Once upon a time, there was a beggar, who used to sit at the gates of the great city. Along with all the other beggars, he would hold out his hands and beg for help and support. Sometimes people gave him a few coins, others would give him food or a little rice. He would collect the rice in the huge pocket of his shabby coat until he had enough for one warm meal. One day, the people of the city were told that a great king was passing by and he would stop at the gates to greet the people. All the citizens put on their best clothes and decorated their house with flags and banners.

There was excitement everywhere as people waited impatiently for the arrival of the king. The beggar saw this as his biggest chance to get something. He positioned himself right at the city gates, making sure that he was in the first row. No-one and nothing would stop him meeting the king and asking for money or an expensive gift. This was a unique opportunity! At last, the king's entourage could be seen approaching the city. The bells rang out, the music played and the people cheered enthusiastically. The king arrived on a beautiful white stallion and when he arrived at the gates of the city, he did something that no-one had expected or ever seen before. Instead of greeting the nobles and dignitaries of the city, the king called out to the beggar: "What will you give me? "The beggar was astounded and utterly speechless. He thought to himself: "Did the king say 'what will you give me?' But this cannot be, he is a king, he has everything, he is rich beyond imagination. I am no more than a poor beggar, I have nothing. It should be the other way around!" The king spoke again, looking at the beggar straight in the eye. "What will you give me?" he firmly asked again. The beggar put his hands in his huge pocket and took a single grain of rice from the quantity he had collected. "I will give him this", he thought to himself, "then he will see how poor I am!" The king accepted the single grain of rice and then rode away. The beggar was angry and frustrated. "He gave me nothing", he called out to the passers bye. "He gave me nothing, and asked ME for something! The beggar could not contain his anger. When he sat down, he put his hand in his huge pocket and felt a cold, hard grain. He pulled it out and it was a small and shiny piece of gold. The king had turned the beggar's grain of rice into pure gold. His face fell with remorse and regret, and through his anguished tears, he said over and over again: "I wish I had given him everything!"

 

 

Each year as part of our annual church conference, an evangelistic outreach is organized. This year that outreach took place a week ago this past Friday. For the past two months, church members were encouraged to bring along unsaved family and friends to attend an evangelistic theatrical performance with an altar call to receive Christ as their Savior.  

 

While we see many receive Christ on a weekly basis, as well as good responses in other similar evangelistic events, this year's response was off the charts! The church auditorium was packed with 2700 in attendance and 879 people came forward to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior!  

 

It's difficult to get a handle on a number that large... 879 souls! An amazing response to the Gospel!  

 

Please pray for the follow-up activities for those who received Christ which is currently taking place. Each one is being contacted by telephone. Statistically, we know that our local congregation will retain somewhere between 25-30% of those who made a decision for Christ.  

  

While we recognize this was a work of God, unemployment, economic problems, unrelenting violence and lack of confidence in Mexico's government have seemed to create an even stronger sense of spiritual need among the population in general.  The apostle Paul stated in Romans 5:20 "But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more."  

 

We thank God for being a part of what He is doing and for His grace that continues to abound much more in Mexico. 

 

Most of the family could not attend the wedding in Brazil, so it worked out to hold a reception in Minnesota taking advantage of meetings Kerry had there at the same time. 

We so enjoyed seeing many friends and relatives (grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins) and introducing them to our new daughter-in-law. Many of which we had not seen for some time!