Summer Update

We greet you with warmest regards.   We hope you are all secure and strong in the faithfulness and goodness of the Lord (Psalm 145:9).  We are so grateful for His immeasurable blessings upon us!

Leon preaching in Puerto Peñasco

Teresa with some of the lovely ladies from Magdalena de Kino & Tijuana

Pastor Conrad & Pastor Joe leaders appreciation dinner.

​We had a wonderful mission trip in May as we returned to Magdalena de Kino, Mexico, and enjoyed being with Pastors Temo and Magdalena Lazaro and friends from when we first lived in Mexico over 35 years ago.  It was as if we had never had the years separating us!  We then went on to Puerto Peñasco where we had our third Leadership Conference working with the Pastoral Counsel and the pastors at Peñasco Christian Fellowship. Our time in Magdalena was so sweet and rich as we taught and shared on the theme of the blood covenant. This is one of our favorite biblical studies and can be so strengthening to our faith. They loved it. Teresa carried the bulk of the teaching while Leon taught less as he was still gaining strength from his battle with cancer.
 
In Puerto Peñasco, we worked together with Pastor Stan and Becky Tedrow, Pastors Joe and Laurie Pacheco and the local pastors, Conrad and Heidi Quiros, in meeting with thirteen different ministry leader teams from the church. We spent quality time with each one listening, offering counsel when needed, encouraging them and praying for them as well as having times of teaching.  It was many hours and our brains were tired from listening, thinking and speaking so much Spanish, but we loved it!  The church is growing and doing so well and it is such a blessing to see the people prospering in the things of God. We are looking forward to returning to both places later in the Fall.  It felt so good to be doing what we love to do cross culturally again!
 
We are enjoying being so close to our family and were very pleased to spend July 4th with all of them. They are busy, our grandkids are growing so quickly and we treasure these times we have together.  We are learning more and more to ‘enjoy the moment,’ so to speak, because we have learned very well how things can change so quickly. We encourage you, as much as you can, to also treasure these ‘moments’ when they come along.
 
With regards to our health, we can testify to the Lord’s incredible faithfulness and His miraculous healing power.  Four months ago, it looked as if Leon was going to go home to be with the Lord.  Many of you prayed with us and for us.  And we are so incredibly blessed to tell you that He answered our prayers!!!  Since that time, Leon no longer has any cancer activity or pain which Pet/CT scans and lab results confirm! It is amazing! Now he is in the process of rejuvenation with medical surveillance, integrative therapy and physical rehabilitation. This is something of a slow process because his body had weakened incredibly from the cancer and the treatments, but he is steadily gaining.  
 
Meanwhile, Teresa is finally getting some medical understanding of why her voice has been so affected for so long. A recent exam revealed that one of her vocal cords is not moving which was likely caused by a nerve being damaged when she had heart surgery four and a half years ago.  The nerve has been slowly dying since then. A recent scan confirmed the doctor's suspicions and she expects to be getting surgery soon to reposition the vocal cord, which the doctor feels will restore her voice.  She can’t wait to sing again!!!     
 
We want to thank each of you who have prayed for us and those who have continued supporting us during this time. We are continuing in ministry activity and grateful for the opportunity to continue serving the Lord as it is life to us!  On a different note, it would be very helpful as we try to budget our finances to know if you have previously supported us through International Missions Support and have decided to no longer do so, or perhaps have been preoccupied with other life issues and intend to stay with us as we move forward. We always know that without your prayer, friendship and support we cannot do all that the Lord has shown us to do.
 
God Bless each of you and with you we pray that He strengthens all of us with His Spirit and helps us to daily keep our focus on Him no matter what goes on in our country or in our world. (Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:6).

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