This is a paraphrase from the automated English translation that Raciel sent out... (tkb)

Dear beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,

On Saturday, May 23rd we had the opportunity to bless the marriage union of Eric and Dulce (Eric is the son of Eva and Teo - Ofelia's brother). Thanks to God the ceremonywas pretty and touching. Later we went to the wedding celebration (reception) - there were almost 200 people in attendance.

Sunday there were 15 people in the worship. Sadly, some are waiting and others are looking for work in other cities. I ask your prayers that the church will again grow in number and in faithfulness. Thank you so much for your prayers are for your financial support.

God Bless
Raciel

Queridos hermanos en Cristo.
Este es el reporte del 17 de mayo.
Fuimos 20 personas en el servicio y 10 personas mas en la comida de las mujeres en el parque Encino.
Gracias a Dios la gente ya esta viniendo a los servicios, esto es resultado de las oarciones y ademas tambien por que la alarma de la epidemia ya esta pasando, como resultdo de esto la gente esta mas confiada.
lamentablemente la economia esta muy mal en Gto, algunos han perdido el trabajo y las cosas estan cada ves mas caras.
Sin embargo estamos confiados en que pronto sera solo un recuerdo desagradable.
les mando algunas fotos y espero que pronto podamos vernos.
Dios los bendiga siempre.
Raciel.

Dear brothers in Christ, this is the report of May 17th. We were 20 people in the worship service and 10 more at the luncheon that the ladies put on at Encino park. Thanks be to God that people are still coming to the services.. this is the result of prayers also additionally because the alarm of the epidemic is passing. The result of this is that the people are more confident (to come out).
Sadly, the economy is very bad in Guanajuato, some have ost there jobs and things are getting more expensive every day. Nevertheless, we are confident that this will all soon be a bad memory. I send you some photos and hope that we will soon be able to see one another. God bless you forever.

Queridos hermanos en Cristo.
Este es el reporte del servicio del domingo 10 de mayo del 2009
Fuimos 22 personas y en este momento algunas personas no han podido (o no quieren) venir a la iglesia, la familia de ofelia esta compitiendo para ser candidatos a la presidencia de Gto y ellos estan muy ocupados haciendo campañas y muchas cosas más, por lo tanto no se reunen con nosotros por el momento.
Pero oramos porque pronto nuestro Dios mande personas que quieran conocer y obedecer su palabra.

Dear brothers in Christ. This is the report of the service on May 10, 2009. We were 22 in attendance and at this time some people haven't been able to (or don't want to) come to the church. Ofelia's family is competing to be candidates to the presidency of Guanajuato (this is some sort of significant political involvement that I don't fully understand - tkb) and they are very busy campaigning and doing a lot of oher things, therefore they are not meeting with us at the moment. But we pray so that God will soon send more people who want to understand and obey his word.

Las mujeres que verdaderamente estan comprometidas, estan creciendo espiritualmente y cada vez se les nota mas; Les mando algunas de las fotos de las clases que estan tomando los dias sabados (este sabado pasado fueron 10 personas)
Por mi parte sigo dando clases del ILEB los dias viernes a las 6:00 y tengo a 7 estudiantes, ademas de las clases de evangelismo, y los estudios personales de todos los dias.
Muchas gracias por sus oraciones y tambien por su ayuda economica
Dios los bendiga siempre
Raciel

The women that are truly committed are growing spiritually and every time it is noted more about them. I send you some photos of the classes they (the women) are having Saturdays (this past Saturday they were 10 persons). For my part, I cotinue giving the ILEB classes on Fridays at 6pm and I have 7 students. Furthermore we have the evangelism classes and personal Bible studies every day.

Thank you so much for your prayers and also for your financial assistance. God bless you forever.

Queridos hermanos en Cristo Esperamos que se encuentren cada dia mejor de salud.
La iglesia en Gto esta orando por tu salud de la iglesia en NC.y por los ancianos y hermanos (as)
Damos gracias a Dios de que la gripe solo esta en algunos lugares y oramos por que la ciudad de ustedes este libre de la enfermedad.

Dear brothers in Christ. We hope that each day finds you in better health. The church in Guanajuato is praying for the health of the church in North Carolina and for the elders and the brothers and sisters. We give thanks to God that the "flu"is only in some places and we pray that your city is free from this sickness.

