May-June 1999
Dear Praying Friends,
Greetings from Mexico! We want to thank you again for your continued faithfulness. You are a great encouragement to us personally and to the ministry here. Our family is all doing fine and we are glad to be back home after a quick trip to the US border. We needed to appear in person to complete visa paperwork and renew the permission for our truck to enter Mexico. It was an exhausting trip, but necessary, and it's good to be home!
God is answering your prayers and doing a wonderful work in the lives of our people for His glory. It is not always easy, but the rewards are great, and it is a privilege to serve the Lord together with you. It has been amazing to see God work! He can do things that are far beyond our ability. A short time ago, we began having a Sunday Bible service in our home with a few families. God has really blessed, and we have seen as many as 47 people packed into our small living room. Each week we have studies on a couple of topics, music, special things for children and Scripture memorization. We are grateful for the opportunity to bring the Word of God into the lives of these people. Clara, a lady who was recently saved, invites new people all the time and each week we have had new visitors. We didn't expect things to progress so quickly and really didn't think we were ready for it. But God knows the peoples needs and our abilities. He makes up for our short comings and keeps us on the cutting edge of our own abilities, as we continue to learn the Spanish language.
Miguel, our young Indian friend, has become very close to our family and has been helping during the services. He is very timid and usually won't even talk around a group of people. In our small house, forty people seems like one hundred and forty, and last week we watched as he helped us, with hands trembling, to present the Wordless Book to the children. God is really impacting his life. With his family background of drunkenness and superstition, his desire to do right, and growth in the Lord is a real encouragement. Please keep praying for him. He, like others, faces tremendous social pressures. Last month, we had to put him in the hospital for a week with malnutrition and Pneumonia. His family never visited.
Other Prayer Needs: *We praise the Lord that our visa papers went through and for the opportunity to continue working in Mexico. Now, we have just a few more forms to complete and another trip to make to the border to register and finalize everything. There are fees for the visas, and with the required trips it is very expensive. We are trusting the Lord to provide. *Also, with the crowded conditions during our Sunday service, we need to finish our house and activity building as soon as possible. We have been put off several times by people who said they could get beams for our roof. In the mean time, we have continued to work on other areas like fencing, plumbing and windows. Please pray that God will allow the current "beam deal" to go through and that he would help us cover the necessary expenses to complete the roof. The rainy season begins in June and poses a critical deadline. *While we work to complete the construction, there is a small log building across from our present location that we may be able to rent for use on Sundays as well as through the week. It would probably only cost $100 per month. But, that is not something we can afford at this time. We need God's wisdom in how to make room for those who want to attend. *Today, we had water for two hours in our home, the first time in four days. It is very difficult. We were able to buy a pump in Chihuahua, but still need to purchase a storage tank. It will cost $150. Please pray for our community's water situation. We hesitate to list so many needs, but it is a good sign of growth. *Our '82 pickup truck is no longer reliable for road trips. It is OK for working in the area, but we are asking the Lord for some sort of a van to be used in the work. We would like to use it for picking up people as well as necessary road travel. Would you pray with us that God might allow someone to donate a good used van, or allow us to raise the funds needed to purchase one?
Thank you, for all you do to be a blessing to us! You are a valuable part of the team and we greatly appreciate you. Your prayers and gifts are making a difference for Christ, God bless you!
Sincerely, For Souls Who Have Not Heard,
The Chambers
