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EVENTS FOR 2016
Here are some of the events planned for this year:
1. January 18 – students return to classes from Christmas Break
2. January 25-29 – modular week of classes
3. February 8-12 – Missions Trip to Fresnillo, Zacatecas
4. February 13-14 – – Friend Day celebrations in the churches
5. March 7-11 – modular week of classes
6. March 20-27 – Semana Santa (Easter Week and Spring Break)
7. April 25-29 – last week of classes (final exams week)
8. April 30-May 1 – churches celebrate Children’s Day (churches celebrate the kids with special services and celebrations as an outreach ministry to their families)
9. May 2-6 – Graduation Week
10. May 6 – Graduation Day – Morning Session – 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Lunch
Evening Session – 6:00 pm (dinner after meeting)
11. May 7-8 – Mother’s Day celebrations in the churches
12. June 18-19 – Father’s Day celebrations in the churches
13. Missions Trip to Cuernavaca with 50 people from two of our churchces.
14. June_August – summer S.E.N.D. Groups
15. July_August – VBSs in the churches
16. July_August – junior and senior youth camps
17. August 8-22 – married students arrive at campus to enroll children in local public schools
18. September 5 – 9:00-11:00 am. students arrive at campus, Convocation at 6:00 pm
19. September 6 – first day of classes for the 2015-2016 school year
20. September 12 – first day of classes for BA students
21. October 17-21 – modular week of classes
22. November 11-13 – Missions Trip with Bayshore Church
23. December 5-9 – modular week of classes
24. December 13 – Christmas Party with staff and students
25. December 15 – last day of classes before Christmas Break
26. December 16-January 14 – Christmas Break
July / August 2015
Dear Friends in Christ, July / August 2015
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for the work in Mexico. Susie and I are doing well and praise the Lord for His many wonderful works and blessings on the ministry. Our two youngest grandchildren (James and Sammy) turned one year old in July! It doesn’t seem possible that they are growing so fast.
It is time to ask for help for Susie’s Christmas Kids Offering. Last year she was able to buy and bag candy and presents for over 400 kids last year. We hope to be able to reach out to them and others again this year. If possible, the offerings should come in before the end of October.
The churches had VBS services during the summer with good attendance and many activities. There were clowns, games, Bible stories, and refreshments. The churches saw more than 50 children saved and 10 adults.
We are very thankful for the Bible B. C. of Gulfport, MS who came with Bro. Reinhold t
o do some work at the camp and institute campus. They worked very hard painting the educational building and finishing the bathrooms in the boys dorm. Their offering for the materials and their labor of love was a great blessing and help.
Also, we need help to put a new metal roof over the existing concrete roof that is leaking terribly. The September/October rains will be here soon. $5,500 of the $10,500 needed has been raised. Thank you and God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
May / June 2015
Dear Friends in Christ, May / June 2015
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We thank the Lord for you and dee
ply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for the work in Mexico. We are doing well and thank the Lord for His many blessings in the ministry with the churches and Bible College.
We had a great commissioning service for our missionary couple out of the Iglesia Bautista Trinidad. There were nearly 200 present and four national pastors that participated. Special presentations of offerings, gifts, and a new study Bible were also made.
The churches had special services in honor of Mother’s Day. Invitations were sent out and preparations were made with special gifts, dinners, and other activities to honor the mothers and their families. The churches saw more than 37 souls saved these two months, and at least 7 baptisms.
We had a great graduation at the Ambassador Baptist Bible College on May 1st. About 35
0 were present and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and celebration after the services. Three graduated this year, and they did a great job preaching in the morning session. Pastor Aarón Rocha fr
om Linares preached the challenge to the graduates at the evening service.
Also, we have the added blessing of Missionaries Steve and Heidi Reinhold coming to work with us at the Bible College. They have moved from Cuernavaca and are getting settled in to their new surroundings. Please remember them in your prayers. God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
March / April 2015
Dear Friends in Christ, March / April 2015
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lor
d for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for the ministry.
Susie and I are doing well and are enjoying good health. We thank the Lord for His many blessings in the ministry with the churches and Bible College. Susie’s little four year-old niece was having severe headaches and was diagnosed with a brain tumor. It turned out to be benign, and they were able to remove it without causing any damage. PTL, another answer to prayer!
The Lord is blessing the churches, too. Several of the churches are doing canvassing campaigns and personally handing out thousands of invitations and tracts to their communities. These two months have seen over 28 souls trust Christ as their personal Savior! Also, a couple from the Trinity B.C. that surrendered to be missionaries, will be leaving for Cuernavaca in May with their three children to pastor a work there!
