On Tuesday morning, Pastor Marco invited all of us to his restaurante in Lazaro Cardenas for breakfast.  He gave us an extra special greeting, and also sat with us awhile to make some plans for the rest of the week.  Matt is explaining about the importance of "cell" groups, which is what Marciano is trying to start in his Church here in Playa Azul.

In the evening, Matt was the guest speaker at Pastor Marciano's Church, and the Church was FULL!!  Everyone had a good time and many responded to the message.

While Peter, Pastor Marciano, & his two sons were picking up Pastor Matt & John from the airport, I was back at the campsite entertaining 10 of our friends who live nearby!  When they got back, we had a great time welcoming them to Playa Azul! We have a very busy week planned for them, starting with Matt speaking at Marciano's Tues. eve Church service.  Everyone is giving them a warm welcome, and we are all thankful for a safe trip, and their willingness to help all of us bring the good news of Jesus to all who are seeking the truth!

Peter & Pastor Marciano are making plans for the week when Pastor Matt & John will be with us. Today we told the whole Church about them arriving tomorrow, and everyone clapped & are excited to have them come. We encouraged everyone to invite friends, so please pray that many will come to hear God's Word from Pastor Matt on Tuesday evening.

Praise God!  We arrived in Playa Azul late Thursday afternoon, after completing 2,313 miles of driving in 8 days!  The last part of the journey was "hair-rising", to say the least. We left Patzcuaro, in the mountains, where it was 37 degrees & arrived in Playa Azul in 80 degree, muggy weather. The entire trip was on a toll road with road repairs the whole way!  An 18 wheeler truck came into our lane & almost ran us off the road, but missed us by a couple of feet! Peter did some incredible driving, & we were thanking the Lord the rest of the way.  The next day, they closed down the toll road so they could finish their work, & we were grateful to have made it here before this.  Today the Church people invited us for a relaxing day at the beach, and treated us to a barbeque.  When we told the people that our Pastor Matt was arriving on Monday with another friend of ours, Pastor Marciano was so happy & surprised, he just kept thanking God for this gift!  All the people clapped, and are anxious to meet them.

 

Dear Amigos, Tonight we are at our 2nd overnight stop in Zacatacas.  This "Hotel Hacienda Baruk" has many nice parking spaces for trailers, and we are allowed to use the facilities here if we wish.  Our "wish" is to let you know we are having a good time meeting people here, and the sweet Mexican people are welcoming us to their country!  Zacatacus is 8,200 feet above sea level, and presently is 42 degrees.  During the day, it almost reaches 70.  Our son called to tell us that in SC, it will be all of 10 degrees tonight!!  We gave one couple, who warmly greeted us in Spanish, a Gideon N.T., and they were thrilled!  Our waiter is a Mexican man who just moved here 3 years ago from Utah.  We were glad to have an English N.T. to give him, and he told us he needed to have this, because he went further away from God as he grew older, and he needs to get back to God.  Please pray with us for these people God puts in our path, & for each copy of God's Word that many would come to Christ, our Savior.  

PRAISE  GOD!!  This morning as we crossed the border, we knew many of you were praying for a smooth crossing, and God answered in a marvelous way!  The "inspector" was a young man, who was more impressed with the inside of the camper (it's 14 years old), than asking about what we were carrying IN it!  No one even asked us to look inside the truck, where all the boxes of Bibles were packed, but it might have to do with two doberman pinchers glaring at them, along with our little "Pancho" poodle who wouldn't stop yapping.  But we are giving God much praise for getting about 500 pairs of shoes, & about 600 New Testaments on their way to reach people for Jesus!  When we arrived in Saltillo, where we park behind a Hotel, there were about ten Indian young men who were playing "Cricket" in our camping spot.  We apologized for the inconvenience, but had a wonderful time speaking to them, & three of them accepted a Bible!  Pray that they will READ it, because God's Word never returns to HIM void!!  We may not be able to get back to the internet until we reach Playa Azul in 4 or 5 days.  Thanks for praying for us!

Hola Amigos!!   Today is Christmas, and we have been celebrating the birth of our Savior!  We spent the day with our family, and are back to the final stages of sorting shoes, and preparing to be ready to leave here on January 2nd for Mexico.  Sometimes we wonder if we're up to the task that has brought us this far, and for what is ahead, and then God gives us a verse of encouragement from His Word like this: In Judges 6:13-16 we read about Gideon, who was telling God that he wasn't qualified to do what the Lord had asked him to do. Then the Lord turned to him and said, "GO WITH THE STRENGTH YOU HAVE,...I AM SENDING YOU." When Gideon gave another excuse of his weakness, the Lord said to him, "I WILL BE WITH YOU!"    We are taking God at His Word, and are rejoicing at this passage God led us to.  What better promise can we have, than to be sent by God, and have His assurance that HE will be with us!
    Please pray for us that we will be sensitive to God's leading during our 3 1/2 months away, and to proclaim the good news of Christ as clearly as we should. (Col.4:2-4)
    Thank you for your wonderful support in so many ways.  We will try to keep you in touch as we journey together.  God bless you in the upcoming New Year!