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"Chips Off The Old Block"
News From Marilyn Wood
Serving Christ through:
Spanish American Evangelism
3135 Forney Lane
El Paso, TX 79935
Volume II Number 1
Spring 1983
Dear Friends,
It's hard to believe that spring is here. Just two weeks ago we had
over 16 inches of snow in a 3-day period. High temperature during
that time was 38 degrees. Brr! I know in many areas of the U.S. the
weather has been more winter-like instead of spring-like. I sure
appreciate our warm weather a whole lot more now.
I know many of you must have wondered if I made it to Denver in
spite of "The Blizzard". The answer is "Yes." My brother flew to El
Paso and helped me with the driving. In fact, he did all of the driving,
much to my relief.
If we had stuck to our original plan to leave on Friday, we would
not have made it, but late Thursday morning (the 23rd), my parents
called to ask if we had been listening to the weather reports. We
hadn't we were getting ready to go do some sightseeing. (It was
Rick's first time In El Paso.) Well, they advised us to get out of El
Paso as soon as possible.
We finally got out of the city at 3:00 P.M. (I had packing to do,
bills to pay, etc.) Just north of Pueblo we ran into the blizzard, but
we kept on going. My brother had no trouble handling the car
(front-wheel drive), but it was really hard to see. We arrived at my
sister's at 3:00 A.M.
It was really neat to spend Christmas together especially to
share in the joy and delight of my nephew and nieces, who were 6, 4,
and 21 months old. I also got in a little extra visit with my sisters
since I didn't come back to El Paso until January 3rd.
On Friday I went with Marsha to Winter Park, a ski resort
northwest of Denver. While she went skiing with a friend, I stayed
inside and watched. I found out later about a train ride I could have
taken to the top of the mountain and back, but it was too late to get
on it. All the rides were booked. The Colorado Rockies sure are
beautiful, and Winter Park is no exception.
On New Year's Day I went to Como, Colorado, to visit Bill and
Glenda McCarty. They are the camp managers at Colorado Christian
Service Camp. We had worked at El Paso Christian College together,
and Bill was my forwarding agent when I first went to Puerto Rico.
I left Denver on the 2nd and arrived here on the 3rd. During the
week of January 4-7, I participated in the Week of Missions at El
Paso School of Missions. It was a great week rather like a
mini-missionary convention. Some of the speakers were Alan and
Janet Bemo, Sam Winger, Bob Reeves, and Bill Loft.
March was a month full of travel. On February 28 I left for Eagle
Pass, Texas, (500 miles down river) to attend the annual Bi-lingual
Convention at Colegio Biblico. I was asked to play the organ for all
the sessions. I really felt this was quite an honor and was glad to help
in this way. This was the first time I had ever attended the Bi-lingual
Convention. Despite the economic situation on both sides of the
border, the attendance was the highest ever.
On March 11th, 26 of us boarded the train in Juarez and headed
for Mexico City and Oaxtepec to attend the annual Mexican
Missionaries Reunion. We had an entire pullman car to ourselves. The
trip to Mexico City takes 36 hours 2 nights and 1 full day. The
rocking motion of the train wasn't too conducive to sleep, but we
survived.
Over 100 people attended the missionary reunion again this year.
Brother Woody Phillips was the guest speaker and led us in a study of
the book of Philippians. The highlight for us and especially for
the Baker's was Billy Baker's baptism on the last night of the
reunion. Bill Baker, his father, is the director of Spanish American
Evangelism, and he was privileged to baptize his own son.
I stayed in the Mexico City area for a few extra days and got to do
a little sight-seeing. There is still a lot I haven't seen, but it was nice
to spend some time in the largest city in the world.
As for the economic situation in Mexico, the peso is now trading
at 150 pesos to 1 dollar all over the country. This is more than
double what it was the first of December! There is some speculation
that the peso will be devalued again in the very near future. Inflation
has been running close to 100%. Please continue to pray for our
brethren south of the border, that the Lord will continue to meet
their physical and spiritual needs.
Most of you receive the SAE newsletter, so you know we are
trying to print 2 million pieces of literature this year. Because of the
lack of money to buy paper, we are behind; however, over 200,000
tracts have been distributed since the middle of January. I personally
have prepared over 40 orders, totalling over 100,000 pieces of
literature. These have been sent to Colombia, Chile, Puerto Rico, the
Dominican Republic, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, and the U.S.
Needless to say, our cupboards are rapidly becoming bare, and we
need to replenish our stock as soon as possible.
