The Mexico Mission

Prayer Warriors,

First, we would like to thank each and every individual, church, and ministry who have prayed for us over the past 2 years. The Lord has answered our prayers through safety, and support. Since July of 2023 we had a 2 week survey trip to Mexico, one year of deputation, 6 months of language school in Costa Rica, and now a smooth move to Ramos Arizpe, Coahuila, Mexico. He has surely provided all of our needs, and listened to your prayers to encourage us, and keep us going. Thank you!

We were not able to obtain an appointment to discuss temporary residency, or did we receive temporary residency. That did not stop us, we decided to still come, and we received 180 visas that will need to be renewed in February. God is still good, and he made a way for us to move anyways.

In July we were able to spend a couple days at camp Minnetonka during Aurora’s kids camp week, visit with a lot of family, and took a short trip to look for a house in Mexico. We were able to stay in Mexico from July 28-31, and during that time we looked at 8 potential houses. Mariana and Heriberto (the national pastor and his wife we are currently working with) set up all of the appointments for us, drove us around to look at the houses, and handled all of the communication. They have been a huge blessing through this entire process. We had also made connections with a couple who run an orphanage called “Big Heart Orphanage” in Ramos, and they allowed us to stay on their property for the few nights we were in Mexico. WE FOUND A HOUSE! On July 30th we signed the contract for a house we decided to rent, and then headed back to Texas on the 31st.

August was full of “see you laters'“, and visiting with our friends and families.

August 25th at 4 a.m, we drove our car out of Aurora, with Judith’s dad (Andrew Vandergriff), and one of our board members (Donnie Foster) in a church van with our remaining belongings. We pulled into our house around 4:30 p.m. (Mexico time) the same day. Praise the Lord for his provision! Mariana and Heriberto welcomed us with some decorations, and goodies in our kitchen. Andrew and Donnie stayed from the 25th-28th, to help us unload our belongings, and build furniture (we built 22 pieces of furniture).

Our time here has been full of ministry opportunities, fellowshipping, and talking about the future. We hit the ground running between a pastor and pastor’s wives dinner, church services, celebrating independence day, becoming members of the church, Cade preaching, and organizing/directing an event at the orphanage.

Here is what we have been up to:

July 9-11: Visited the kids at Minnetonka

July 28-31: Looked at 8 potential houses, and signed on the 30th

Aug. 10: Going away celebration at Aurora

Aug. 24: Cade preached, and we both led worship at Keystone Bible Church FW

Aug. 25: Moved to Ramos Arizpe, Mexico

Aug. 30: Pastor and pastor’s wives dinner from surrounding cities and states

Aug. 31: First Sunday service while living in Mexico

Sept. 4: Ladies conference in Monterrey for Judith

Sept. 6: Ladies Bible study with the women from El Vástago

Sept 7: We became members of El Vástago

Sept 14: Fiesta after church to celebrate Mexico’s independence (on the16th)

Sept. 20: We hosted an event at Big Heart Orphanage with 11 others from church

Sept. 21: Cade preached at church

Sept. 27: Judith had a meeting where she joined the kid’s ministry team

Sept. 14: Fiesta to celebrate the independence of Mexico (on the 16th)

We were able to attend service, and then afterward participate in the festivities. Cade was a judge for the salsa contest, and he participated in the “Mexican yell” contest; he won. Judith made refried beans for the lunch. Here is a picture of the 3 pastors, and their families.  

May 2025

Cade & Judith Capps

Mexico

Good Afternoon ,

I know this is not our regular newsletter that we send every 3 months, but we have a couple important things we needed to let you know about.

First, we have have created a few products that are for sale, and the profits will help fund our preparation for our move to Mexico. We would love it if you would share this with your church members if you are a with a church, and if you are in individual supporter, we would love it if you would share it with whoever you think would be interested. We have shirts, and crewneck sweatshirts for sale, but the fundraiser window closes on May 30th. We encourage you to post this on your church’s/your social media if you have it. There is a post on our Facebook page “The Mexico Mission”, where you can share from there.

