Wednesday, March 30, 2005
[5:03 PM]
Weekly Update
Psalm 122:1 I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the LORD.
Hello Everybody,
We have a building! Today we paid the rent for a building for the new mission project. It is on the main bypass around Jerez, near lots of people. We take possession of it this weekend and look to have our first services within two weeks after that. We are all very excited about this new facet of ministry. The people who live in this area have already been asking about Vacation Bible School. The people that we have talked to about this new church are all very excited.
Last week we had the opportunity to go to Zacatecas a couple of times to work with a medical missions group. They hailed from Arkansas and Oklahoma. We had a lot of fun - even all of us were seen by a doctor. Alison did some face painting, the boys played with the kids there and there were many opportunities to share the gospel. We saw ten people come to know the Lord as their personal Saviour. Alison and Samuel also put their Spanish to test in serving as interpreters for some of the gringos in the group.
Please pray for Anjelica and her kids. They are being forced out of their house. They have found a new house to move into but it isn't quite ready yet. Please pray that the new house will be ready before she has to vacate the other home. She is so faithful, and in the last two has passed out 200-250 John/Romans and tracts on her own and is asking for more.
We've been hit pretty hard with sickness this past week. Fevers, sore throats, cough and congestion are just some of the ailments. Please remember to pray for us as we continue to heal.
Last, but not least, we're sending a picture of the new baby. She is so tiny and fragile looking but seems to be doing pretty well.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Tuesday, March 22, 2005
[9:55 AM]
Weekly Update
Psalm 126:6 He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.
Good Morning All,
We told you last week that we were able to give out Bibles in Fresnillo with Bother Pepe and his church. Due to this effort, they have had six, new, first-time visitors in their services. Praise the Lord! Special thanks to those of you who have provided us with tracts, John/Romans and Bibles as well as those of you who have prayed. Next week, we've been invited to go to another place by Fresnillo, called Mariana, to help another missionary pass out scriptures.
More good news, we've had a baby born this week. They had to do an emergency c-section, and the baby had some lung problems. But Mom and baby are both at home now and seem to be doing well. Please pray for this family, and all the unexpected expenses that come from emergency medical care. Mamma's not saved, her name is Patti, please pray for her salvation.
We have heard from so many people the past couple of weeks, people who are actively serving God, who are under some really serious satanic attacks. There is a pastor and his wife in Texas who are having physical ailments, a church in Springfield who have numerous people sick, there’s family problems for some, money problems for others, there’s so many attacks on these people, your co-laborers in this Mexican mission, it’s borderline astounding. Please remember to uphold these fellow Christians in prayer.
Last week we told you our half of the travel fiasco, we promised the other half of our visitors travel this week, and now the rest of the story …
At Home, At Last!
Written by Mel
Wednesday, 16 March 2005
It was quite amazing yesterday...
I don't think I prayed as much as have prayed in the last 48 hours.
We left the Benedict house early in the morning. We were pulled over by the military at about 3:30am. They were checking our vehicle for drugs, which was very scary and made me very nervous. My mind was thinking the worst, like they'd plant some on us or something ~scary. But just as I finished praying we were able to leave.
Then...
The alternator died at around 4:30am and Steve said they thought they had the part, but would not be open until 9ish. We hitched a ride with a trucker and Joyce and I road in the cab. We were scared and we didn't know he was going to take us to Saltillo for free. The worst was going through Joyce's and my mind. When we got to Saltillo, the truck driver pulled over a taxi that was parked next to him at the light. He said "Este". I didn't know if it meant "Stay here" or "This was it, get out".
We ended up just getting out of the truck while he was talking with the taxi driver. The taxi drivers name was Hector something and the truck driver was Antonio. Anyway, Hector did not hesitate about taking us. Antonio didn't want any money, but Christopher gave him some and Antonio worked a deal with Hector, the taxi ride was 700 pesos. We were ecstatic to find a taxi, and he was so nice. He said he was out early trying to get some fares because he had to take his daughter to the doctors and so he was thankful for us. God is Wonderful! He met all of our needs. We felt horrible because we didn't have any tracts with us. I saw them lying by my purse as we left your house that night but thought, we don't want to waste them...
Hector was asking if we had cash or plastic, we didn't realize he was talking about the freeway. We just said yes, we have cash to pay. So thankful for that because there was no one on the freeway and the traffic on the regular road was packed solid. He got us to the airport at 8am, he was rushing.
Our flight was to take off at 8:45am. When we checked in at 8am, the ticket person said go directly to the gate. Oh, Hector spoke VERY little English. I believe the Lord just gave us wisdom in our communications! So we get to the gate and the flight was leaving early, about 30 minutes early! While in line, a lady was going back to the states, New York area. Her daughter lives in Monterrey and is opening a waffle shop, she wanted to stay an extra day, and when she called the airline, the only day they had seats going out of Monterrey to the state s was March 22nd...
I was very thankful for God's timing. Had we waited for the parts, we most likely would not have been able to leave until that time.
So when we arrived in Dallas, we thought we would only have 45 minutes to go through customs, take a train to a different terminal, and go through security and get on our plane. Because our flight took off earlier we had an hour and a half! What a blessing. We made it to the flight with ample time, only problem was the plane had something wrong with it. They said they did not have the part and had to borrow one from American Airlines. It delayed us an hour and a half.
We got to Memphis and ran to the next gate. Yes, ran!! I was huffing and puffing. The flight was to take off at 2:35pm and we got there at 2:32pm. They had just closed the gate and would not let us on. We had to take the 7:30pm flight home. It made for an even longer day but we had a relaxing dinner at the airport and were laughing at everything that had happened that day. God is so very good.
