January/February 2013 That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.

January/February 2013

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5

Praise God for the faith He gives, the strength to carry on, and the power to overcome. An immeasurable dose of that divine power has been evident these past two months in Tepic as He has softened and transformed hard hearts, comforted and refreshed hurting hearts, and reinforced and energized committed hearts. This outpouring of His power could never be attributed to human wisdom.

Huichol students of Theological Education by Extension from the village of La Quemada studied Personal Evangelism the week before Christmas. The seven mother-tongue-translators working on the Huichol Old Testament also agreed to meet at La Quemada during the week of Christmas to continue the task of revision and in the process, to encourage the believers of that village. In addition, Huichols from several neighboring villages converged on the little church there to celebrate Christmas together.  By the end of the two-weeks filled with non-stop activity, eight new believers whose hearts were softened and transformed by the power of God were baptized in the frigid river just outside the village.  

The power of God that comforts and refreshes hurting hearts has been especially evident at a personal level lately. Jacob and Kiki’s 18-month-old son, David, was diagnosed 29 days ago with pre-B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). David is my 7^th grandchild. This new trial is not an easy one; it will include days, weeks, months, and even years of surgeries, biopsies, chemo and hospitalization, but we are determined to glorify God through it. Kiki summed up our feelings well: It is definitely not the path I would choose, but I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is sovereign and in control over every cell in David's body. It's still hard, but I pray that David will be a trophy of His grace (as we all are) and that God will use this trial to bring Himself glory, salvation to some, and strengthen the faith of those who believe. David has had more discomfort in the past month than I have in a lifetime. It's hard to watch, but comforting to know that the God who wouldn't spare His own Son for me loves my son more than I do. We have been so blessed by the prayers, encouragement, practical gifts/help and kindness from the bride of Christ. Without her coming along side us to bear this burden, it would be unbearable. Thank you for bearing it with us. Love, Kiki.  This summarizes the power of God that comforts and refreshes hurting hearts. That same power of God was also extended to Julián’s family this month.

Julián was among the group of 20 believers that pastor José López baptized on Good Friday in 2010.  They are from the remote village of Guásima del Caimán, but they came to be baptized in the village of La Bendición (The Blessing) where their brothers and sisters had relocated after Julián and his coconspirators had made their lives miserable, persecuting them with all their might. When the first believers fled the village of Guásima under the weight of the persecution, Julián later told us he was so furious he drank non-stop for an entire week, pausing only long enough to regain consciousness after blacking out. The testimony of those persecuted believers, now in their new village, The Blessing, has been spread far and wide, and many from neighboring villages have believed the Truth as a result, including at last, Julián. His hard heart was softened and transformed by the power of God, but his body suffered the consequences of his former lifestyle. Julián died of complications of cirrhosis of the liver on February 4. While Julián is experiencing the power of God in person, his friends and family are experiencing the power of God that comforts and refreshes hurting hearts left behind.

Guest Helpers, a group of 20 retirement-age workers from Santa Ana, California, opted to leave comforts of home behind, give generously of their resources, and use their God-given talents and gifts to serve sacrificially for a solid week. They set an enormous example working alongside their Mexican brothers and sisters at IBBM-Tepic to put in insulation and a drywall ceiling in order to combat the intense heat that radiates into the church. They also crafted a beautiful new pulpit, did cement work on sidewalks and floors, electrical work, painting, and garden work.  The best job they accomplished was demonstrating God’s love in action and their dedication to His service proving that nobody can do everything, but everybody can do something. The power of God reinforced and energized committed hearts in ways human wisdom never could. For assorted pictures of the teamwork click here. 

That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 1 Corinthians 2:5

“… the quickening of dead sinners, the enlightening of blind eyes, and unstopping of deaf ears; the softening of hard hearts, the delivering of persons from the slavery of sin and Satan, the transforming and renewing of them both inwardly and outwardly…the comforting, enlivening, strengthening, and establishing of the saints…can never be ascribed to the persuasive language of men, but to the power of God…:” ~John Gill

May/June 2011 “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”

May/June 2011

“And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work:”  2 Corinthians 9:8

"Your mission, should you choose to accept it is..."   No such thing as Mission Impossible; God’s all-sufficient grace has proven to be always more than enough for every good work.

