July 2006
Dear Praying Friends,
“I thank My God upon every remembrance of you, Always in every prayer of mine for you all making request with joy, For your fellowship in the Gospel from the first day until now;” (Philippians 1:1-3)
“We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.” (I Thessalonians 1:2-3)
Furlough:
January and February were wonderful months, spent traveling, visiting many our supporting churches, as well as several new churches. Words cannot express our gratitude to each and every one of you for all you have done for us. We are not worthy, but we know that your kindness toward is a direct reflection of your love and faithfulness to the Lord, and He will surely bless you for it.
PRAISE:
In our last letter, we requested prayer for the salvation of our friend and Spanish tutor, Mayda Barnett. Praise the Lord, Penny was able to lead her to Christ just three weeks ago, and has been having discipleship classes with her. Already there is evidence of the Holy Spirit working in her life, and spiritual growth. Pray for her continued growth, and the salvation of her family.
Prayer Requests:
#1. Our greatest need is for more support so that my time will be freed up for increased involvement in the ministry. The Lord has provided abundantly through “tent-making,” but our desire is to invest all our energy and time in the work of the Lord.
#2. Pray for more groups. Earnestly ask the Lord if he would have YOUR church come on a missions trip with us. You will never be the same again! Your church will never be the same again. It is a worth-while investment for eternity.
Nuevo Casas Grandes:
March 9th through the 16th we took a group to the town of Nuevo Casas Grandes in the state of Chihuahua. The pastor of the church there, Pastor Ruben Robles, was saved as a result of a missions trip many years ago, and so he is very excited about missions trips. Our group was from a church here in El Paso, Hillcrest Baptist Church. They were enthusiastic about the trip, but at the same time, felt they knew all about Mexico, living here on the border. It didn’t seem “exotic” to them. So, they were very surprised to find that the poverty was much worse than they had ever envisioned, and the response to the Gospel so much more eager than anything they had experienced before. There was an open door for the Holy Spirit to work freely in their hearts in regards to missions and faithful service to the Lord.
Mission Church in Carlos Chavira:
We had our “Big” Service on March 20th, and had over 120 adults and many children (too many, running around too fast to be counted accurately!) Praise the Lord! That little mission has grown exponentially! God is truly working in that community. The mission has grown to the point that they now are holding regular Sunday services as well a midweek service on Thursdays. Many people have been saved, baptized, and are attending faithfully. Stephen has had the opportunity to preach twice, with Bro. Tim Urling translating.
NEW MISSION CHURCH IN BERMEJILLO (pronounced bear-me-HEE-yo), NEAR TORREON: Grace Bible Baptist Church
One of the graduates, Bro. Angel (pronounced AHN-hel) Luna, from the Bible Institute here in Anapra has returned to his hometown to start a church. He was there three weeks, when Stephen and Bro. Urling along with a group of Mexican men from Grace Bible Baptist Church here in Anapra were able to go down and help him. Bro. Angel was so excited when, after one meeting, where he was preaching, his own mother accepted Christ as her own personal Saviour.
In June, TEC took another group, this time Americans from Oklahoma and Arkansas, down to help Br. Angel again. The church from Arkansas has agreed to rent a building for the work for the next six months while they are building their own building. Praise the Lord! Also, many souls were saved, and 60 families have signed up for in-home Bible studies. While we were there, Bro. Angel also had his first baptismal service.
In July we went to Bermejillo again. This time it was a group of Mexican nationals from the mission church in Carlos Chavira going on their first mission trip. Praise the Lord! One gentleman in the group, named Miguel, from whom no one had heard a clear salvation testimony, got saved Tuesday night. He is so excited and has been faithful to church ever since.
We have another trip the end of July, this time to Nuevo Casas Grandes. Pray that the Lord will prepare hearts even now for the Gospel. Then later in the fall we have more trips scheduled for Bermejillo.
The work is growing by leaps and bounds! South America is ripe for harvest, and the shame is that more are not willing to sacrifice and reap this rich and beautiful harvest. While in Bermejillo, we met with a Mormon young man, and had an interesting and rather disturbing conversation with him. He informed us that he was there to be a short- term Mormon missionary for two years. We asked him how many Mormon young men did this. He was ashamed to say that the response from their young men was very low--only about 40% !!! Shame on us! I do not believe there are 40% of young people from our Independent Baptist circles who are willing to give two years of their lives to the Lord before going on to their own goals and plans. Many times we hear folks say, "Well, not everyone is called to be a missionary!" But I guarantee you there are more called than are actually going. Many Christians are just staying comfortable at home with all kinds of excuses they call reasons for not going when God calls.
What about you? Are YOU willing to do at least as much as the Mormons? We have the truth, and we need to get it out before the Mormons and others spread their lies spread too far and it is too late!
"Pray ye therefore the Lord of harvest that he would send forth labourers into his harvest.” What would God have you to do? Pray? Give? YES! But don't forget to GO!!!
Your Missionaries to Mexico,
Stephen Dyck & Family
