Dear Praying Friends,

Tomorrow Rhonda and I will be crossing the border to go into Mexico and we'd appreciate your prayers as there has been a lot of unrest there this past week where we cross at Laredo/Nuevo Laredo. If you have been listening/reading the news, the president of Mexico is really enforcing some laws (finally), and the drug cartels are up in arms and are retaliating in numerous ways. Just last week in Nuevo Laredo, the cartels were blocking off streets, several were killed in an eight hour time frame. We'd cross somewhere else, yet, it seems they are not partial to any one area, they are all over the border.

Mexico City is 11 hours from the border and it appears that most of the activity, atleast on the eastern part of Mexico, is between the border and Monterrey. We will be in a 15 passenger van pulling a trailer, definitely an attention-getter, it won't be easy to hide. If you think of it, would you pray for us tomorrow? We would appreciate that.

October 31

We thank the Lord for His goodness to us, for His protection and for all of those who were praying. Today we met with two custom agents and two different Federal Police officers, all at different times but who were all very nice and didn't require us to empty out the whole trailer or van. We were given a baptistry in the States and were hauling it to our church in Mexico. When the custom agents and police officers, and later the Mexico City police, asked what we were hauling, they didn't know what a baptistry was. Three times the trailer had to be opened and it was not an easy task as there are no doors but only screws that were unscrewed at the top each time and then screwed back in after the agents and officer took a look. I was nervous about crossing the two checkpoints and Rhonda was nervous about the "banditos". We are just so very thankful we are back in Mexico City and arrived without one problem. God still answers prayer.

November 1

Our trip back to Mexico was adventurous to say the least. I had one tire of the trailer blow in Arkansas which was no problem to change, but after I picked up Rhonda on the border (she flew up to bring the van across in her name as we can only have one vehicle in Mexico per person) two tires blew in Laredo, TX, when I figured out that the axle was bent on the trailer and the wheels were rubbing against the frame. It was expensive to fix, to say the least. On Saturday at 5:00 p.m. when we were ready to cross, on the way across the border the engine light came on and the van would just turn off. It did that several times, so we crossed back over to Texas and on Monday took it to Chevrolet. They said it was the computer and would send for the part. On Tuesday they said they only had to reprogram the computer which they did.

On Tuesday night, hooking up the trailer to our van we realized the tongue of the trailer was bent and the front of the trailer almost touched the ground. On Wednesday we spent some more getting that re-enforced. While pulling out of the trailer shop the engine shut off again. We took it to Chevrolet and they said they would order the computer, but then said it was only the alternator. On Thursday they were going to put on the ordered alternator, but said it needed different connections which they had to order. Finally on late afternoon on Friday the van was ready. This last Saturday morning we finally crossed the border with no problems regarding customs and arrived late Saturday around 2 a.m.

In spite of it all, God took care of the church. They had a good Sunday in our absence with two adult visitors that were saved and over 20 new children of which one was saved. This Sunday we had many adult visitors and almost all the chairs filled. We had less children than the week before, but one child was saved. I was thankful that Victor, the unsaved husband of one of the ladies of our church came. I have been praying much for him and he was very appreciative of the salvation message that was preached. I believe God is working on his heart.

I do not know if I told you, but the Sunday night before I left, Miguel, a former special forces soldier and now a full colonel and commander of one of the three airborne ranger battalions in Mexico came to church. I had a real good talk with him the night before in his home. He talked like he was saved but a baby Christian struggling with his sin. The situation in Mexico is critical. It is like a war. Miguel was part of the convoy that was ambushed that was in the news a few weeks ago. His passenger door where he was sitting was sprayed with bullets and if he hadn't of dived out of the truck he would have been seriously wounded to say the least. His driver was wounded with several others in the convoy.

Another interesting couple is an older couple, a man named David and his wife who have been coming the last couple of months and who are our neighbors. David, close to 80 years old, is the son of a Baptist pastor who started a church in 1925. His father was led to the Lord at the turn of the century by Thomas Westrup, the son of a British millwright who helped start and pastor the first Baptist church and, in fact, the first evangelical Spanish-speaking church in Mexico in 1863 according to church historians. Many of the songs in our Baptist hymnal were translated by Thomas Westrup. I want to introduce him to Oscar, another man in our church, who is the great-grandson of the first Mexican Presbyterian minister in Mexican history ordained in the 1870's.

Please pray for the rest of the campaign, especially our 6th anniversary on the 14th of this month. We have several signed up for the passing out of 20,000 invitations. Raymundo, with his busy schedule of overseeing his 2,000,000 dollar project in Puebla has volunteered to pass them out to all the homes in an entire neighborhood of 7,000. So has Toby and his wife.

Thank you for your prayers.