Second, the Central Missionary Clearinghouse has sent us en email that may apply to your church, or you as an individual donor:

“An email was sent our in October to recurring donors (to the email they log in with) from Provisia (who processes the online gifts) stating that they would need to log in and update their recurring gift or they would stop in December 31, 2024. When we started with the online payment system in 2012, a hard end date had to be set for recurring gifts that did not have an end date set and 2024 was at that time pretty far in the future but here we are. The donor will need to log in to their www.myclickandgive.com account and reset their recurring gift. If they don’t put an end date, it will continue until 2030 (the new hard end date). They can give a one-time gift for the missed months if they would like to. If they need assistance, they can call Loretta at 719-696-8083 and she can help.”

We ask that you continue to pray for us, as we are preparing for our move to Mexico. Thank you always for praying for us, encouraging us, and financially supporting us.  

God Bless You,

Cade and Judith Capps

Our mailing address is:

The Mexico Mission 201 Derting Rd E Aurora, TX 76078 USA

Richard and Joyce Crotts 

Missionaries to Papua New Guinea 

Shawnee Mission Baptist Temple, Shawnee, KS 

21533 Midland Drive, Shawnee, KS 66216 

March 27, 2025 

Dear Pastors, Churches, Friends, and Family, 

I have been told it is not good to start a letter with an apology. But I do apologize that we are slow with this report. I’ll try to catch you up. I’m doing this with only a lighted computer screen because the power is off more than it is on these days, and our generator has a problem no one seems able to fix. We have some solar lights outside for security purposes. 

Security seems to be more and more an issue as hold-ups, break-ins, and even murders are on the rise. Most of the killings are of a pay-back nature, but sometimes things get so tense that the area schools send their students home and close for a day or a few. It happened in our neighborhood this week. 

Paperwork has consumed a lot of our time recently, complicated by frequent online connectivity problems. We all seem to be dependent on the internet. Banking and communication is complicated — and time consuming. We are having to renew our passports and our Permanent Resident visas. So far we haven’t found a place to print our passport photo. Just a small hitch for which we are going to have to find a work-around to get it done. 

Grandson, Richard III, and his family have their visas approved and are waiting for them to be stamped into their passports. Then they can book tickets to come. We and another missionary on our island shipped a container, along with Richard’s personal effects. We shipped ministry items such as Bibles and Bible covers, and also some things to replace broken things. We finally took possession of in February. That was also a lot of paperwork and the usual “hurry up and wait.” But finally Richard’s and Lesley’s things are piled up in the downstairs of our duplex, waiting for them to come and set it up. We are hoping they might be here in time him to preach our Easter Youth Camp. 

Blessings: We recently baptised an 80 year old woman. This is very unusual here. Last week the mother of one of our new Christian school students called on the Lord to save her. This was a huge victory because of her troubled past. She and her husband and daughter were all in Sunday’s services. 

We have a new student in our Bible college who has come in from the first church we started out of Rabaul Bible Baptist Church in the early years of our ministry here. Paulson is excited to be studying and serving. He has joined our security team here on our property. 

Our weekly schedule involves 16 hours of teaching in the Bible school, regular church services, a radio broadcast, teaching a class in two public schools, printing tracts and lessons, plus preaching in special meetings such as the Men’s Retreat we had in February, and serving as pastor of two churches who are currently having to meet together on the north coast of our island. (A long drive on Sundays.) Added to that is finding bits of time to make the repairs we have been doing to the house in readiness for Richard’s family. Joyce also is still doing her radio program, producing a weekly bulletin that goes to 12 locations (churches and mission works), and she is helping with two Christian schools. She just ran a week-long training session for staff. We are not complaining nor trying to sound over-much busy, but our workload is more taxing to our bodies than when we were young. I feel like I need a carpenter, electrician, mechanic, generator technician, and an office manager and printer. All I have is this fellow who feels 33 in his head but 73 in his body. I was a bit sickly for about three weeks, but am feeling much better. Thank you for praying for me. We want to thank every one of you who has prayed for us and those of you who have given to special needs in the last few months, and for all the monthly support. Surely these are very sustaining things God is using to keep us here and going. We pray for you too. 

