Dear Friends and Family,
Hello from the incredibly hot Rio Grande Valley! This is the heat we were told about when we moved here in November of last year. Nobody was stretching the truth! The temperature reached at least 102 degrees today and that has been the norm for several months now. However, we are well and enjoying our life here at Rio Grande Bible Institute and Missionary Language School.
We have many things to share with you today. First of all let me
share with you regarding my recent 2nd trip to Oaxaca, the
southernmost state of Mexico. On Wednesday, August 2nd I began
preaching my first all-Spanish revival at our Bible Methodist Church in Oaxaca City where Hermano Jose Cruz is the pastor. This was only possible because of the HOURS of translation work from my father; thank you, Dad. What an experience it was to stand in front of those dear people and try to minister in their language. It is truly like starting over: sweaty palms, shaky voice, dry mouth and all! However, the Lord helped me in a wonderful way and I trust that through my halting use of the Spanish language, the people were able to hear the Word of the Lord and be ministered to. I stayed again in the home of the Braulius Family and enjoyed the interaction with them as well as Bro. Homero Luna and Bro. Florencio Balderas who traveled with me to
Oaxaca.
On the following Monday, I left for visits to our church in San
Gabriel and the surrounding mountain churches. It was a pleasure
again to visit with our pastors and people there - they are friendly
and warm and I believe they possess a true heart of love for the
Lord. I participated in another baptismal service there and dedicated several babies as well as preaching in Spanish in the churches. Thursday morning was spent visiting our two new churches in Puerto Escondido, RIGHT on the Pacific Ocean. Church planting is in full swing in Oaxaca, thank the Lord. Please pray for these new church plants and for Bro. Desiderio Lopez, the pastor at San Gabriel, and his pastoral team as they lead the charge in church planting.
Thanks to a generous offering from the Junior Church Department of the Burlington BIble Methodist Church, I was able to purchase and take to Oaxaca many wonderful resources for the Mexican people: Children's Bible stories and corresponding workbooks to color, etc., several continued stories, a large illustrated story card set for the entire Christmas season, several Bibles, New Testaments, some tracts for children, several "plan of salvation" booklets, etc. Their joy was evident as they looked at these items designed especially for Hispanic children. Thank you, Burlington, for your vision to help the children in Oaxaca.
Thursday afternoon found me on an airplane heading for Saltillo,
Coahuila, Mexico where I was to preach the weekend of their
campmeeting there. I returned to the border to pick up Melodie and the boys and we arrived at the home of Jose and Anna Correa for our stay in Saltillo. The Lord's presence was felt in every service of the campmeeting there as our family sang in Spanish and I preached 4 times in Spanish also. Needless to say, mistakes were made but the people were gracious and supportive and we left encouraged to press forward with our study of the language. As in Oaxaca, our Bible Methodist people in Saltillo are warm, receptive, and patient with us as we endeavor to communicate and minister among them. It was a pleasure again to fellowship with Pastor Dolores and Sylvia Hernandez and with the Correa Family.
Yesterday I proceeded through the Registration and Orientation
process for my 2nd semester of language study here at RGBI and today was a full day of classes and study. This semester promises already to be quite intense and fast-paced. Please remember me in prayer that I will do well and rapidly learn this beautiful language. Melodie also began her 2nd level of Spanish study using Rosetta Stone today and our boys began homeschool in grades 6, 4, and 2. What a day! We are thoroughly enjoying the Christian fellowship here with the Hispanic Bible Institute students as well as fellow missionary families.
Our Bible Institute President, Eli Balderas and family have moved to Salamanca as of this week and are busy settling in, getting
acclimated to the city and beginning student recruitment for our new Bible Institute, opening August 2007. We would ask for your prayers for them during this time of adjustment and planning for the new Institute. Our plans are to join them in Salamanca in mid-December when our language classes here are finished. Recently, missionaries under appointment Steve and Beth Stetler and their children: Kent and Maria, were able to travel with us to Salamanca to visit the HIM building, the adjacent property that BMMissions now owns and the corner property and house that we are trying to purchase. We all feel that it was extremely profitable for not only all of us personally but for BMMissions as well. There was much discussion about the HIM building and our proposed building in which Steve's talents and abilities were absolutely invaluable - exactly what we need!
We are continuing to make contact with the owner of the large corner property in Salamanca and praying that the doors will open for Bible Methodist Missions to purchase this lot and the house it includes. If you would, please add this to your prayer request list - we are leaving it in the Lord's hands and want to proceed in His timing. We will be helping make some repairs/renovations in the HIM building during this next year to make it ready for the Institute to be functional: able to house students, staff and be suitable for classes, etc. If you have interest in helping in this type of short term misison work, it's not too early to "get your name in" (one church already has) - to make plans to join us next spring and summer for some very necessary manual labor. We need you! I know many of you are not able to make the trip there - however, if you would like to
make a donation to help cover the cost of getting the building ready for the students, it would be such a blessing. Please make your contribution through your local Bible Methodist Church. If that is not possible, please contact us and we will help you contribute through the proper avenue.
I have uploaded some pictures of my Oaxaca trip to the Photos section of this website. Please take a moment to view them if you are able.
Thank you for your interest in our family and Bible Methodist
Missions in Mexico. Your cards, emails, letters, phone calls saying
that you are praying for us mean more than we could say. May God richly bless each one of you as we work together in His kingdom.
Blessings,Marc, Melodie, Jordan, Cameron, and Logan SankeyBible Methodist Missions in Mexicomsankey@...melodiesankey@...www.bmmissions.org
