September-October 1999
Dear Praying Friends,
It is a blessing to share with you how God has blessed over the summer. Your prayers are making a difference! We want to thank you for investing yourselves in our ministry and in the lives of our people. Because of the cultural background of the people, this can be a very challenging field. Most of the people have had no Bible teaching, but hold strange beliefs and superstitions. By God's grace, He is allowing us to impact lives for Christ. Last month, the Lord gave us the privilege of helping a refugee from the state of Chiapas. He had to flee his home with just the clothes on his back. Chiapas is in a state of civil unrest with martial law and armed dissidents. Roberto knew several people who had been killed, and felt his life was in danger also. We were able to help him with several things including clothes, food and housing. He was only passing through, but was able to be a real blessing to us in return, by helping us with our mission building project. Then, before he left our town, we were able to share the greatest gift of all. We had been witnessing to him and sharing God's Word on various subjects, and had given him a Bible. He was attending our Bible study and came to our home early one Sunday seeking the Lord. It was our privilege to lead him to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus. He has now left our area and we don't know if we will see him again in this life, but we know he has a home in Heaven. Praise the Lord!
Another special blessing came when a lady named Margarita, from a city two hours away, was in our town for work she needed to do to receive her teaching certificate. She was staying alone in a house across the street from us. Deb had befriended her Aunt and she had told her niece that the lady across the street, (Deb) was friendly. One evening, the lady asked Deb to come over to visit, and it seemed that the Lord had brought them together. As Deb began to visit and witness, it was evident that Margarita was truly seeking the Lord. She even shared how she had purchased a Bible storybook to share with the children in the neighborhood. Even though she was unsaved, she knew that the answer to the problems of the children that run the streets was in the Word of God. She didn't have a Bible, so Deb invited her to our home to continue the conversation. What a blessing it was to watch as Margarita drank in the truth from God's Word. And then, as the opportunity was offered to receive Christ as Savior, with great sincerity and readiness, she prayed to accept the Lord Jesus as her personal Savior. We traveled to her town two hours away, and gave her name and address to the Pastor of a Bible teaching church, so that they could help her in her walk with the Lord. Isn't God good? Only he could have arranged these "chance" meetings. While we would have liked to continue ministering to Roberto and Margarita, it was a privilege to be used of God to see them come to know Christ and then to take the Word of God as they left. One went to the mountains of Sonora and the other into the public school classroom and to her neighborhood children. Please pray for them as they grow in their faith and as they share the Good News with those around them.
Our Sunday services are going well and the Lord has given us a good group of people. We have several people that attend regularly, others that hit and miss, but it is a blessing to be a part of this work. The Lord has blessed us with visitors several times. Each week, we review Bible verses and the various parts of the Bible. Do you know how many books there are in the Old Testament? By God's grace, our people are beginning to understand the Word of God. The concept of book, chapter, and verse is something new to them, so we explain everything. Most recently, we have been learning the Books of the New Testament together. We have Bibles available for the people to use during our time together. We want them to place a high value on the Word of God, so we have promised them that each person who learns the books of the New Testament, will receive a Bible with their name on it. It's great to see people learning. One young Indian boy named Abel, doesn't go to school and can't read, but has memorized verses and the New Testament books through the book of Colossians just by hearing them during our meetings. Probably, in about a month, we will be awarding Bibles to those involved. Praise the Lord! If you would like to have a part in providing these Bibles, we know that they will be greatly appreciated.
Our mission base, building project is proceeding well. With your help, we have been able to complete half of the roof on the building that will someday be our home. The other half is covered with plastic to try to protect it from the rain, which comes nearly every day this time of year. Inevitably, the rain finds it's way under the plastic and each day, we look with hesitation to see what damage was done. As you know, the walls are made of dirt. We praise the Lord for a special gift our church, Maranatha, in Arizona sent to help with this need. We will continue the work this week, but will still be about $1,500 dollars short of being able to complete the roof and windows still missing. Please pray with us that God would help us with this crucial need. As we can, we are also working on the activity building, and praise the Lord for a dear family in Arizona who have begun to give $100 each month toward materials for this very needed meeting place. This building will serve as the hub of our village outreach ministry.
We just received a fax from our daughter, Jessica. She is registered and excited about starting school at Pensacola this week. She is majoring in missions and will also be studying Spanish, which will be a big help when she comes home to Mexico to serve the Lord with Dad & Mom, Smile. We aren't able to talk with her as often as we would like. Phone calls from our town were ten times more expensive than long distance in the States. Then, just this week, the rates doubled. Please pray for us about the expenses surrounding Jessica's schooling. She has a scholarship and has worked at the college all summer to help pay her tuition, but she will probably need about $1,000 dollars to finish the year. In addition to tuition, at Christmas break, it will have been over seven months since we have seen her. We would like to have her come home for the Holidays, but her airfare into El Paso, TX would be almost $500 dollars, about $1,000 dollars per year in airfares alone. We came to the field by faith, and have seen the Lord provide and work in marvelous ways. We want to stay and continue, but with the increasing opportunities also come increasing needs. We really appreciate all that you continue to do to be a blessing to us and to the people here. Please pray that the Lord would give us wisdom in deciding if we should leave the field to raise further support, or if He would meet our needs through other means, allowing us to remain in service here. While we are seeking the Lord's direction, we also feel it would be terrible to leave the people and work here at any time in the near future. We know that God has the answers! The rest of our family is doing fine and Isaac and Bethany are starting home school with Deb this week.
As you may remember, in our last prayer letter, we inserted a leaflet advising that we were having problems with our mail. To our knowledge, $800 dollars in checks was stolen. Please pray that the people who sent these gifts for our water storage system will be able to retrieve the stolen money through their bank. We feel terrible that Satan was able to side track these love gifts for God's work. For your protection, financial gifts can be sent to our mission board without problems, and are tax deductible. The address is printed at the top of this letter.
Other Current Needs:
1. This is a strange time of year for us. There is rain almost everyday, but still a shortage of potable water. We still need to install a storage system to help us through the times when there isn't any. Last week, we went for five days without a drop. It is more than inconvenient. After a while, it becomes nearly unbearable. We need a pressure tank, high-speed pump and pressure switch. With these, we could meet our water needs for an extended dry spell. Near the end of September the rains stop and the real water challenge begins.
2. We will need to purchase about twenty-five Bibles for our people who are working to earn them. They will be about $10 dollars each. Seeing how hard the people have worked, as the Lord provides we will gladly pay for the Bibles. But, if you would like to have a part in the presentation of these Bibles, it would be greatly appreciated.
3. We are still in great need of a large van and have been forging ahead without the benefit of adequate transportation. We praise the Lord for the gift from Craig's brother's family of a 1988 Toyota pick-up. It has become a valuable part of the ministry here. But, we greatly need a full size van for transporting people. Please continue to pray for the donation or partial donation of a van for the work of the ministry.
4. One other item that we would like to have available in the near future is a laser printer. We are beginning to print larger quantities of study materials and our current printer isn't made to handle the volume. New, they cost several hundred dollars. But a used one would be fine. If you or someone you know is planning to upgrade to a new printer, please keep us in mind.
Once again, we want to tell you how much we appreciate all you do on our behalf. Your prayers and support are a tremendous blessing and are making a difference for Christ in the lives of our people. You are a great encouragement to our family. Thank you, and may God richly bless you!
Sincerely, For Souls Who Have Not Heard,
The Chambers
