February 16, 2010
WOW! We are so grateful for your support & prayers for our family and ministry. If the past month is any indication, 2010 will be a very busy year for us. We depend on your partnership with us in sharing Christ’s love & truth not just with the Tarahumara people but with whoever the Lord brings into our lives each day. Thank you! You are such a vital part of our ministry team. We have a few prayer requests for you and we will sum up our year so far as we share these requests.
First, please pray for Crucita of Los Manzanos. We continue to go to her house once a week for Bible study and she continues to be very receptive and interested in learning more. However, her husband of 20 years, David, was killed in January. His death was very sudden and leaves Crucita to raise their 5 children alone. Please keep Crucita and her children in your prayers. Pray that she will completely embrace our Lord and accept His love and truth. Pray also for the rest of David’s family, who were shocked and saddened by his death.
Our Discipleship Training School (DTS) began on Jan. 11 with 11 students (2 Americans, 4 Tarahumaras, 4 Mexicans) and has now leveled off to 10 students (due to the withdrawal of 1 of the Americans). We are beginning our 6th week out of 24 weeks. The DTS combines classroom learning with practical application of that learning; the goal of the DTS is for students to know God more intimately so that they can make Him known to others (for more information about Youth With a Mission and the Discipleship Training School, please go to our blog – www.tarahumarafamily.blogspot.com). Please pray for our students: Paul & Lily, Jaime & Lupe, Manuel & Adelaida, Teri, Criss, Marco, & Cristian. The 4 students who are Tarahumaras are Manuel & Adelaida from San Luis Majimachi and Jaime & Lupe from San Ignacio. Please pray for them especially – pray that we would have wisdom as we help with their discipleship. Pray for Henk & Edith Kaemingk who are the directors of the DTS this year.
Finally, please pray for us as a family. The DTS has dominated our lives during the past 6 weeks; however, we are involved in other areas of service as well (God’s Story back-translation, translation committee & the national union of indigenous translators, home school with Jaynie and 3 of the Kaemingks’ children, book-keeping for the base & the DTS). Please pray that the Lord would lead us in His perfect will each day. Pray for us as we try to finish the back-translation of the God’s Story script from Tarahumara into English. Pray that we would efficiently use our time as we serve God in the DTS and here in Creel. Pray that the Lord would bless Jaynie as we make adjustments to her home school curriculum (effectively cancelling our plans for her to attend her first-ever summer camp program). Please pray for our health as we have all struggled with coughs & colds during the past month.
Thank you so much for your steadfast support. Without your partnership, we would not be able to be here serving the Lord and sharing His love with the Tarahumara people. We pray for you this day – may God bless you as you have blessed us; may He fill you with His grace, peace, and wisdom as you pray for us.
In Christ & for His glory,
José Luis, Susan, & Jaynie