As many of you have heard, as of September 2, our mission, Evangelical Baptist Missions, ceased to exist. It was a sudden and sad demise, and we had a little over a week to come to grips with what we would do. And of course, August/September is start-up month here in Mexico, as school starts up again and all our activities. And we’ve had a community emergency to respond to with our little drop of help. So in these crazy days, we are so thankful for your prayers and support in many ways. God has been so good and we have been reminded of our need to rely on Him and to depend on Him in every way. Let’s fill you in briefly on what’s been going on.

EBM/FIM
We came back from vacation (it was great!) to some troubling emails, and news about EBM’s survival. In the space of a few days EBM sent out the news that they would be closing their doors. We communicated to our supporters what was going on and on August 24th we learned that EBM’s last day would be September 2nd. A number of other mission boards generously agreed to take in EBM missionaries. After research and prayer we decided to go with FIM, Fellowship International Mission, based out of Allentown, PA. A number of things make FIM an attractive option, including their doctrine, size, financial practices, and operational philosophy. They seemed to be a good ‘safe harbor’. This relationship may be temporary, but for now we have a place to help us stay here and continue the work. All our finances are going through FIM now. We are sorrowful for EBM, but are also reminded that nothing, not even good things built to serve the Lord here, is lasting. Our relationship with Him, with people and our works done for His glory are lasting.

Schools
Things are exploding here, with more work available than we could manage. Tim has started up computer classes again, and Eddie is doing great with English in the high school and with teachers in the elementary. We are excited about the opportunities that this is opening up. We’ve had opportunities to share the Gospel, and in the long-term, we’re earning the right to be heard.

Flooding
Three weeks ago after heavy rains, several of the drainage canals overflowed and flooded a couple areas here with water that reached four feet deep in many homes. We cooperated with the president’s office and gave out 4 gallon bottles of water and blankets to the most needy families that were affected. Our small group is forming into a group of neighbors to serve the community. We’re calling ourselves GOTA de Esperanza, Drop of Hope, with GOTA standing for the words, Grace Bestowed, Transforming and Helping. We’re doing our work here in the neighborhood under that name so people will start to recognize it and trust us as people genuinely caring for neighbors. Besides the emergency help (with funds raised from another church here in Puebla), we are doing sports activities and health work under that name.

Help Wanted
This will start to sound like a broken record (a scratched CD?) but we could really use English teachers! Eddie’s work is really bringing out the requests, and Tim’s cousin, Sharalyn, is here for three months. They are both swamped with opportunities and requests! This is such an effective means of building relationships with people and sharing the Gospel. Once again, Barbara-Lee’s first calling is our kids right now. It’s unlikely in the near term that she’s going to have the time or energy to do 10-20 hours of English teaching/tutoring work each week. So we’d love to have someone down here with us with ESL training/experience. There would be so many great opportunities to do things. So please pray about this with us and, if you might fit the bill, think about coming down for a few months to help out! There are so many ways we could adapt to what you have to offer!