Good Sunday

Dear Praying Friends, 

We had an excellent Sunday with 60 including 44 adults and 16 children.  Some kids are still coming from the VBS.  Their father made a decision on our Kid's Day back in the beginning of May. We hope that, through his kids, we can get him and his wife into the church. 

 

German, the major general, and his wife came back this week and a young woman named Dulce and her daughter came after months of not attending, saying that she wants to get her child into church.

 

We had an older lady named Martha that visited us for the first time. This Tuesday at the prayer breakfast that we have once a month with other missionaries and pastors, one of the national pastors said that the aunt of his wife who lives near us was looking for a church and he wanted to bring her to ours one Thursday.  He said she received one of our tracts at her door recently.  To make a long story short, that was his aunt that came this Sunday! 

 

Last of all, I want to tell you of one of the most amazing stories that lets you know it is God that does the work and thet we just need to be available. This same Sunday, a woman named Ofelia came to our church for the first time.  She works with Guadalupe, the wife of the new couple that have been coming faithfully the last few months.  Guadalupe teaches architecture at a university and Ofelia teaches chemical engineering. 

 

Ofelia insisted that we eat with her and talk to her husband who had a fight with stomach cancer this year, but was cured.  I assumed he was a Christian as I figured she was as she was attending services in the house of a medical doctor that teaches the Bible in his garage  I tried to see if there was another day to visit him, but she insited that afternoon.

 

We went to their very nice home and on the way my wife said that Ofelia wanted me to talk to her husbund about being a Christian.  He was a very nice man, quiet-spoken, but talkative. Antonio is a businessman importing chemical products thoughout Latin America and the U. S. making several trips to the U. S. and South America throughout the year before his sickness.  Among his clients are Proctor & Gamble and Loreal.  After dinner, I talked to him about his soul and he trusted Christ as his Saviour. 

 

If that was not enough of an amazing experience, my wife tells me in the car on the way home that Ofelia is not even a Christian, but that they are Catholics and she had just recently started attending the Bible studies with the doctor. It is amazing how God works in the lives of people!  We hope to see more of this couple.

 

Thank you for your prayers and.

 

Sincerely,

Clint Rardin

Blessings - September 14, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

Although our attendence was down this last Sunday, it was full of blessings. 

First, we had an eighteen-year old girl named Maria, who had been coming with her VBS brothers and sisters, come forward to accept Christ.  She had brought a 23-year old friend named Karen who, I believe wanted to come forward, but didn't.  She asked me if she could come again this Sunday, and I believe because she wants another chance to come forward as well.

We had a young man who lives nearby come for the first time.  Please pray that David that he contiues to attend.  Also, Germàn, the major general I have mentioned before, came to church with his wife, and they are planning to come tonight to our special celebration service of the Independence that we have every September.

Also, a lawyer lady, Maria Antonieta, whom I led to the Lord about a year ago and who had a car accident that has left her imobilized for months, came to church this Sunday.  I had visited her in the hospital several times and she asked me to have Bible studies in her home since she has returned.  She also studies the Bible on her own with her mother and sister who are already saved and baptized members of our church. 

This Saturday night, she said had a surprise for me.  The next day, she came to church.  It was the first place she has gone to besides to the doctor since she left the hospital.  She is still on crutches.  Please pray that she continues to be excited about the Word of God.

Thank you for your prayers. I know they are the source of God's blessings on our ministry.

Sincerely,
Clint Rardin

VBS Closure

Dear Praying Friends,

Thank you for praying for our VBS Closure.  Eighteen brandnew adults came out and we had 27 kids altogether, the majority being new kids from VBS.  We pray that many of the children continue.  We had 85 total in the service.  

Although none of the adults came forward, there was one couple, a teacher named Cesar and his wife, Myra, who were very attentive to the message.  He sat on the front row  leaning forward on his chair..  I saw conviction in his face, but was apparently was afraid to raise his hand as many others.  Please pray as we follow up on these adults and their children.