Now for a health up-date: My "irritated bowel syndrome" turned
out to be a duodenal ulcer, j found this out on December 22nd.
Medicine, to begin with, cost me $60.00! What a Christmas present!
But I must say, the medicine was very effective. On February 14th I
had another Upper Gl test run and found out that the ulcer had
completely healed. By March 14th I was no longer taking medication
of any kind.
Of course, all the tests that were run and all the medicine that I
had to buy ran a big hole in my budget. I'm still waiting to see if the
insurance will pay for the tests. If not, that's a bill of almost $300.00
that I have to pay. I spent close to $200.00 on medicine over the
three-month period, but the Lord provided the funds for that as
they were needed. I'm sure He'll do the same for the medical bills.
One thing that helped me to get the ulcer under control so quickly
was I dropped almost all of my extra-curricular work, except for the
church bookkeeping. (That's so simple; it hardly takes any time.) I'm
still planning on getting Into some kind of exercise program, but I
saw the difference, almost immediately, in not having to fit in the
church secretarial work and piano lessons into my busy schedule. I
found out the hard way I'm not "super woman." I just can't do
everything.
More exciting news. I have finally found a roommate, so around
the end of May/first of June I will be moving to another apartment. I
hope to save around $100.00 a month by making this move. The cost
of rent, utilities, and food has averaged around $500.00 a month!
And then there's a car payment, gas, tithes and offerings, etc. to
come out of my $750.00 - $800.00 a month. Needless to say, I've
just barely been making ends meet. At the last trustees' meeting,
celling limits were set on what we could raise for our persona!
support. I'm authorized to raise up to $1300.00 a month. As you can
see, I'm a long ways from that goal. I do need additional support,
even with this move. If you would like a detailed financial statement
on receipts and expenditures, please feel free to write and ask for
one. My insurance just went up this month about 40%, so you can
see that every penny I save by this move will just go somewhere else.
I'm not worried though, because the Lord continue to bless and meet
all my needs.
/
As was mentioned in our last SAE newsletter, all of us are
available for camps and Vacation Bible Schools this summer. So far, I
have only one VBS scheduled that's the VBS here at Eastside
Christian Church where I attend. They are my main supporting
church, and I'm under the eldership of this particular congregation.
This is quite a change from last year. By this time a year ago, I had
four VBS's lined up. So if any of you are still looking for a
missionary speaker, I am available. The only week taken is July
25-29.
I'd like to take this time to especially thank you for your prayers
on behalf of my health. I'm really grateful to the Lord for the quick
recovery I have had. Also, I want to thank you for your support and
for your prayers on my behalf and for SAE. Without you none of us
would be able to do the work that we are doing for the Lord here.
May God richly bless you as you serve Him.
In Christ,
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"Chips Off The Did Block"
News From Marilyn Wood
Serving Christ through:
Spanish American Evangelism
3135 Forney Lane
EiPaso,TX 79935
Volume II Number 2
Fall 1983
Dear Friends,
Where does the time go? It seems as though it was just last week
that I wrote, but actually it was April. Now here it is September. As
we all know, time surely does fly.
My summer turned out to be a little busier than I had thought it
would be. Shortly after I wrote my last letter, we received a phone
call about supplying a missionary speaker for a week of camp at
Ashland Christian Camp in Ashland, Kansas. Since this was the camp
I had attended, I asked to go.
The camp was for Grades 6 & 7 with children coming from most
of the Christian Churches in the southwest Kansas area. There were
70 campers. The offering for the week went to the Literature Fund
of SAE to help print more tracts.
The week-end before camp and the week-end after, I spent with
my parents in Dodge City. Then I went to Denver and spent five days
visiting my sisters, brother-in-law, nieces, and nephew. My youngest
sister, Marsha, came back to El Paso with me and spent a few days of
rest and relaxation before returning to her job. It was nice to have
her along to help with the driving.
We had a beautiful drive down from Denver. We drove at night
because the air conditioner had gone out on my car. (As of this
writing, it's still not fixed, but I hope to have it ready before I leave
on my next trip on September 17.) There was a full moon that night,
and we had the privilege of seeing a partial lunar eclipse. Not many
saw it, I'm sure, since it was about 2:00 a.m. Also, the sunrise on the
desert and the moonset (full moon) was something I rarely see. They
were just beautiful.
In July Bill Morgan called and asked me to come back to
Clearview Christian Church in Dallas to be their missionary speaker
again. (This was one of the churches I was in last year.) Sothe week
of August 1-5found me in Dallas for the VBS. (This time I flew. The
Clearview congregation paid for my flight.) They had an enrollment
this year of about 50. The total offering was almost 3 times last
year's, and it also went into the Literature Fund.
