Blessings in your life for this new year.

Yes, we're still here on the Texas/Mexico border. God's been keeping us busy, doing His work, and seeing a few lives changed.

Hope you all had a blessed Christmas, and end of the year. We had a great end of year, and a blessed Christmas. One of the pastors that we're good friends with in Reynosa, Mexico asked us to spend Christmas with him and his family. He said, "You're the only family we have here." That was really special to us.

- IN THIS ISSUE -

• · Prayer Movement

• · Deb's Health

• · Books to Cuba

• · Vehicle Report

• · Pastor's Letter

• · Other Conferences and Ministry Opportunities

• · New Book

• · Teeth

- PRAYER MOVEMENT -

The prayer movement is continuing. We have the next "prayer in the plaza" scheduled for the main plaza in Reynosa on the 21st of this month. The new President Municipal (mayor) of Reynosa should be there for this one. He's a believer, and is very supportive of the church.

We've had a few rocks in the road with this movement. But now, the pastor who was causing all the problems has caught the vision and is the main motivator for continuing with the events. Since he's also the one who's working with the radio station, he's doing a great job of promoting. We're believing for more people than we've ever had before.

Many of the pastors who've been working on this prayer movement have come under some heavy spiritual attacks. One became blind for a while, but has had his sight restored. Another came down with liver cancer and was given six months to live. Two men from Benny Hinn's prayer team heard about him, and God told them to come down her and pray for him. Needless to say, he didn't die after the six months, and is doing great.

Please pray that more pastors get the vision to continue in this work. We need for it to spread into more and more of the churches here in Reynosa. Also, please pray for the protection of those who are working in this movement.

- DEB'S HEALTH -

We've had some funny things happen with Deb's health. We thought her problems were caused by the heat, but recently she's had the same problems, and it hasn't been hot.

As near as we can tell, she has what's known as Bartter's Syndrome. This is a kidney related disorder where your body doesn't maintain potassium. That causes problems with you body's ability to maintain salt, water, and protein as well. We aren't sure if this is it, but the symptoms match up.

Right now, we have two different doctors checking her out. One is a kidney specialist, the other an endocrinologist (works on the body's chemical balance). Please pray that God give them wisdom, and that we finally nail down what's causing this problem.

- BOOKS TO CUBA -

Recently, we had the opportunity to send over $100.00 worth of our books and tapes to a group of pastors in Cuba. A pastor friend from here in the Rio Grange Valley went there on a missions trip, and asked us if we wanted to send anything with him. The pastors there were thrilled to receive our books and tapes.

A part of the vision we've had all along is to prepare our conferences in both video and audio form, for exactly this purpose. There is no way that we can travel everywhere in the world to minister to every pastor there is. However, when we can send materials like this, we are able to minister to pastors that we wouldn't otherwise.

- VEHICLE REPORT -

I don't think I've told you yet, but when we were "up north" last summer, a brother in one of the churches we ministered at asked us to make a list of everything that was wrong with the motorhome. He and I spent the next week working 18 hour days repairing a bunch of things that needed it. The main thing we did was fix the wall where it was separated from the floor. This has been a problem ever since we got the motorhome, and all the times I tried to fix it, I only managed a Band-Aid.

We've also received the use of a van for ministering in Mexico. Another minister we know down here had a van that had been in an accident, and she couldn't use. She offered it to us for a long-term loan. I had to replace a door, some tires, and a few other things, but we now have a vehicle to use in Mexico, instead of always driving the motorhome.

In addition to that, there's a church here in Harlingen that's looking to buy us a van. This is the church where I've taught in their Bible school. The pastor wasn't all that thrilled with the van we're using, and said, "You need something better." So, he's taken this as a project for his church. One of the brothers has a dealer's license, and is searching for one he can buy wholesale. Blessings and more blessings.

- PASTOR'S LETTER -

Several years ago, I started sending out something I called a "Pastor's Letter." This was a teaching I would write to edify and minister to the pastors we know.

During the last couple of years, while we've been down here, I let this ministry slip. However, God's been dealing with me about starting it again. Pastors are always in need of ministry, just like the rest of the Body of Christ. So, in November, I started sending out the Pastors's Letter again.

In addition to the Pastor's Letter in English, we've started doing the same thing in Spanish. We regularly attend three Hispanic pastor's aliancas here in the valley, on both sides of the border, in addition to constantly meeting with other pastors. WE are now preparing at least one teaching every month for the Hispanic pastors, to help them and their churches.

This is one of the ways we're focusing on ministering to the ministers. Our heart has always been to minister to the pastors. When we impact the life of one pastor, we end up impacting the lives of his entire congregation.

If you know a pastor who could use this letter, and isn't currently receiving it, please let us know. We'd be glad to send it to him. However, we ask that you let him know it's coming. We don't like to send it out to people who aren't expecting it, because we don't like to see our money sitting in the garbage can.

- OTHER CONFERENCES AND MINISTRY OPPORTUNITIES -

We had one week in December where we were interviewed on television five times! At one time or another in the past, we've thought that it would be good to be on TV, but this was very sudden. God just opened the doors, and brought it together. We talked about marriage in all five interviews, and have received reports where people were blessed by the ministry.

Recently, we had the opportunity to meet the pastor of the biggest church in Reynosa (several thousand people). She's (that's a surprise, the biggest church has a woman pastor, very rare in Mexico) asked us to come and do a marriage conference in her church in February.

One of the times we were interviewed for TV was at a Hispanic church we know here. The pastor mentioned our books to his congregation, and after the service we sold $450.00 worth of books, mostly marriage books. That's by far the most books we've every sold at one church service.

Deborah was invited to do a woman's conference in Brownsville a couple of months ago. There were about 70 women there, the largest group she's ever had. They were so pleased that she's doing another one with the same group this coming Saturday. They are expecting over 200 women for this one.

- NEW BOOK -

We now have our second marriage book out in English. This is the one that Deborah wrote for women. She did it first in Spanish, then we translated it into English. The title is "Sexual Fulfillment for Women." It's intended to be a follow-up for our book "And God Created Sex" to help women overcome problems and receive the blessings God intended in their marriages.

We're also working on a new marriage book which is a handbook for how to do marriage counseling. It is intended to help pastors, ministers, and leaders in the church with clear ideas and guidelines on how to effectively counsel couples in their marriages. If you have any ideas for problems you'd like to see us mention in this book, please let us know.

- TEETH -

At long last, we've been able to get braces for Jenni. She started last week, and had definitely decided she doesn't like them ;-)

However, we still haven't found an Orthodontist who's willing to work on Josh. His problems are more severe, and some have talked about the need for jaw surgery on him. They don't want to work on a child who's going to require that surgery.

We have another appointment with another Orthodontist in Corpus Christi, 150 miles away in a couple of weeks, to see if he'll work on Josh. Please pray that this one will be willing, and have the necessary wisdom to do the work.

Well, I think that's enough for you all to read ;-) blessings for now. We covet your prayers, and always look forward to hearing from you.

Blessings,

Rich & Deborah Murphy