Love in our Lord, 

Richard and Joyce Crotts

Dennis & Gloria Ebert

Philippines

APRIL 2025 

I thought you might be interested to read a horror story. It is about Gloria. It  started on February 13, the day before Valentine Day. She was experiencing  the feeling of an extreme kidney stone. She has suffered them before and was  aware of the pain they could bring. The picture at left was taken at the ER of  Mercy Hospital in Springfiield, Mo. However, during a CT Scan, it was discov ered that what was thought to be a kidney stone, was actually a swollen and  leaking Abdominal Aorta Aneurysm, pressing against her kidney. As they were  doing the Scan, the Aneurysm burst, a 2 1/2 inch break. Of course, surgery was  immediate and a stint was put in place. Successfully. BUT, yes there was a  but. The problem was the leaking blood in her addomen, and the danger of pressure that would dam age lungs and kidneys. The decision was to make a 16 inch long incision in her front to release that  pressure and remove the blood. The doctor was very clear to explain how critical her condition was. The next time I saw Gloria, was in the ICU, pictured at the left. More tubes,  wires and machines than I had ever seen on anyone. The incision remained  open for 2 days. On the 3rd day, they closed the inside of that incision and  placed something called a Wound Vacuum. The idea is  for the wound to heal from the inside out. That remaines  on her till now, 2 months later. She remained in a sedat ed state for a total of 6 days. She was then transferred  

to the Surgery and Trauma floor, to begin the recovery  process. The picture at the right, was taken as the nurse  

told me that they were bringing her to consciousness.  

For me, I was looking at a miracle. As she became conscous, I asked her to  open her eyes so I could see those blue eyes. She did and with not much more  than a wisper she said to me, “Are we dead?”. I replied,  “sad to say, not yet.” 

As we talked that day, with our two sons and their wives, little did we realize  the horrific agony that my wife had before her. It has been 2 months, including  3 weeks in a Rehabilitation facility. Currently, we have people coming to our  house for Therapy. We trust the Wound Vacuum will be removed by the 21st  of April. It is a blessing to see her at the house again.  

Thank you all for the prayers and love that has been given for her. Getting her  body back and building her stamina is still a very long ahead.

The Lisbon Focus

Volume 18: Issue 2 April 2025 

musical opportunities 

Musicians are fewer and far between in Portugal,  for several reasons, one being they don’t have  music programs in their school systems. It was a  prayer and project of ours that this furlough we  would be able to grow in this area in order to  establish some sort of music education program in  our church and for the benefit of churches we  fellowship with in order to train up new musicians  in the next generation. We were able to observe  and ask questions of several churches we visited  about how they organize and execute their Sunday  morning worship, what technology and programs  they use, as well as grow in our own musicianship.  Owen has been able to have private clarinet  lessons and play in band at school. Through a  missionary kid program at the BBFI missions office,  we were able to purchase a clarinet for him. We  were gifted a guitar, a flute, and otamatones - a  fun digital Japanese instrument for use in a music  classroom. We were given an offering that allowed  us to purchase some music software and hardware.  Valerie has been able to participate in the  orchestra at church and learn from their leadership.  And Avery has been able to participate in choir at  church, as well as a youth choir that took a tour to  Washington D.C. and Liberty University in March.  She sings at school, also, and received outstanding  marks at state. We are grateful, and anxious to see  how the Lord will use these experiences for the  edification of the church and for His glory. We  know it will be a big task, but one we feel led to  undertake.  

Will you pray that God will give clear vision,  direction, and creativity, and that He will pave the way for our steps going forward in this endeavor? 

continued growth during our furlough We are so encouraged that while we have been  absent from our church plant in Portugal, the  people have stayed faithful, they are participating  in new ministries that have been implemented, and  new visitors have joined. Will you please pray for  the salvation of a man named Soumaila? 

building fund-raising progress In February, we reported having received 36% of  our fund-raising goal for a church building in  Portugal. We are humbled and grateful that  supporting churches and individuals have brought  this total to over 70% - $108,500 of $150,000 to be  exact. Will you pray that we are able to reach this  goal before we return in just a few months, and  that God will prepare and lead us to the right  building? 

