March/April 2014 Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

March/April 2014        
Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20, 21

This past month has been exceedingly abundantly packed with more blessings than we ever asked for or imagined. 

First, in answer to our prayers from last month’s update, Erén was approved at the U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara for her visa, and God is beginning to provide funding for the mission trip we will be taking to Llanfairfechan, Wales, in July. There is much work to be done for the project. Please pray that God will direct our efforts in conjunction with the NVBC team and the team in Wales as we prepare to share the Gospel to further the cause of the Kingdom across the Atlantic.  He promises that when the Church works in unity by the power of Christ Jesus, He receives the glory forever and ever.Seven new believers, whose hearts have been softened and transformed by the power of Christ Jesus, were baptized at the Tepic church (IBBM-Tepic) the first Sunday of April. Join us in the celebration   and in giving Him glory as He has used His disciples as effective instruments to bring Caleb, Cuahutli, Christian, Elizabeth, Javier, Libertad and Paulina, part of the next generation of His followers, into the Church. 

Twenty-one of the Mexican young people from IBBM-Tepic did an outstanding job serving, providing music, games and devotional leadership as they invested their Easter-week vacation from school to help staff the 3^rd annual Huichol youth camp in a very rustic campground just outside Tepic. It was an exercise in logistics, but primarily in faith, to transport, house, feed and teach 93 Huichol campers who came along with 11 kitchen helpers and 8 pastors from 9 different mountain villages.

The campers worked hard to earn enough to pay a highly-subsidized camp fee, but due to their extreme poverty and the remoteness of their villages, their contributions didn’t scratch the surface of the overhead. Honestly, we never expected so many to respond (We refused to turn anyone away.), and we had no idea from where the funding was going to come to cover costs. God, however, had opened the door, and as always, He provided… exceedingly abundantly! Unexpected offerings completely covered the loose ends. Praise God! We are grateful for the vital part that many faithful team members have played in making this effort possible.

The IBBM-Tepic pastors along with their wives and I tailored our own material for this year’s camp theme: Destination -- The Path You Choose Determines Your Destination. Each of the 8 evangelistic and teaching segments was assigned to a different Huichol pastor. We never record numeric results, but around 30 young Huichol campers committed their lives to Christ. We know that “the very fact that a work is of God, will always arouse the opposition of the enemy.” And there has been and there still is plenty of enemy resistance. Please help me pray about that. It was a super-demanding week, but very worthwhile.

Several Huichol villages hosted Easter-week baptisms. I wish I had the space to tell some of the amazing stories of those (Some were newly-believing campers.) who with this important step proved their commitment to the Savior. Their lives have been transformed exceedingly abundantly from darkness to light solely by the power that works in us; to Him be glory. You can see some of the pictures from the baptisms at La Bendición and at Codorniz here: 

The 23^rd two-week Huichol Old Testament translation workshop begins this week. Much progress is being made on the revision stage, but much needs yet to be done. All of the  Huichol camp materials this year were based on completed stories of Old Testament people such as Samson, Abraham and Lot, and Joseph and Potiphar’s wife who were faced with choices that in turn led to corresponding destinations.  Even though the OT is not yet to the print stage, the revised drafts stored in the OT project laptops were used by the pastors and translators for teaching. Having the Bible text in the heart language of the hearers proved once again to be extremely effective as the power of God’s Word worked in them for His own glory.

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.