Hello Everyone,

I am sure everyone has heard about the Swine Flu outbreak in Mexico. This came as a shock to us because it appeared out of nowhere and has progressed rapidly. This combined with the bad publicity concerning the drug war killings may have an adverse affect the short term missions groups that come down to help. We have already had one group to cancel saying that they wanted to wait until things settle down before they will come. Well, things may never “settle down” because I believe that we are entering the “perilous times” the Bible talks about. All over the world we are seeing flooding, famine, drought, violence wars and pestilences (Aids, Ebola, SARS, West Nile, bird flu, swine flu, etc...). If people say they are going to wait until it is “safe” to go into the mission field, they may never get to go at all. I understand the concerns and fears the world has, but we are Christians and fear does not come from God – “We have not been given the spirit of fear...” What kind of message are we sending to a lost and dying world when we react with fear just like they would? We now have a great opportunity to be something the world can look to for hope in these trying times. It would be much better to be found working in the field than “hiding your light under a bushel…” when Jesus returns. My family and I are claiming Psalms 91 – we are actually having to live what we say we believe every day!  

We just heard this morning that a couple of people from Creel and San Juanito were taken to Chihuahua City with flu-like symptoms. They are advising everyone to stay home and not go out for the next few days.

 Now we want to share some good news of what’s been going on.  These past few weeks have been pretty busy with bringing the groups and setting up things in the villages and the water projects. Tim and I had an awesome trip Friday with Marcos and Conchita, an Indian couple we work with, out in a new village called Sitaravo. Marcos began working in this community by starting a water project for them at an existing spring. Every since we began working together he has been excited about using water to reach the people. 

   To the left you can see the water source for the little village. The people bring all their water containers in wheelbarrows to fill and carry back to their houses. Marcos took it upon himself to do something about improving the condition of this spring as an opportunity to show the love of Christ. Marcos built a concrete tank to hold the water from the spring. The day we went out to see this project, I saw several ways I could help him improve this system. Instead of a windlass, rope and bucket to draw the water out, I am going to install them a cast iron well pump and completely seal the holding tank. We’re going to construct a sand filter for the water to pass through before going into the tank. The water can then be treated once a week to kill anything that might be in it. Below to the right you can see Tim next to the spring source and the concrete tank below.

After we were there for a while the people began to show up little by little. The men came to where Marcos, Tim and I were next to the spring and the women being much more timid, stayed back and gathered with Conchita, Marcos’ wife. The four men who came were new converts from a couple of weeks back when Marcos first went to do an outreach there. They were eager to hear what we had to share with them. They listened as Marcos shared a short simple message from the Gospel of John with them. Bibles were given to the ones who could read. There was a man there named Pedro who couldn’t read at all, so Marcos went to his truck and brought the man a small mp3 player especially designed to give to people who cant read but want to hear the Bible. The device is called a “Bible Stick” found online at biblestick.com. The price for each one is $29.95, but I was able to find were you could buy a normal mp3 player online for 14.95 a piece! We then could download from the internet the Bible in Spanish and load them up and give them away. The type of mp3 players we need are the kind that take a single double A or triple A battery. This would be an awesome project for a Church, Sunday school class or individuals that would love to do something to help spread the Gospel and not even have to leave home to do it! To the left, Pedro (a Tarahumara Indian man) is hearing a 2000 year old Gospel message with a 21^st century piece of technology!

   Tim and I are definitely going to order some of these to have ready to give out when someone needs one. If you are interested in being a part of this, please contact us or Shelly’s parents, Mike and Sandy Green. Below right Marcos is sharing with Mario, a young man who was there filling water jugs when we arrived. To the left below, Conchita is sharing with the Indian women. We are going back this Friday for another time of teaching and fellowship with them. Everyone pray for this group of new believers that they would grow in Spirit and in number. We hope to be able to start a weekly outreach with them soon. 

Once again we ask all of you to remember us in your prayers for our continued protection and health. It is exciting to see end time events unfolding around us, especially when we know that we are doing what God has called us to do and He is protecting us. Feel free to pass this email along to those you think might be interested in reading it.  

  * Update: Because of a territorial "pastor" from a church in down town Creel, we will not be able to continue the

 weekly outreach in Sitaravo. The pastor only goes to this village when visiting church groups come down maybe twice a

        year. The rest of the time the village has no one to go there on a weekly basis. Marcos was faithfully going there and teaching the

        people about Jesus until the local pastor found out about it and started causing problems. Since Marcos did not want to cause

        division, he chose to stop going.