Nosotros tenemos (como sabes) el problema de la gripe y eso nos tiene un poco preocupados pero confiamos en nuestro poderoso Dios y sabemos que pronto esto pasará.En la iglesia en Gto hay algunos enfermos de gripa (pero NO DE LA INFLUENZA) y muchos no vinieron a los servicios del domingo solo 13 personas y algunos niños (enfermos de gripa) asi que les pido de sus oraciones.

We have (as you know) the problem of the flu and this makes us a little worried, be we trust in our powerful God and we know that this shall soon pass. In the church in Guanajuato there are some sick with colds (but not the flu) and many didn't come to the Sunday services. Only 13 adults and some children (sick with the cold), so we ask for your prayers.

La semana pasada se suspendieron todas las actividades en la iglesia (celulas, estudios, clases, reuniones ect..) y casi estuvimos encerrados muchos dias. (la verdad me senti impotente y como leon encerrado) porque el gobierno dijo que asi tendria que ser hasta el 6 de mayo y NO creo poder aguantar tanto tiempo sin "ver" a los hermanos y amigos de la iglesia, asi que her decidido salir desde mañana a cuidar a las "corderos" y enterarme de su situacion (desde luego hemos estado en contacto por telefono con todos pero no es lo mismo aun cuando algunos han venido a nuestra casa) asi que les pido de sus oraciones por nosotros y por la iglesia.
Dios los bendiga y fortalesca siempre
Su amigo y hermano en Cristo

Las week almost all of the normal church activities (groups, studies, classes, meetings, etc) we cancelled... and we we practically imprisoned many days (the truth is that I felt powerless and like a caged lion) because the government said that we should do it until May 6th and I don't think I can stand going so long without seeing the brothers and sisters of the church... so I have decided to go out starting tomorrow to care for the "sheep"and to put myself in their situation (up to this point we have been in contact by phone with everyone, but it's just not the same even though some of them have come to our house). Because of this I ask for your prayers for us and for the church.

God bless you and strengthen you forever. Your friend and brother in Christ. Raciel

Raciel

Updates

I talked to Raciel this week and got a few updates:

The van is still broken. He is walking and has alrady lost 8kg ! He said he should stop so he won't have to buy new clothes.

There are some personality conflicts in the church (between some of the women) that should work out over time but are causing some problems right now.

He has met a new family (an extended family of about 10 people) who want to know more about the church. There is a newlywed couple lading the family, and both the husband and wife have decided to leave their respective religious backgrounds in search of the church they read about in the Bible. This sounds like a great opportunity- please pray that Raciel will be able to talk with them more and teach them.

We are still planning a trip to Guanajuato July 4 - July 9th. Please pray for the effort and let me know if you are interested in going.

Keith Boan

Me gustaria contarte sobre lo que nos paso el dia 4 de abril (Nuestro Aniversario de boda)

Sabado en la mañana nos levantamos temprano para ir a leon y pasar un tiempo en familia, sin embargo al ir rumbo a Silao (cerca del Aeropuerto) nos vimos involucrados en un Accidente.
Una camioneta del año nos rebaso en una curva (hiba a alta velocidad) y nosotros hibamos detras de ellos cuando me di cuenta de que en el piso habia piedras muy chiquitas y eso, hizo que la camioneta (de ellos) empezara a "patinar" sobre el piso,
no pudiendo controlar su camioneta chocaron contra el muro de en medio y despues se voltearon de lado

I want to tell you about something that happened to us on April 4th (our wedding anniversary). Saturday morning we woke up early to go to Leon to have some family time, nevertheless on the way to Silao (near the airport) we were involved in an accident. An older van passed us on a curve (at a high speed) and we were behind them when I realized there were a lot of little rocks on the road, and these made their van start to slide across the road. Not being able to control their van, they crashed into the median and then the van flipped on its side.

