Dear Friends,
There's another side to our lives we haven't written about much,
and that is what we do when we're not out in Lajas. Of a week day our kids
need to be taken to their respective schools. Julian goes to a bilingual Mexican school downtown Durango. He has to be there by 8:00A.M. and then on our way home, Joseph and Madeline are dropped of at Wingo's house where Candy teaches them. Joseph has a drum practice once a week and then three times a week they all (apart from Sophia) have swimming lessons. Thursdays Joseph has baseball practice and on Saturdays his team plays in a league. All the activity keeps us on our toes (mostly Anne Marie as I am gone allot) and it gives our kids a chance to at least learn some things before we are full-time in Lajas.
Back in October of 2003 when returned from furlough in Tasmania, the
Lord led us to a small church that had just barely started. The pastor and his wife are from Argentina and had started an evangelistic Bible study from which the church had grown. At that time, there were around 30 people attending of which nearly all were new believers. The church was growing and they were in need of folk to help with discipling and teaching etc. We have been able to get quite involved in various ministries. I have taught there quite a few times of a Sunday morning, and have led one of the men's cell group Bible studies when I am not in Lajas. Joseph and I play in their praise group, and Anne Marie has been leading one of their weekly evangelistic prayer groups. The church originally met in a store which was able to seat nearly 100 people. A year and a half ago, we moved to a building with a capacity for 350 seats. The church continued to grow so much that three months ago, on Sunday mornings there was standing room only.. Two Sundays ago, we began renting a facility that was designed for parties and functions. They have 800 seats and this last Sunday it was full. People have gotten so excited that they have been inviting friends and relatives and nearly every Sunday people are getting saved. With some special outreach meetings planned for later this week, it is highly likely the church will be looking for a bigger building. While perhaps not everything about this church do we necessarily agree with 100% of the time, there is definitely no doubt that God is working in incredible ways and growing His church. For us it has been good to be involved with something that has been growing and moving along, especially with the slow and tedious pace of the work in Lajas. We have been especially blessed by this church and have enjoyed the fellowship and opportunities to be involved. This last Sunday we had an incredible service. Some 30 people got saved and at the end of the meeting as we were having a celebration time of singing and praising God, the owner of the place informed the pastor that she was no longer going to charge them rent and we could continue to use the facility for as long as we want. When the church first contacted her about renting the place she refused to rent as she didn't want anything to do with Christians. God is amazing!
Another side to our ministry is the care of sick Tepehuan folk who cannot afford medical services. Over the years we have helped many with either buying medicine, paying for consultations or getting them into a hospital. Just a few days ago I got a call from Felicita's daughter. (Felicita and her daughter are the first Tepehuan we ever met.) Her brother Jesus was very sick, and they wondered if I could help. When I went to pick him up I was absolutely shocked. Instead of finding the cheerful, always joking kind of extroverted Jesus, I found a shivering, shaking, barely able to speak and barely able to walk Jesus. He couldn't even greet me. He could hardly breathe and was spitting up dark red phlem. He absolutely stank and I wondered if he would even last the day. I was able to get him to a hospital and the diagnosis is, he is suffering from acute pneumonia and has resulting complications for not having received treatment sooner. By the end of the day, I was able to visit him and he looked in such terrible shape I felt compelled to pray for him. I explained to Him how that we were Christians and asked him if I could pray for him and he agreed. I simply asked God to save him from his sin and to heal from his
sickness. He couldn't speak, but he was genuinely thankful. I turned around and found the patient in the next bed and a whole bunch of doctors and nurses staring in disbelief. The system here is that hospitals don't have medication but whatever a patient needs, the family or caregiver has to go out and purchase at a pharmacy, hence everyday we are going into the hospital and buying medicine for Jesus. He is gradually improving and graciously has been given a bath, but definitely is not out of the woods. Today I visited him and told him we were praying for him. I gave him some Gospel tracts to read and explained the Gospel to him and the patient in the next bed also wanted a tract. Come to find out, he is a Christian. Please be praying for Chewie (Latin nickname for Jesus), he is a Spanish speaking Tepehuan that needs healing and saving.
A new deal that has happened is Milpillas. Milpillas is a mountain town that we pass through 7 hours into the trip to Lajas. It was the original place that our team back in April of 2000 was trying to get into (You may remember Steve and Kiff Hall and Darrel and Amanda Patterson as our coworkers back then). There are a few Tepehuan living in Milpillas, but mostly it is a Spanish speaking Mexican village. There are no Christian churches or outreaches there. Steve and Darrel had made a number of trips there and gotten to know the people, and as a team we had done a dental clinic there. In the end it was decided that Lajas would be a more ideal place from which to reach the Tepehuan as Milpillas was a pretty closed place back then as well. Our team dissolved and each one went onto different ministries and we headed towards Lajas. However, as we always pass through Milpillas to and from Lajas, Anne Marie and I have always felt a burden for the town but realize if we were to minister there, it would mean not reaching the Tepehuan in Lajas whom the Lord has called us to reach. We have been praying for Milpillas and the Lord has opened up a door. A few months ago I was talking with Leo our pastor here in Durango and I mentioned our burden for Milpillas. He was immediately interested as the Lord had been impressing him with the need for the church to be reaching out more. After praying, we began looking for a way for the church to get involved in reaching Milpillas. The church supports a Mexican ministry called Amigos Sin Fronteras (Friends Without Borders). It is a medical ministry that seeks to provide medical services for mountain and tribal people in Mexico and to aid Christian ministries and missions. Dr Antonio Moreno the founder of this organization had been organized to be at our church for some special meetings, and it was decided that I would fly to Milpillas with him to try and get permission for a dental clinic in Milpillas. Cutting a long story short, this past Saturday morning we made the flight. God did miracles for us to be able to fly. On Thursday the plane was broken down on another mountain airstrip (not seriously, but had to be fixed), by Friday Joe the pilot was making a test flight to Milpillas both to test the plane and to try out the airstrip. By Saturday morning we were all flying to Milpillas. A mixture of fog and the sun coming up over the ridge made the final approach into Milpillas almost too dangerous for a landing, but the Lord seemed to move the fog and on the 3rd time around we made it in. We were received very warmly by the people and the governor of the town was very friendly towards us and very keen to have us come do a dental clinic. When I returned from Lajas last Wednesday I had given a ride to a guy from Milpillas I had a good opportunity to witness to him and he seemed very open. This along with the warm reception in the village showed me that the town was a lot more open than years before when we first started visiting there. Suffice to say, in the next few months Amigos Sin Fronteras along with our church will be doing a dental clinic in Milpillas and beginning an outreach there. Pray with us for the salvation of the
folk in Milpillas and for the birth of a new church there. (The pics below are of the flight into Milpillas, the village from the air and Antonio with the Milpillas governor.)
This hopefully gives you a glimpse of what our lives are like and what God is doing outside of Lajas. We thank each one of you for your interest and prayers and for your involvement in our lives.
For Jesus,
Andrew and Anne Marie
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May 2006 report
