PRAYER LETTERS
JULY / AUGUST 2020
Dear Friends in Christ, July / August 2020
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 us and the work in Mexico.
Mexico is still on lock down because of Covid-19, and now they have extended the border closing until at least October 22. It turns out that Mexico has grossly under reported the number of infections of the virus. As of August, the number of confirmed cases has exploded to over 550,000 and 60,000 deaths! In spite of this massive increase in reported cases, the churches are Coffins of Covid-19 victims stacked behind a crematorium at cemetery doing well with only a very few cases of the virus. Pastor Samuel has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus but without any symptoms. He is fine, however several evangelical pastors and priests in Monterrey have died due to Covid-19.
We had a virtual meeting with the teachers and staff of the Bible College to prepare them for the virtual classes starting in September. One of the teachers later became infected with Covid-19 and is very ill in the hospital. His brother and pastor died of the virus on August 19th. Our teachers and staff are now in their second week of self-quarantine. So far, everyone and their families are not showing any symptoms of the virus. PTL!
We participated in a wonderful Missions Conference at Bible Baptist Ch. in Chickasha, OK with Pastor Steve Volante. Many from this church has visited us several times in Mexico helping with several different projects over the years. We were stunned when the funds were presented to us to purchase in Mexico this 2010 Ford van for the Bible College in Mexico! PTL!
God bless you all, and thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
MAY / JUNE 2020
Dear Friends in Christ, May / June 2020
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 us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well, but She had to go back to walking with crutches because of the slow healing of the tendon in her right foot and her arthritic left knee becoming overstressed.
As many of you know, Mexico is on lock down because of Covid-19. This is “social distancing” while waiting at a metro station. Nationally, the confirmed cases have risen quickly to over 36,300 and 3,500 deaths. Commuters at a metro station in Mexico City
The churches are doing well but are having to do services through social media outlets like so many others. Mother’s Day had to be done on line of course. But here, people wait in a long line to enter a wholesale market to buy cakes for Mother’s Day celebrations because of Covid-19. It is reported that several pastors in Monterrey have died because of Covid-19.
We had to cancel our 40-year mini-conference celebration and graduation for the class of 2020 and still do not know when we will be able to have it. The shut-down was extended into the summer until July.
God bless you, and thank you for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
MARCH / APRIL 2020
Dear Friends in Christ, March / April 2020
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 us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well, and Susie continues to recover from the torn tendon in her right foot. Thankfully she is able to walk carefully without crutches now and is able to do therapy at home. Thank you everyone for your prayers.
Mexico is on lock down because of Covid-19. Stores, restaurants, and businesses are closed and only a very few have been allowed to stay open with strict guidelines. Travel from town to town is very restricted and monitored with road blocks checking the reason for your travel. Nationally there are about 68,000 confirmed cases and 500 deaths. 
We praise the Lord for His blessings on the ministry. The churches are doing well but are having to do services through social media outlets. Evangelistic efforts and passing out tracts are very limited right now, but there have been several souls saved through social media and phone calls, and have been added to the churches.
We have finished up the classes on line at the Bible Institute PTL! That was crazy; and we had to cancel our 40-year mini-conference celebration and graduation for the class of 2020. We do not know yet when we will be able to have the graduation. The shut-down will continue through the summer and maybe even into early Fall. God bless you all.
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2020
Dear Friends in Christ, January / February 2020
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 us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well, but Susie continues to suffer some through the long and slow healing process. She had injured her right foot in December, and an MRI showed that it was a torn tendon in the bottom of her foot. She is out of the boot now but still needs to use crutches when leaving the house. She saw the specialist on the 29th of January, and he said it will be a long recovery and started her on physical therapy. Please continue to pray for her recovery.
We praise the Lord for His blessings on the ministry in the churches and Bible Institute. The churches are doing well, and have had over 27 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts and visitors to the churches for Friend Day Celebrations! There were 4 baptisms as well, PTL! Also, remodeling continues on the García Mission, finishing the ceiling and beginning the new flooring for the auditorium. 
The Bible College is doing well and the students have done a great job of evangelizing these two months with 21 souls saved! The annual missions trip for the students was in Platón Sánchez, Veracruz this year. They helped establish two missions and helped in a revival meeting of the mother church. There were nearly 500 Gospel tracts distributed, 40 adults and 35 children saved! PTL!!!
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
NOVEMBER / DECEMBER 2019
Dear Friends in Christ, November / December 2019
Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We thank the Lord for you and deeply a
ppreciate your faithful prayers and financial support for us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well, but while preparing many things for our Christmas party at the Bible Institute, she suffered an injured right foot, partly due to her osteoarthritis, that resulted in a torn tendon and ligaments according to X-rays and a MRI. She has been in a boot and on crutches or in a wheel chair for over seven weeks with very little improvement. Susie will return to the specialist on the 29th of January.. Please pray for her recovery.
We praise the Lord for His blessings on the ministry in the churches and Bible Institute. The churches are doing well, and have had over 48 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts and visitors to the churches for Christmas celebrations! PTL! Susie’s Christmas Kids in 12 churches received over 500 bags of candy and presents as well as the Bible College students and staff kids! 
What a tremendous blessing for them through the help of several contributing churches: Trinity B. C., Big Spring, TX; Bible B. C., Chickasha, OK; Cornerstone B. C., Indianapolis, IN.
We had a wonderful Christmas party and service at our house on the college campus with all of the decorations for the students, staff, and their children to enjoy. For some of these students, this is the only Christmas they have ever had, and it meant a lot to them. Also, the students have done a great job of evangelizing these two months with 26 souls saved!
