Baker Bill Rosa 2000 Mexico

8/11/2019 Baker Bill Rosa 2000 Mexico

1/3

In

BillBake :;L5b^[email protected]>

Jara Mackey

Subject: Update from

the

Baker's

News

From th e Baker

Family

Mision Amistad/Friendship Mission

P.O.

Box

420926

Del Rio, TX

78842

hon 830

774-1543

E-Mail:

bbaker@delr iQ.com

WEB:

httD://www.delrio.com\~bbaker

December , 2000

Christmas Greetings

from

the Baker Family in Del

Rio,

Texas:

But the angel said to her,

Do

not be

afraid,

Mary, you ha\e found fa\r with God. You will bewith child

and

give

birth

toa

son,

and

you

areto give

him the

name Jesus. He will be

great

and will be called

the

Son of

the Most High. The Lord God

will

give him the throne

of

his

father

David,

and

hewill reign oxer the house of

Jacob forever; his kingdom will nexer end. Luke 1:30-33 (NIV).

Once

again, we

have entered that time of theyearwhen theworries of theworld seemtotake

second

place and thoughts

begin to tum tothe birth

of

our Savior.

begins

with the

celebration

ofThanksgiving

and

builds up

to a crescendo as weapproach

Christmas

Day.

It

has

been somewhat

different

this

year

however. 1dont know ifit is a result of the election drama being played out in Floridaor a change in the

emphasis of Christmas.

Satan has a

way

ofde-emphasizing the essential and scaling it down to the

optional

orthe

ridiculous.

It

used tobe Merry Christmas and has degenerated to

Happy Holidays

or

even

other generic terms.

Years

ago, to include Santa

Claus in

the city sponsored

nativity

scenewas almost considered

sac-religious.

Now

because of

political

correctness , Santa is

required

andthe

manger

scene is

illegal in

some

communities.

Theday will come when Christ is entirely forgotten inChristmas.

As followers of

Jesus

Christ, we

must

do all we

can

to nexer let

that

happen

It

has beena strangeyear

for

the BakerFamily. We

haxe

seen adxencement

in

some areas ofour

ministry and defeats and set backs in others. Wewill gixe you a few highlights andclosewith family news:

SURGERY

The year beganwith surgery staring me in the

face.

I hax hadan

umbilical

hernia for at least 10

years. Afew doctors had looked at it and said, Don't worry about it.

had

gotten progressively larger

and

larger

anda

Christian Doctor here

in Del

Rio looked

at

it and said, it needed

to be

taken

care

of

We haxe

had health insurance for only about one yearoutofthe past

thirty,

so surgery seemed outofthe question.

The Doctorofferedhis services for free and the

Lord

provided through some of His people the funds needed

for entrance into the hospital. The

bill

was oxer$6,000.00 and we got it almost paid

off.

.

.until.

. .Frances

neededa tonsillectomy

in

July. The same Doctor did the work at no charge, butourhospital

bill

now stands

at

approximately 4,000.00

CHURCH

BUILDING IN

ZARAGOSA

NEARLY

COMPLETED

I

have

been

working

with Brother

Rogelio Lira

on establishment ofa newcongregation in Zaragosa,

Coahuila (about

60

miles

southof

Acuna)

for about

two

years. With

funds

provided

by

a church inSouth

Carolina,

land

was purchased in the Fall of

1997.

Ihe foundation was set down in theSummerof1998.

Because oflackoffunding for this project andtheAugust, 1998 flood, emphasiswas shifted toAcunaand

Printed for Mission Services

Association


2/3

In

the benevolentwork there.

In

the Spring of 2000, we were able to get back to the project In Zaragosa. The

walls were topped and the

roof

completed

in

arch

and

through

the

efforts of seNeral

groups

from

Texas,

Kentucky,

Iowa,

Kansas, Oklahoma, Wyomingand Nebraska, the

building

is now98% completed.

Permanent

light

fixtures need to be purchased and installed, showers finished and cabinets installedforthe

kitchen The congregation

has been meeting inthe

building

since March. A couple

from

Colegio

Biblio

and an additional couple from

the church inAllende are sharing pastoral duties. They

are

planning a formaldedication

settee

on January

28th. A group fiom Platte Valley BibleCollegeplans to be here forthe dedication,

holding

evangelistic

services duringthe week

following

the dedication. Prayers are requested for this new congregation

as

they

grow and mature

WORK

IN ACUrsIA IS

PROGRESSING

We have completed a total of 10 houses inAcuna. It

seems

like a drop in the bucket

when about 50,000 people are l 'ng in cardboard huts. The ele>enth house has been started. Itwill be a

littlelargerthan any of the others we havedone. This house is for

Rafael Alvarez.

Rafa

as

we call him

has

been a major help inall ofour projects in Mexico. He was deported fiom the U.S. almost

fi>e

years

ago and ended up inAcuna. He is in his 60's and met the Lord inAcuna. Through the efforts ofLawrence

Hallum and Harold Nusser (Mission in Between Missions), land

was

purchased for him. He is presently

living ina house made of pallets and covered withcardboard. A group

fiom

Northwest

Hills

Christian

Church in

San

Antonio helped pour a new foundation around his present house. We plan to build a

house

around the cardboard structure and then remove the original structure, leaving a new one. Rafa is a natural

evangelist and has been responsible forwinning several families to the

Lord.