Tuesday, I am going to Gaspar`s village in the mountains of Oaxaca.  A lady in our church gave two thousand dollars to help put a roof on his parent's church.  We are currently looking for a building or a large house to buy before our furlough.  I believe our people in our church, like the woman mentioned above, could buy one for $250,000 among themselves and with some help from a bank.  We are starting a campaign to raise money for it. 

Please pray for the above endeavors and especially for wisdom and the power of God in soulwinning.

Thank you for your prayers,
Clint Rardin

VBS Results

Dear Praying Friends,

God blessed with a our best VBS yet!  I was really worried this year as our children's class had been down this year compared to last year averaging about 12 lately.  As we hunted up kids from the VBS of the last two years, we found many were on vacation and several had moved.  I personally was worried this year, but we started out on the first day with 25, about as good as the previous two years.  Another reason I was concerned was because we had ended up with less last year than the previous year.

It turned out this year was our best year yet with 63 students, 11 salvation decisions, and a high day of 51 children and 7 mothers besides the many workers that helped out.  This was the first of the several VBS I have worked in where we have not seen one day of the week go down in attendance, but rather going up every day. 

The best thing is that the majority of children we had brand new with a lot of new contacts with families and many mothers
attending.

Many are from the apartments across the avenue from our church and several of those parents want to attend the closure on Sunday.  One mother in particular came to church with her husband three Sundays earlier.  It is a couple looking for a Baptist church.  They lived in the States several years.  He is saved, but the wife is not.  Nevertheless, she was here almost the whole week, even helping out with the crafts with the little kids.

Several kids come from a new area on the other side of the military zone.  We hope that we can start a van route from there.  Several others came from where we have been trying to start a route.

Please seriously pray for Sunday as we expect many unsaved parents to come see their kids in the program and receive their diplomas.  Please pray that their hearts may be prepared and that God empower the salvation message that will be preached. 

We also are blessed with and excited about 14 children enrolled in the Christian school this year with seven families represented.  Also, we had a man come last Sunday and this Thursday looking for a church to attend.  Jose Fransisco found our tract from our church in his door.  We hope he continues to attend and that he brings his family.

Thank you for your prayers,
Clint Rardin

Continue to Pray and Jewish Efforts

Thank you for your prayers for us.  Please continue to pray for Rhonda as she misses the baby much and the loss is still very hard on her.  

A great blessing this week was the Jewish emphasis this week here in Mexico City.   The blessings we had been having on our soulwinning efforts last month continued, first of all, last Saturday when we were knocking doors in the apartments across the avenue from our church.  We knocked on the door of a man named Fausto who had come to church before having been invited by Rosario last year.  For some reason, I don't remember seeing him there or making a follow up call there.  He let us right in his home and was very attentive to the gospel.  When it was time to pray, he asked if he could stand up to pray, which he did.  I sincerely believe we will see him in church soon.  

The blessing continued this Sunday as a group brought by the International Board of Jewish Missions came to our church Sunday night.  Bro. Lowe, the Latin American director, had visited with me a Jewish friend of mine who has come out to church before.  I invited Alberto to come to see Bro. Lowe and he did, as well as another Jew named Solomon, who also lives in those apartments.  Alberto came late and I had to take the group to their hotel, but I asked Toby, our German young man in the church, to stay and talk to him.  When I came back at 10, Toby was witnessing to him telling about how God changed his life of drugs and alcohol.  It was a wonderful thing to see a grandson of a German World War II veteran lovingly giving the gospel to a Jew.

On Tuesday several fundamental Baptist churches, with the mission board, had an homage to the nation of Israel.
About 30 Jews came out to it, including my friend Alberto and his wife.  During the service, Alberto was deeply touched and cried and was very attentive to the message.  Pastor Mardis, through an interpreter passed at least a half an hour witnessing to him.  Alberto came home with us and talked to us about how much he enjoyed the service.

Also there was a Jewish man named Ruben who is a Hebrew scholar an has written a short book on the Spanish Inquisition against the Jews in Hispanic America  and a book on the History of the Jews in Spain and Portugal.  He asked if I could translate them into English.  He has invited my family to his home at one in the afternoon on Saturday.  We hope to use this relationship to see his saved.

