Greetings and blessings to you. I hope and pray that all is well with you, and that God is blessing you abundantly in all that you say and do.

Thanks for your prayers as we traveled this summer, and especially for your prayers over our problems with the motorhome.

- IN THIS ISSUE -

• Motorhome Update

• Our Summer Travels

• Computer Blessings & Needs

• Web Site

• New Mailing Address

• Prayer Coordinator

- MOTORHOME UPDATE -

As most of you are aware, we have had tremendous problems with our motorhome. During our travels this summer, it seemed like I spent more time playing mechanic than anything else. Finally, as we were entering into the Houston area, after 5,000 miles of travel, the motor gave out in a spectacular way.

It took 4½ weeks of work, and about $2,000.00 to finalize the repairs to our motor, but it is finally done. We were able to make it back to the Texas/Mexico border at last. I never thought that I'd be so happy to see the campground where we live down here.

Of course, God's provision was manifest throughout this whole ordeal. First of all, the church we were at was a Hispanic church, and took wonderful care of us. Secondly, a couple in the church loaned us a small pickup truck, so we were able to continue ministering, and didn't miss a single service we had scheduled. Thirdly, the church had a couple of mechanics in it who donated long hours to helping me with the repairs. I probably couldn't have completed it without their help.

Finally, there was God's provision to us in the financial area. When the motorhome broke down, we were a little short on cash. By the time we had paid for the tow truck, there wasn't much left. We pulled the engine out a couple of days later, and the mechanics told me it would be $1,653.00 for a rebuilt engine (at the time I had less than $100.00 in my pocket).

That was on Saturday afternoon. On the following Monday morning, I made a deposit in the bank for enough to cover the costs of the repairs. How's that for quick provision from the Lord?

We are still praying and believing God for the bus to replace our motorhome. Unless God tells us otherwise, we have no plans to make any more long trips in this one, and are looking forward with anticipation for His provision. Several of our prayer partners and friends are working on letting the need be made known, and we have many people praying for this area of provision. Please continue to pray, and we'll let you know what the Lord does for us.

- OUR SUMMER TRAVELS -

I may have made it sound in that last section like we didn't do anything but mechanic work all summer long, but we did have plenty of opportunity to minister as well.

We left the valley here with some items on our schedule, but lots of open holes in it. However, as usual, God found many ways to fill those holes. We ministered in several new churches that we hadn't seen before, had several marriage conferences, and as per usual when we're traveling, ministered to people in campgrounds and everyplace else He took us.

Another thing the Lord did for us is to open the door for some additional regular support for the ministry we're doing here in Mexico. Although we've always had financial needs, we've never concentrated on actively seeking supporters. Instead, we've left this in God's hands, and believed that he would supply all our needs.

Well, during our travels this summer, a couple of additional churches and individuals committed to support our work here. That's a tremendous blessing, and will allow us to increase the work that we're doing among the pastors and churches in Mexico.

- COMPUTER BLESSINGS & NEEDS -

As we've been writing more and more we've run into the problem of not having enough time on our one computer. Both Deborah and I like to write at night, when the children go to bed. It's quiet then, and we are able to concentrate better. However, with only one computer, this has been difficult.

When we passed through Austin, a pastor we know there offered to put another computer together for us. When we came back through, on our way back here, he had it ready for us. So, a public thank you to Pastor Michael Scott of Powerhouse of Praise for he and his church's help in this vital area of our ministry.

So, what can you do to help in this area? Many times, as Americans, we buy new computer equipment and don't know what to do with the old stuff. If you have any old stuff sitting around, it may not seem like much to you, but it may be a tremendous blessing to a pastor in Mexico. We can either use your old components to upgrade what they have, or maybe even supply whole computers to pastors who don't have any.

I'd like to be a little specific in what we're asking for here, because if something is too old, I'll have problems finding other parts to go with it, and programs that will work with the hardware. I don't want to see anybody wasting money shipping things we can't really put to use. Here's a list of what we are seeking:

• Whole computers - minimum of Pentium processor (please no Mac's. I know they're great equipment, but I don't' have the knowledge to support them)

• Motherboards - again, please limit it to Pentium equipment

• Memory - whatever type of sims or dims you might have

• Hard drives - minimum of 500 mbyte

• Video cards - minimum of VGA

• Video monitors - minimum of VGA

• CD Rom drives - any working ones

• Ink jet printers

• Mice, keyboards, etc.

If you, or anyone in your church has any of this stuff lying around, we thank you for helping us help the pastors in Mexico. If the equipment is older than this, thank you anyway, but we really can't put it to good use.

- WEB SITE -

If you tried to get on our web site during the first half of October you might have noticed it was down. Sorry about that, we had a problem with our domain name registration, which is now corrected. We will be moving our web site to a new server in the near future, so if you have problems with it, check back in a couple of days.

We are also working on updating the web site. I've been way behind in this, and for anyone who has been looking for new teachings or information, I apologize. We hope to have lots of new stuff for you in the near future.

- NEW ADDRESS-

Finally, after three years of living and working in the same area, we've decided to change our mailing address (okay, so sometimes I'm a little slow, but I wasn't sure God would keep us here). Here's our new address:

     Maranatha Life
     P.O. Box 1206
     Donna, TX 78537

If you need to send us anything via UPS, please send it to the campground at:

     Rich & Deborah Murphy
     c/o The Lighthouse
     Val Verde Rd. & Eldora Rd.
     Donna, TX 78537

- PRAYER COORDINATOR-

As I mentioned a couple of months ago, we now have a prayer coordinator. This is something we've wanted for the ministry for a number of years, and the Lord finally provided her for us.

If you receive a phone call, or e-mail from Watorla Childers, she is calling on our behalf, to seek prayer for us. We ask that you take this call as if it was directly from us. Please pray for the need right away, even if it is a short prayer, then add it to your regular prayer list. We covet your prayers.

No ministry can go forth effectively without the prayers and intercession of God's people. Our ability to minister is greatly enhanced by those who are praying for us. Thank you for your prayers.

Blessings to you, in Jesus precious name,

Rev. Rich Murphy