Dear Pastors, Churches, Friends & Family,
August 1, 2013 (Jun. – Jul. ‘13)

Greetings in Jesus’ Name! We are back in Mexico City now. We enjoyed being in the U.S. for our daughter Hannah’s graduation from Bible college and then for her wedding. We also took our son Joseph to California and he is settled now, working two jobs in preparation for Bible college this Fall. We narrowly missed both the bad tornados in Oklahoma and the wild fires in California. We had to extend our stay in the U.S. a couple weeks longer at the end for a two reasons. My wife Mary had to renew her driver’s license and failed the vision test. She then had to see an eye doctor and order & wait for prescription glasses. Just before we were to return, Mary became ill and we had to wait a little longer for her to recover well enough to travel again. It was sweet that our people here missed us even more as our return was delayed. One of the men in the church named Raymundo began to worry and hoped we hadn’t decided to permanently stay in the U.S. Overall, the several weeks of traveling in the U.S., as well as to get there and back to Mexico City put us on the road with driving over 100 hours & more 7,500 miles.

When we got back to Mexico City and entered our apartment, some of our pictures were on the floor. The earthquake activity here continued in our absence. The volcano here also continues to erupt violently shutting down the international airport at times. We have been getting layers of ash on our car from it. In the unstable events that are somewhat common here with volcanoes, earthquakes, etc., it is a blessing that God gives us peace & strength as we trust in Him. I am reminded of what the Bible says in Pslams 46:1-3, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.” Amen!

We just returned from two weeks of church youth/teen camp not far from the volcano. It was a great time with those from our church and other churches. Many good decisions were made. Praise the Lord! We have family camp this this month and our church’s Bible Institute begins, too. We had VBS last month with well over 200 children in attendance, and many saved. We finished our 12-week discipleship training doctrine classes last month. With so many more new converts, we had to immediately start the discipleship training again. Glory to God! We continue working with the orphans here. They now come to our church every Sunday and we go to their facility every Saturday. It is a blessing to see their hard hearts begin to soften and a good number of them are getting saved and baptized. Hallelujah! It is a blessing to see them grow spiritually, memorizing scripture, etc. Mary has begun teaching music to some of the children in our church and plans to begin teaching some of the orphans, too.

We spent July 4th here with a couple American missionaries families who live in and around Mexico City. We grilled out hamburgers & hotdogs and had all of the traditional “fixins” & desert. It was a good time. I am happy to report that back in the U.S., our home church (the First Baptist Church of Kenmore in Akron, Ohio) has a new pastor. His name is Joseph Grimaldi and his wife’s name is Kendra. I am still saddened by the loss of Pastor Fox but glad for our church to have a pastor again.

“Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course, and be glorified, even as it is with you.” (2 Thes. 3:1). We pray for you, too. We are your servants for Jesus’ sake (2 Cor. 4:5).

Bro. Mike Wallace & Family