We are asking the

Lord

to

provide the fourlots of landwhich are next to Rafo's house fora future church plant. Itis a good location

and

will serve a ne w area w he re n o

other

churches have

been

established

H E A RT A CH E S IN DEL

RIO

Due to an extenuating

se t

ofcircumstances, we have been without a church home in Del Riosince July.

Several haveapproached us withthe idea ofstarting a new English congregation inDel

Rio.

We have been

prayerfully

considering that option. A suitable

facility

has been found available for rent. A biblestudy has

been started in

our home

and willmove to

the

community room of

one

of

the

R.V. parks in

our area

after

the first of the year. We are seeking God's help in

providing

$1,250 per month for one year.

f

He provides,

we could begin worship services in January. We feelwe could have it self-sufficient inone year. A strong

missions-oriented church on the border is greatly needed to make the workMexicomore productive. Ifthe

Lordblesses and this church is established, we would probably begin living

finom

a church salary and

dedi te

mission funds directly into growth of the work in Mexico.

A N O PPORTU NI TY A ND PRA YER REQU ESTED

A call

came

in from First Christian Church in Wellington, TXduring October.

One

of

the

elders

was

wondering ifI might consider servingas their minister. I responded that Iwas not particularly

looking

fora

job, but

would

be

willing

to

follow

the

Lord s

leading. Rosa and I

visited

them on the weekend ofNovember

19th. We

will

be

serving

with them on the 17th and the 24th. ofDecember. Thereis so much

remaining

to

be done in Del Rio and Acuna.

We

are facing the decision of starting a new work in Del Rio while

continuing to aid inthe development ofthe churches inMexico or leavemission work fora located

ministry. There are advantages and disadvantages to bothsituations. Imade a conscious decision to not

spend a lotof

effort

inmaintaining up our support since coming to

Del

Rio. Consequently, our income is

down

and the relative security ofa located ministry is appealing. Other factors to consider are the fact we

have no health insurance or retirement. Our attitude toward ministry

has

always been. But

seek

first his

kingdom and his righteousness, and all these thingswill be

given

to you as well. Therefore do

not

worry

about

tomorrow, for

tomorrow

will worry

about

itself.

Each day has enough troubleof its

own.

Matthew6:33-34

(NIV)

.God

will

take care of us, He always has, but we are at the point in our

lives

when

Printed fo r Mission Services Association msa@missionservice


3/3

In

we

n ee d t o look

toward th e future

a s

well.

ABOUT THE FAMILY

Rosa has

t}een

doing some part-time teaching at two priwite schools in Del Rio and

offisring

private

piano lessons at home.

She

was able to spend time

with

Billy and

Laurel during

October for

the birthofour third Grand-son.

This

was a first time for her to be able to help out.) We spent our first

Thanksgiving without childrenat home and made a quick trip

from

Wellington,

TX

to Scottsbluff, NE inorder

to spend

time

with my mom.

Billy

continues to serve with First Christian Church in Huntington, Beach,

Califomia.

The church is

continuing to grow. They are nearing2,000 inweekly attendance. Aaron Fox Bakerwas bom to them on

Octot}er15, 2000, he weighed in at 8 pounds, 12 ounces and was 21 inches long. Austin and Tamila have

really welcomed him into the family.

Barbie and T.J. are

living

in

Lowell

MAand working with a new church plant. She is a

nurse at a local hospital T.J. will finish his requirements fora Masters ofDivinity

firom

Gordon Conwell

Theological Seminary at mid-term.

Official

graduating ceremonies will be in May. Caleb and Frances were

able to be withthem forThanksgiving. Ninepeople were around the table, which featured two turkeys, four

pies and all the trimmings They are expecting their first child inMarch. Rosa hopes to be able to helpout

when th e

baby

comes

Frances is nowa juniorat CincinnatiBibleCollege.

She

is engaged to be mam edto Scott Williams in

June. Thewedding

will

be in Nashvlle,

TN.

In

addition to preparing fora wedding,

she

will

have her junior

recital in

April.

She

will

be doinga music intemshipwith one ofthe

Cincinnati

area churches next

fell.

Her

fiancee is a youth ministry major at CBC.

Caleb is a senior at Bracketville Highschool. Because of

changes

in Del Rio, he is

commuting45 miles one way forschool e\ery day. Keep him inyour prayers as he travels and prepares for

graduation. He hopes to be able to enrollat Johnson Bible College inthe fell of2001.

MAY

THE LORD S BLESSING

BE

UPON YOU

AND YOURS,

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

Thank-you for your prayers and support, both physically and spiritually

Bill

aker

o sa a nd Caleb

Printed

fo r Mission

Services

Association

Documents

Baker Bill Rosa 2000 Mexico