RECENT HEALINGS!

Here is a picture of Pastor Gerardo and his wife Miriam in Nuevo Progreso. Pastor Gerardo reports two people healed after being prayed for in the last month. Alberto who isn't a Christian but has family in the church had a severe infection in his leg. The doctor said amputation was necessary which of course upset Alberto and his family very much. Pastor Gerardo went to the hospital in Reynosa to pray for Alberto, and as a result he was healed of the infection. The doctor says the leg will not need to be amputated. Alberto is extremely happy and is saying he has received a miracle from God.

While at the hospital Pastor Gerardo prayed for the person in the bed near Alberto who had AIDS and wasn't given long to live. Immediately the person got up and said he was healed! Later doctors confirmed that the AIDS was gone, but said it must have been due to some change in his medicine. The man is praising God because he knows AIDS has no cure!

The waters are troubled at the church in Nuevo Progreso.

SECURITY GATE

Valentine's Day we installed a new metal security gate at the entrance to what will be the auditorium of the church. Even though windows and the main door are yet to be purchased and installed, we felt the additional security would be a good thing. The gate will not only keep people from wandering into the construction area, but it will also keep out animals. The security gate was one of the items on our current prayer list for the church, so we are thanking the Lord for meeting this need.

Other items on the prayer list are: childrens' tables and chairs or benches for Sunday School, a bathroom door, dusk to dawn lights, a set of drums, baptismal tank, ceiling fans and screen doors. One by one by prayer and faith hese needed items will be provided.

RELEASED!

Although we only live five miles from the border, it's never a quick and easy trip getting across the international bridge Lloyd and I sat for over an hour in traffic on the bridge Tuesday before reaching the customs officer. We were tired after having spent all afternoon in Nuevo Progreso; and we wanted to go home. Inch by inch we crawled along in the heat, in a double line of vehicles, restrained and trappd and imprisoned. Bored, we tried listening to the radio and then we had conversations with people in nearby cars. And we thought about getting home and being able to relax.



Finally it was our turn to drive through the narrow gate and up to the uniformed man in the booth. We gave him our passports and he checked them while running our vehicle license number through the computer. Finally he handed back our passports and said, "Have a good day."


A short distance past the vehicle inspection lanes and lots of pedestrian traffic and we were on the open road and were free! What a great and exhilarating feeling of release! It brought to mind being in a country that isn't ours, where we have no citizenship and are only visiting on a mission; similar to our walk in this life as Christians. And how good it is to be set free and going home!

OSCAR AND AXIEL

Two boys came down the road, one carrying a BB gun and the other had a big stick. They were having a good time on the first warm and sunny day in over two weeks. They both wanted to try out the new English words they'd learned in school, so they greeted me cheerfully. When I asked what they were going to shoot with their BB gun, Oscar said they like to shoot ducks on the nearby pond. Then they explained that the ducks are good eating and that there isn't much food in their homes. We shared some snacks with Oscar and Axiel and talked with them awhile, trying to establish exactly where they live. On our next trip to Nuevo Progreso we'll take extra food to these two families. Oscar and Axiel are both twelve years old and very well behaved. We made sure they knew that breakfast is always served at our Sunday School and that they would be welcome to attend. There were three words they had learned well and used over and over, "Thank you, lady!"

RAIN AND COLD WEATHER

It has rained for the last two weeks and temperatures have been chilly. Nuevo Progreso is extremely muddy with large areas of murky brown water covering the streets. The trip through the colonias to the church was a challenge. Even the paved streets were bad. The church grounds were dry because we had put so much caliche (Mexican gravel) around it, but some roads in nearby Colonia Francisco Madera were impassible.

While Lloyd and Marcelino worked installing the new security gate at the church, two pickup trucks got stuck in the deep slick ruts on a nearby road. One truck managed to rock imself out, but the other couldn't. After awhile the drivers borrowed a long cable and Lloyd drove over to help them. With little effort, Lloyd pulled them smoothly out of the mud and onto drier ground. Even then they got stuck again and had to be pulled further up the road. We made new friends helping these neighbors to the church. They thanked us and said they didn't intend to drive through there again until it dried out. We said, "What you really need is a Jeep!"

You can see from the picture how muddy the roads were that day.

BABIES GROW UP QUICKLY!

Apolinar and Carla's baby is now nine months old and is doing well. He's always happy and likes for Lloyd to pick him up and walk him around outside. In Mexico babies aren't always named immediately and this baby's parents didn't at first agree on what to call him. But Carla seems to be winning because we all call him Javier. In the picture Lloyd is walking Javier around their yard on the south end of Nuevo Progreso.