The last week of July I was the missionary speaker for the VBS
here at Eastside Christian Church. The offering went to me
personally, and I'm using it to buy newtires for my car. The offering
won't cover the complete cost, but it will come close, and I'm so
grateful for this help.
The week after I was in Dallas, my folks came for a few days visit,
as part of their vacation. It had been several years since they had
been here, and I'm sure they saw a lot of changes.
At Spanish American Evangelism the summer was not slow. We
ordered a special shipment of paper and have printed several hundred
thousand tracts. Already several thousand of the new tracts have
been distributed.
Also, Bill Baker, director of SAE, had the privilege of meeting
with the vice-president of the International Bible Society. They had
just finished printing a limited edition of a Spanish New Testament
in the New International Version and were getting ready to do a
second printing. The end result of that meeting was we purchased
25,000 New Testaments from the IBS. They were printed with the
2nd printing, and the Bible Society allowed us to have our name,
address, and logo printed on the title page. The New Testaments cost
us 50 cents each and are very well done. We received the shipment
the end of July, and already almost 2,000 have been distributed.
The third week in July found us busy preparing and printing,
among other things, the following: the Spanish Directory of the
Ministry (which I compiled and set-up for printing), a book on
mission work and prayer, and a songbook to be used at the National
Mexican Christian Convention the second week of August. Since
both Bart, our printer, and Bill were going to be gone the end of July
and the first of August, it was imperative that all of that was done
beforehand. We weren't sure we'd get it all done in time for the
convention, but we did!
September 1st a friend of mine. Alma Zuelli, from Levittown,
Puerto Rico, arrived to spend a couple of weeks. I'm really enjoying
her visit. She'll be travelling with me to the National Missionary
Convention. In the meantime, we've put her to work here in the
office, and she's proven to be a big help, doing a lot of typesetting
for us.
Alma and I will be leaving here on the 17th for Des Moines and
the missionary convention. On the way up and back, I'll be speaking
to my supporting churches. My itinerary is as follows:
Sept. 18 First Christian Church Evening
Texhoma, Oklahoma
Sept. 20 Swing Shift Division 7:30 p.m.
First Christian Church
Dodge City, Kansas
Sept. 21 Wilroads Gardens Christian Evening
Church, Dodge City, Kansas
Sept. 25 Irwin Community Church Morning
Irwin, Missouri
Oct. 2 First Christian Church Evening
Wayne City, Illinois
I plan to return to El Paso by October 8. I'm looking forward to
being in these churches again and giving an up-date of the work here.
If you live close to one of these churches, I encourage you to come
to the service. I'd love to see you.
To give you an up-date on some of the things I wrote about in my
last letter:
1. My insurance came through and paid almost 2/3 of the bill for the
medical tests made back in December and February. As of this
date, I owe only $50.00.
2. The peso has continued to stay close to the 150 pesos to 1 dollar
trading rate. There were some fears that it would be devalued last
vyqek,:.but it Wasn't. Inflation fs still at 100% or more, and the
UjhgmploynpierTt situation is really bad.
3. My; support -has not increased; in fact, last month it was down.
/\nd-it's off to a sioW start this month so far. Financial reports are
available for those who ask. To add to the problem, before I leave
Saturday I have to have my car serviced, including some work to
be done on the radiator. All of this will take money that I don't
have, but I trust the Lord to provide.
4. Total literature distribution so far this year is way in excess of
300,000 pieces. I personally have prepared for mailing over
280,000 pieces. Several thousand pieces of literature have been
taken to conventions in Mexico, retreats, etc. Others have come in
and taken some with them. It's safe to say the total figure is closer
to 500,000. Our cupboard is no longer bare, but we still have a
long way to go to fill it up. Cuba is another country to add to the
list of countries to which we have sent literature.
5. As mentioned before, almost 2,000 New Testaments have been
sent out. This represents over 38 cases.
I want to thank ali of you for your help both for your prayers
and your financial help. As always, the Lord continues to supply all
my needs through you.
I know it's late, but if you would like for me to come and present
the work of SAE, while I'm on this trip (I do have a few days open.),
you may get in contact with me through SAE (915) 592-9292 or
through my parents (316) 225-4215. They will be able to get in
touch with me.
Please continue to pray for all of us here at SAE as we try to do
our best to spread the Gospel to those in the Spanish-speaking world.
May God bless you all in your labors for Him.
In Christ,
y?^i. ct
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