Beau and Valerie Moore 

P.O. Box 191 Springfield, MO 65801 beau.moore@bbfimissions.org www.moores2portugal.org

BETHEL INDEPENDENT BAPTIST CHURCH 

Hermosa, Bataan, Philippines January, 2025 

Dear Pastor, Church & Friends, 

 Happy New Year and Greetings in the Most Precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, To Him be all the Glory. On behalf of Bethel Independent Baptist Church, my deepest thanks and  appreciation for you all before our God whom we serve, as being our comrades and partners in the  ministry in reaching the lost thru the gospel of Jesus Christ and training the nationals to exalt  the Savior, edify the church and to evangelize the world. Thank you very much for your love and unceasing support for me and to my family in the missions field. In these past few months  of 2024, God has been faithful that he enabled us to serve him continually and witnessed the grace of God, his answers to our desire and prayers for his ministries, we were able to host our first youth rally were more than 150 young people together with some fellow churches participated  in this event, challenged by the word of God and to keep their purity in the Faith for Christ. Amid of the many hard- ships and trials in our faith along the way in the ministry, Last month we celebrated his Faithfulness in our 12th year church anniversary, the theme "staying our focus  on Jesus", and seeing many visitors responded and accepted the Lord as their personal Savior,  to him only the glory, and youth camp meeting was held before the year ends, We praise the Lord for the souls got saved added to the church and Christians who re - dedicate their lives to keep their service of Him. We are blessed by the Lord to see eight precious soul who trusted and decided to follow Him in water baptism this year, some of these are the fruits from our new mission work in Pampanga,  As this year forward, we covet your prayers to restore our campus ministry this year, we are on the way waiting for the schools response for our request to teach again in their campuses,  our Evangelistic Meeting on March, our Vacation Bible school on April, we are praying for four hundred children to be reach out and minister the love of God with these children, And for our special needs, his provision in our need of transportation vehicle for the church, we are praying for $8000 this is the price of the van we look for, an eighteen seaters capacity, we trust the Lord by this year he will provide the funds needed.  If God blesses  and has given us an opportunity I'm praying for you to be a part in some way for this ministry project.    

Thank you once again and May the grace of our Lord God be with us all.

          Prayer Request and needs: 

           1, Spiritual growth of the new members 

           2, More Souls to be save this year & established outreach bible study 

           3, Provision for the Ceiling in one of our Mission Church 

           4, provision for our Children Sunday School room like: 

        ( children table, chairs, monitor tv and air condition ). 

          Yours Missionary in the Field, 

         Bro Robert Mendoza

BRO. RAMIL OFRECIO

January 2025

Dear Pastor, Church, and Friends,

As 2024 came to a close, we praise and thank the Lord 

for His faithfulness as He graces the new year with His 

blessings! We are so grateful to the Lord for you, our 

faithful partners in Cornerstone Ministries. We thank you 

for your steadfast commitment to the Lord and His ministry. 

With your continued prayers and support, we have been 

able to come this far. As we embark on our new 

chapter, we want to share some highlights from the year 2024. 

Vacation Bible School 2024, was successful by the grace of God. In the provinces of Benguet, Bataan, and Zambales, with the help of our volunteers, praise the Lord we were able to teach over a thousand children. Please continue to pray for the seeds planted, that these children will continue to grow in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

We praise the Lord for the success of our 2nd Anniversary Mother and Daughter Fellowship, featuring a lively cook-off to showcase our God-given talents, along with fun sports activities. Although we faced an unexpected power outage, our joy remained unwavering as we came together to praise our Lord. Our fellowship, marked by shared laughter and kindness, reminds us that love is our greatest gift and the guiding light of our faith. 

We celebrated 10 years of God's faithfulness in our Ladies Helping Hand ministry, joined by 88 women from various CFBC churches, all filled with love, laughter, and worship. It was a time to reflect on the countless blessings, friendships, and spiritual growth this ministry has fostered. As we look ahead, we pray for God's continued strength and guidance for every woman involved. Our hearts are full of hope, trusting that God will continue to work through them to spread His love to others. 

