually fed through the preaching/teaching throughout the day.

The last evening there, the best thing of all happened. Brother Juan and his wife Leticia as well as their niece Cecilia asked Daniel is they could get baptized. Leticia had been faithfully coming to our church for about a year with her 3 young children. Her husband Juan wanted nothing to do with God and didn't want to listen to Daniel as he'd visit their home to share the gospel with him. In fact, he once told Daniel to never come back to his house again.
But he allowed his wife and children to go to church and liked what he saw in their lives. Leticia came to know the Savior a few months ago. A few weeks ago, Juan too asked Jesus Christ to be His Savior. His mother and sister who also go to our church could not believe the change in his life. All he wants to do is read his Bible and serve the God who saved him. He told Daniel that he himself is even surprised at how much the Lord has changed him.

It was so precious to see him take his wife by the hand Friday night after they had both stood up and had given a testimony of their salvation to everyone and walk into the water to follow the Lord in baptism. Their niece had trusted Christ as well and wanted to get baptized along with them.

The Lord was so good to keep us all safe there at camp through the weekend and then bring us home safely as well In fact, we had what could have been a very serious thing happen about an hour south of home. One of the front tires on the bus blew out. But the Lord enabled Daniel to keep the bus on the road and pull off in a safe place. We were in the middle of the desert with not a lot of water; it was very hot. Daniel was able to hitch hike a ride within just 3 minutes and within an hour, he was back with a tire man who happened to have a bus tire already on a rim ready to mount. We all dug in our pockets/purses to put our money together and had just enough to pay the man for his time and the tire.

The children and I started our garden today. As we began to break up and turn over the hard dirt and take out the rocks, we talked about how that is just like what Daddy is doing. Breaking up the fallow ground is a lot of very hard work and it's not a lot of fun, but it must be done before the seed can take root and grow and bring forth fruit. We came to a place where the hearts were so very hard. There has been a lot of breaking up ground to do. It has been hard and sometimes a bit discouraging as this stage of the labor doesn't have much to show for it. But we continue on and we are seeing seeds sprout as the Lord will have a church here in Cd. Insurgentes, BCS.

How thankful and humbled we continually are that He would use us to do His work! What joy there is in serving our King!

Family Camp 2009- Iglesia Bautista de Insugentes

In the bus and ready to go

Bus broken down at the gas station; waiting for Daniel to bring back another battery

Arrived safely at camp in time for lunch

With the 100+ degree weather, the pool was so refreshing and I enjoyed helping to teach many of the children to swim

The men/boys braved the heat and played ball

The highlight of each morning/afternoon/evening was the time we'd meet together to sing hymns and listen to Daniel or Brother Juan share a message from God's Word.

Sweet little Samuel and Susannah relaxing back in our cabin. Keep praying for our little guy...he's still battling with fevers but so far doing well enough to stay home :)

These next pictures are my favorites. Here is Juan giving testimony to how the Lord saved him.

Juan helping his wife into the water where they both were baptized.

Evening sings around the camp fire

Group picture the final day of camp

Our newest brother and sister in Christ

Blown out tire!

How the Lord is so good to send help and protect us!

Home sweet home...unpacked, laundry sorted, and very blessed, contented hearts!