Tuesday, April 19, 2005
[10:33 AM]
Weekly Update
Psalm 139: 17-18 How precious also are Thy thoughts of me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand: when I awake, I am still with Thee.
Good Morning Everyone,
This week has been completely full of trials and blessings. We had another salvation decision this week for which we are extremely thankful. Alison got her stitches out and her toe is healing fine. The kids are beginning to get excited about the end of the school year and are working really hard towards finishing all their goals. Today we're meeting with the sign painter to get the church taken care of.
On the other side, Carolina, a lady who's been saved for about eight months and really growing, had to go through the trial of her husband cutting his wrists in a drunken suicide attempt. Please pray for him as we attempt to talk to him this week, his name is Pajaro. Then three of us were down with the stomach bug (not a parasite!) this week, we're all better now. America, Anjelica's three-year-old daughter, got her finger cut this past week. This is on top of an incident that left a gash in Juanito's head and another of America's fingers getting caught in a bike chain. Please pray for Anjelica, her kids, and her nerves. Lupe has had a very tough week also. She has a son that went to the United States, but has completely disappeared. She hasn't heard from him for a very long time and it just seems like all those emotions just boiled over this week. Please pray for her and her son.
April the 30th is Dia de los Niños (kids day) here in Mexico and we're planning on having a fiesta for the kids at the church. We'll have piñatas and candy, toys and games, and we're going to have special prizes for any kid who brings two friends. There will also be rewards for Bible verse memorization and other things. We will be sharing the Gospel during this time and teaching the "Wordless Book", only it will be the "Gusi, the Wordless Worm". Please start to pray now for the kids who need to be there.
We praise the Lord for the sweet spirit in the church. The people seem very excited and happy. We also praise the Lord for his supply. Money has started to trickle in towards the purchase of the van, and we'd like to welcome the First Baptist Church of Lewiston, Michigan, to the list of our supporting churches. We want to thank everybody who has a part in this ministry, whether meeting financial needs, physical needs, or being a prayer warrior.... We couldn't do it without you. May God richly bless each and every one of you!
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Wednesday, April 13, 2005
[9:49 AM]
Prayer Request
Dear Friends,
From our recent updates, it should be obvious that our Suburban is starting to "nickel and dime us" quite a bit. In the last four months or so, we've had to have the rear-end fixed (and it still makes some atrocious noise), steering arms replaced, an alternator catch on fire, the water pump replaced, and that's just to make sure we can keep it on the road. It has right at 170,000 miles on it. Every time we have to make a trip to the states (which is fairly frequently) we're putting 5,000 - 7,000 miles on it. It has been a great vehicle and God has really blessed the work through using it. However...
Our church has found a 1998 Dodge, 1-ton, fifteen passenger van with only 52,000 miles on it. It was purchased for a campground in the Branson area to shuttle people back and forth to the various attractions there. However, it's been sitting rather dormant for a few months. Our church would love to be able to do this for us alone, but at this point it's just not feasible so we're asking for financial help. This would be an invaluable tool to the ministry here.
This is a portion of an e-mail that was sent to us by one of our church members, Tim Kreigel, who is working on this project:
The van has now been for sale for several months. I expect the owner will accept an offer some where between $7500 and $9000. Pastor Davis and I have been talking about possibilities for raising fund commitments to reach an offer sufficient to buy the van. Pastor suggested sending a message to all of the churches on your support team, letting them know of the need, and asking each of them to consider making a special commitment to pay a part of the cost.
If the total commitments exceed the actual costs of acquiring the van, the excess funds could be returned on a proportional basis, to the donating churches, or used for other needs in your ministry, as directed by the donating churches.
Folks, we drove this van the last time we were in the states, and it would definitely be an asset to this ministry. To see this need fulfilled, we will need an additional $4000 by the first week of May. The fifteen passenger van we had been using (that belongs to the children's home) is no longer available to us because they have their own 'bus ministry'. We'll continue to use the Suburban, but we have seen that a fifteen passenger van is much more suited to what we've been doing. The Suburban is jam-packed already and we're making two trips to the church every service. The plan would be to use the Suburban pretty much exclusively in Mexico. That'll cut down on the additional mileage of traveling within the states, and therefore extend the life of that vehicle. We've been praying for a while about another vehicle and we believe that this may be the answer to our prayers. Our philosophy on this is "ask God and tell His people".
If you have any questions, you can e-mail us, or our church at trrbc@inter-linc.net . If you'd like to present this to your church for a special offering, or if you'd like to send a personal donation, all monies and/or commitments can be sent to:
Talking Rock Road Baptist Church
Attn: Van Project, Jerez
P.O. Box 1026
Branson West, MO 65737
Thank you for your prayerful consideration in this matter.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Tuesday, April 12, 2005
[11:10 AM]
Weekly Update
Isaiah 43:10 Ye are my witnesses, sayeth the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe Me, and understand that I am He: before Me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after Me.
