baker bill rosa 1991 mexico

8/11/2019 Baker Bill Rosa 1991 Mexico

1/4

The

Bill Baker

Family

Serving

Christ Through

Spanish American Evangelism The Baker Family ill Rosa illy

3135 Forney

Lane,

El

Paso,

TX

79935

Barbie, Frances and Caleb

Volume No. 10 Christmas, 1991 Number 1

Therefore the Lord

himself

will glue you a sign: The Virgin wili be

u}ith child an d will give birth to a

son,

an d will call him Immanuei

Isaiah 7 :

The virgin will

be

with child

and

will

give

birth to a

son, and they

will call him ImmanueT'-which means, Go d with us . Matthew 1:23

Dea r F ri ends o f th e Baker Family:

Although tijie message

is

old

every

year it seems to bring a

new

birth of

love, joy and peace. Even though most

people do

no t realize

th e

true

meaning

of Chris t

and

His

birth,

people

everywhere

seem

t o change

in thei r a t ti tudes and direct ions during

this

specia l t ime

of

th e year.

May all

of the blessings which come from th e

birth, life,

death

and resur rect ion of Chr is t be yours both now and for all eternity.

The

Baker

family will be

celebrating

a special t ime as Christmas

approaches. We have been

recently

blessed by having my mom,

Marge Baker, with us and

just

prior to Christmas, Billy will be home

f rom school .

In addi tion to this,

Rosa's

sister, Tuta,

and

her family

will

be here

with us. As

th e

family is growing older, times

when

we

can

all

be togethe r a re get ti ng

fewer

and

fewer.

Things are always busy with the Bakers, and the Christmas season

just

compounds the situation.

FAMILY NEWS

Rosa is completing another semester ofwork at the University

ofTexasat El Paso. She is working for a Masters inMusic degree.

Because

of changes in

their

procedure, statements which were

made

in error two years ago, and lack of acceptance of her

degree from Platte

Valley Bible College,

she doesn't

know

at

this

time

how

long her

quest

will

take.

In

addi tion to

this

work,

sh e is active at Logan Heights Christian Church in several areas:

teaching a

Sunday

school class, working with the music

program

an d planning

the worship

services.

These activities

are

over

and

above

the normal

responsibilities of raising a family

and

running a household. Having Marge with us for a couple

of

months has t aken

a

great

load from

he r shoulders.

Billy is finishing his first

semester of

his sophomore year

at

Pacific

Christian

College. He is doing well with his classes in

addition to traveling with

one

of the musical groups on a regular

basis. During th e summer he

had

the privilege of working on

an

intern

basis

with

the church

in

Garabaldi, Oregon.

It was a

good experience

for him. He is thinking

about marriage

After

putting

that

last

statement in pri nt , I

know

that Rosa

and

I

are

getting old.

Barbie is maturing

and

going through those mid-teenage

years.

Sh e

is

trying

to find

herself but jus t hasn' t come upon

the

right combination. She makes

me

proud to be her father

when I se e he r openness to

share the Gospel

with her friends

in school. Her witness has caused her some ridicule during

th e

past

year. Your prayers on her behalf are deeply appreciated.

Frances is just about out of elementary school. She has begun

playing

th e viola

and

is consistently

on the honor

roll at

Scotsdale Elementary School. She has missed qui te

a bit of

school this

year

with

minor i llnesses . For a whi le this year,

almost

every

day, I

received

a cal l

from

th e

school

nurse to come

and g et

her.

She

is a girl with a lot of potential for

the

Lord..

Caleb is growing to be quite a boy. He is really a worker. When

given a job, he seems to always try to

do

his best in completing

the task. He has taken the responsibility of a new peta rabbit.

(No, we do not have a mated pair ) After school he helps

one

of his former

teachers

with

her

classroom responsibilities.

She

gives him a little bit of

money

in return for hi s work. His

compassionate heart andwilling spirit will

take

him a long way

in

l ife.