15^th Huichol Old Testament translation Workshop - Mother-tongue-translators (MTTs), diligently committed to the project, have worked in their respective remote mountain villages to finish nearly 90% of the Huichol Old Testament in first-draft form. They all faithfully attend workshops in Tepic along with the trained linguist consultants for the purpose of team-checking the drafts. 10 % has been printed for community testing. A back-translation, consultant check and final proofreading are still necessary steps before publication. The team has a long way to go before this virtually impossible job is done. They met in Tepic the first 2 weeks of May to continue reviewing God’s work in history through the Genesis patriarchs and begin reviewing Job. The task is formidable, but there’s no such thing as a Mission Impossible.

José Lopez returns to the Sierra Madre – June 3 was a day of practically impossible historic significance! José López finished a week of teaching Theology Education by Extension (ETE) to students in the remote village of Los Aires. Remember…we prayed after his excruciating surgery last year for his leg to heal for this very purpose? UIM pilot, David Wolf, airlifted him to the Tierra Blanca strip; José hiked 45 minutes to Los Aires, then we picked him up at Tierra Blanca a week later. Though we had our doubts that José would ever again return to the Sierra Madre villages, there is no such thing as a Mission Impossible.         

Discipleship trip to Mojarras - Román, an MTT, and 9 other Huichol believers from La Quemada followed their nearly impossible Divine calling to hike 6 hours with musical instruments in hand to the village of Mojarras (They got lost on the way which added another hour to the trek.) for the purpose of fellowshipping, teaching and encouraging in their Christian walk, the brothers and sisters of that very remote village. (The young people who came to the seemingly impossible first ever Huichol camp in Tepic in April returned to their villages with a spark that has reignited the thirst for God’s Word.) Emilia, another MTT (another impossible feat… for a Huichol woman), discipled several of them in her recent “mission” trip to Los Aires.  

Just before Román left Mojarras to return home to La Quemada, one of the brothers who had been happily photographing events of the “fellowship meeting” with his newly-purchased, second-hand digital camera, agreed to pass the pictures from the memory card of his camera to Román’s OT translation laptop, Maricuxi.    (I sure would have loved to have seen those pix!) Of course, Román was incredulous and horrified when the alarms sounded that an invading virus was detected…from a CAMERA memory card, no less. Another valuable cyber lesson learned, but alas, too late. This was a very costly and time-consuming setback, but thanks to Kaspersky, Panda, Wycliffe tech support and mostly God’s all-sufficient grace in all things, it was not a Mission Impossible. 

IBBM-Tepic Baptisms - Ten new believers from the Iglesia Bíblica Bautista Misericordia – Tepic (IBBM) gladly identified themselves publically as followers of Christ. We planned an all-day church-wide outing to a campground near Tepic to celebrate with them their determination to place their faith in the All-sufficient One who promises to fulfill in them this Mission Impossible. 

IBBM-Tepic OANSA - The Tepic OANSA (AWANA) Club observed the end of the 2010-2011 term with the annual visit from Sparky on Awards Day. The kids were excited to receive the medals they have been working hard to earn all year long; and we leaders are elated to know that each award represents the hiding of God’s Word in the tender hearts of the children with whom we have been working. Then we exerted one last effort for the year to prepare the OANSA Fair on the following Saturday afternoon when each clubber got to spend his or her hard-earned OANSA pesos on games, prizes, ice cream, cotton candy and other treats.  

Four exemplary clubbers have fulfilled all the requirements for becoming brand new leaders-in-training. All 4 started out as Cubbies and have completed all of the OANSA manuals. They are now working to complete a 16-week discipleship class and a year of internship hoping to achieve the privilege of serving in the OANSA club as official club leaders at the end of next year! Developing future church leadership is a Mission Impossible, humanly speaking; no such thing for the Supreme Commander… There’s always more than enough grace for every good work.