July / August News

Psalm 92:13-15 “Those who are planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in their old age. They shall be fresh and flourishing. To declare that the Lord is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” NKJV

Once In a while I read a verse that just resonates with my soul and gives me such great inspiration and encouragement. These verses in Psalm 92 are like that. I feel like I was planted early in the house of the Lord, thanks to my parents, their families and friends. He has shown me much grace and favor. I am so thankful for that. My 60th birthday is this month so I really am identifying here with the concept of bearing fruit in my old age. I don’t feel like I’m sixty yet and still try to stay active and busy. I am thankful for good health. I will declare that the Lord is good, holy, and He is my rock – the one I cling to, and I put my faith and trust in Him.

IMG_7236If I want to see what we have been doing lately I just look on Pilar’s camera. She never downloads or deletes the pictures – I usually do that for her – so there’s a good chance there will be a pretty good record of what we’ve been up to. Her camera has pictures from this summer. When I looked here’s what I saw. There have been a lot of teams visiting and helping us this summer. We had to change our plans for finishing a team house that was started because a bridge for a highway is going right over the top of it. The Government will be buying the right of way for a highway that crosses the back end of the school property.  So instead of continuing IMG_0088to build there, only to have to tear it down later, we started on a new dormitory. We have the concrete poured and we are ready to start framing the walls. It has been nothing short of amazing to see God provide the funds and the labor for that building. We still need about $80.000 to finish it and I look forward to seeing how that all happens. When it’s completed we will have at least thirty two more beds for students, some office space, and an additional large classroom. In the future it will be eight apartments, four one bedroom and four with two bedrooms for married staff and students.

IMG_7208The women’s study that Pilar leads is taking a summer break but there are pictures of her last meeting. They were praying for one of the ladies who was returning to the U.S. From the pictures you can tell they have a really good time of fellowship and spending time in God’s word together. I can also verify that they eat really good snacks too because sometimes there are leftovers.

We have combined our Thursday night Bible studies and are studying Revelation. I’m glad I sat in on that class two semesters ago. It would have been tough without that class. I guess the Lord knows what’s next before we do. I think that’s the whole point of Revelation – He knows even when we don’t.

Pictures from surf school this summer are exciting too. There is a whole new group of people showing up onIMG_7254 Saturday morning for Bible study and a surf session. We miss a lot of the old crew but many have moved away or have taken up new interests. They do come by some Saturdays and say hi so that’s an encouragement to us.

If you’d like to know how to pray for us we do have a couple of requests this month. Pray for our family as we are having to deal with some tough situations with our boys. We know God is in control and will work everything out for His glory but the process of getting there is sometimes hard for us to bear. It has also been a hard year financially for us. Mexico just enacted a 16% tax on everything so prices are going up and as our vehicles age they need more costly maintenance and repairs. We don’t complain but trust Him to provide and He has always been faithful. We also have some medical and dental needs that we have been putting off for lack of funds.

IMG_0081The latest pictures on Pilar’s camera have been of a new friend she has adopted. His name is Diego and he and three of his sisters were dropped off at Casa Horizonte – the special needs home for kids that is on the Bible College property. I was giving a tour of the home for a youth group and he followed us back to the college. We brought him home with us and I was able to find homes for his three sisters. They are some kind of lab mix dogs. Now that he’s all cleaned up he looks like a picture from an LL Bean catalog. This is our first dog since moving to Mexico so we are having to make some adjustments. He’s only two months old and likes to chew on everything.

Now you have a picture of what’s going on with us.  Keep in touch send us a note with pictures once in a while and we hope to see you soon.

We are so thankful for your prayers and support. It is such an honor and a blessing to be here serving in Mexico. Drop us a note or email some time, we would love to hear from you. Email addresses: Pilar@ccbcmexico.com or Leo@ ccbcmexico.com

You can write us at: Leo and Pilar Gray      3621 Vista Campana South Unit 75     Oceanside, CA 92057.

If you would like to support us financially you can send a tax deductible gift by check to: Saving Grace World Missions     17451Bastanchury Road  Suite 203  Yorba Linda, CA 92886 write Leo and Pilar Gray on the memo line or click the Become a Financial Partner button on our web page for credit card or bank transfer at www.SGWM.com/gray.

Check out the College website at CCBCMexico.com

 


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