2/4

TO

A MEETING IN VERACRUZ

1recently completed a trip into southern

Mexicoto th e

state of Veracruz. The purpose of the trip was to work with

an

evangelistic campaign.

1

had been told of several

churches

which

had been

established

as a

result of

literature provided bySpanish American Evangelism. We

were to check out these- churches and work with a city-

wide evangelistic campaign which was to be a cooperative

effort of various denominational groups from throughout

th e

city

of

Coatzacoalcos,

Veracruz. Because

of

ca r

problems during

the

trip, Gonzalo Flores (a professor at

Colegio Biblico, who

was

a

student

there while Rosa

an d

1were working with the school in the early 70's) and 1arrived

two

days late. What we encountered was

no t

what we were

expecting.

Our

city-wide

campaign

in Coatzacoalcos

turned

into a vil lage meeting in Tierra Colorada (Red Earth), a

small community in the mounta ins

about

15 miles off

th e

highway. The newly established churcheswewere looking

for turned out to be several older,established congregations

with a Pentecostal persuasion. They were very weak on

doctrine

and

very strong on

emotion and praise

in

their

worship services. Weprovided several sessions on topics

such as: the gift of the HolySpirit, the apostleship, healing,

and

speaking

in

tongues.

1

am convinced t ha t t he se

churches have

not been

closely affiliated with any

denominational movement for some t ime in

that

if they

were

strong

followers of what

their movement

taught, we

would have been booted out on our ear almost immediately.

When we departed, a door was left open for me to return

and provide further seminars concerning the concept of

restoring

the church

as it is

revealed

in th e New Testament.

The

community

was very poor: no public water supply,

electricity bu t no refrigeration.

Cooking

was done

on

a

fogon (a wooden platform waiste-high filled with dirt upon

which a

wood

fire

burns). Homes

all

had thatched roofs

with only openings

in place of windows and doors.

Gonzalo

and

1were

treated

like kings, however. They even killed

a duck and served us a feast. Our reception was very

gracious.

Prior

to

leaving,

we wer e t ol d

by the leaders. We are

TIME OR

A FURLOUGH

It ha s

been

over ten years s ince our family moved to El Paso

and began working with th e minis try of Spanish American

Evangelism.

Much progress has

been

made during that

time.

During

th e

last

y ear prior to my coming to SAE,

1981,

35,000

tracts

were

printed. During

1991

almost

3.5 million

tracts

will

have

been produced The

general fund

budget

in 1981 was

51,098.00.Through the end of November 1991,

ou r

general fund

budget ha s totaled only $59,803.22.

Of

that figure on ly

22,765.10 have

been undesignated

funds. Our total

general fund

for the year

will

be approximately 65,000.00. ifhan increase

in

th e general fund income ofonly 27

pe r

cent, tract production

increased

a total

of 10,000 pe r cent without factoring

in

loss

due

to inflation during that

period

of time In order to accomplish

that,

many

hard

decisions had to be made

concerning

priorities

and

ministry

objectives.

A

lot

of

unnecessary

waste was

cu t ou t

of th e operation.

These

last

te n years

have

been hard on

me. In addition

to

responsibilities at SAE, 1 inherited a ministry at Logan Heights

Christian Church, and following what could be considered a split,

nurtured that

congregation

from an English

speaking

congregation

to a

Spanish-speaking

one.

