Mission work

This is one of those lonesome roads that we would take to a countryside village. The beauty of God's creation never fails to stir my heart.

Always be ready to answer God's call, Acts 9:6 Lord, what will thou have me to do?

For the past several months I had been putting off making a trip to Sierra Vista, Az. and then on to Nogales, Mexico. This past week I convinced myself that I should get this trip out of the way.

On Tuesday morning the 9th I left Albuquerque Sunport on Southwest Airlines and flew to Los Angeles and then back to Tucson. (Strange flight pattern - no, when you fly free you take whatever gets you there.) In Tucson I rented a car and drove to Sierra Vista, AZ. There I spent the night and the next morning with the help of a friend we made the trip to Nogales, Mexico to deliver a van to one of our Mexican pastors who had ridden the bus up from Alamos, Mexico where Ginger and I had served as missonaries for 11 years. This aged van (1996) was donated to our work in Mx and it had been a faithful friend for all those Mexico years. It allowed us to ferry special education students to school each day and provide transportation to folks wanting to attend church as well as delivering food boxes for 11 years to our needy families in Alamos.

A Mexican pastor Matias is a very dear friend of ours and one of the most dedicated workers for the Lord that I have ever known. This man is one of the men whom you may remember us referring to as the "Lazarus Brothers" He is one of those workers who has truly denied himself, taken up his cross and followed Jesus wherever he leads. The van was truly needed for his ministry work there in Mexico. Many small mountain villages which have no church receive the message of Jesus Christ from this dedicated man of God. It was truly a blessing to get to see him and enjoy fellowship with him although it was only for a short time. When I think of this man who has forsaken all the comforts of life as we know them and totally dedicates his life, body, soul and Spirit to serving the Lord it makes me wonder how many of us would be willing to do the same for our Lord and Savior. Let's pray that the van continues to serve our Lord for many more years.

There are many pastors in Mexico who love and serve our Lord in just the same way as Hermano (brother) Matias and everyone of them should be very precious to us. I would ask all of you to please lift them up in prayer each and every day.

The Stanley Union Church is very generous in their financial support of our Mexico mission work. I would like to say a big thank you to the church for allowing Ginger and I the time to visit with our Mexican pastors two or three times a year as it is wonderful to visit with them and see first hand the work that God is doing through these wonderful God fearing men.

Please remember them in your prayers.