The Ambassador Baptist Bible College is doing well, and we are preparing for graduation on May 1st. Through the soul winning efforts of our students these two months, 60 souls trusted Christ! PTL! We thank the Lord for these churches that helped with extra offerings: Bible B.C. in Chicasha, OK for repairing two vehicles and Plantation B.C. in Plantation, FL for paying off the rest of the loan to repair the educational building roof.
Due to all the rain and mud and wear and tear, we need to re-gravel the roads around the youth camp and college campus, and we still need to buy a ‘0-turn’ mower for the fast growing grass that quickly overwhelms us. Please pray for these needs. God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
January / February 2015
Dear Friends in Christ, January / February 2015
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and seeing many blessings in the churches and Bible Institute. We have had a lot of rain for this time of the year, and the roads here are full of pot holes and mud. We received a great report on our 7 month old grandson James (with spina bifida). He is developing normally, and his brain and motor skills are excellent. Right now his calf muscles are weak, and he will need to wear braces from his feet to the upper part of the calf muscles when he is going to be standing, but he will be able to walk! PTL!
The Lord is blessing the churches, too. Friend Day was celebrated in several churches, and more than 44 souls have trusted Christ! PTL! And several new families have joined. There are more than 30 believers being disciple in the Trinity, Beacon, and García churches alone, and many others in the other churches as well. A married couple from our 2012 graduating class has a growing church in Cadereyta just 12 miles north of the Bible College and youth camp. In one year they have out grown there small building and are making plans to build on the lot next to their current building. Please pray for this work, the Mt. Sion Baptist Church.
The Ambassador Baptist Bible College is doing well, and we have a great group of dedicated students. They just returned from their missions trip to Zacatecas the end of February where they promoted the college and presented evangelistic skits to a group of over 50 pastors. Through their soul winning efforts these two months, 51 souls trusted Christ! PTL!
God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
EVENTS FOR 2015
Here are some of the events planned for this year:
1. January 19 – students return to classes from Christmas Break
2. January 26-30 – modular week of classes
3. February 14-15 – – Friend Day celebrations in the churches
4. March 16-20 – modular week of classes
5. March 30-April 5 – Semana Santa (Easter Week and Spring Break)
6. April 20-24 – last week of classes (final exams week)
7. April 25-26 – churches celebrate Children’s Day (churches celebrate the kids with special services and celebrations as an outreach ministry to their families)
8. April 27-May 1 – Graduation Week
9. May 1 – Graduation Day – Morning Session – 9:00 am – 12:00 pm Lunch
Evening Session – 6:00 pm (refreshments after meeting)
10. May 9-10 – Mother’s Day celebrations in the churches
11. June 20-21 – Father’s Day celebrations in the churches
12. June_August – summer S.E.N.D. Groups
13. July_August – VBSs in the churches
14. July_August – junior and senior youth camps
15. August 10-21 – married students arrive at campus to enroll children in local public schools
16. September 7 – 9:00-11:00 am. students arrive at campus, Convocation at 6:00 pm
17. September 8 – first day of classes for the 2014-2015 school year
18. October 19-23 – modular week of classes
19. December 7-11 – modular week of classes
20. December 14 – Christmas Party with staff and students
21. December 17 – last day of classes before Christmas Break
22. December 18-January 17 – Christmas Break
January 2015
Mexico 2014 Crime and Safety Report: Monterrey
Overall Crime and Safety Situation
The U.S. Consulate General in Monterrey’s consular district is comprised of five Mexican states. Nuevo Leon, San Luis Potosi, Durango, Zacatecas, and most of the southern area of Coahuila. Information about the entire state of Coahuila is included in this report.
Crime Threats
Throughout the district, statistics show a decrease in some crime categories from 2012 to 2013. For example, homicides in Nuevo Leon decreased from 1,459 to 719; in Coahuila from 727 to 616; and in Zacatecas from 342 to 279. Government officials acknowledge while some categories decreased others, such as home robberies, increased. For example, according to statistics from the Procuraduria General de Justicia in Nuevo Leon, there was a rise in home robberies from 4,033 to 4,779. Officials believe citizens feel more secure in their communities and are leaving their homes unattended more frequently.
Overall Road Safety Situation
Road Safety and Road Conditions
If traveling by road, travelers should exercise caution at all times and avoid traveling at night whenever possible. It is recommended to travel with at least half a tank of gasoline, spare tire, and a charged mobile phone. If possible, satellite phones should be available, as there are many areas where mobile phones have limited or no service. In addition, travelers should not hitchhike or offer rides to strangers.