On both Wednesday and Thursday, we went to the Jewish area near us with group from the States and were able to get the gospel tract I wrote out to many Jews in the street.  As a result, we received three phone calls from Jews including a young man wanting to visit us.  Also, I received my first e mail address from a Jewish woman named Gloria who would like to have more information.  We are excited about the future in our ministry to the Jews.

Another blessing was Harry, the Sikh, fom India.  We came to both, the Homage to the Jews and to church to hear Pastor Mark Mardis, a supporting pastor visiting us.  Harry really like Pastor Mardis and inviited him to his home after church.  He has a Bible in the Hindu language and we asked him to read verses from it and translate them to us.  Of course, we had him read salvation passages.  Please continue to pray for his salvation as well.
I believe he is close. 

Please pray for this ministry and continue to pray especially for Rhonda.  Thank you for your many prayers.

Sincerely,
Clint Rardin

Abigail

Dear Praying Friends,

I am so sorry for not updating you about Abigail, but this is the first chance I have had to get on the computer.  Abigail's heart stopped beating at 4:00 p.m. last Wednesday.  We believe she went to heaven the Sunday before, even before we rushed her to the hospital.  Although they were able to get her breathing that day, two days of studies confirmed that her brain had been dead from that first day.  We were informed of the conclusive results at midnight Tuesday night.

The pediatrician attending her and the neurologist were so humane and professional in the the way they explained everything to us.  Although they are Catholics, they have a sincere belief in God and a real concern for people.  It made it so much easier for Rhonda and I.  On Wednesday, they slowly took the medicine away that was artificially keeping her alive, so that her heart would, on her own, stop beating.  We had a bittersweet time watching her slip away as we sang hymns, prayed together, and listened to Christian hymns that they let us play in the room.  I believe the death of Abby and our testimony touched the hearts of many there in the intensive care unit.  We pray that God was glorified in those last few hours.

We are so thankful for all your prayers and phone calls and e-mail messages.  They were a great help to know that we have so many friends that care about us.  We also received much help from our Christian family here in our church and in the other Baptist churches, as well as missionaries we fellowship with.  Abby was buried on Thursday at a plot not to far from our home, the plot of a fellow missionary that has also buried his son here on the field.  

Please pray for Rhonda, as on Thursday morning, she had sharp pains in her side and we took her to the same emergency room where we had taken Abby just four days before.  She was diagnosed with kidney stones and we returned just in time to our home to get dressed for the funeral.  She is taking medicine for it and is going to the doctor today.  

We thank God that God gave us Abigail to enjoy these last two months and that, instead of an awful, sudden death on Sunday; we had the privilege for three days to say our goodbyes to her and see her slip away from us with dignity.  Please, please pray for Rhonda as these last couple of days have been especially hard for her emotionally.  We are trusting in God's providence and His grace, but the loss is still very, very painful; especially for Rhonda.  Please continue to pray much for us.

Thank you so much for your prayers, genuine concern, and love;

Clint Rardin and Family

May 8, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

 

I wrote that we thought we would have two new families from the campaign, a woman, and seven children, but I forgot about another middle-aged couple, Humbierto and Rosalinda, that came on Kid´s Day and returned this last Sunday.They are neighbors of some of the other families in our church and have been visited by them as well as by me in the past, but had only come out once or twice. 

 

Since then, their daughter and son-in-law have been saved and baptized and attending faithfuly to a Baptist church and that has motivated thme to get back in church and it loks like they will continue to attend ours.  That makes a third entire family for a total of about 19 that sould keep attending after the campaign.  That will be a growth of 25% if they turn out to be faithful.

 

Pastor Terry Anglea was preaching in a church here in Mexico City and visited with us on our mid-week service.  That night the entire family of the girl from India who is attending our school came.  Also Kevin, the dad´s cousin, came.  He is the one I was able to winess to for about an hour and a half one night.  Besides these, another man from India who was visiting him ffom Monterrey attended  Please continue to pray for their salvation.

 

Sincerely,

Clint Rardin

 

P.S. To all the John Kerry's: If the Bush admministration's policies has turned so much of the world against America; why have Canada, Germany, and France exchanged their anti-American governments for pro-American governments in the last year?

