Hello and God Bless,

 I just wanted to give everyone an update on our recent trip to Creel, Chihuahua. It was an awesome two weeks! God never ceases to amaze me with his goodness, grace and provision.

 One of the main purposes for this trip was for Ryan to drill a well using the manual drilling method, to repair the generator for Bro. Santiago and to repair one water system in a remote village. He had built the equipment beforehand he would need to drill with and was able to use it on the property of Brother Ernesto and His wife Olga. There they have started the construction of a training center where they want to be able to equip people to go into the mountains to minister to the Tarahumara people. They are in need of drinking water for the groups that will be housed there. It was amazing and so exciting when Ryan and Marcos hit water in less than 2 meters of digging. He didn't have the right equipment to remove all the sand and gravel from the well, so when we go back he will have to figure out another way to remove them. He was able to repair the generator for Bro. Santiago, but not enough time to repair the water system in the village where Bro. Santiago teaches. We are very anxious to get back there to complete these projects and to begin the others that have been brought to our attention. 

 We also had an opportunity to use the Jesus film equipment while we were there. The first was in the small village where Ernesto and Olga live. We showed a couple of children's Christian films that night. The next opportunity we had was in a remote Tarahumara village that was only 25 miles off the paved road. What we didn't expect was the one-lane, switch-back, steep mountain roads that would take us over 2 and a half hours just to go those 25 miles. The truck that God provided us in October allowed us to get there and back safely with all the equipment inside.

 We had over 50 Indians show up for the Jesus film, some of the men and all of the women and children were dressed in their traditional outfits. We didn't take any pictures of them because they are very afraid of cameras and we didn't want to make them uncomfortable before we showed the film. The film was shown in their native language because the majority of them do not even speak Spanish. As the adults were being shown the Jesus film, in another area we showed the children an animated film about Joseph. The main problem we had was that only 2 of the children could speak Spanish and so we had to have someone come and explain it to them after it was over.   

 The Tarahumara people are very timid people and don't trust white people at all. We are called "Chavochis" and it is hard to gain their trust. Thank God we had Marcos with us, a full blooded Tarahumara Indian that God brought us in contact with when we were there this past August. He and his wife Concha are strong Christians and have become very special friends to us. Having the ability to speak both languages, he is able to go into these remote areas to preach and share the Gospel among them.

  In addition to the need of the Gospel, there is a lot of domestic abuse among these people and you really have to be careful how you approach the women among them. They will not look at a male other than their husbands, even  when a man is speaking or preaching to them. The women always keep their heads bowed and you hardly ever see them smile. But Thank God 4 women decided to stand up and come forward after the film was shown that night and were prayed for, which was a very courageous thing for them to do because they could easily have been beaten by their husbands afterwards. It was awesome that so many showed up to see the film because some of these people had to walk for an hour to two hours just to get there, then they had to walk back home just as far in the dark. It was an amazing time and at one point I became very emotional to think that two kids from Corinth, Mississippi would be back in such a remote area of Mexico showing a film about our savior to people who probably have never even heard of Him before.     

  We were very blessed by having Lupita with us again on this trip to Creel. She went with us on our first trip and wanted to go back again with us. She is an amazing young woman and has become like one of our family. She was a great help to us in communicating with everyone. She loves Chihuahua and the people as much as we do and also feels called to this area like we have been. The need there is great, physically as well as spiritually. We were overwhelmed with the many opportunities to help and minister that came up, but we were limited on what we could do by the amount of time we able to be there.

 On a different note, while we were there we got a phone call from our neighbor back in Soto la Marina, calling to let us know that thieves had broken into our house again. This is the second time this has happened to us while living here. As you an imagine we were pretty upset, but through prayer and encouragement from Bro. Ernesto and Olga, we decided to stay and do what God sent us over there to do. We both recognized that this was just another attack by Satan to get our eyes off what God has called us to do there in Creel. When we got home we were expecting the worse, but thank God they only got some cash that belonged to our girls which they had gotten for Christmas. We are so thankful that they didn't do any real damage to anything.

 Please remember us in your prayers, we will be taking our daughter Monica back to Shreveport to the doctor on March 13th. They will be doing another round of x-rays to see if the degree of her curvature in her spine has gotten any bigger. We of course will keep you all posted on what the results are. Here are a few pics below of our trip. Be sure to check our website for more picture we have added.