Good morning! Many of you have been wondering how we are all doing, so here’s the latest!
Health Report
In our last update we mentioned several health concerns—mostly related to my family members dealing with Covid-19 and Bill and Joyce Burrows having Covid in their household.
Thankfully, everyone is doing well in my family and Bill’s, and Bill and Joyce never came down with it. That allowed Bill to have his heart ablation surgery on schedule right before Christmas. He has recuperated very well from that and has started hiking again. In addition, the eye surgeries Bill had this past year have made a big difference in his eyesight. Before the surgeries, he had very blurry vision and could barely see at night. Now, he has improved sight and good night vision. This has allowed him to be able to drive at night again!
For Nola and me, our only issue was catching a pesky cold between Christmas and New Year’s day, but we are doing much better now. Cesar and Elba Gonzalez have been well in Guatemala and traveled last week to the jungle in preparation for our upcoming trip.
Two WEek Trip Planned for Guatemala
January 27 to February 10, Nola, Ray Gurney and I are scheduled to be in Guatemala. We plan to visit a few of our Christian Rancher groups and spend a little over a week in the jungle in an evangelistic emphasis. Last year, Ray and I were with Cesar and the Kekchi Baptist Association when they hatched the idea of doing a crusade February 1-5 of 2022. On the spot, we had committed to being with them and praying for them in their preparations.
Cesar has been working with this group of Kekchi pastors in Frey Bartolome de las Casas in preparations for this upcoming crusade.
This group of 80 churches have teamed up to do witnessing in the communities of all of their churches. Each church plans to send a few “missionaries” who will go to a sister church to participate in visiting friends and family who do not have a saving relationship with Jesus.
Our job is mainly to encourage and celebrate with them. Already we hear of many coming to faith in Jesus. So we hope to enjoy a time of harvest with these dear brothers and sisters. Please pray for them and for us as we strive to get there for those days.
Costa Rican Bull Rider Starts New Group
When we come back out of the jungle, Cesar has us scheduled to be with our newest Christian Rancher groups in Chiquimula. The leader of one of those groups is Alfredo, a bull rider from Costa Rica.
This is a picture of Alfredo (far right) and several of his rodeo friends who are starting a new group together.
Cesar sent me a video of Alfredo on a ride last week in Guatemala. After a year of practically no rodeos, these events are beginning to happen again. Shortly before the pandemic, Alfredo had been sharing of his faith in Jesus when given the microphone after a good ride. Now he wants to get other bull riders fired up about sharing their faith too.
Last week, while Cesar was with Alfredo, he called me on a video call to talk with them. Having performed well for several years, Alfredo talked about his thoughts of retiring from bull riding and starting a bull riding school where he can teach his skills and share his faith with other bull riders.
During the conversation, Alfredo mentioned that he has not been baptized since his conversion and asked if we would do the honor of baptizing him when we are together with him and his friends in a couple of weeks! I hope to send you a note when that happens. So stay tuned!
Medical trip news
Many of you have asked about our medical trip plans. We don’t have anything firmed up on that just yet. Please pray for continued wisdom in that department.
10:02 PRAYER
Please pray for this upcoming trip to Guatemala. I know it seems like a broken record, but pray that we stay well and Covid free before, during and after this trip. Pray that our Kekchi friends are a part of a great harvest of people coming to know Jesus. And pray for Alfredo and others starting Christian Rancher groups.
ENGAGE
Bill and I will be developing plans this week to do more “Be-the-Church” training. If you are interested in having us do that in your church, let us know. We hope to share some exciting news on that soon.
INVEST
Thank you so much for your giving this past year. Because of your generosity, we were able to bless others in need and do several new projects. May God richly bless you in 2022!
CLICK HERE FOR THE EASY WAY TO INVEST.
Thanks too for your prayers for our health. I know that many of you have had similar health challenges in your families, and we pray that you are well during these trying days.
As always, if we can pray for you, please send us a note.
Love y’all!
Steve
PS…As a card-carrying Papi, I just had to throw in a couple of grandkid pics!
After telling the Christmas story with a nativity set, Nola got the grandkids to thank God for Jesus’ birthday.
The mommas thought a pic of the cousins in matching pajamas would be really cute. After several attempts to get them still on the couch for a group photo, we realized that it was about like holding basketballs underwater! This is the only pic I got with all of them together before one of them threw up, another took his pants off, and the mammas gave up on their apparently impossible idea!