We are so grateful to God for His provision for our thanksgiving celebration. Members from all our missions in Benguet, Zambales, and Bataan gathered to celebrate and thank the Lord for His great goodness as we ended the year 2024 together. With your help and by the grace of God, we concluded the year with gift-giving to children, youth, and families, including candies and food packs for Christmas. Our mission churches also held their own thanksgiving celebrations in their respective locations. 

To God be the glory for the wonderful blessings of souls being saved! As we share the Good News of our Lord Jesus, from children and youth to adults, souls are being saved and people are getting baptized. We praise and thank the Lord for enabling our faithful workers in the ministry. Truly, God is still in the saving business! 

For the year 2025, we are excited for what God has in store for Cornerstone Ministries,alongside you, our faithful partners in Christ. This year, we are looking forward to keeping our ministries rooted in faith and growing in grace. Please continue to pray for us, that God will continue to equip and enable us to do great things for His glory. Your continued prayers and financial support have been invaluable to us. We are deeply grateful for your heartfelt generosity and passion for missions. With God's grace, we are committed to doing everything we can to share the message of Christ and reach the lost. God bless you all, and we love you. 

In Christ, 

Bro. Ramil Ofrecio

The Mulford Family - Portugal

For His Glory

Galatians 2:20 is one of our favorite passages in Scripture. It is a powerful summary of what it means to follow Jesus. We understand from this verse that it is our call as believers to live surrendered to the will of God in light of our position and purpose in Christ. This life we now live - surrendered to following God’s will - means living by faith for Christ, the One who loves us and gave Himself for us. He deserves all glory for who He is and what He has done. So we travel, proclaim the gospel, and share our calling in light of that reality. 

Dear partner, we are grateful for your faith, giving, and prayers for us. The reality of who Jesus is and what He has done is why you partner with us; we, together, desire to see more souls saved, discipled, and sent for His glory. We could not minister stateside or go to Portugal without your support. This past month, your generosity allowed us to travel and share our calling and the truth of the Gospel in Florida and Missouri which led to great conversations and new partnerships.

To begin February, Jacob traveled to Florida to attend the Florida BBF Meeting. While there, he presented our family’s ministry and calling and connected with pastors. It was an encouraging meeting and we are grateful for the Florida BBF and the great partnerships we have with churches in that state.

Next, we were hit with blizzard-like conditions in Missouri. While the weather was freezing (at one point down to -7), we were blessed to worship with a church that is fired up about missions, as we had the amazing opportunity to be a part of Aurora Baptist Temple’s missions conference. The fellowships that we had over meals, including a men’s breakfast and a ladies’ lunch, were greatly encouraging, as it provided an opportunity for us to pour out our hearts. On Sunday their generosity was on full display, as we were presented with gifts in a Christmas-like manner. Their care for our family is so sweet, and we are thankful for their gifts and new partnership with us in the Gospel!

After experiencing extreme winter, we traveled down to the Sunshine State where we had the incredible privilege of participating in Park Street Baptist’s missions conference. Their love for missions was so encouraging, and we appreciated the breakout sessions we were able to lead. These sessions allowed us to share our ministry, get to know the church, and answer questions. These sessions, along with a fun, storytelling breakfast and their worship services were a blessing to our souls. We are so thankful for their generosity, kindness, and new partnership as well!

Praises & Prayer Requests

• Pray: Upcoming travels in FL and MS.

• Praise: New monthly support!

• Praise: Lucy is taking traveling like a champ!

Thank You!

We were blessed to gain new partnerships with those we traveled to and also received great news of new partnerships from churches we had visited previously last fall. Praise the Lord we are now at 61% of our monthly support! We are getting closer to moving to Lisbon and are so thankful for your support.

Show Portugal January Update

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” - 2 Timothy 4:7. These words have been on our hearts and minds as we begin the end of our deputation journey. It has been a race full of God’s grace as we have seen Him sustain us in the valleys and on the mountaintops. These words from Paul to Timothy are also a reminder to us of the course we have ahead in Portugal as we move soon. On March 16th we are moving to Portugal! We are sacrificing all we know to fight the good fight in Lisbon. 

