Wednesday, June 29, 2005
[12:26 PM]
Weekly Update
Psalm 116:7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.
Hello Everybody,
We have indeed returned unto our rest. We arrived home yesterday afternoon and are very happy about that. We brought two guests with us; Laurie Weldon (a 20-year-old college student) and Andrew Townsend (a twelve-year-old son of our former pastor). Please pray with us that God will work in the lives of these young people and that they won't get too homesick. It can be a little overwhelming at times being in a foreign country.
God has also dealt bountifully with us. He gave us a new vehicle, the 15 passenger van you all have been praying for, as well as a copy machine, some water filters and 32 cases of scripture, including Bibles, John/Romans and New Testaments. We also have a few thousand more tracts. Thanks for all of your prayers.
Tomorrow we're planning on having a medical missions group working out of our church. It'll be an optometrist who gives free exams and free glasses. There will be others working on sharing the gospel with the people waiting to be seen. Please pray that God will start preparing these peoples hearts now, both the workers and the patients.
Our oldest daughter, Mary, is on her way to Jacksonville, FL, to start preparing the way for attending Trinity Baptist College in the fall. Alison will be heading there on the 19th of July. Please pray for safe travel for Mary today and that God will give her wisdom in all of her decisions.
To all the churches who so graciously accepted us and for those individuals who housed us and fed us, and those who financially supported us on this trip, thank you so much! May God richly bless you for your faithfulness.
The Benedicts
Co-Laborers in Christ,
Mexico Division
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Friday, June 17, 2005
[7:57 AM]
Van Update
PSALMS 135:5 For I know the LORD is great, and that our LORD is above all gods.
Hello Everybody,
Let's start out with the van update. The van that we had shared about is still available and we are trying to raise just $1500 more to purchase it. We want to thank those of you who have already given towards this and ask that you don't quit praying. For anyone wishing to donate towards the final $1500, you can send it to our Pastor at:
TRRBC
P.O. Box 1026
Branson West, MO 65737
Alison's graduation went very well. She's happy to have it over with and is looking forward to entering the next phase... college in Jacksonville, FL. She still has a few things to do to be ready, so please remember to pray for her.
We have a WONDERFUL praise to share with you. A few weeks ago we wrote to you and asked you to pray for the salvation of a young man named Ricky. We got an e-mail from him that read, "Jose and Marta are very happy with me, they tell me I just got saved!" He was at the discipleship class and made the decision to trust Christ as his personal Savior. Thank you, thank you, thank you, for praying. It's another example of God answering the prayers of His servants.
We've been in quite a few churches and we still have at least three more to go. We are in Michigan as we write this and will be heading back through Indiana early next week and then heading on to Texas for the weekend. We are planning on being back in Mexico on the 27th. Please remember to pray for us for safe travel, pray for the truck that we'd have no vehicle problems and pray for the churches that we'll be in, that God will prepare the people's hearts.
The Benedict Bunch
Missionaries to Mexico
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Wednesday, June 08, 2005
[8:09 AM]
Weekly Update
Ecclesiastes 2:20 Therefore I went about to cause my heart to despair of all the labour which I took under the sun.
Hello Everybody,
Boy, can I ever sympathize with Solomon, all that labor under the sun that he talks about. Let me explain ...
We made it past Saltillo, about the halfway point of getting out of Mexico, before we noticed the truck starting to bog down. Thankfully (because Steve's no mechanic), we've had this problem before and knew exactly how to fix it. We drove for a couple more hours until we got to Laredo, TX, pulled into the nearest Wal-mart, bought a fuel filter, and laid down on the nice, black, asphalt in the 100+ degree weather to change it. What a difference, it ran like a new truck until...
We were driving just South of San Antonio, and although we didn't see anything, we heard something hit the bottom of the truck as we ran over it. A few minutes later, we could feel the back end having a little bit too much "action" as we went around the corners. Boy, do we know what this means! We stopped at a gas station that had an air compressor, parked close to it, got out, and sure enough, the tire was almost flat. We put air in to try to get us to the bus station in San Antonio (to drop off a missionary friend who had ridden with us and was on his way to Houston), but of course, those of you who follow the exploits of our family would know to wager on the premise that we wouldn't make it. We didn't! About five minutes short of the bus station we had to stop and change a tire, again in the glaring Texas sun. We're getting good at tire changes, our tire had a HUGE slice out of the inside of it! We got to the bus station, and you'd think our troubles were over wouldn't you? Silly people, this is the Benedict's that you're talking about!
We got back out on the expressway, and after about three minutes of driving, we noticed a strange thumping sound and the truck was bouncing all over the road. We pulled off at the next exit and right into the parking lot of a tire shop. The guy came out and took one look at our spare that we just put on and said, "That tire's no good!" You didn't have to be a genius to be able to figure out what he was talking about. The tread was peeling off (two guesses on what brand the tire was). Thankfully, they're also good at tire changes, they had us back on the road in about fifteen minutes with two slightly used "new" tires.
We are so thankful that the problems that we had were minor ones that we could handle (for the most part) on our own without having to get into an expensive mechanic's bill. Even though the sun was extremely hot, we had good air conditioning in the truck to cool us back down. When we had to stop and change a tire, there was a Wendy's right next door where we could stop and get a Frosty for refreshment to cool us back down. When we stopped for the evening, we had a nice, cool shower to wash off the days grime with. God is good!
Thanks to all of you who prayed for our safety while traveling, but don't stop now! Friday we'll be heading to Joplin, MO, Saturday we'll be heading to IN, Monday we'll be heading to WI and then to MI and then working our way back to hopefully be back home in Mexico the 27th. We will be putting on many thousands of miles between now and the end of the month. And we do have a spare tire, but we'd really like not to have to use it!
The Benedict Bunch
Missionaries to Mexico
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