Dear Pastors, Churches and Friends,
August 1, 2017 (Jun. 2017 – Jul. 2017)

Things are going well since the last printable June prayer letter.  We still often have first-time visitors weekly and people are getting saved & baptized.  One such lady is Margarita.  She had a bad past but I led her to the Lord not long ago.  She told me, “that was the best decision I ever made to get saved.  What else should I do?”  I said, get baptized and she did the next Sunday.  I filled up the baptistry (furnished by the children of our home church during their recent mission conference) early before Sunday school but near the end of the service, just before the baptism, I glanced in and much water was gone.  Why? Because I left the fill hose in but disconnected it from the spigot and it backflowed and siphoned the water out.  I quickly turned the water back on, but as I baptized folks, I had to bump their heads a little on the bottom to get their faces under the water.  Lesson learned – remove the fill hose or leave it connected.

I mentioned before about the extreme poverty here.  Recently we have given away food to the very needy.  We have also given away some used clothing.  I had an idea for a project.  After your summer yard sales, if you still have left over clothing, and you want to help the poor, instead of taking it to a thrift store, you could mail it to our US mail location on the Texas/Mexico border.  If your church happens to have old puppets that are no longer being used and there are no futures plans to use them, you could also mail them to us and we would put them to good use.  Despite the conditions here, I enjoy hearing the testimonies of God’s goodness as our people share at start of Sunday school.

The rainy season is finally here but not before Mary and I both got sick with sinus and lung infections from the pollution.  The children here only get 3-4 weeks off from school in the summer and we plan to have our Vacation Bible School on August 7-11th.  The area where we will have the VBS is close to our house and lately we hear gun fire there daily, day and night.  This year has recorded the most murders on record in Mexico’s history and June was the most violent in history in Mexico City.  The cartel influence has spiked here in the city.  Please keep praying for the VBS and keep praying for our health & safety, as well as for a permanent location for our church.

We made a trip to Texas in July and had 9 doctors & dentists appointments in 4 days.  Thankfully all turned out well.  Our van began overheating in the 110+ degree temperatures, but we got the radiator replaced and that resolved it.  While there we picked up a large load of gospel tracts & Bibles.  Violence on the Mexican side of the border was very bad at that time.  On the way back, crossing the border, they inspected our  15-passenger van and said we had to pay 17% tax on everything but said we had to drive to the next crossing 3 hours away to do so.  Our van was totally full and at that crossing, in the 100+ degree temperature, they made me unpack and open ever box to assess the amount of tax I needed to pay.  After about two hours, I took out & opened the last box and they said, “Ah, that’s alright, you don’t have to pay anything, just load it all back up.”  Thankfully we arrived safely back in Mexico City 21 hours after we left Texas.  Good news in closing – my insurance who told me I would be responsible for the $11K I charged on my credit card for my kidney stone surgeries agreed to reimburse me 2/3 of it, leaving me with $3,500 (it is still a lot but much less that it could have been).  Thanks for everything!  We are “…your servants for Jesus’ sake.”  (2 Cor. 4:5).

Bro. Mike Wallace & Family