The Smith Connection

Click below for our Spring 2009 prayer letter in either PDF or WORD:

PDF: Download file

WORD: Download file

Posted by Bryan at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are a few fun items circulating about the Swine Flu:

This is a slightly modified $20 peso bill

Did you hear that they found the kid today that is responsible for the swine flu outbreak??

On April 27, besides dealing with the swine flu, Mexico City had a scare with an earthquake

Posted by Bryan at 06:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Here are some new family and ministry photos. You can either click on the thumbnail below to go to our picasa site, or watch the slideshow here.

Spring 2009 Photo Update

Posted by Bryan at 04:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Thanks so much for your prayers and concern for us in recent days. Mexico has certainly been in the news a lot! Here are a couple points of general update on the situation and on our family:

- Lori’s Surgery - we thank God for the recent visit of two ladies from our home church in PA. They were a GREAT blessing here as Lori had her surgery and the beginning of her recovery. They made it back to PA safely on Monday. Lori continues to do well and recover more each day.

- Swine Flu – even though the news has been inconsistent and it is hard to know the truth, here are a few facts we think we know:

- There are no officially confirmed cases of the flu here in our state of Queretaro, although we are right next to two states that do have confirmed cases

- The government has closed all schools at all levels in the entire country until May 6 – this includes Ben’s Kindergarten, but not the girls’ home school! :)

- The government has asked that people avoid public gatherings for now, and has closed many museums, parks, convention centers, restaurants, and sports arenas.

- The leadership of our church decided it would be best to suspend all church activities at least until May 6 and focus on praying as families at home for this situation

- The US Department of State has issued a travel alert encouraging Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Mexico. The U.S. Embassy in Mexico has encouraged U.S. citizens living in Mexico to take precautions, including having a two-week stockpile of essentials such as food, water, and medicines

We are taking the necessary precautions and trusting in God to keep us safe and healthy in the midst of everything. It has been a blessing that things have slowed down on the church side of ministry so that we can focus on catching up in some other areas, as well as to allow Bryan to continue helping Lori around the house as she continues to recover.

Thanks so much for your prayers for us during this time.

Trusting God,
Bryan, Lori, Kendra, Tara, and Ben

Posted by Bryan at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks so much for your continued prayers for us. Here are a few current things to praise and pray for:

PRAISES:

- That Lori’s surgery went well last week, and that we have the help of two sisters from our home church in PA. Many people have been such a blessing to us during this time of need. We praise the Lord that Lori got her stitches out today, and is healing well

- God has kept our family healthy and away from all the bugs that are going around right now – this has been a blessing with Lori’s surgery and recovery

- For a clear opportunity Bryan had to share the Gospel with a doctor at a blood bank here in Queretaro. Pray that this doctor might come to Christ

PRAYER:

- Lori’s continued recovery from her surgery and regaining of her strength

- Paty, a mother of three, including a baby, whose 36-year-old husband passed away last Thursday. She is a dear believer who has been through so much. If you are interested in reading the whole story see below. Some may remember us mentioning her for prayer in the past

- For our “Children’s Day” service at church this Sunday – they celebrate children here in Mexico on April 30, so we will have a special service for them on April 26

Your prayers are a blessing!
Bryan, Lori, Kendra, Tara, & Ben

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Paty’s Story

Friday morning when I arrived home from the hospital after spending the night with Lori I got a message on our answering machine from Jose Luis and Estrella. They asked me to call them back ASAP. When I called they informed me that Paty’s 36-year-old husband, Mario, had died of a massive heart attack the previous evening. To make a very long story short, Mario had a history of abusing Paty and their children in many ways. She is a believer, and if you read 1 Peter 3:1-6 you will see a beautiful picture of the way she has been toward her unbelieving husband for many years. Paty had been in a group Bible study that I taught about 6 years ago. She and her daughters had been going to our church, but stopped going to church because he did not allow them to attend anymore. I could give countless stories of the way he ridiculed and abused them. I had even counseled her to separate from him for a time for her own protection, and that of their children. She remained quietly and faithfully with him. After MANY opportunities to come to Christ, God said enough is enough. We can only hope that in his last moments he came to the foot of the cross.

Now the rest of the story – Jose Luis asked me if I could possibly accompany him to the funeral home where the vigil was being held. Because these two sisters were caring for Lori in the hospital and our kids at home, I was able to go. When I arrived at the vigil Paty was sitting in the back of the little chapel all alone while his family, staunch Catholics, were doing the chants and prayers for the dead soul. I pulled Paty and her daughters to another corner of the room and Jose Luis and Estrella arrived a short time later. We cried, we prayed, we read some Psalms, and we encouraged and comforted Paty and her daughters as best we could with God’s comfort. God was so gracious! It was also an excellent opportunity to mentor Jose Luis, a budding church leader, in how to handle these types of ministry situations. We talked about the stark contrast between the two groups in the little funeral chapel. This contrast is often seen at a funeral in Mexico. Our focus was life – comforting the family, praying for the salvation of the lost, reading the living Word of God. We gave Paty two evangelistic “Life Kits” to share with whomever she wanted of the unsaved family and friends and a love offering to help this widow in her time of need. Their focus was death – praying for Mario, that God would show him mercy, that the virgin of Guadalupe would be his intercessor, and that he would soon be able to be released into God’s presence. The singing was sad, without hope, without life. The prayers were meaningless repetition.