Travelers will often encounter highway checkpoints manned by the military. Travelers should be cautious but follow directions. The highway heading north to Reynosa sees a consistent level of violence that includes carjackings and/or kidnappings; while the highway heading north to Nuevo Laredo has seen markedly fewer incidents. Travelers should pay close attention to local news reports and Consulate Security Messages to reduce their chances of encountering these situations. While generally safer, toll roads are not free from in-transit crimes like carjacking and kidnappings.
If stranded on the highway due to vehicle malfunction, dial 078 for roadside assistance. This service is provided free of charge by the Department of Tourism to all road travelers. More information ed can be found at: http://www.sectur.gob.mx/wb2/sectur/sect_9453_angeles_verdes
December 2014
Monterrey emerging from shadow of drug violence
The Mexican city, roiled by drug violence since 2010, has made notable strides, but the battle is not yet won.
MONTERREY, Mexico — It is one of those small, hopeful signs that this traumatized city may be awakening from the nightmare of Mexico’s drug wars: Armando Alanis once again feels safe enough to stop off for a late- night nosh at Tacos Los Quiques, a beloved sidewalk food cart.
“We couldn’t have done this two years ago,” Alanis, a 44-year-old poet, said recently as he chowed down on tacosgringas in the dim glow of inner-city streetlights. “It would be wrong not to recognize what we have regained.”
But Alanis, like most residents of Monterrey, knows that he lives in a city that is only half-saved. That night, he would drive over the cobblestone streets of Barrio Antiguo, once the premier night-life zone, pointing out the near-lifeless streets that previously were packed with revelers. He pointed to the bullet holes in the wall of the Cafe Iguana, where four people were slain in May 2011.
Later, he would drive to the Casino Royale, where the ruthless Zetas drug gang set a fire that killed more than 50 people that year. The building remains a burned-out husk, its fence adorned with white crosses commemorating the dead.
These days, the headline-grabbing horrors that exploded three years ago — the running street battles, the dumped or hanging bodies — are less common. The number of homicides has plummeted, on track to be less than half this year what it was in 2011. A new state police force, vetted and well paid, patrols the streets in place of the old corrupt one.
The conversation about just how far Monterrey has, or hasn’t, come recently has been revived by a series of grisly crimes that appear to be linked to business owners’ failure to pay “protection money” to criminals: The butcher shot in the head Sept. 5. The bakery supply salesman slain Sept. 24. The four patrons of a suburban bar killed by gunmen Sept. 26, their deaths apparently a message to the owner to pay up.
“The situation continues to be a delicate one,” said Gilberto Marcos, a Monterrey businessman and the president of a neighborhood coalition. “We’re not ready to proclaim victory.”
The new state police agency, called the Civil Force, has been touted by Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as a model for the country. But lingering challenges in Monterrey, the capital of Nuevo Leon state, demonstrate that solving Mexico’s deeply ingrained organized crime problem will require more than just swapping out old cops for new ones.
Moreover, many here believe that the plummeting homicide rate is the result of one group of organized criminals — the Gulf cartel and its allies — defeating its rival, the Zetas, in the bloody struggle for control of the city. Implicit in that theory is skepticism about the government’s ability to affect the drug war at all — a suspicion that officials would have as much luck trying to control the weather.
Though trouble had been brewing for years in Monterrey’s rougher neighborhoods, the peace was fully shattered in February 2010 as the Zetas, the former armed faction of the Gulf cartel, began fighting its former bosses for control of the city’s retail drug trade and lucrative drug shipment routes to the border, less than three hours north.
The city’s homicide rate skyrocketed by 300% from 2010 to 2011, reaching 700 deaths. Residents, and the nation, were shocked: Monterrey had long been one of Mexico’s wealthiest, safest cities and home to important textile, beer and construction industries. Many members of the business-owning elite fled to Texas or Mexico City. The U.S. government ordered the children of its diplomats to leave town. Get-togethers with friends and relatives moved from public to private spaces.
It was a reality that many swaths of Mexico suffered, and continued to suffer. But Monterrey took advantage of its wealth and the strength of its business community, which agreed to higher taxes to fund the Civil Force after many police officers in the old force were found to be collaborating with the cartels or otherwise untrustworthy.
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2014
Dear Friends in Christ, November / December 2014
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply appreciate your faithful prayers and financial support.
