baker bill rosa 1988 mexico

8/11/2019 Baker Bill Rosa 1988 Mexico

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The

BUI

Baker FamilyServing Christ Through

Spanish American Evangelism

3135

Forney

Lane

l Paso

X

79935

Volume No. 7 December 1988 Number 1

Dear

Friends of

the

Baker Family,

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall

be upon his shoulder:and his name will be called

Wonderful

Counselor TheMighty

God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of

Peace.

Isaiah 9:6.

What a joyous and thrilling time Christmas is I love the

excitement and

remem

brance of our Lord that people share We should share His birth everyday.

Ipray that everyone of you is as happy as Iam and that you

will

have a wonderful

time with your families and friends. We have been hoping to be able to visit my

Dad. He has been in either a rest home or hospital continousiy since a series

of strokes and a heart attack in the

fall

of 1987. He is currently in a rest home

in Del Rio Texas about 50 miles from my childhood home of Eagle Pass. As I

said, we hope to be able to visit him during Christmas, but time and finances

may not permit us the privilege of being able to do so.

Martin

(my Dad) has not

been improvingbut at the same time, he is not getting any worse. Please continue

to be in prayer for him

and

the entire Alejandro family.

We thank God for the many blessings which He has bestowed our way during

1988. Let me share just a few of

these

blessings with you:

1)The year has been busy from the very beginning. Early in the year

Bill

was

bitten by a dog while distributing New Testaments with a team of

students

from

Platte Valley Bible College south of Mexico City.

Bill

didn't want to cause any

problems

with

the

local authorities or

the evangelistic

effort so he waited until

he returned to El

Paso

before beginning treatment.

The

blessing was that God

provided all of the

funds

needed for

the

series of

shots.

The

doctor mentioned

to Bill that he didn't understand how we

were

able to pay for the

shots, because

he knew that he

was

making

more money than

Bill

was

and he would

have

had

a problem with the additional expenses (almost $1,000.00). The doctor could not

understand

that God

was

in control,

and

all

needed

funds were

provided.

2) At the close of 1987, Billand Brother Samuel

Guzman

were able to negotiate

the

merging

of two separate

Spanish-speaking congregations.

This

has

been a

great blessing to the Spanish work in El Paso during 1988. Bill has had added

responsibility as a result during 1988.

The finances

for

the church

have been nip

and

tuck

during the

entire year, but God always seems to

provide the

needed

funds

as bills come due (or

should

I say

past-due).

Growth has been slow and

steady,

and

the entire

congregation

is anxious for the t ime when Brother Guzman

will

be

able to occupy the

parsonage

(more

about

that later).

3)

God

has blessed

us with four wonderful children who

have excelled

in their

school activities

during this

year. Billy is doing well on his

grades and has

been

very active in the

orchestra

program. He

just

finished playing for the

school s

production of The King and I . He

learned

a lot about working with people as

a result of this

experience Barbie

has been active in

her orchestra,

also. She

has recently played for a Christmas concert

and

had a part in a

piano

recital.

Frances made the all A honor rcll this grading period. Caleb is doing well in

kindergarden. Even though he has not studied addition, he recently showed Barbie


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that

he could

add

several different small n um be rs . W he n

asked how

h e could

do that, Caleb pointed his fingerto his forehead and replied, I just used mybrain

4) Bill's health has greatly improved. He

wa s

having problems with colds,

flu

and general run down condition. The doctor took several tests and found that

his triglyceride count was 803 and his cholesterol was over 300 Buzzers went

off in

the

doctor s

office,

and

Bill

and

I

were

called

in for a

conference.

Bill

was

put on a special dietno red meat, no sugar, no enriched

flour

no nothing which

he loves. He

was

told

that

he could pig out on three items: fruits,

vegetables and

water. After a month of a complete change in diet, the results were:

triglycerides-136 and cholesterol-below 100

Bill

is feeling much better almost every

day and he is getting used to eating a completely different type of diet.

Asyou can see, God has been blessing our

family

In addition to these sepcific

areas. He has been working in many different areas of the ministry of Spanish

American Evangelism.

Work

here

has been abundant

as

always,

bu t

we

seem

to find

the

strength

and

time to keep going. Work has been progressing in the remodeling of the

upstairs of the annex of Logan Heights Christian Church in order to make a

parsonage. The initial work was begun in March as friends from Kansas, Merle

and Vivian Rintoul, spent two weeks with us in the beginning stages of tearing

out and starting the framing of the new rooms. Workthen progressed slowlyuntil

the first week of August when a group of four men from Gering Central Church

ofChristinGering, Nebraska, spent a weekwithus.

Following

that. Bill and several

of the

high

school boys spent the rest of the month in working on the project.

Because

of lack of

funds

work slowed,

and

now

the

final effort is

being

made

-to have Samuel and his family in the parsonage by the end of the year. Bill has

been going to work at S.A.E. early in the morning and doing some printing and

then working at the church afternoons and evenings. He has been going almost

18 hours a day for the

past

three weeks and it is beginning to show. He has gone

to bed early for the past two days and not gotten up

until

6:30 in the morning.

Please pray that there will be enough help for Bill to be able to get this job done

by the end of the year. The walls and ceilings are ready for spraying the texture.

The final wood trim and installing of the interior doors

will

follow after the painting

is completed. Following that the installation of the bathroom fixtures and building

of the kitchen cabinets and final flooring will complete the entire project. It may

not be completed before the end of the year, but it

will

be livable for the Guzman

family

The church is growing and really

does

need to have the minister living

in

the neighborhood.

Bill

and

I

have been

deliberating concerning t he progress of the work at Logan

Heights ChristianChurch. Wedo notwant the church to become dependent upon

outside sources

for the operating

expenses. Because

of the income level of the

majorityof the members and the monthly expenses (mortgage $388.21, insurance

$114.73, minister's salary $500.00, in addition to utilities and other expenses), we

do not

see

how

as

a congregation we

can

continue to meet

these

obligations

regularly. It is a shame to realize that after 25 years of attempting to establish

a Spanish-speaking congregation of the Christian Churches/Churches of Christ

in El Paso that Logan Heights Christian Church is all that we have as a brotherhood

to

show

for

the

efforts

which have

b ee n e xp en de d.

I have been really busy in keeping Bill on his diet. It is a problem trying to find

different recipes for him to eatchicken, fish or turkeyas not to bore him

and


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baker bill rosa 1988 mexico

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