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER – 2019
Dear Friends in Christ, September / October 2019
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 us and the work in Mexico. 
Susie and I are doing well but suffering a little with the aches and pains of arthritis. Susie was recently diagnosed with osteoarthritis in her left and right shoulders. She has had a lot of discomfort from time to time but was given an injection in her right shoulder and is doing much better. The doctor will check her knees soon since she has trouble walking.
We praise the Lord for His blessings on the ministry in the churches and the Bible Institute. The churches are doing well, and have had more than 34 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts with at least 5 baptized! PTL! Thousands of flyers have been handed out in several communities resulting in some of these conversions to Christ. Others have been saved in the churches.
We had a wonderful service in the chapel to open the new school year at the Bible Institute and Seminary. It was full with people standing outside by the windows and doors. The students have done a great job of evangelizing these two months with 87 saved! Our goal is to disciple them and get them into local area churches. 
Please remember Susie’s Christmas Kids Offering to help 500-600 kids with candy and gifts for the churches and Bible Institute kids! We have only received $400 so far, and hopefully more will come in.
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
JULY / AUGUST – 2019
Dear Friends in Christ, July / August 2019
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 us and the work in Mexico. 
Susie and I are doing well but suffering a little with the aches and pains of arthritis in the heat and humidity here. Two grandsons are starting kindergarten this year, and boy are they excited about it! I think the parents are too – no more daycare!
We also praise the Lord for His blessings on the ministry in the churches and the Bible Institute.
The churches are doing well, and have had more than 30 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts with at least 7 baptized! PTL! Several VBSs have been done reaching many children and some adults for Christ.
Also, the mission trip to the work in Cuernavaca to disciple new believers had to be postponed due to an illness of one of the national pastors. We are also making plans to organize the García Mission this Fall. We are trying first to finish the remodel of the auditorium and bathrooms.
We are getting things ready to start the new school year at Ambassador Baptist Bible College on the 2nd of September. The students will be arriving soon, and there is much to be done. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to be a part of their preparation for the ministry.
Also, please remember Susie’s Christmas Kids Offering to help 500-600 kids with candy and gifts for the churches and Bible Institute kids!
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
MAY / JUNE – 2019
Dear Friends in Christ, May / June 2019
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 us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and praise the Lord for His blessings on the ministry. We celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary by taking a cruise for the very first time!
It was great, and we even ended up back in Mexico – at Cozumel! Go figure! Hopefully we can do it again in another 50 years! Naw, we don’t want to wait that long. But it was a wonderful time of relaxation and time for each other. We also got to see our first great grandchild, 3 month old Manny (Emmanuel Joshua Biven) during a brief trip to Maryland!
The churches are doing well, and have had more than 48 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts and Mother’s Day Celebrations with 13 baptized! PTL! Several thousand fliers and invitations to the churches during evangelism have been distributed throughout several communities. Also, discipleship is going on in many of the churches along with plans for a missions trip to Misión Bautista Trinidad (Trinity Baptist) in Cuernavaca to disciple new believers there.
The students of the Bible College were busy getting things ready for the graduation that takes a lot of preparation. Also, there were 46 saved through their evangelistic efforts! We had a great graduation under the tent with over 350 present and 7 graduating. Pastor and professor Aarón Rocha preached a wonderful challenge to all. Afterward, under the outdoor lights, we had a delicious dinner and fellowship.
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
MARCH / APRIL – 2019
Dear Friends in Christ, March / April 2019
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 us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and praise the Lord for His many blessings on the ministry. We also celebrated our 50th wedding anniversary in April. We took a long weekend to go to Branson, MO with some friends and had a wonderful time! That was Part A of our celebration. Part B is a cruise which we have never done before. We are doing it after ministry commitments in the churches and graduation at the Bible College.
The churches are doing well, and have had more than 33 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts and the Children’s Day Celebration, and 7 baptized! PTL! A team from Bayshore Bible Church came down to help put a metal roof on the upper story of one of the churches. What a tremendous blessing for us and the church. Raul (from the group) cooked about 200 hotdogs for the community along with chips and sodas! The ladies of the group and church ministered to the community with the food and the Word. There were 4 new converts saved!
The students of the Bible College were busy getting back into the groove after their successful missions trip to the state of Veracruz in February. During their evangelistic efforts these two months, 67 souls trusted Christ as their personal Savior!
Thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie
JANUARY / FEBRUARY – 2019
Dear Friends in Christ, January / February 2019
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 us and the work in Mexico.
Susie and I are doing well and praise the Lord for His many blessings on the ministry. We have been to the doctor for our checkups, and I have some new glasses which I didn’t need before – bummer.
The churches are doing well, and have had more than 22 souls saved through their evangelistic efforts and 3 baptized! PTL! A team from two of our churches went to Cuernavaca to disciple some new leaders in a work there that is now a mission out of one of our churches in Monterrey. They were able to lead 10 to Christ and baptize 4 new converts!
The students of the Bible College were busy getting back into the groove after Christmas Break. During their evangelistic efforts these two months, separate from the missions trip, 28 souls trusted Christ as their personal Savior! In January they were busy preparing for the annual Missions Trip for February. This year’s destination was Panuco, Veracruz. The group was divided into three teams each with its own captain. They did the visiting, evangelizing, and teaching in three different area villages. They won 28 souls there in helping to establish three missions PTL!
Thank you for the Birthday cards! And thank you all for your faithful prayers and support.
Yours in Christ,
Rick and Susie