Susie and I are doing well and seeing many blessings in the churches and Bible Institute. We are so thankful that the violence toward the civilian population has calmed down, and people feel a little more at ease to travel, shop and visit. There is less extortion of businesses going on as well which helps the small business owner make a living for his or her family.
The Lord is blessing the churches, too. They are growing, winning souls, and discipling new believers. More than 32 souls have trusted Christ! PTL! Also, Susie’s Christmas Kids Offering for this year was tremendous. We deeply appreciate the following churches for their offerings: Bible B.C. in Chickasha, OK and First B.C. in Milford, DE. These offerings made it possible to buy candy and toys for about 400 hundred poor children and young teens in our churches. And thank you for the beautiful Christmas cards we received from many of you.
The Ambassador Baptist Bible College is doing well, and the school’s roof has been repaired with NO LEAKS! PTL! We have dry class rooms and no water dripping into our frijoles at lunch time! We thank these churches for their help:
Victory B.C. Cedar Park, TX, Twin Lakes Fellowship Cedar Park, TX, Southside B.C. Denison, TX, First B.C. Mesquite, TX, Grace B.C. San Antonio, TX, Fundamental B.C. Palmer, TX, and Trinity B.C. Big Spring, TX.
God bless you all.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
Thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
October 2014
The Mexican Drug War, which is approaching its eighth anniversary in December, has spanned two Mexican presidential administrations and resulted in the arrest or death of several high-ranking drug trafficking figures.
Despite some successes, like the February capture of the infamous Chapo Guzman, the war has resulted in a horrific death toll and the erosion of civil liberties and basic public safety in large parts of the country.
October has brought a wave of drug war news. Some of it has been positive: three major trafficking figures have been arrested since October 1, including the heads of the Gulf and Juarez cartels and the founder of the Beltran Leyva organization.
But in early October, corrupt police officers working with drug traffickers and local politicians abducted and possibly murdered 43 student teachers from a town halfway between Mexico City and the Pacific coast, in Gurerrero State. On October 10, Mexican journalist Leon Krauze described the incident as “the latest rearing of the beast’s head” — the worst in a series of troubling incidents in the state.
“Guerrero,” Krauze wrote in The New Republic, “[is the] current epicenter of Mexico’s nightmare. For a while now, rival gangs have been fighting for control of the state. The result has been the usual parade of horrors: cities besieged (including Acapulco), governments infiltrated, journalists threatened, police corrupted. And death. And vengeance.”
The drug war, originally launched by former President Felipe Calderon, was first undertaken using a kingpin strategy that aimed at severing the head of each of the cartels operating in the country — backed with the mass deployment of the Mexican military to the country’s worst trouble-spots.
Both efforts have had a profound effect upon Mexican society: at least 60,000 people died between 2006 and 2012 as a result of a war that pitted various criminal enterprises against the Mexican army and a constellation of vigilante groups — as well as against each other.
Calderon’s successor, President Pena Nieto, promised that he would reform the drug war when he took office. Instead of focusing on arresting the heads of the cartels, Nieto said he would undertake a general policy of combating crime and fostering rule of law.
Soldiers escort head of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel Hector Beltran Leyva in Mexico City, in this handout picture taken October 1, 2014 and released to Reuters on October 2, 2014 by the Attorney General’s Office.
Despite these promises, Nieto’s policy towards the drug war remains strikingly similar to Calderon’s — even though, as Krauze argues, he’s been far more hesitant than his predecessor to talk about the country’s crisis. Within the past month, three major kingpins from three different cartels have been arrested, including the first ever arrest of a Mexican cartel leader on US soil.
Despite the arrests, the security situation continues to deteriorate throughout the country as various gangs and organized crime organizations splinter and compete, sometimes as a result of the uncertainty that follows the takedown of a cartel kingpin.
Organized crime groups “are every day more fragmented,” Steven S. Dudley, a director of InsightCrime.org, a website that tracks crime in Latin America, told The New York Times on Oct. 21. “In principle, this is what the government wants, but in places like Tamaulipas, this has not resulted in less violence. In fact, this process has contributed to making the state one of the most violent in Mexico.”
Dwight Dyer of Control Risks had the same concern, telling the Financial Times on Oct. 2 that “the security situation is worsening in general in the country.”
The drug war has created an environment in which human rights are violated at an “alarmingly high rate” by criminal elements and the country’s various levels of government, according to the UN Human Rights Council.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mexicos-drug-war-is-entering-a-dangerous-phase-2014-10#ixzz3SyvYHNhb
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mexicos-drug-war-is-entering-a-dangerous-phase-2014-10#ixzz3Syv1i17Z