The Daniel Update

The Daniel Update
Date: October 2015
Location: Los Pocitos, JA, Mexico
Greetings to you from amongst the goats and scorpions here
in the not-so-hurricane-ravished city of Los Pocitos.
Praise: Well, I guess we need to get past the obvious question
first. We did survive the enormous hurricane that hit Jalisco
head on. One of the wonderful parts of living in such a mountainous region is that hurricanes are greatly weakened as they cross
the terrain. The only serious concern that we had as Patricia was
passing through was the possibility of flooding in the valley
that we live in, but praise the Lord, the dam held and the waterways are handling the extra water so far. We are very grateful
for all of you that took the time to pray for our safety.
Praise: I mentioned in the last letter that there was the possibility of starting a mission a few hours back in the mountains.
Well, I am pleased to report that we are now making regular trips
up there to have services with the folk of the little village of
Los Llanitos an hour from the town of Chiquilistlan (and you
thought Los Llanitos was an odd name). There are between fifteen
and twenty people attending now, they have a spot picked out to
build a building, and we are starting to pray for God to provide
for it to happen. Under normal circumstances, I would be at the
mission today, but the storm has made the roads to Los Llanitos
impassable for the time being. That makes it a good day to write.
Prayer: Please, pray for the spiritual growth of the handful of
Christians in Los Llanitos; many of them have never been taught
basic Bible teachings. There are several unsaved people that are
coming to the services, so please, pray that they will come to
know Christ. Also, be in prayer about a building for these believers; we are already filling up the houses that we meet in.
Praise: The church here in Los Pocitos is still going strong. We
still are having quite of unsaved folk attending, listening, and
asking questions. We have also started running an ambulance service apparently. Although it never really crossed my mind that it
would even be a need, I have called to rush two people off to the
hospital this month. Both are of them are now doing much better.
One of them was Ivet who I asked you to pray for about her salvation. Although she still hasn´t made a profession of faith, she is
very faithful to the services.
Prayer: I´d ask that you continue to pray for Iglesia Dios de Esperanza´s growth, both numerically and spiritually.
Praise: Well, now on to San Antonio Matute where I´m one of the
pastors that is helping fill the pulpit for the time being. The Iglesia Manantial de Vida is only two miles from where we live, so we
are getting to know the congregation a little bit better now that
we are going over on a regular basis. They are in the process of
building a building of their own. They have the land, have built
what will be their fellowship hall, and are now starting to build
the auditorium. I have started to go over to help out with the
building when I´m not preparing sermons, running an ambulance, or
going to the mission. At least we aren´t bored, right?
For those of you that follow us on Facebook, San Antonio Matute is
the town where there was the gun fight a couple of weeks ago between the government and the cartel.
Prayer: Please be in prayer for a pastor for this church and that
the Lord will continue to provide for their needs in this building
project. And as always, please, pray for safety for the folk here
as we never know when the gunfights are going to start up again.
Praise: As I mentioned before, Brittany is giving free piano classes to anyone that is interested. Quite a few people, young and
old, have taken her up on the offer and are making good progress.
Prayer: It is our prayer that some of these students will take what
they are learning and put it to use in their churches.
Praise: Now about our visas: we are very grateful that the Lord allowed us to have an uneventful renewal process for our residency
this year. We were able to travel to Mexico City and back with no
issues, we were approved quickly, and we already have our new cards
in hand. Our lawyer informed us that, due to the new baby en route
who, Lord willing, will be born right here in February, we will not
have to repeat this process again! We´ll be able to apply for our
permanent residency two years earlier than expected.
Well, hopefully that give you an idea of what is going on here
in our little corner of the world. Thank you so much for your continued prayer and support for the ministries here.
In His Service,