May 7, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

 

Sometimes so many good things are happening, I do not know where to start.

 

We had a good Kid's Day with 115 in attendance.  We did not push as much this year as we were afraid of being overcrowded like last year.  Next year I think we can push more and have a happy medium.  We had 20 new adults and their families. 

 

Two new couples with their children returned this Sunday and want to continue to attend. One of those two families were from Vacation Bible School.  The father accepted Christ on Kid's Day.  We also had two other adults trust Christ that day.  Many of the families that came that day were from the apartments where we are trying to start a van route.  The other family that returned this week are from those apartments.

 

Looks like all in all we have two new couples, a woman, and about maybe about seven new kids from that area that will continue to attend after the campaign.

 

Also, last Tuesday we were knocking in those apartments and a very devout Catholic man who had just lost his wife six months ago trusted Christ and came to church on his own this Sunday night.

 

Also, this Sunday, we had about seven new mothers that came out for our Mother's Day service.  It comes earlier her in Mexico.  We pray that we may reach them for Christ.

 

Thank you for your prayers,

Clint Rardin

April 25, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

 

Our Spring campaign's theme is "Bearing Fruit" and we thank God we are seeing evidences of people in our church bearing fruit: from Gaspar winning seven of is wife's family to the Lord to Helen seeing her niece seventeen-year old saved.  Now we had Toby and Flor over to eat on Sunday and found our that Toby had won his wife Flor to the Lord though studying the Bible together.  Also Helen has been witnessing to the driver of the taxi she owns and has invited his family to our Kid's Day this Sunday.

 

Please pray for the power of God and souls genuinely saved  this Sunday.  We are not trying to outdo the attendance of last year, because we were maxed out as far as space, but we do want to see God's power truly see a good number of souls saved.

 

For two days we have been taking Simeren, the eleven-year old daughter of Harry the Sihk Indian, to our school to see if she likes it.  She will be attending it until the end of the school year.  She already says that she likes it and Harry wants to talk to me about registering her.  Please pray for her salvation as she is in Bible class three times a week and chapel twice a week.

 

Thank you for your prayers,

Clint Rardin

April 18, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

 

We had a wonderful Sunday with 44 adults packed in the seats, and another five of us teaching, preaching, or helping out in the class and nursery.  We had 21 children for a total of 70.  Almost all of our regulars were there and we had nine brand new adult visitors as well as three brand new children.  The emphasis of this push was suppose to get children for our new van route, but we are having more success bringing out adults.

 

One of the ladies, Ana Maria, who came for the first time last Sunday came back again for both services with her teenage granddaughter. Tania.

 

The nine adults who came were the the parents, aunts, and grandparents, and two girl neighbors of the two boys whom Jose had brought out for the first time last Sunday.  Also a boyfriend of one of the aunts came.  One of the grandparents, Lauro, went forward for salvation.  Please pray for his spiritual growth.  And please pray that we can see Luis, Jaqueline, Consuelo, Raymundo, Isabel, Erindira, Cesar, and Angela come out to church again and trust Christ in the service or in their homes. 

 

Abner, the teenager who was saved last Sunday returned this Sunday.  Also, Adriana brought her adopted Indian brother's daughter to church.  She was scared as she only knows English.  Her mom and brothers have just come over from India.  Harry, the dad called me yesterday and asked if we could talk about putting his kids in our Christian school.  He invited the whole family over to his house, so tonight we go. This could be the beginning of my long-term dream to have an international school were we see families reached from different nationalities and see their kids grow up through the school, get called to preach, trained in our Bible Institute, and return to their countries as missionaries.  We have a Korean and Haitian family whom we have also talked to about the school.

 

Recently he have been praying for the salvation of Flor, the Mexican wife of Toby, the German young man in our church.  They have had some marital problems due to their unequal yoke, but she is opening up and she and Toby are studying the Bible together in the mornings.  They are eating with us next Sunday afternoon.  Please pray that she accepts Christ then or even beforehand.

