Emotional Sunday

Yesterday morning, we experienced a very emotional service due to a difficult experience a family in the church just went through. A young couple in the church had been expecting their first baby. About two months ago, she began to have some serious difficulties in her pregnancy. Finally the doctors decided that they needed to take the baby even though she was only about 6 months pregnant. When little Rafael was born, he weighed less than a pound. He fit into the palm of your hand. After about four weeks of struggling to live, Rafael passed away on Friday afternoon. Saturday was the burial service. On Sunday morning, much to everyone's surprise, Jaime and Gaby were in the service for the first time in two months, when she had begun having the serious problems. Jaime stood and read a two page, handwritten letter detailing some of the experiences and lessons they had learned. Hearing their words, I could only marvel at the unbelievable testimony to God's grace that we were seeing and hearing. The only way that someone could go through that type of experience and respond with such unshakeable faith is when God's grace has been poured out in their hearts. Wow!

It was hard because I had to preach after them. I must admit that it took me a full minute to overcome my emotions and even be able to speak a word. That young couple had just preached the most eloquent sermon that could ever be preached: one that came not from a study but from the furnace. That kind of sermon can never be matched.

Part of the text I was preaching included 1 John 3:2, "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is." My study had also led me to Romans 8:23 "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." On Saturday as I prepared to preach, I groaned in my spirit. Not only was Rafael buried on Saturday, but some very close friends also buried a child they had lost after seven months of pregnancy. My heart cried out for that time when creation would be fully redeemed, when our glorious position as children of God would finally be revealed and every blessing brought to realization.

These difficult situations also made me realize that every "normal" birth is really a miracle. With Susan pregnant again, I must say that I am more nervous about this pregnancy than the other two. A person just assumes that things are going to be fine until seeing situations like these. Please pray for Susan and her pregnancy. She has been sick for about four weeks now. She either feels extremely tired or has morning sickness virtually 24 hours a day. While I try to shoulder some of the load at home, a 2 and a 3-year old don't really understand that "Mommy doesn't feel good."

In spite of all these things we rejoice because we know the wonderful privileges that the love of God has given to us as his children. 1 John 3:1 "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."

Visitors

This week we had the blessing of having our pastor, Dr. Carl Herbster, and several other men visit us here in Monterrey. The primary purpose of the trip was to consider options for future development of property both for the church and university. Both ministries are currently in desperate need of more space. The church currently runs around 400 people on Sunday mornings, but the auditorium only seats around 250. The University already is using some of the junior high classrooms for evening classes because we don't have enough space in our own classroom building.

Walking, talking and dreaming with men of faith and vision is always exciting and humbling. Pastor Herbster brought with him a man who is VP of a major deveopment corporation out of Houston, TX. He had many great ideas that we had not thought about. Now we need to sit down, consider our options and pray for the Lord's guidance.

All of the options require special intervention from our Lord. Property prices in Monterrey are very high since it is a major metropolitan area (between 4 and 5 million people) and because it is the most expensive city in Mexico (we can thank NAFTA and the influx of American businesses for that!). Humanly speaking, none of the options are realistic possibilities. However we know that the Lord can provide and can work the impossible. We should know that better than just about anyone. Every day I get up and go to work at a University that was humanly impossible only 13 years ago. Only 13 years ago, the Mexican constitution prohibited religious institutions from participating in education. The Lord's power is so great that He could change 150 years of Mexican legal history in order to allow the beginnings of Christian education in Mexico. If He can do that, providing the minimum of 4 million dollars that is needed to purchase property and develop a campus will not be a problem for Him.

Prayer Letter: February, 2006

Dear Co-laborers,

These last few months have been months of blessing and encouragement. We have seen the Lord do some exciting things in our own hearts, in our family, and in the ministry here. Truly the Lord is good. Oh that our hearts would long to taste more and more of Him!

During the Christmas season we enjoyed the blessings of the Lord. David and Karen Chapman, Susan’s younger brother and sister, were able to be with us for two weeks. We greatly enjoyed spending time with them. We were also amazed at the generosity displayed by God’s people. Whether shown by financial gifts or by presents mailed to us, we were humbled by the fact that so many people would use their resources to be a blessing to us. Thank you for modeling the giving spirit displayed by our Lord.

One of the most exciting pieces of news it that Susan is expecting our third child. The due date is September 23rd. Right now she is experiencing the joys of the first trimester of pregnancy. Please pray that she will get over the nausea quickly. We are excited about this new development. We also covet your prayers for health and safety for Susan and the baby. Several friends have recently gone through very difficult trials relating to pregnancy which have made us more aware of the kind of strain this puts on a woman’s body and the dangers that are involved.

On the ministry side, there are many new projects. We continue to serve the Lord at the mission church. We have been refocusing some of our efforts to more effectively reach the people in that area. One of our new projects is a weekly Bible study for teenagers that we will begin this Thursday (February 9th). Ivan, one of our theology graduates, will be leading this Bible study. The young people that will be involved are Diana, Samuel (brother and sister) and Isaí. We also hope that Reina will be involved, another young lady we have had contact with. Please pray that we will be effective and Christ-centered in evangelizing and edifying these and other young people.

The University is gearing up for the fourth Harvest Rally on March 4th. There is much work to be done before the Rally: promotion, organization of the more than 300 workers that will be involved, setting up the tent and games. Please pray for the weather. Last year it was sprinkling a little bit. Also please pray for clear, powerful preaching, careful counseling on the day of the Rally, and effective follow-up after the Rally.

Laboring in His vineyard,

The Bixbys

16 Months Later

A year and four months ago, we were given the keys to our new house. The Lord had graciously provided a loan from family friends in the US, which had allowed us not only to purchase the house but do some significant remodeling. That was in October of last year. We were able to move in by the end of December, and we have been thanking the Lord for this house ever since then.

The interesting thing: as of Tuesday of last week, the house is officially ours. Because the house had a mortgage, we were waiting for the bank to provide us with the letter stating that the lien had been removed (I believe that is the right word in English). We waited for a year and four months before they finally provided us with that letter! Thankfully we are officially the new owners (well, technically Ana is the new owner, being a Mexican citizen) of the house we have remodeled and lived in for the last sixteen months.