Mexico (MNN) — The Lord is getting attention in Mexico.
Persistent drought was stirring trouble where Terry Reed with New Tribe Mission serves with three other missionaries: his wife, Renee, and Dennis and Machelle Bender.
"People were beginning to fight, and even our families were considering relocating," says Reed.
The springs that people traditionally rely on for water began running dry, and the community water system broke. With no technicians around to fix it, things began to look desperate. Reed sent an e-mail about the situation to NTM supporters in December, and those believers began to pray.
"We are asking for people to pray that God would intervene and supply the water so desperately needed by the people," he wrote. "We won't be able to function here much longer."
Nothing changed in the weather forecasts; it was supposed to stay hot and dry. Soon after sending the first e-mail, Reed had an update.
"Nobody was expecting rain anywhere, yet by 9 o'clock in the morning clouds were starting to build all around the area," he recalls. The clouds began to get very thick, and it caught the attention of Santos, Reed's translation helper.
Reed said, "He stopped and said, 'Wow, this is amazing! It's really powerful when God's people start to pray.'" By 1 o'clock in the afternoon, it was "raining cats and dogs."
"It not only built our faith," says Reed, "but it was an encouragement to the young Guarijio believers and to people in the area to see God supplying a direct answer to prayer."
Reed and the other NTM missionaries are nearly finished with a Guarijio New Testament and are approaching a translation "checkpoint." Pray that the process would go smoothly.
Pray also for a young Guarijio man "who finished Bible training with New Tribes Mission and has come back out now to help translate the Bible for his people."
And while there's enough water for now, "We need people to continue to pray for rain, and for a qualified technician to come fix the water."
Dennis and Machelle Bender, NTM missionaries who serve the Guarijio community alongside Terry and Renee Reed, also need prayer for their goat's milk soap project.
"We see a lot of promise in that because it's allowing people to provide for their families without being involved in illegal activities," Reed explains. "Their biggest challenge right now is finding places to distribute it within Mexico so that they wouldn't be dependent on us as a source of distribution."
Reed says it looks like the project is making progress; one contact wants to sell the soap on her Web site.
"They also found a Christian bookstore owner in the city of Chihuahua who said he'd be willing to sell as much soap as they could make," says Reed.
Pray that God would reveal more distribution sources for the soap. Pray, too, for a 90-year-old man named Bonifacio.
"He was one of the first Guarijio believers to make a public statement of faith by baptism," explains Reed. "God's put him in my life almost as kind of a grandfather, but he's been having serious health struggles."
Because Bonifacio never married, he lacks a family to take care of him in his old age.
"He struggles, and he spends most of his life alone in squalor. It's just heavy on my heart," states Reed.
"I know that he has faith, and I know he's soon going home to see his Savior, but just pray that the Lord would send people along to care for Bonifacio."
