We are very happy to report that we are once again sending our updates from Mexico!  Praise the Lord for His safe travels and His provision as we made our way through the U.S. during the month of May.  It was such a blessing being able to catch up with many of our supporters, to see how God is at work back home in the states, and to have a few weeks of vacation.  We want to say a big thank you to all of the churches that we were able to visit and that helped in providing funds for our traveling – Turning Point at Calvary (St. Augustine, FL), First Baptist Church of Brunswick (Brunswick, GA), Common Grounds (Glenwood, IA) and Cornerstone Baptist Church (Lawson, MO)…you were all instrumental in our trip and our ongoing ministry and we are very thankful for you all!! 

Currently we are in Jerez working at the children’s home as Mom and Dad made a quick trip to visit family in the states.  We are having a great time enjoying all of the kids, but especially being with our Neftali again.  It was a rough month away from him!  In the meantime, we are sort of in a limbo period here as we are trying to figure out the situation with our Suburban that has recently occurred. 

While we were in the states we received a letter from the Mexican government stating that when the last suburban permit expires that we will no longer be able to keep it in Mexico legally.  Apparently when we applied for our new FM2 status back in January, instead of receiving the regular “rentista” status, we were approved for a special “asimilado” status due to Jack being born here in Jerez and our history of living here.  There are many benefits to this “asimilado” status, such as being able to work here legally, (i.e. preaching freely), but one of the drawbacks is since we are basically Mexican citizens we cannot have a foreign vehicle here.  The immigration department meant to do us a favor by approving our FM2s as “asimilado” rather than “rentista” but since we did not realize that is what happened were caught quite off-guard by all this.  We were hoping that once we got back to Mexico we would be able to change our status over to “rentista” instead so that we could keep the suburban here for the next 2 years on this FM2, but after multiple trips to Zacatecas this past week, that isn’t going to be possible.  So now we are stuck here in Jerez with the suburban on expired tags… which means that if we drive it the police could confiscate it permenately!  Needless to say we have been spending a lot of time in prayer about what to do!

After speaking with Aduana, the tax folks here, they said we cannot legally import or keep the suburban in Mexico.  The best they can do is issue a 5 day temporary permit to return the suburban to Texas where we can sell it.  We then have to turn around and buy a vehicle here in Mexico to drive to Oaxaca!  The plan is to list it on Craigslist and then drive it to the border sometime next week, Lord willing.  We are praying we can get between $1,500 to $1,800 for the suburban to use towards a vehicle here in Mexico.  Today we were able to locate a 1995 Jeep Grand Charokee for sale in Jerez with all the necessary paperwork.  It has special shocks and four-wheel drive to allow us to handle the rough mountain roads and appears to be mechanically sound.  We were able to talk the owner down to $3,000 including the fees for new plates, etc.  That means that if the Lord allows us to sell the suburban for $1,500 then we need to raise around an additional $1,500 to cover the rest!  Please be praying with us that the Lord opens doors in his time and in His way to allow us to get back down to Oaxaca! 

As soon as we are back in Oaxaca we have a full-slate of ministry opportunities ready to start.  We will be resuming our English Classes with English II for the 80+ students who passed English I as well a second round of English I for those who need to retake it and new students.   In addition to village outreach and Bible studies we will be launching new Bible training classes in our home to sort through the doctrinal confusion that exist in Pluma.  Please be in prayer that the Lord would continue to work, through the preaching of the Gospel, in the hearts and minds of those we are working with.  We thank each and everyone one of you who partner with us to see Christ’s name glorified in Oaxaca!

In Christ,

Nate, Mary, Nef, Sam & Jack