Ya Llegamos!

So we're finally home in Mexico!  We arrived on Monday afternoon, after praying about going in a day early.  We had gotten to the border early enough to cross, so we prayed and felt it was alright with The Lord to go ahead and cross a day early.  We had absolutely no problems getting across the border.  They didn't tax us or give us any kind of hard time.  There were police and Army patrols all the way from the border to Monterrey.  Surprisingly, there were hundreds (literally) of folks in line for inspection at various checkpoints along the way, but we got waved on at each stop.  Praise God!

We got to where we live (owned by Bro. Paul Deem of Directline Ministries) and found out our water pump that supplies water to the house had burned up.  So, we assessed all the damage and went to visit family.  We stayed with my mother in law for 3 nights while everything was getting fixed (the water pump, air tank, water leaks underneath the house) and finally stayed in our own bed last night, Dec 9th.

We also found out that someone stole some copper piping from the back.  More work to do!

During the day, we've been keeping busy cleaning up the yard, the house, and trying to get everything fixed.  It's been very tiring and VERY expensive!  So far, we've had to replace almost $1,000 of "stuff" just to make the house livable.  Who knows what it will cost to fix all of the stolen pipes from the back of the property, but surely God will provided.

We've been able to talk to our people and plan on making some good visits tomorrow.  We still need to clean up the church building (the last hurricane did some damage) and get ready for services on Sunday.

I've also been busy giving out cases of Bibles and tracts to national pastors from the big city.  There has been a dearth of them for about a year.  Thankfully, God allowed us to bring 15 cases of tracts and 6 cases of Bibles.

We're trying to win the drug war by pointing people to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ.  We can't wait to be here permanently!  There is such a need for evangelization here and the fields are truly ripe.

I found out that not only will my cell phone not work in Mexico, it won't even accept incoming voice mail messages.  So, I could check my messages periodically, but my cell phone service provider will not let people leave voice mails.  Email cclanier@gmail.com for anything!

Almost There!

Only 5 more days until we get back home in Mexico!  We have had a good trip so far.  We have traveled from north central Ohio to south east Ohio, to Knoxville, TN and then to Harriman, TN.  From Harriman we drove ALL day last Monday to Livingston, LA.  We left when it was still dark (about 6:30am) and arrived at about 10:00pm.  It was a long, grueling day.  Dragging the trailer makes it so much slower and longer...but I do have to say that it's less stressful than driving fast and getting stuck behind people with trailers!  From Livingston we left mid-morning to get to Spring, TX by that evening.  Since we had been stuck in the van for several days, we decided to go to a mall close by the prophets chamber we were to stay at to walk around and relax.  Ashley especially loved the kids play area.

After Spring, TX we met some friends in Houston for lunch, then drove to Helotes, TX (outside of San Antonio).  The drive was especially long...we got stuck in rush hour traffic and arrived at the church at 6:30.  It was a good thing we were shooting for 5:30!  We had a great meeting there, and went to eat with some of the folks afterwards.  The prophets chamber was very comfortable, but Ashley didn't let us sleep very well.  We finally got moving in the late morning and just skipped breakfast, loaded up and drove into San Antonio after lunch.

We're staying in south-east San Antonio until Saturday morning.  This afternoon I caught up on some paperwork and tried to catch up on some rest.  We had supper at the Spaghetti Factory (gross) and then walked up and down the River Walk.  That was pretty fun!

Tomorrow we're going to the Alamo (FREE!!) and maybe a wax museum.  We'll see.  Saturday we're back on the road to Killeen, TX for a meeting on Sunday morning.  Sunday night we'll be at Capitol City Baptist Church in Austin, stay in town over night, then headed to the BORDER to stay overnight on Monday.

Tuesday is the big day!  We can't wait.

Our support didn't increase this month.  We were very disappointed, but trust The Lord to bring it to pass in His time.  So, we'll do what we love for 6 weeks in Mexico and then continue on deputation in late January.

Pray for us, and for safety crossing the border and until we arrive home in Arteaga.  God bless!