Great Meetings in Pasadena and Killeen

Pastor Rodriguez

Pastor Ortiz and family

Pastor Ortiz's son playing two instruments

We had a couple of great meetings this past week. Wednesday night we were with Pastor Isac Rodriguez at Iglesia Bautista Biblica El Faro. We enjoyed listening to a great Bible study by the pastor and then having the opportunity to present our ministry to Thailand. This church has great facilities and the people have a very warm and friendly spirit. I enjoyed fellowshipping with the pastor and his family after the service. I am encouraged by the great ministry they have to the Jews through their church here. This church has a real heart for the nation of Israel.

Thursday night we went soul winning in Baytown with Iglesia Bautista Victoria. My wife led a precious Spanish couple to Christ and I was able to lead three others to Christ. We had a great time out soul winning with Brother Tony from their church.

Then this past Sunday we were in Killeen with Pastor Angel Ortiz and the Iglesia Hispana Bautista del Norte. They had their monthly family day with a noon time meal. I was able to teach Sunday school and preach the morning and evening service. The folks seem excited about missions and supporting missionaries. Pastor Ortiz is retired military and his church has had a connections to the military. I praise God for folks like these that have been willing to serve our country.

Please pray for us as we transition to meetings in the north now. We are praying for good traveling weather and a chance to witness to more souls!

Door Knocking and Bus Visiting in Baytown

We spent this past Saturday at Iglesia Bautista Victoria in Baytown, Texas with Pastor Isaias Rodriguez and his people. This pastor and his wife are doing a fantastic job with the people of this church. They were starting their five week campaign. We went out door knocking with route number #2 in the morning and bus visiting in the afternoon. I had three saved and my wife had one.

Bro. Franco is the captain and he and his wife are real go getters. They do a great job of inviting and witnessing as they go. They definitely are dedicated and really care about their bus riders.
I enjoyed hearing about their testimony of how they got saved and came to this church. I also enjoyed spending time out with Bro. Martin their bus worker. He too has a great testimony on how he got saved three years ago and came to this church. Now he is a faithful worker and attending their Bible institute to become a missionary.

Pastor Rodriguez

Mrs. Franco

Bro. Martin and Bro. Franco 

After spending Sunday morning at Iglesia Bautista Victoria, we visited Christchurch Baptist Fellowship in Houston in the evening. I was able to give my testimony about Thailand and we had a great time listening to Dr. Johnny Pope preach. It was fun getting to meet the people of this church and we were treated very well. This church demonstrates a real heart for missions by supporting 150 missionaries. They also invited my wife to come back out to their Women's Missionary Society meeting on Tuesday night.

Dr. Johnny Pope

Pescadores de Hombres

My wife and Evyan

We were at the Iglesia Bautista Monte De Las Olivas this past weekend in San Antonio, Texas. Pescadores de Hombres is a Spanish saying I learned from Pastor Ledesma. It means Fisher of Men. However, this past week we were actually more like "Fisher of Ladies", having lead several Spanish ladies to to Christ. One of the ladies was Evyan, who my wife met at a yard sale and was able to lead her to Christ. She was unable to come this past Sunday, but seemed interested in coming the following weekend.

Pastor Ledesma

We really enjoyed our time with Pastor Julio Cesar Ledesma. He has just become the pastor this past August. He had me show my video presentation and preach during the morning service. Then I spoke to the teens in the afternoon session and preached the evening service. Please pray for Pastor Ledesma. He is doing a great job, but he is following the footsteps of the previous pastor who was there for 61 years. That can seem like big shoes to fill, but I know he will do a great job.

Then on Wednesday night we were able to have a meeting with Pastor Francisco Martinez at the Iglesia Bautista El Calvario in Celina, Texas. It was a great time as I was able to give my testimony, show my video, and preach the service. We were blessed as the church decided to take us on for monthly support at the end of the service. It was very exciting to see such instant results. We were invited to the Sanchez family's house for food after the service and were able to really enjoy good food and fellowship. What a wonderful church! Please pray for us as we head toward Houston for the weekend. 

Pastor Martinez and his wife.

Sanchez family

Great Missions Conference in Elgin

Dr. Smith and Dr. Gomez

We just had a great week at the Missions Conference at Northwest Bible Baptist Church and Providence Baptist College in Elgin, Illinois. We enjoyed spending time in fellowship with Dr. Keith Gomez and Dr. Bob Smith and listening to them tell stories of the old days. We also enjoyed the great preaching of Dr. Smith who was the guest speaker for the conference.

Bro. Swarga

I was fortunate enough to be given the opportunity to teach the Newcomers Sunday school class on Sunday morning. Brother Steve Swarga is the teacher of that class which is designed for new converts and people who are new to the church. Three out of every five people that graduate from that class go onto stay in the church long term and many even gain positions of service in the church. God is really blessing their Sunday school program.

Bro. Robideau (Missions Director)

On Saturday my family and I went soul winning with Bro. Ossewaarde who is the Dean of Men at the college. He also was a missionary to Russia for 18 years. We knocked doors for several hours with little results. The weather was extremely cold and we were outside. Praise God that we did our part by attempting warn everyone we could about their need for Christ. 

