Sunday, July 02, 2006

Departure Set For August

Hope you and yours are having a great summer and trust you are experiencing His richest blessings. Regina and I are currently in Boise, ID and are headed out this morning to California before heading back to Lubbock for a Garage Sale Extravaganza (oh what fun). We wanted to make this official by letting everybody know that we just purchased our tickets for the Dominican and will make it to Santigo, Dominican Republic in August as planned. We are very excited about starting our new ministry there and need your prayers for traveling mercies.

Saturday, July 01, 2006

Prayers Answered

First and foremost I want to thank you for your prayers. It is humbling to be a part of a large group of prayer partners, who when they pray, impact lives in such obvious ways. 1.) The baby is doing much better and on the 28th was allowed to go home briefly to be with her family. Praise the Lord! She is still on antibiotics in the hospital but we understand from the pastor that she is on the road to recovery. The doctors and nurses will continue to run a few more tests before releasing her next week. Thank you for praying. 2.) The pastor reported that he decided to preach his daughters funeral and did a fine job. Several times one pastor thought he would have to take over but each time he regained his composure. He was a blessing both to the saved and the unsaved but most importantly he really encouraged his entire family that were in attendance both at the funeral and at the graveside. They made it clear to us that they have no plans on abandoning their new work and will continue for His honor and glory winning people to the Lord and building His church. Thank you for praying. 3.) The pastor and pastors wife that stayed with them as you can imagine are exhausted and report that this has been one the most difficult times they have had to confront as leaders since our imprisonment in 2005. Several other things “popped up” during this crisis, which always seems to be the case, but the Lord has been good to their church and the Sunday before the funeral they had publicly baptized 8 new believers. They are proud of their church and their leadership team and told me to thank everyone for praying. 4.) The Cuban fellowships response to the sudden death of this pastors daughter as been excellent. Many members in Cuba have been a huge blessing and more than 28 people visted them yesterday representing believers as far has Pinar del Rio. Several here have asked how they could be a blessing to this couple. The pastor and his wife listed several expenses that they have had due to the funeral as well as there daughters hospitalization which is very normal. If you would like to participate in that then please send that to our account in the Missions Office marked specifically for this couple. Any extra received will go to help their new church get off the ground. Thank you for everything, especially the prayers. Keep praying that God will continue to sustain and protect those who serve Him in Cuba.