Wood Marilyn 1986 SAE

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"Chips Off The Old Block"News From Marilyn Wood

Serving Christ through:Spanish American Evangelism

3135 Forney LaneEIPaso,TX 79935

Volume V Number 1

Summer 1986

Dear Christian Friends,

It hardly seems possible that it's been six months since I last v(/rote.As a very dear friend once told me, "You are neglected but notforgotten." I have been keeping busy with the usual routine of all theactivity here at SAE and also at church.

My trip to Denver for Christmas was really nice. Alma especiallyenjoyed getting to play aunt to my nieces and nephews, and theyenjoyed adopting her. One of the highlights of the week was takingpart in the "Messiah Sing-In" the Sunday before Christmas. Ifyou liketo sing and you like the music of Handel's "Messiah", than this is agreat opportunity to do both.

On our return to El Paso from Denver, we stopped in Pueblo to spendthe night with one of my ex-roommates, Shauna Newton Copley. Shehad also worked in Puerto Rico, so she and Alma are friends, too. Wehad a very enjoyable visit-—just wish it could have been longer.

From Pueblo we came to Alamogordo, New Mexico, and spent thenight withCurtis and Regina Dickinson. Curtis is a trustee of SAE andalso the minister of the church in Alamogordo. The church there washosting the Fifth Sunday Singspiration, so rather than come down toEl Paso on Saturday and then turn around and go back to Alamogordoon Sunday, we stayed put. Curtis and Regina had been after us forsome time to come up and see them, and this was the ideal time todo so.

March is the month of the annual Mexican Missionaries Reunion.Alma, Roberta Burr, and I took the train down to Mexico City a fewdays early so that we would have some time to do some sight-seeing.My sister, Marsha, was vacationing in Cancun at the same time, soshe flew over for the week-end. We had a great time. Neither Alma

nor Marsha had spent any time In the Mexico City area, so we tookin as many sights as we could.

The reunion this year was one of the best ones ever. Our speakerwas Don Richardson, author of "Peace Child." Besides talking of somehis mission experiences in Irian Jaya, he also gave a short seminaron the "Abrahamic Covenant." It was an excellent Bible study, andwe all profited from it. One of the comments made was that we wishedhe could have spent more time on the study. Mr. Richardson has away of really opening up the Scriptures that was very helpful.

I was also in charge of the Kids Reunion, which meant I wasresponsible for getting someone to come and work with the children(ages 2-11). Two years ago Icontacted Ed Preston, children's ministerat First Christian Church in Dodge City. He and his wife were able tocome and work with the kids. Gordon Clifford from Campo, California,brought a young couple who worked with Ed and Diana. Severalparents thanked me for having Ed and Diana come. Wherever theygo, the kids fall in love with them, and this time was no exception.

This week I'm leaving for a speaking tour of my supporting churchesand also the North American Christian Convention/National MissionaryConvention. My schedule is as follows;

June 22 First Christian Church, Texhoma, OKJune 25 Lion's Club, Dodge City, KS (noon)June 25 Wilroads Gardens Christian Church, Dodge

City, KS (p.m.)^urTe~29^ Irwin Community Church, Irwin, MO (a.rfT)June 29 Elm Branch Christian Church, Aurora, MO

(p.m.)July 6-10 The Convention, Indianapolis, INJuly 13 First Christian Church, Wayne City, IL

During this trip I'll be able to spend a few days with my parents whileI'm in Dodge City. I'm also looking forward to seeing friends in theJoplin, Mo., area and spending a week with some more friends in theBranson, Mo., area before attending the convention.

During the convention I'll be presiding at one of the workshops—the one being given by Kay Watts on Thursday afternoon. Rosa Bakerand i are also scheduled to play the piano and organ for the Thursdaymorning session. As secretary of the missionary convention, I'll alsobe involved in several meetings that will take place during the week-meetings which will start the planning for next year's missionaryconvention.