 

Angel, the pilot, went soulwinning with me for the first time this Saturday and enjoyed it.  Many times on Saturday, I don't have the opportunity to speak at length with anyone; but this time a man named Hector let us right in.  He was very friendly and had attended a church for a couple years a while when he was stationed in Ensenada.  He is a recently retired officer in the army and is an escort for dignitaries.  Please pray for his salvation and that he and his wife visit our church.

 

Please pray for this Sunday that souls be saved and more new people come out.  Thank you for your prayers.

 

Sincerely, 

Clint Rardin

April 11, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

 

The slow process of perfecting the saints for the work of the ministry can be a slow, often frustrating experience; but then suddenly you get encouraging results.  Erica, Gaspar's wife was the firstfruits of our ministry when we came back to Mexico in 2004.  She was saved when I preached one Sunday during the fall push at the old church.  Gaspar and Erica were only Sunday morning attendees as they lived an hour and a half from church on public transportation.  They attended our new church from the first Sunday living only 20 minutes away with public transportation and have been faithful to all the services and activities, i.e. soulwinning and prayer meetings every since.  Erica, in her first year as a Christian read the entire Bible, and we have seen slow, but sure growth these last two and a half years.

 

This last holiday week known as Holy Week, Erica went back to the sierra of Vera Cruz to witness to her mother and relatives for whom we have been praying for for two years.  Erica's sister who lived with them for a few months this fall was saved despite the warning from her mother not to go to church with them.  They are a very Catholic family.  When Erica went back, she pressed home to her mother and grandmothers the truth of hell and the error of the belief in purgatory.  Gaspar was able near the week's end to go to Vera Cruz and reap where Erica had sown and pressed home the need to repent of the sin of idolatry and accept Christ alone.  The result was the salvation of Erica's mother, grandmothers, two uncles, and two cousins.  They all have a desire to know more.  Please pray that God gives us wisdom to know how to get more of the truth to them so that they can grow though Bibles, Bible study lesson books, etc.

 

Another great answer to prayer was the salvation of the niece of Helen, a lady in our church who has been attending our church with her son, Angel, an airline pilot.  Helen told us on her second time going soulwinning with us of the salvation of her niece.  For the last couple of weeks, we had the salvation of her nieces and nephews on our church prayer list.  She said for the the last couple of weeks her 17-year old niece had been asking her several questions about hell and salvation.  Helen answered her that without accepting Christ there was no hope of escaping hell.  Marianela's dad was upset with Helen for saying that because, for days afterwards, Marianela would sleep with her light on or her door open as she was convicted with the fear of going to Hell.

 

This last weekend, she asked Helen about reading the Bible, and Helen answered that she really needed to accept Christ to understand it.  Marianela surprised her by saying she had.  Helen's Christian sister who lives in Switzerland had e-mailed Marianela and told her how to accept Him.  Praise God!

 

God blessed this Sunday, our first of the Spring Push, with 16 visitors -- 8 children and 8 adults.  We had our best attendance in a while, even though about 20 of our regulars were missing because of the two weeks of spring vacation that ends next week.  We had great results from Unidad Legaria, an apartment complex in an area where we are trying start a van route.  Ana Maria, a woman that was saved on Tuesday visitation, came out.  Another woman named Ana Maria came out with her teenage granddaughter because of a flyer she received.  She came forward at the invitation and was saved, then came back with her granddaughter for the evening service. Jose, the kid we have been picking up from same apartments and who had already brought his uncle and aunt (both still attend), brought this Sunday three other aunts, his uncle, cousin, and two neighborhood friends of his.

 

Also saved was Abner, a 17 year old nephew who is visiting one of our ladies for the two-weeks vacation.  He had gone with us to our Good Friday church picnic.  This Sunday he raised his hand for salvation and trusted Christ.  His 20-year old sister, whom I led to the Lord a couple Saturdays ago on visitation, asked me this Sunday for a Bible to read.  Please pray for the Christian growth of them both.

 

Thank you for your prayers for us.  It is obvious that God is answering them.

