The church auditorium seats have been full the last few weeks and we have been putting up extra chairs, but our junior church has been down, so we only have been averaging in the mid-90's. Over 3/4 of the attendance has been teens and adults. We had another teen activity the Saturday before last. Joseph, Kellie, four other teens and I climbed to 14,000 feet on a nearby volcano named Iztaciualtl. The other 8 teens didn't make it up that far and stayed with an adult on a ridge a few hundred meters below. We wanted to go further, but time wouldn't permit us. Some of us want to climb next month to the top.

We lost two men in our Bible Institute, but this semester we made up for the loss with the two retired military men, Valdimar and Jacobo, as well as Nancy from the old church who studied in the other Institute until it was shut down. Gaspar still attends. We are still studying Life of Christ and Bible doctrines: anthropology, harmatology, sotierology, angelology, and eschatology this semester.

We had six baptisms two weeks ago as two teens that had been saved in our last activity as well as three junior church kids saved lately were also baptized. Baptized as well was Anai, the wife of the colonel of the Airborne ranger battalion. This week, her husband come back from an almost three month-long anti-narcotics operation in the north. This week a lady named Edna was baptized and this coming Sunday, Elena, another lady will be baptized. We have a new couple that have been coming the last few weeks: Carlos and Sofia. They are Presbyterians, but their church is getting too modernist for them and they enjoy our traditional services. We have a lot of new people in our church that have begin coming since December.

Raymundo, a businessman in our church, had a platform put in the auditorium with a carpet that has a coffee color. It really makes it look more like a church and It smells like new carpet in the auditorium . Raymundo is putting a folding wall division in our kid's classroom this next week. We put up a bigger sign in front of the church. It looks a lot sharper as well.

A lady in our church named Lilia is the only Christian teacher in a school taught by nuns. She recently has been witnessing to one of the nuns named Guadalupe and the nun last week left the Catholic church and hopefully we will see her in our church soon.

Where we were knocking doors, a maid came out to church; but has since returned to the southern state where she was from because she was getting sick from the "cold" weather here. This week, Toby witnessed to a man named Joaquin in the same neighborhood and he seems like a good contact. We also knocked on the door of a Vietnamese News Agency. Why they would be in Mexico city, I have no idea. A young Vietnamese lady named Win answered and spoke in perfect Spanish. I didn't ask her if she was communist, but she was atheist; so I imagine she is communist as well. She was friendly and I was able to leave her something to think about the existence of God and the love of Christ and left her a John/Romans and a couple of tracts. It was probably the first time she has handled the Word of God. I am praying that she reads it and I hope to talk to her again.

Please pray for our situation with the financing of our church. We lost our financing as the loan officer never let the corporate office of the lending group know that it was for a church, and when the office found out they turned down our loan. Our rent-to-own contract gives the owner the right to turn us out in July if we do not buy the building. We would loose the over 60,000 dollars invested in the purchase as well as the thousands of dollars we have invested in its remodeling.

I have sent a letter to a foundation in eastern Washington that gives grants to foreign ministries We are waiting for their response. A friend in our home church has been in communication with a lending group in New York. The problem is that they loan a minimum of two million dollars; but they have a subsidiary group that loans less money. We need 250,000 dollars. They are going to talk to their subsidiary group and get back with my friend. Please keep praying.

Thank you for your prayers,