Over and over of God answering prayers to the wish of our hearts this past 48hours!!!
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Wednesday, March 16, 2005
[3:54 PM]
Weekly Update
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.
Hello Everyone,
What a busy, wonderful, tiring, blessed week we had. We had our friends from Wilson Creek Baptist Church in Springfield, MO, with us. We were able to pass out close to 2,500 pieces of scripture in three different areas.
The first place we passed out scripture was with Pastor Pepe in Fresnillo. The folks from his church paired up with all of us Gringos to go out and give Bibles to each family in the neighborhood. It was such a blessing to see all of his church people eager to share the Gospel with their community. Counting the twelve of us, there were probably 35 people working together, most couldn't understand each other either. But to watch everybody pull together to spread God's Word was amazing. Afterwards, like good Baptists, we had a dinner.
The next place we passed out scripture was in a town about 45 minutes away. We took along John/Romans and tracts, about 1500 total. Within 15 minutes, we were completely out. One of our guests, Melanie Jaquess, made the comment, "It's so sad, I feel like we're going along deciding this one has the opportunity to go to Heaven and this one doesn't." We ran out of scripture way too quickly. Before we left home, we put five whole Bibles in the truck "just in case". After we had passed out all of the tracts and John/Romans, we had one man run after us to ask if he could have a John/Romans. We were about to tell him we were sorry, but we were out, when we remembered the Bibles. We ran back and got them all. We then prayed about who to give them to (of course, the young man that asked was the first one to receive one). As we were walking along, there were two older men standing there talking. Mel gave hers to one of them, and when the other guy looked up, Samuel was standing there with a Bible for him also. We were about 15 paces behind them and walked in front of the men just in time to hear one say to the other, "This is the most beautiful thing!" What a blessing.
We went out to an area of town called El Molino to pass out toys, food, and scripture. This is a very poor section of town. We were able to take Anjelica and her children with us on this mission, which turned out to be essential. She knew all of the people and could tell us who had already received stuff and who hadn't. The kids would get back in line four or five times to try to get more toys and candy. Little Jackie was riding in the Suburban behind the truck handing out suckers. She was smiling from ear to ear. Alison asked her if she was happy and she said, "Yes." Alie then asked her why, to which she replied, "We get to take food to the poor people in my school." She told us that when she has food, she tries to share it with the poor kids in school. Anjelica's family is anything but rich, yet they desire to share what they have to further the Kingdom.
Taking the group home was an interesting situation. We took off just after midnight to get them to the airport in Monterrey before they took off at 9:00 a.m. We made it about three-and-a-half hours when we heard a strange sound. Then we started smelling smoke so we pulled off the road as quickly as possible, popped the hood, and saw the alternator with flames shooting out of it. This presented a problem. God was good in that the place where we pulled off had a truck stop on either side of the road with twenty-four hour restaurants. The first one was open, but no workers were there, so we went across to the other side of the street. The guy who ran that truck stop was also a mechanic. However, at 4 in the morning, there is no place to buy an alternator, so our options were limited. The group still needed to be in Monterrey by 9:00, which was quite a distance away. A truck driver volunteered to drive them to Saltillo and help them find a taxi to get them to the airport. Steve and his Dad slept for an hour or so in the Suburban waiting for sunrise. In the morning, the mechanic drove them to a town about fifteen miles away and picked up a new belt and two alternators - one wouldn't fit and the other wouldn't work. So the mechanic took the alternator off his truck and sold it to us. Only $170 later, they were back on the road headed home. Next week, we'll tell you "the rest of the story" about the group's experiences on their return to Springfield.
A huge thank-you to all of you who are involved in the ministry of making scriptures available to those of us on the mission field. We couldn’t have done it without you.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Tuesday, March 08, 2005
[8:30 AM]
Weekly Update
Psalm 18:1 I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
Hello Everyone,
It's good to be back in sunny Mexico. We arrived home safe and sound late Thursday evening with minimal difficulties. Brothers Chuck Parks and Steve Brisco, (Branson, MO), brought us down a truck and trailer load of pews and we had a trailer load of Bibles, John/Romans, etc. We both got stopped right at the border and t hey wanted us to unload to go through our things. That was a little disconcerting. God had always let us pass right through when we were carrying scripture. They looked at the Bibles and John/Romans, told us to load them back up and go on. They told Brother Chuck they needed to inspect his load also. When they found out he was hauling the pews they told him to sit tight for a minute. They went into the office and when they came back they gave him a piece of paper that gave him permission to haul them into Mexico without having to have it checked again. Sure enough, he got stopped at the next check point, but since he had the paper they looked at it and told him he was cleared to go. What a HUGE blessing. God, as always, knew exactly what he was doing. If we wouldn't have had the paper from the border immigration, we would have had to turn around and go back to the border and take care of everything at that time, or been charged a hefty tariff. Romans 8:28 proves itself true once again.
Thank you for all your prayers for Mary's surgery. Her leg is healing slowly, but surely. She's on her way to Florida tomorrow to check out Trinity Bible College in Jacksonville.
Please continue to hold our family up in prayer, Satan keeps attacking and attacking. It's not just our family; it's our Mexican church family also. Accidents, sick family members, family situations, etc.; the devil's really pouring it on. The building we were hoping to move into this week for the new church is no longer available. So we're back to square one with that. We still want to stay in that same area. We still believe that's where God is leading us so please continue to pray.
Steve's Mom and Dad came down with us and have rented a house. They'll be serving as "temporary missionaries" a couple of times a year. This is a great opportunity for them and it's absolutely wonderful for our family.
We'll be picking up a group from Springfield, MO, in Monterrey today and they'll be staying for a week. We're very excited about that. Please pray that God will touch all of our hearts and lives.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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