Good Morning Everyone,
Another action packed week to report on. Let's start out with a short road trip. Brother Jim Collins, a missionary in the city of Zacatecas, called us to ask if they could borrow the portable baptistry from the children's home church. There were some people that were saved at the church that hosted the medical missions group a couple of weeks ago that wanted to be baptized. We loaded it into the trailer and took off. About fifteen minutes from Brother Jim's the truck started to overheat. We watched the temperature gauge very carefully and made it to the American's small version of Heaven, the local Wal-mart store. We pulled in, popped the hood, and figured out quickly that the water pump had gone out. We let it cool down and then staggered up the hill to Brother Jim's (everything in the city of Zacatecas is uphill or downhill). We got the water pump replaced and managed to still make it home that evening, tired and greasy, but home. As a footnote, the church had three people baptized Sunday afternoon, praise the Lord!
Saturday saw the first use of our new church. We had been busy all week, putting up a wall, putting in more lights, painting, cleaning, setting up chairs, etc. Saturday evening we had discipleship class and had 37 people show up! Quite of few of these were new to the discipleship class and we had two ladies accept Christ as their Saviour. There were five teen-aged boys that kept hanging out at the back door, very reluctant to come in, but listening very intently. One of them finally did come in and sit down. We gave away quite a few Bibles to the people that didn't have one. All five of the teen-aged boys asked for and received one which was very encouraging to us. Jose and Marta did an outstanding job.
Saturday evening, 10:00 p.m.: Alison, whom we had picked up earlier that day after she spent the week with Pastor Pepe's family in Fresnillo, was putting her things away when she stubbed her toe rather hard. Unfortunately what she stubbed her toe on was a piece of glass that she had been cutting to fit an end table. This resulted in her just about splitting her little toe into two toes. We made a quick run up to the emergency room where they sewed everything back together for her. It looks pretty bad and she assures us that it feels as bad as it looks. Please remember to pray for her.
And now we're to Sunday morning: We had 38 people for our first Sunday morning service. Marta was feeling a bit under the weather, so we kept all the children in with the adults. When we had set up the chairs, we had made an aisle for people to get in and out. By the time everybody got there and was seated, the aisle had vanished. We didn't have everybody that we'd had the night before, but the two ladies who'd gotten saved and quite a few of the kids did show up again. There was an older man who walked by, looked in, and sat outside with our landlord listening. Please pray for them that they'll have the courage to come in. After the service there were quite a few people that came by and when they found out what was going on, they told us they would like to come next week. Remember to pray for this new work.
We have much to be thankful for. The water pump, while it was a nuisance, was able to be repaired for under $40. We are thankful Alie's foot, while painful, is still completely intact. The building with the new wall was ready for use this week. We had two ladies saved from Satan's grasp and three that were baptized. What an awesome, wonderful, incredible week! Please join us in thanking God for everything that He is doing and for how He takes care of us. We also want to once again say thank you to those of you who make it possible for us to be here, and pray for the work that God is doing here in Jerez, MEXICO.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Tuesday, April 05, 2005
[11:08 AM]
Weekly Update
Ecclesiastes 11:6 In the morning sow they seed, and in the evening withhold not thine hand: for thou knowest not whether shall prosper, either this or that, or whether they both shall be alike good.
Good Morning Everyone,
Well, it was a pretty good week this week. We took possession of our new church building Sunday. They were a little bit late, giving us the keys in the afternoon instead of the morning, as they decided to paint the whole place before we got into it. What a huge blessing that was! We were planning on that being an extra expense for us. It seems that the landlord is very excited about having a church in his building.
We will be having our first services at the new church Saturday evening for our weekly discipleship class and then Sunday morning for our first church service. We've been busy making up invitations, which we'll be putting in with John/Romans, tracts and other information to saturate the neighborhood of the new church. Please remember to pray for these services and that God will use this new church as a lighthouse in the community.
Speaking of passing out John/Romans, we went with Pastor Miguel (Fresnillo) and his church to a rancho named Plentitud last Thursday to do some Gospel saturation there. We passed out a little over four-hundred John/Romans, each with a tract stuffed inside. We invited folks to the service that evening and praise the Lord there were three women that accepted Christ. One of them was Pastor Miguel's Aunt, 84 years old, whom they have been praying for and working with for quite some time. That was a very exciting day.
Remember last week we mentioned about going to Zacatecas to work with a medical missions group? Well, through Brother Jim Collins, the sponsoring church has requested the use of a portable baptistry. We'll be taking it over Wednesday for their baptismal service Sunday. How exciting is that?
Thanks for all your prayers. Anjelica is all moved into her new house and we are all feeling much better now. No more fevers, no more sore throats, and everybody's voices are back to normal. Thank you.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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