One of the big projects that SAE has in conjunction with theconvention is the putting together of the Latin American Piaza. Wecontacted all the missionaries who work in Spanish speaking countriesor with Spanish speaking people about going together and formingthe plaza. There are 22 groups and/or individuals who have gonetogether to do this. We are putting the mechanics of it together. We'veblocked off 24 booths—an area 60 feet by 50 feet. Instead of usingthe usual curtains provided by the display company, we have made

and painted flats which show a typical LatinAmerican scene. We alsoplan to have a fountain in the center and a small theater in which themissionaries taking part in the plaza may show slide programs of theirwork. We're really excited about this venture. I feel it will be a bigdrawing card into the exhibit hall. Ifyou attend the convention, be sureand look us up.

After the convention and my speaking date in Wayne City, III., I willbe returning to El Paso and trying to catch up on all the work that willhave piled up on my desk. Also, the weeks of July 21-25 and July28-August 1 will find me helping with the music at Vacation BibleSchoolat Eastside. We're having an evening VBS again this year. In the middleof August I, along with my brother and sisters and their families, willbe returning to Dodge City to help my parents celebrate their 40thwedding anniversary. We're all looking forward to this family reunion.

Tract production got underway after Christmas, and with it, tractdistribution. So far Bart has printed over 425,000 tracts since the beginning of the year. He expects to get another 200,000 printed in the nextsix weeks. I've been doing my best to get caught up, but we got sofar behind when we didn't have tracts for seven months, that it is goingto take a while. I hope to get caught up by the end of August. A lotnow depends on having the money to pay the postage for all the tractsthat are sent out. So far this year I've taken care of over 120 requests.Over 300,000 pieces of literature have been sent out, and another25,000 pieces are ready to go. More and more people are writing us

-and letting us know how useful the tracts are to them and theirministries. One letter we received was really interesting. The personwriting told us he had received some of our tracts about baptism.Because what he had previously been taught about baptism did notagree with what he read in the tract, he became angry and did notwant to use the tracts. (The tract contains nothing but scriptureconcerning the reason for baptism, the method used, who institutedit, etc.) He finally asked himself why was he afraid to read what thescripture said. Upon reading the scriptures he became convinced thathe needed to be immersed. He wrote and told us of his decision andasked for more tracts. Letters, such as his, make this ministryworthwhiie.

The work at Eastside Christian Church continues forward. As youare aware, I work with two choirs—rthe adult choir and the EastsideAngels. The Eastside Angels presented the musical "Daniel, Darius,and DeLion" this last April. They were a big hit and did an excellentjob! They're already after Jeanie (my co-director) and me to do onenext fall.

In May the adult choir presented the cantata "Then Came theMorning" by Bill and Gloria Gaither. The adult choir continues to getbetter and better, and I'm thankful to be a part of the group. Next fallI expect to have around 25 members in the choir. Last year at thistime we had only 12 members, so it is growing in more ways than one.

I do want to take this time to thank all of you for your support. Yourhelp, through your prayers and giving, means a great deal to me. The

work we are doing at Spanish American Evangelism could not beaccomplished without you. May God continue to bless you and guideyou as you serve Him.

In Christ,

Marilyn Wood

P.S. If you come to the convention, don't forget to come by the LatinAmerican Plaza. I'd love to see you.

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Volume V

1

"Chips Off The Old Block"News From Marilyn Wood

Serving Christ through;Spanish American Evangelism

3135 Forney LaneEl Paso, TX 79935

Number 2

Fall/Winter 1986

Dear Christian Friends,

By the time you receive this, Thanksgiving will have come and gone,and we'll all be preparing for the Christmas holidays. So let me beamong the first to wish you a Merry Christmas and a wonderful 1987working for the Lord.

This summer was a busy one filled with a lot of good happeningsmaking for some wonderful memories. Myspeaking trip and time spentwith relatives and friends on my way to and from the convention wentreally well.