On

two different

occasions

1have be

responsible on

a

continuing basis

for filling

the pulpit

in

addition

to managing the

business

affairs

of

th e church

for

th e

last seven

yea r s

Over

and

above bot h o f

those

ministries,

1

have

been

involved

as President and Chairman of the Board of another ministry in

El Paso. During

the past

six years with

that

ministry, 1have worked

at saving

th e

physical

property from foreclosure and a t th e same

time recouping over a quarter of a million dollars in equity which

the ministry held. Th is effort required filing of

chapter

bankruptcy and a two-year

court

battle which followed. Today the

bankruptcy has been

released,

the

property

has

been sold,

and

we a re expec ting to soon

receive

a cash payment in excess of

250,000.00.1 willnot personally profit from this, but the Lord's

work

will

be

bene f i t ted

The last t en yea rs have

taken

their

tol l. Rosa

and

1

both

feel

that we should get away from El Paso for at least a year. Weneed

time to refresh and revitalize our lives and family. Weare seriously


3/4

A

MOTOR H O M E N E E D E D

Opportunities for service

abound throughout

Latin

America. For several years, 1have been trying to ge t

Rosa

and the rest

of

th e

family to travel with

me into

southern Mexico

and Cen tr al Amer ic a. Rosa

has

always had

the

same answerI'll

go

but you haue to

ge t a motor home first We are not looking for anything

fancy,

just

functional

an d

servicable. There

ar e

several

older ones

available

in El

Paso

for around

5 000.00.

Aself-contained unit would allow us to

spend

longer

a m o u n t s

o f t ime

in

areas similar to th e area descr ibed

in this newsletter. It could provide a base for extended

w o r k

in

C e n tr al m e r ic a also.

Please be in prayer that God might lead us in the

right direction

concerning

such a

purchase.

F r e s h

F r o m

t h e

B a k e r s O v e n

Neios of the Bill

Baker

family

Spanish American

Evangelism

3135

Forney

Lane

El Paso Texas 79935

ADDRESS CORRECTIOM

REQUESTED

1063

Mission

Services -

Research

ept

PO Box 2427

Knoxville, TN 37901-2427

Non-Profi t Org.

U.S.

POSTAGE

P I

El Paso Texas

Permit

No.

2295

T h e

Bill B a k e r

Family

o~l

B e c a u s e

o f

HIM

We s e n d o u r

LOVE


4/4

strong

on emo tio n but

very weak

on

doctrine,

we

need

more

teaching

about

th e

truths

o f th e scripture. i have

promised

several

of them that 1will

send

them materials

which will help them s tudy and

understand

God s word

in a better light Please

pray

that God will open the doors

for another visit into this

community.

If I

am able

to

return,

my plans would

include

preparing a series of

studies which

would

meet

the spiritual

needs

of the various congregations

and then working with a circuit-riding type of ministry for

several

weeks

in

strengthening

an d

encouraging

these

Chri s ti a n b ro the rs

i 9a

i

C4

V ^

been

actively

involved

in th e Spanish work along the border and

in Mexico

and

Central America since

the

fall of 1973 During

that

18 years there have been only a few times when as a family we

have been

able

to

take

more th an o ne o r two

days

for

vacation

and re s t and re laxat ion

During this

t ime o f furlough, we want to accomplish that and

also serve the Lord A change of pace is needed Several options

are

available One

idea

is to

work

in Mexico for a

period

of

time.

Another is to find a chu rch which would like to

see

a

Spanish

congregation established.

We

would st riv e to

maintain

th e

mission support which we already have

raised

and work towards

the establishment of a new Spanish congregation in conjunction

with an

established English congregation.

If we

would be abl e

to main ta in our present support, th e only assistance we would

need

from

the

English congregation would be for a place to

meet

and for office facilities Weare in the process of contacting several

of our supporting congregations with this idea The goal would

be to es tablish a Spanish work

and

then return

to

SAE after a

period

of

one or two

years.

A

third

idea is to

base

ourselves with

one

of

our

supporting congregations

and

spend

the majority of

our

time

updating

our

supporters concerning the work of th e

Baker family and SAE If you or your congregat ion might be

interested with any of these ideas, please

le t

us know

Your prayers

are

always

appreciated.

At

this

time we would

especially appreciate your prayers that the Lord will guide us and

that we will se e His plans for us

May

God s r ichest b less ings be

yours

Sincerely

in

Christ and

in His service.

Bill Baker

Rosa, Billy

Barbie, Franc es and Cal eb

PICTURES

AT LEFT:

Top

One of the ladies in the congregation in

Tierra

Colorada alongside her

fogon

Bottom:

Some of

those

who

attended

the

meeting

in Veracruz

baker bill rosa 1991 mexico

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