We heard Paty bare her soul as she shared about her husband – she felt guilty because not long ago she had prayed to God that He would remove any obstacles in her life that were not allowing her to serve Him and love Him. Now her husband was gone, and she felt the guilt. We assured her that she did not need to feel guilty. God is sovereign and in control. We knew how she had been a 1 Peter 3 wife to her unbelieving husband. She shared how he had eaten lunch with them that day, something he rarely did, and how he had asked to hold their baby boy, just born a few months ago, so that he could spend some time with him – something else he rarely did. He asked Paty to iron his shirts because he had an appointment somewhere that day at 6:00. He died at 6:05. Lori later reflected that for that appointment it didn’t matter how nicely ironed his shirt was if his soul was un- ironed and wrinkly. At one point during our time Paty asked if there is a vacancy in a ministry at church – maybe in the nursery or Sunday School. She has a burning desire to serve the Lord and can’t wait to get involved in church again.

Paty and her children, Andrea (16), Mariana (11), and Marioni (months), need our prayers.

Posted by Bryan at 01:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just a couple of quick items for this week:

- We praise God for a good turn-out to an evangelistic film this past Friday evening – we showed the first Narnia movie and had quite a few from the community in attendance. Especially pray for Mariano, the brother of a church member, who watched the film and was impacted. We want to pursue a Bible study with him.

- We praise God for our Sunday service – we are going through some of the sects and world religious systems and how to witness to them and be firm in what we believe. This Sunday we looked at Islam with a Mexican missionary couple who will be headed to Turkey next month. We had a great time of fellowship after church at our home with the missionaries and some church families. We also had some unsaved folks with us and had a really neat time of sharing and fun together.

- Please pray for a difficult church situation that Bryan is involved with helping another missionary in another city. Pray that God would be glorified in the results of this very complicated situation, and that all involved would have wisdom from on high.

- Please pray for an evangelistic marriage supper we will be having at our church this Friday – especially pray that Mariana and Pablo will attend – they were here at our house yesterday and were invited

Thanks so much for your prayers!

Bryan & Lori

Posted by Bryan at 12:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks so much for your support and encouragement through prayer. Here are some prayer items:

Praise:

- Bryan’s recent travels went well, and he now is finished with traveling for a time. We praise God that we can be together as a family again.

- The transition our mission, CAM International, is going through to a team structure is going well – Bryan’s involvement in helping to make the changes is nearing completion for the time being. We praise God for the strength and health He has given us as a family during this busy time.

- The evangelistic outreach efforts of the New Birth Bible Church through English classes, evangelistic films, and marriage suppers – much seed has been spread and we trust that God will cause it to give fruit for His glory.

Prayer:

- Lori’s surgery coming up on the 16th of April – she will be having a partial hysterectomy – please pray for the surgery and recovery. We praise God for the help of two ladies from our home church in PA who are planning to come down to Mexico to help us over that time.

- Our “Transformation Team” – the new structure we minister within here in Mexico – that we might encourage each other in being and making disciples. If you want to know more about these teams you can check out the following links: http://www.t2blueprint.com/ (this one shows the general structure plan) and http://20ohms.blogspot.com/ (this one is for our team in particular).

- For God’s continued provision for our needs – we praise Him that even in the midst the global economic challenges our support has slightly increased. That being said, our support needs have also increased by about $300 a month due to an increase in our medical insurance. For the first time in the 10 years that we have been with CAM our monthly support account has dipped into the negatives the last two months. Please pray for God’s provision.

Thanks so much for your prayers! They are vital to our ministry here in Mexico.

Being and Making Disciples in Central Mexico,

Bryan, Lori, Kendra, Tara, & Ben

Posted by Bryan at 12:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So what are these Transformation Teams all about? A good way to find out a little more is to visit the T2 Blueprint site. We are excited to be on a team with the B. Hower, McManus, and O'Brien families. We will be encouraging each other in ministry and personal accountability and generally be caring for each other. We trust that through fellowship and interaction as a team we can grow to be better disciples and more effective disciple-makers.

So what does this look like? One example happened just recently as the O'Briens arrived back in Mexico after their home assignment. They are moving from Cuernavaca to San Juan del Rio. One team member came up with the idea of getting a little welcome gift together - snacks, cleaning supplies, etc. So we all got a few things together. Some painting needs to be done in their new house, so the guys got together to help paint last Friday. In general, it is caring for and serving one another. Of course, while the painting was being done the guys had a chance to fellowship and goof off, and so did two of the gals. We are excited about our T2 team, and look forward to seeing what God will do in and through us!

Alan and Brock rockin' and rollin'

Tim does a painting balancing act

We'll try not to kill each other!

Posted by Bryan at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Your prayers for us are a blessing! We had a whirlwind finish to 2008, and are excited about all that God is doing as we start 2009. We have posted some new photos here: http://www.smithconnection.com/2009/01/photo_highlights_winter_0809.html for you to check out. After this “catch-up” photo update, we plan to update you a little differently this year through more regular blog posts and photos. For now here are a few prayer items:

Continue reading "Smith Prayer & Praise - January 2009" »

Posted by Bryan at 11:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Click on the thumbnail to go to our Picasa photo site, or watch the slideshow below.

Winter 08/09

Posted by Bryan at 07:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)