As we prepare for this next journey, we go still with unknowns in mind. We are thankful for the opportunity to visit Portugal for three months on our passports, but still have the unresolved visa situation - with no appointment yet at the consulate. However, we are grateful for the opportunity to move and establish our lives in Lisbon, and are praying that while we are there for three months that God would open the door for us to apply for our visas, which will then open the door to long-term residency in Portugal. Will you pray with us that an appointment opens during our three months in Lisbon? 

In the waiting, we have remained on course to keep and spread the faith during deputation. In December, this meant rest and outreach, as we were able to celebrate the holidays with family and serve at our local Ronald McDonald House. We were reminded while serving dinner to families of the significant ministry of presence, as Sydney was able to be a blessing to another mother during the holiday season. This comfort that we are able to share with others with just our presence is by the Lord’s grace, as He also comforts us with His presence. How blessed are we to have a God who is so personal with us and graciously blesses us with His presence always.

This, after all is why we go out in confidence to our neighborhood in Springfield, here in the nation of the United States, and to the city of Lisbon: Jesus is with us always, and He will work through our faithfulness. We were blessed to share this reality with churches in both MI and TX during the past few weeks, and both of these visits greatly blessed our souls. Between the opportunities we had to be real and share how God is at work in our lives and in Portugal, study and teach God’s word with young adults, and encourage fellow brothers and sisters in Christ to pass the faith, we were greatly encouraged. These churches' generosity and heart for missions was evident, and we praise the Lord for the opportunities we had to pour the Gospel into others and be poured into as well. 

Thank You!

All of these outreach opportunities and travels would not be possible without you. Thank you for your continued prayerful and financial suppor

Praises & Prayer Requests

• Praise: Moving date established!

• Praise: Safety in our winter travels!

• Pray: For our hearts as we prepare to move

• Pray: For visa appointment to open soon

Sunshine and Support

In the month of March we traveled across Fl, visited MS, shared our calling and the Gospel, and gained new monthly support!

It was a blessing to attend Grace Bible Baptist for their 55th anniversary service! We praise the Lord that we have been blessed with families who love the Lord and love serving Him. It was a wonderful Sunday of fellowship spending time with family. We are very thankful for their love for missions and support for us!

Next we were able to visit New Testament Baptist in Largo, FL. In Sunday school we shared our family's calling, and in Sunday service Jacob preached out of Matthew 9:35-38 sharing how every believer can make a difference by doing as Jesus did, seeing as Jesus saw, and praying as Jesus prompted. In the Sunday evening service we were able to talk about deputation and missions in a panel discussion alongside Matt Moeller. To finish the night they laid hands and prayed over us. We are thankful for their heart for God and others!

After this we were able to visit Life Church in Horizon West, FL. Our connection with them is rooted in Park Crest: when Jacob’s family moved to Springfield, they connected with the Leich family very quickly, and a couple years later, Park Crest sent out the Leich family to Florida to plant Life Church. It was so cool being able to visit them and see how God is working in their lives and in the church. In their service, Jacob was interviewed by Pastor Brandt about our calling. It was an incredible opportunity to share how God has worked in our lives and worship alongside Life Church. We are so thankful for their friendship!

To finish out the month we traveled to Byram, MS, where we had the privilege of being a part of Heritage Baptist’s missions conference. On Wednesday night Jacob preached from 1 Peter 2:9-10 explaining how every believer can magnify Christ by embracing their identity in Christ and pursuing their purpose in Christ. The next night we were able to share our calling and have a time of Q&A with the church. Saturday we were able to fellowship over a meal, and on Sunday Jacob spent time with the youth, Sydney spent time with the kids, and the church voted to take us on for support! It was an incredible week, and we’re grateful for the opportunity we had to get to know the Jordan family to Cuba, the staff, and the church, and are thankful for the opportunity we have to be a part of their missions family! 

