Tuesday, May 24, 2005
[3:04 PM]
Weekly Update
Colossians 4:2-3 Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving; with all praying also for us, that God would open unto us a door of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for which I am also in bonds.
Hello Everybody,
Hope everybody had a good week like we did. The kids are all finished with their schooling for the year and had very good grades. Attendance was back up for church services this week, and that was encouraging.
We have a couple of prayer requests to share with you. The first is a young man named Enrique (Ricky). He's been coming over to the house quite a bit and kept telling us he wanted to go to church with us. He finally came, both Saturday evening and Sunday morning. He seems to be very close to getting saved, but he wants to make sure he understands everything first. Can you ever really completely understand salvation before you're saved? Please pray that God will work extra hard on Ricky.
Another prayer request we have is for Antonio's mother. Antonio is another young man with whom we became very good friends right after we moved here. We've shared the gospel with him time and again, but he still hasn't accepted Christ. Yesterday, he came over to tell us his mother is in the specialist hospital in Zacatecas with some kind of a lung infection (they think). Her name is Margarita. Please pray for her healing and for Antonio's salvation.
Sunday evening we went to Fresnillo for church with Pastor Pepe. There is a new area that he has a burden for, close to Fresnillo. Right now, he has a logistics problem, both with transportation and supplies. We're praying for God to show us if this is an area where we can get involved after we return from the states. This next Sunday evening, we'll be taking the projector back to Fresnillo to show a good Christian movie in his church. We're anticipating some first-time visitors due to the entertainment factor. Please pray with us about these endeavors.
It's hard to believe that a week from tomorrow we'll be in the states again. It seems like there are so many things to set in order before we can head out. Please, please pray for us.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Wednesday, May 18, 2005
[11:42 AM]
Weekly Update
I Corinthians 9:23 And this I do for the gospel's sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you.
Hello Everybody,
Things are starting to slow down and pick up at the same time. Slowing down, in that we're getting our programs organized well enough that they're less time. Picking up, in that we're getting things ready for us to leave next month.
Attendance this past week was lower, but we had good services. Please pray that while we're gone, things don't disintegrate at the church. We know that in the past, when the Americans leave, the people's motivation sometimes falters. The people here tend to be great procrastinators. Of course, there are exceptions and I believe we have one of those exceptions in Jose. He always seems to be ready and willing. We really thank God for him and his wife.
We've been getting a bit of dental work done as we've told you over the past few letters, and I think that we're pretty much finished up for now. Thank you for all your prayers this past week concerning our teeth.
We've had fewer requests for giveaways and more people requesting work, which is very encouraging to us. It lets us know that you have been praying for us in this area also, and that God is faithful in answering. Thanks also to those of you who sent along an encouraging note. It means a lot.
Yesterday we received a package of Sunday school material from the Dormans of Helping Hands Ministry in Texas. With their package, they also sent some items to hand out; soaps, toothpaste, toothbrushes, happy meal toys, etc. What a day-brightener that was! Please put the Dormans on your prayer list, that God would richly bless them for their efforts to help missionaries all over the world.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Tuesday, May 10, 2005
[3:30 PM]
Weekly Update
1Corinthians 1:4 I thank my God always on your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by Jesus Christ;
Good Afternoon Everyone,
What a week! Amber has had some on-going dental work. The dentist has decided that since we're Americans, we should be able to afford to build him a new house. We kept thinking that we'd paid it all, but he kept coming up with more charges. Thankfully, after talking to Jose, he introduced us to a new dentist who is able to finish the work for about 1/10 of the price. We are very excited about this as there are others in the family who need dental work done and this is much more affordable.
The dentist wasn't the only one who wanted us to pay for everything. We've had more people asking us to pay electric bills, water bills, buy them medicine, give them food, money, and one guy who wanted us to give him $200 pesos to get his hand x-rayed. That was an interesting case. We know from past experience that it's less than $100 pesos to get it done. When we told him that we knew this, and we offered to go up to the hospital and pay the bill, he decided he needed to go to lunch. He came back about an hour later and told us that the x-rays were taken care of, but could we give him some money so he could go out to eat. We just looked at him incredulously, not believing that he would even ask something like that and told him, "We don't give out money."
Another older gentleman came buy looking for a handout. When we told him to come back tomorrow and we'd give him some work and we'd pay him for it, he smiled enthusiastically and said he'd be there bright and early. Apparently he found another source, because he has yet to come back.
I'm sorry if we sound a little frustrated, but it's been a frustrating week. Please pray for us and Jose and Marta also. They've had the same experiences as us (even some dentist problems). We did have a pretty encouraging evening Saturday night at discipleship class. We had an older gentleman show up and ask if he could come in. He was saved some time ago and has been looking for a good church it seems. He really knows his Bible. He has most of the New Testament fairly well memorized and is trying to find the Old Testament in Spanish on tape so he can begin to memorize it as well. His eyes are bad enough that he isn't able to read for long periods of time. We are checking into a source for Old Testament Spanish cassettes for him.
Thanks to all who pray for us regularly, we really need it.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Tuesday, May 03, 2005
[10:58 AM]
Weekly Update
Psalm 116:1 "I love the LORD, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications."
Good Morning Everybody,
Happy Cinco de Mayo two days early! For those of you who don't know, Cinco de Mayo is one of the more important Mexican holidays commemorating a great war-time victory. We had a few victories of our own this past week to celebrate.
Let's start with, our church sign is painted! We got them done for half the price of the original estimate, which was a blessing. We are very pleased with how they turned out.
We had a lot of fun for Dia Del Ninos, kid's day. Just like Mother's and Father's Day, they have a day set aside to celebrate the kids. Saturday we had a fiesta in place of our normal discipleship class. We had pinatas to beat up, we had food to eat, gifts to give to all the kids and a children's story about Guci the Gospel worm. It's another way of presenting the Wordless Book. We have over ninety people in attendance, which was very exciting for us. The kids seemed to have a really good time, but not any better than the adults that came.
Sunday morning, for church, we set a new attendance record with forty-two people. This makes our little church very crowded. We may be forced to rent the other part of the building sooner than we had planned. Horrible problem to have, isn't it? This next Sunday is Mother's Day. Everybody is bringing ingredients to make Pazole (a type of soup that is popular here in Mexico). Please remember to keep this special service in your prayers.
For those of you who missed our update last week, we took a few days off for some much needed R & R. We packed up and went camping for a couple of days. It was good to just get away from the daily pressures and have some quality family time. Believe it or not, you can get rest sleeping in a tent on the hard, uneven ground.
We are starting to make our traveling plans for our June trip to the United States. Trying to cram in everything that we need to get done in the amount of time that we have to do it is always a struggle. Please pray that God will give us wisdom and clarity as we try to schedule our events. There's a wedding, a graduation ceremony, more ACT testing, churches to visit, colleges to check out, supplies to purchase and/or pick up, etc., etc. Proverbs 16:3 "Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established."
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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