February Prayer Letter
Dear Praying Friends,
Psalm 145:9-10 says: The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. Truly we are needy of the mercies of our Lord! We are thankful for the way that the Lord has blessed us with His mercies. This year the university here will be celebrating it's 10th anniversary. During that time we have seen the Lord's tender mercies over and over again. As a family, we will be completing our sixth year here in Monterrey, and we also have many reasons to bless the Lord.
We also continue to need the Lord's blessing and mercy in facing several difficult circumstances related to the government. The first situation regards a new tax approved by the Mexican congress that will tax all private educational institutions at 17.5%. Apparently, many "non-profit" education institutions are only non-profit in name, resulting in serious financial gain for the owners. As is true of all governments, the Mexican government wants to get their taxes out of these schools. The law that they passed, however, seems to make no difference between schools that are truly non-profit and those that are non-profit only in name. Obviously we would find it very difficult to continue functioning if we lost that large a percentage of our revenue. Increasing tuition is not an option for two reasons: 1) the law specifically forbids schools from passing this tax to the consumer by raising tuition, and 2) our students couldn't pay that much more tuition than they are already paying. We are working with legal experts on this subject to find a way around this. Although we are fairly optimistic, there is also the possibility of having to take legal action along with other non-profit schools (since this law is clearly unconstitutional). Pray that it will not come to this, and that a solution can be found quickly.
At the same time, the education department of our state is requiring all universities to follow the same calendar year. And the calendar year they are requiring for schools that use the system we use would result in having to have classes all year (with only four weeks of vacation--two at Christmas and two at Easter). This presents serious problems for our ministry. 1) We want our students to be free during the summer to work at their churches, camps, etc., 2) our operational costs would increase by about 10%, and 3) There could be significant burnout amount students and staff. After addressing this issue with the education department, humanly speaking there is little that we can do. They have been very firm on this requirement. Please pray that the Lord will change the hearts of the education department or that we will find ways that we can properly address the situation. We know that our Lord's mercies extend even to the actions of secular governments, and we are confident that His will is certain to be carried out.
We also request your prayers for a trip we will be embarking upon this week. On Thursday (February 28th) we will be leaving Monterrey and driving to Anderson, S.C., to participate in a missions conference at Oakwood Baptist Church. With inflation in Mexico, two additional family members since we arrived in Mexico, and a few other situations, we are needing to raise a bit more support. Taking advantage of our Easter break in Mexico, we will be staying in the Greenville area through Bible Conference at Bob Jones, where I will be able to attend my 10 year class reunion (hard to believe!). We are looking forward to that. Please pray that the Lord's mercies will be upon us as we travel.
Our children are doing well. David continues to grow and is quickly beginning to talk. We (and only we) can distinguish quite a few words in his abundant jabbering! Aaron and Ana are also doing well. We are still considering schooling options for our children for next year, and we ask for your prayers in that regard.
Thank you for your prayers and support. May you continue to enjoy the tender mercies of our Lord.
The Bixby Family
Psalm 145:9-10 says: The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy saints shall bless thee. Truly we are needy of the mercies of our Lord! We are thankful for the way that the Lord has blessed us with His mercies. This year the university here will be celebrating it's 10th anniversary. During that time we have seen the Lord's tender mercies over and over again. As a family, we will be completing our sixth year here in Monterrey, and we also have many reasons to bless the Lord.
We also continue to need the Lord's blessing and mercy in facing several difficult circumstances related to the government. The first situation regards a new tax approved by the Mexican congress that will tax all private educational institutions at 17.5%. Apparently, many "non-profit" education institutions are only non-profit in name, resulting in serious financial gain for the owners. As is true of all governments, the Mexican government wants to get their taxes out of these schools. The law that they passed, however, seems to make no difference between schools that are truly non-profit and those that are non-profit only in name. Obviously we would find it very difficult to continue functioning if we lost that large a percentage of our revenue. Increasing tuition is not an option for two reasons: 1) the law specifically forbids schools from passing this tax to the consumer by raising tuition, and 2) our students couldn't pay that much more tuition than they are already paying. We are working with legal experts on this subject to find a way around this. Although we are fairly optimistic, there is also the possibility of having to take legal action along with other non-profit schools (since this law is clearly unconstitutional). Pray that it will not come to this, and that a solution can be found quickly.
At the same time, the education department of our state is requiring all universities to follow the same calendar year. And the calendar year they are requiring for schools that use the system we use would result in having to have classes all year (with only four weeks of vacation--two at Christmas and two at Easter). This presents serious problems for our ministry. 1) We want our students to be free during the summer to work at their churches, camps, etc., 2) our operational costs would increase by about 10%, and 3) There could be significant burnout amount students and staff. After addressing this issue with the education department, humanly speaking there is little that we can do. They have been very firm on this requirement. Please pray that the Lord will change the hearts of the education department or that we will find ways that we can properly address the situation. We know that our Lord's mercies extend even to the actions of secular governments, and we are confident that His will is certain to be carried out.
We also request your prayers for a trip we will be embarking upon this week. On Thursday (February 28th) we will be leaving Monterrey and driving to Anderson, S.C., to participate in a missions conference at Oakwood Baptist Church. With inflation in Mexico, two additional family members since we arrived in Mexico, and a few other situations, we are needing to raise a bit more support. Taking advantage of our Easter break in Mexico, we will be staying in the Greenville area through Bible Conference at Bob Jones, where I will be able to attend my 10 year class reunion (hard to believe!). We are looking forward to that. Please pray that the Lord's mercies will be upon us as we travel.
Our children are doing well. David continues to grow and is quickly beginning to talk. We (and only we) can distinguish quite a few words in his abundant jabbering! Aaron and Ana are also doing well. We are still considering schooling options for our children for next year, and we ask for your prayers in that regard.
Thank you for your prayers and support. May you continue to enjoy the tender mercies of our Lord.
The Bixby Family
posted by Matthew Bixby at
12:57 PM
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