Every single one of these visits was a tremendous blessing to our lives. These churches’ love, support, and generosity mean so much to us. We’re grateful for the opportunity to travel the states, visit and make friends, and share our calling. Deputation is a blessing!

The Moores --- Portugal

We are grateful to the individuals and churches who faithfully pray for and "follow" our family in the ministry God has called us to. We send prayer letters to churches and individuals who financially support our ministry, and we send the "Tuesday Newsday" to individuals who have expressed interest in praying for our family. This week I have chosen to send the "Tuesday Newsday" list our prayer letter from November 2024 - nearly halfway through our furlough. Below this text, please see the update on how God has answered these prayers.

Cows for sale...

You may be surprised to hear that missionaries don’t actually like asking for money. It’s an unfortunate part of the job description, in our opinion. Yet, Paul unashamedly asked the churches he intended to visit to set aside an offering, that he may be able to collect it when he come. This request was not for his own personal benefit, of course, but rather, the benefit of needy believers and the furtherance of the gospel in other cities. 

What did he ask them to give? According to Ephesians 3:20, give “as God had prospered” them. In other words, give according to the measure you have been blessed. A quick trip to anywhere in the world will lead one to conclude that American churches are truly blessed. 

We were so encouraged by one pastor’s testimony to us recently about a new ministry his church set to launch, praying for God’s provision. God did supply, but in an unusual way. A stranger “accidentally” made a $10,000 online donation by indicating the wrong church name. When the pastor asked to meet him to thank him for his donation, the man realized his blunder, but became very excited about the new ministry this church was to launch and eventually donated another $10,000 and a further $20,000. Though this church had not yet met their fund-raising goal for this project, they felt convicted to share as they had received and used part of the offering to bless other missionaries and ministry projects as well: “as God had prospered” them. Eventually, the man donated 1 million dollars.

At this same church, we were introduced to a new-to-us song that has also been an encouragement:
Everything I need, my Father has it.
Every single time, the Lord will provide.
Seek first the kingdom and its treasures;
everything else it will be added.
He gives us blessings upon blessings.
I know the Lord will provide.

Beau recalls the unusual but fervent prayer of his Bible college professor on behalf of a need that a missionary guest speaker had shared in his class period. “Lord, we know you own the cattle on a thousand hills. Won’t you sell one of those cows and provide for this missionary?” It seemed a humorous request, but how true. “Everything I need, my Father has it.”

A major purpose for this furlough is the need to raise $150,000 for a church building in Portugal. We don’t know how God will provide. Perhaps it will be the literal sale of a cow. Perhaps the accidental donation of a millionaire. But most likely, it will be through the faithful giving of God’s servants and many small pieces will add up to a lot. As we enter this Thanksgiving season and we all count the blessings upon blessings God has given to us as families and churches, will you consider sharing as God has blessed you to bless believers in Portugal? Perhaps you are unable to give a lump sum, but could commit to one of the following amounts given over the next 6 months before we return to Portugal.

15 donors @ $5,000
25 donors @ $1,000
40 donors @ $500

Today's update:

When we made this appeal in November, we were at less than 30% of our fund-raising goal, and now, with just a couple of months left before we return to Portugal, we are over 60%. $103,500 of $150,000 to be exact. Can I say what a blessing it is to see how God has provided just as we thought: many small amounts adding up to a lot. Yes, there were a few "chunks" - but only one over $10,000! Will you pray with us that:

1. God will continue to provide and allow us to return to the field having met this fund-raising goal?

2. That God will prepare the right space/building?

3. That God will continue to grow our faith and direct us as we lead the church in Portugal in grasping a big vision for church planting/missions, as they take financial leaps of faith.

A young national pastor made this comment to us, "I am always so struck by how generous Americans are when they see a need." So can I say what an encouragement the "American church" has been to us personally, to our small church in Portugal, and to other on-lookers as they witness the generosity and investment in the gospel effort in Portugal? Praise be to God.

Above: If AI were illustrating my letter...

BBFI

stateside mailing address:
P.O. Box 191
Springfield, MO 65801

field mailing address:
Avenida Miguel Torga 3, 2A
2675-678 Odivelas
Portugal