 

Clint Rardin

March 29, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

 

On Saturday, we visited a lady named Eunice who has been attending several months.  He niece, Claudia, a girl about 20 years old who came to church the week before with her, was there and we were able to lead her to the Lord.  She will be here about two months.  She came with her aunt again this Sunday.  We had three baptisms this Sunday.  Jackson; Natalia, Rosario's daughter; and Karla, a woman saved last fall, were baptized.  Pray for the salvation of her husband who did not attend church, but came to her baptism afterwards.

 

On Saturday, we also visited a young Christian woman named Leslye, who had not attended in months. Her unsaved boyfriend was at her house and I was able to witness to him some and invite him to church.  The following day he came to church with her.  Please pray for Antonio.

 

We had a Parent-Teacher Fellowship for the school last Friday.  We have at least 13 children lined up to be pre-registered before the end of this school year.  Please pray that God provides about that many more as we plan to hire Luis and Gaby, a couple in our Bible Institute who already had gone to a university, but have taken education classes in our night Bible Institute.  They are getting married in July.  I hope that on furlough, he will take over as administrator of the school.  I will be training him in this next year.

 

Thank you for your prayers,

 

Clint Rardin

Exciting things

Dear Praying Friends,

 

Exciting things happen around our house.  We were going to the area where we are soulwinning and we were heading to go under ther highway near our church when all traffic was stopped and there were many police cars.  We found out that a soldier had been stopped by a traffic cop at the entrance of the military base near our house, the same entrance where I have often passed out tracts.

 

The soldier shot and killed one of the police a high velocity ensued ending where we were stopped by the traffic.

 

Another exciting thing was the salvation of a middle-aged woman named Ana after 45 minutes of sitting at her kitchen table witnessing to her.  She plans to come on Sunday and I encouraged her to bring her grandkids as we are beginning our spring push this Sunday.  We also witnessed to a man named Josè who almost made a desicion, but said he wasn't ready.  We told him about the campaign and he may let his daughter come to church.  Our ladies also talked to a woman interested in coming on Sunday, so it was a successful and exciting night soulwinning.

 

We are knocking doors in a good bus route area on the other side of the highway that I had just mentioned.  We will be here for seven months during daylight saving time as it is unsafe at night.  Then we will back to the upper class area where the Jews live in the regular hour season.  We hope that while we are here we can see many people saved and get at least a van route going.

 

It was also exciting to have Helen accompany us knocking doors.  She is the mother of the airline pilot who started coming to church a month ago.  She really enjoyed going out with us.  Her son, Angel, is planning to go soulwinning with me on Saturday.  Please pray for our Spring push. .

 

Sincerely,

Clint Rardin

Baby and other news

Dear Praying Friends,

 

The big news this week is the birth of Abigail Elena, 20 inches long, 7 pounds, and 8 oz., and healthy.  Rhonda's fine.

 

Other news is Jackson`s salvation.   Lately he had a lot a questions  about salvation and raised his hand for salvation.  One day in chapel he raised his hand for salvation and I new he was ready.   Soon after he was witnessing to Elias.  We had to explain that Elias id too young to understand.

 

Please pray for a political situation here in Mexico City.  The leftist city legislature is debating first trimester abortion.  If the bill passes, it could open the door to legalized abortion in all of Mexico.  Yesterday there was a big anti-abortion march among churches of all faiths.  Please pray that this bill is defeated. 

 

The airline pilot, Angel still is attending the church wit his mother Helen.  They attend the Thursday night services as well.  Natividad also continues to attend.  Their attendance is a result of passing out tracts in the Jewish community. 

 

Thank you for your prayers,

Clint Rardin

March 15, 2007

Dear Praying Friends,

 

Sunday night had one of the best attendances ever.  Offerings again were very good.  On Sunday night, we had another visitor from our efforts in Polanco were the Jews live.  Her name is Natividad.

 

Last night I had a great opportunity to witness to Kevin, the other adopted brother of the woman that attends our church.  I was there for about two hours and spent most of the time witnessing to him and answering his many questions.  He could not get over the fact that salvation is only by faith without works.  Pease pray for his salvation.  He also is a Sikh from India.  He said that he would try to come to church tonight with Adriana.

 

Please pray for Rhonda.  The baby could come at any time. 

 

Thank you for your prayers,

 

Clint Rardin