Wednesday, December 29, 2004
[2:03 PM]
Weekly Update
Psalm 68:19 Blessed be the LORD, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.
Hello Everyone,
What a wonderful Christmas season we had. When we came back this last time, we had boxes upon boxes full of clothing. A lady came by the house one day and asked if we had any clothes that she could have. We hadn't had the opportunity to go through them yet, so we asked if she could come back the next day. Meanwhile, we went into our garage and started folding and separating clothes and God planted the idea, "Hey, let's have a free garage sale." So we set up tables and boxes, arranged the clothing and shoes (probably 70-80 pairs), and waited for the next day. The lady came back and was a bit overwhelmed, I believe. She became the town crier and we had lots of people come over the next days. Our kids went through some of their toys to make sure that all of the kids that came through received a Christmas present. Everyone also got a John /Romans and a tract and we handed out whole Bibles for those who wanted them. The lady in the picture said she had wanted a Bible all her life. She held it up to her face and said quietly, "This is the best gift I've ever received."
Another wonderful Christmas present; a few months ago we told you about a young man named Miguel who had come to church and told Emmanuel that next week, if he'd go forward with him, he wanted to go forward for Salvation. Then the devil stepped in. He kept Miguel away from church and our family for the last little while. However, Sunday, Miguel came to church with us again. On December 26, 2004, Miguel (along with two other young people) asked Jesus into his heart and started a whole new life. Praise the Lord!
That same service we were a little disappointed because attendance was down a little bit. However in the middle of the service, there was a light tapping at the door and when we opened it there were some more of our regular church folks wanting in. We had gone by to pick them up in the church bus but nobody came out from their house. Come to find out, Carolina's (one of newest Christian ladies) husband was drunk and wasn't about to let them leave to go to church. He was threatening and basically holding her hostage. She waited until he started to pass out from the alcohol, gathered up herself, her sister and all the kids, hopped in a taxi, and came to church. Counting the driver, that made 12 people in a compact taxi. Talk about dedication! Oh, by the way, the attendance being down was because one of our families had moved and another family was visiting them. They were all ready to go, but we had no idea where to pick them up.
We have lots of visitors this week. Two missions groups as well as Amber's folks and our oldest daughter. Yesterday, at about 2:30, we decided that we'd have a special mid-week service to let everybody meet each other. We drove to three of our bus stops just to get word out to a couple of people and ended up transporting about forty. These people are so excited about church; they're always ready to go.
We really want to thank all of you that pray for us and the people here. I don't know if you realize it or not, but spiritually speaking, you've had a great year!
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Tuesday, December 21, 2004
[6:19 PM]
Weekly Update
Luke 1:78-79 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.
Greetings and Merry Christmas Everyone,
Our trip to the states was enjoyable. We visited 8 different churches, two of them to share our ministry for the first time. We'd like to thank everybody who housed our family, not a small task with the eight of us that traveled. We were also able to spend some time with Mary, our oldest daughter, who's in college in Indiana.
We made it back home Thursday night, with relatively few problems, praise the Lord! We had to change a tire on the trailer and we'll have to replace a spring on it also, due to the weight of the supplies, resulting from the generousness of our faithful supporters. We'd like to thank George and Patti Davidson who also pulled a trailer down for us full of clothing, Bibles, John/Romans, pulpit, chairs, etc. While they were here, George also wired the upstairs at Pastor Pepe's (Fresnillo) house for him. What a huge blessing they were.
Since we've been back, we've been running around trying to get caught up with all the church folks. It was good to see the faithfulness of these new Christians carrying on while we were gone. Today we're heading back to Fresnillo to take clothing to the people there.
As we are in the middle of this Christmas season, there are so many things to reflect on and be thankful for. The mere thought that God would take on human flesh to experience the frailties, pain and suffering, all of the problems that He would encounter just to make a way to spend eternity with us, who so many times have completely disregarded and disrespected Him, is almost unfathomable. That is amazing love. And then, that He would allow us to be partnered with you in this ministry to the people of Mexico… God is good!
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Tuesday, December 07, 2004
[10:06 AM]
Weekly Update
Psalm 34:3 O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together.
Hello Everyone,
Greetings from rainy Michigan. We've been here for a few days and we'll be here for a few days more. The kids had been praying for snow and God was good enough to give them some snow to play in and now it looks like He's being good enough to take the snow off the roads for us to travel.
Our biggest news of the trip; there's a lady who lives down the street from us in Mexico named Anna. She has family that lives in the Kansas City area. Alison had the opportunity to meet her twin brothers while they visited Jerez last summer. Anna had asked her to call them while she was in the states, so Alison called one of the brothers named Rafael. He wanted to talk about the Bible, he had some serious questions. Two and a half hours later, Rafael accepted Jesus into his heart. Praise the Lord!!! Anna's not saved... yet. Pray that Rafael will be instrumental in her decision for Christ also.
We've had the privilege of being in quite a few different churches this trip, and we'd like to thank each one of them for making us feel welcome.
This is the Christmas season, let's not forget whose birthday we're celebrating. Why not do something special this year and witness to somebody. Share a tract. Tell somebody what God has done for you this year. Tell somebody the Christmas story. These are all things that Jesus wants and it's a triple blessing. It blesses Jesus, it'll surely bless you, and could you imagine a better Christmas present than a mansion reserved in Heaven for you?
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ
Mexico Division
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