I was asked to give a lecture to the college on Wednesday on the subject of "Reaching Foreigners in the U.S.A." I also want to thank Brother Robideau for coordinating everything for the conference. He did a fantastic job along with all the staff who tended to every need.

Bro. Ossewaarde

Enjoying the Houston Area

Pastor Arredondo

I had a pair of great meetings this past weekend in the Houston area. I went soul winning with Pastor Arredondo from Iglesia Bautista El Buen Samaritano. We knocked doors together for several hours. While out we got to meet Gary and I was able to present the Gospel to him. Gary made a decision to pray and trust Christ as his Saviour. 

The next day I was able to preach the morning service while Pastor Arredondo interpreted for me. We enjoyed a great spirit among the church people. We also had great fellowship with them at a meal served after the service. The church took me on for monthly support. We are very excited about being partners with this fantastic church. When I schedule a meeting with a church, I add the pastor and the church to my daily prayer list. So when the church starts a partnership with us, we literally become partners going both ways, they support us through prayers and finances and we support them through prayer.

Gary after he trusted Christ

Then we went to Baytown to spend Sunday evening at Iglesia Bautista Victoria with Pastor Isaias Rodriguez. I preached the evening service after giving my testimony and showing my video. The folks seems stirred in their hearts. My family and I were excited to visit this church and see the tremendous blessings they have received from God. The pastor is doing a great job of leading this church and it very obvious that God has his hand upon them. Unfortunately, we forgot to take any pictures at the church. I feel bad for this, because there would have been many great pictures to take. Hopefully, I will have a chance to stop back by this church in the future and I will be sure to get some great pictures. Please pray for us as we travel north for a missions conference before returning to Texas for the rest of February.

Running Into an Old Bus Rider

I came up out of Texas to Hutchinson, Kansas for a missions emphasis Sunday. It was a great time at Pastor Richard Haley's church, Riverside Baptist Church. I enjoyed soul winning on Saturday, being able to see several trust Christ. Then I taught Sunday school and preached the morning service on Sunday. We had soul winning in the afternoon and then I preached the evening service. Pastor Haley told me I was going to be supported, so I praise the Lord for that. I am excited about what God is doing in their church. I can see the hand of God getting ready to do some incredible things with their ministry.

Pastor Haley

Then we headed back to Texas and dropped into Parkside Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas. Pastor Mike Wells was out that night, but had his men take excellent care of our family. I greatly appreciated all the hospitality from Brother Butler their missions director and also from the rest of the staff. They had me give a testimony and show our video. Parkside Baptist actually already supports us every month, but I had not been there in person yet. It was a great opportunity for us to meet some of the folks. God is doing a fantastic job through this church. 

While I was there I ran into Flandro, one of my old bus riders from when I was in Bible college at the Longview Baptist Temple. I used to bring Flandro to every service from Marshall, Texas. In fact he would even come out and visit the bus route on Saturday's with me sometimes. It was great see him and I was glad that since he has now moved to the Mesquite area that this church is bringing him into their services. Praise the Lord for a bus ministry minded church! Please pray for our meetings this weekend as we are excited about trying to be a blessing to some more pastors and churches.

Bro. Butler

Flandro

From Lewisville to Houston and Inbetween

We started the weekend at Iglesia Bautista Fundamental in Lewisville, Texas. We had previously presented the ministry at Pastor Ortiz's church, but I had an open Sunday morning and he had offered us to come and speak to the soul winners on Saturday and then go soul winning with them. Then on Sunday morning we went to hear Dr. Darrell Moore speak on stewardship. Saturday was a great time getting to meet and witness to many Chin people from Burma that live close to Pastor Ortiz's church. I was also able to lead a Spanish lady named Miriam to the Lord. She is supposed to come to church the following week. Someone from Brother Ortiz's church will follow up with her, so I will be praying that she will come. While there we got to see Assistant Pastor David Ortiz and his family. He and his wife (Idaly) have a new baby girl. It was great to see them, especially since I remember Brother David when he was a young child many years ago. They are growing up fast, which must mean I am getting old... maybe not old, just older. Ha! 

The Pastor's Son David Ortiz

Pastor Danny Ortiz

Then Sunday night we went to the Open Door Baptist Church in Mesquite with Pastor Bob Ross. I was able to present the ministry there giving testimony for about 20 minutes and then showing our video. The Pastor then got up and had the church vote right away to take us on for support. What an honor for us to now be partnering with this church. We were treated so well, it was very humbling. This is a fantastic church with a great spirit. I am thankful to have made a friendship with them. It was also a privilege to hear Dr. Charles Hiltibidal speak that night, he is full of knowledge. 

Pastor Bob Ross

Then on Monday we drove to Houston for a missions conference at Segunda Iglesia Bautista Libertad with Pastor Santiago Medran. The conference was excellent each night with guest speakers Pastor Roy Carrizales and Evangelist Mark Thrift. They both did an excellent job and the church took us on for support. We really enjoyed the music and getting to fellowship with the men of God there. During the picture time Pastor Medran decided to grab a chair to stand on so we would be closer to the same height for the picture. Hahahaha! It was great! Continue to pray for us to get to Thailand so many Buddhist can be saved by the power of the Gospel!

Pastor Santiago Medran

Fine Music at Pastor Medran's conference