Nosotros pudiomos " ver" todo de primero mano, pues hibamos detras de ellos, así que hice lo que pude para detenerme y no chocar contra ellos y gracias a Dios nos detuvimos como a 1 -2 metros, cerca muy cerca de ellos.
Cuando nos pudimos detener salimos ilse y yo disparados hacia ellos a tratar de ayudarlos (Recuerda que la camioneta estaba de lado) y cuando llegamos pudimos ver que el brazo del niño estaba atrapado entre la camioneta y un block de cemento, en la camioneta hiban 4 personas (los papas y 2 niños) gracias a Dios los 3 salieron sin problemas, pero el niño tenia una grave cortada en el brazo izquierdo y salia mucha sangre.

We could see all of this first hand, since we were behind them, so that I did what I could to stop myself and not crash into them and thank God we stopped aout 3-6 fee away, close - very close - to them. When we were able to get stopped, Ilse and I got out and shot over toward themto try to help them (remember, their van was on its side) and when we got there we could see that the arm of the boy was trapped between the van and a block of cement. There were 4 people in the van (the parents and 2 children). Thanks to God, the 3 got out without problems, but the boy had a grave cut in his left arm and a lot of blood came out.

Una vez que Ilse, un hombre y yo pudimos levantar un poco la camioneta (lo suficiente) el niño pudo sacar su brazo y nos dimos cuenta de que en realidad estaba grave su cortada, así que le pusimos un torniquete en el brazo con un trozo de tela y pedimos a la ambulancia con mi cell.
La verdad fue algo muy desagradable el rato que estuvimos ahí (como 2 horas) aunque habia mucha gente pasando en sus coches despacio junto a nosotros NINGUNO se detuvo para ayudar (solo unos 4-5 hombres, pero asi como llegaron se fueron)

Once Ilse, a man, and I were alble to lift the van just a little (enough) the boy was able to pull out his arm and we noticed that his cut was really serios, so that we put a tourniquet on his arm with a piece of fabric and we called for an ambulance with my cell phone. It truly was discouraging that during the short while we were there (like 2 hours), even though there had been many people passing by slowly in their cars none of them stopped to help (except 4-5 men, but they left about as soon as they arrived)

Nosotros nos fuimos solo hasta que todo se termino y pudimos ver como se llevaban a la mama que por cierto estaba embarazada y al niño al hospital en la ambulancia, cuando se fueron los bomberos y la policia federal nosotros tambien lo hicimos.
Fuimos a Leon pero ya no hibamos como al principio, pues la verdad estabamos impactados de pensar que por un instante nos hubiera tocado el accidente a nosotros.


We left ourselves after everything was over and we saw how they took the mother (who was certainly pregnant) and the boy to the hospital in the ambulance... when the firemen and federal police left, we left too. We went to Leon but it wasn't as it was at the beginning, because we were truly impacted in thinking how much the accident had touched us.

Gracias a Dios que pudimos estar ahí en el justo momento para ayudar a esas personas.
Cuando regresamos de leon nuestra camioneta se paro de nuevo, bajo un puente y gracias a Dios en ese momento paso una patrulla y le hice señas para que nos ayudara y nos mando a una mecanico (ángel verde) y me dijo que la bomba de gasolina ya no sirve y que tambien cambiara el filtro.
Asi que desde el sabado la camioneta esta parada y nosotros estamos moviendonos en camion o caminando a mis estudios y celulas.
Espero que todo lo que te conte no te halla aburrido y te pido por favor por tus oraciones para nosotros.

Thank God we were able to be there just at the right moment to help these people. When we came back from Leon our van quit again, underneath a bridge - and thank God that a patrol passed us at that moment and I made signals so he would help us and he sent us a mechanic (green angel) and he told me that the gas pump wasn't working anymore and that we also needed to change the filter. Because of that the van has been stopped since Saturday and we are moving around to my studies and group meetings on the bus or walking. I hope that you ahvn't found all of this boring and I ask you for your prayers for us please.

Queridos hermanos en Cristo:
Este es el reporte del domingo 5 de abril.
Fuimos 22 personas en el servicio,(muy pocos) muchos estan de vacaciones de semana santa y regresaran hasta el 19, asi que esperamos estar todos juntos en esa fecha.
Muchas gracias por su ayuda y sus oraciones.
Dios los bendiga siempre.
Raciel

Dear brother in Christ:
This is the report of April 5th. We were 22 people in the service (very few). Many are on vacation for Holy Week and will return the 19th, so we hope to all be together again on this date Thank you very much for your help and prayers. God bless you all forever.