The convention was very good. I was thankful to have had a partin the planning of it. The main speakers were excellent. I wish all ofyou could have attended. The Latin American Plaza in the exhibit areawas a big hit, and we plan to do it again this next year. As usual, therewas never enough time to visit with everyone.

Our family reunion in August was great. It was just too short, (naddition to all the "Wood" kids being home, my parents' brothers andsisters and their spouses were all there, so we had wall-to-wall peoplefor a day. It had been almost ten years since we were all together,so we had a great time. It had been almost four years since my brother,sisters, and i were together, and since that time my brother has marriedand my sister has had another child, so the family is growing. Thereason for the get-together was my parents' 40th wedding anniversary.In this_.day_and_age I am mpre_and rnpre grateful for my parents^d_the Christian family upbringing they gave us. (My parents' anniversaryis in September, but we celebrated early since my nieces and oldestnephew are in school.)

The work at Spanish American Evangelism continues to go forward,though not as fast as we would like it to at times. I have finally gottencaught up on processing the requests for literature but not all thepackages have been mailed. We're working on that, but it does takemoney for postage, as you well know. The cost of postage in Mexicois high, even for printed matter. One box of New Testaments (about38 pounds) costs over $10.00 to mail. This is at the current exchangerate of over 850 pesos to one dollar. (There is no book rate in theMexican postal system.)

So far this year we've sent out over 220 orders totalling over 520,000pieces of literature. By the end of the year, we should have distributedover 550,000 pieces. Considering the fact that Bart has printed a littleless than 600,000 tracts this year, you can see that once again weare out of stock. We do have paper on hand to print several more,and he'll be getting started on printing some within the next week or two.

One thing we've done this year is to add another country to the listof where we've sent literature. Costa Rica is the newest. We've sentliterature to every country in Central America except Nicaragua andPanama. That makes a total of 11 countries that we've sent literatureto in the last five years.

For quite some time we've been out of New Testaments, in Augustwe heard through Christian Gospel Distributers of an opportunity tobuy New Testaments from the American Bible Society for 35$ each.It was quite a savings. (They're usually 60$ each.) We have a NewTestament savings fund, and at that time we had $10,000.00 in theaccount, and so we were able to buy 30,000 New Testaments. Theyarrived the first of October, and we've been sending out NewTestaments ever since. Bill Baker plans to go to Central America nextspring and take 8,000 New Testaments with him, so we we expect tohave all 30,000 distributed within a year.

A couple of years ago SAE entered into an agreement with CollegePress in Joplin, Missouri, in which we would translate and typesetbooks, and they would print them and handle the major distribution.The first book, "13 Lessons in Christian Doctrine" by Denver Sizemore,was ready for distribution in March, 1985. The second book, "ThatThey May Be Won" by Frank Winder, became available in August thisyear. Since then two more books have been typeset. One of them isalmost ready for distribution; the other has a little more workto be done.Both of them should be ready soon after New Year's. There is a greatneed for Biblestudy materials in Spanish, so we hope to see this projectget bigger and bigger.

As most of you are aware, I'm actively involved with the EastsideChristian Church here in El Paso. We're really excited about the waythe church is growing. On Sunday, November 16th, we started havingtwo worship services. We've had close to 30 additions since the beginning of September. We recently held a revival with Roy Wheeler fromAmariilo, Texas, and he talked to us about church growth. We are ingreat need of an educational building, and on November 23rd the congregation voted on the financing to get started on the building.

I continue to work with both the Eastside Angels (children's choir)and the adult choir. We are spending a lot of time right now workingon Christmas programs. The Eastside Angels, along with the otherchildren in the Sunday School, are putting on the Christmas musical"Three Wee Kings" on December 14th. It is a great musical, one whichpoints out that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Lion of Judah, the Starof David, the King of Kings, etc. The children are enjoying doing it,and Jeanie and I plan for it to be the highlight of the Christmas seasonat church.

The adults are doing the cantata "The Reason for the Season" onDecember 21st. Musically, it's much easier to do than the ones we didlast year, but the message is tremendous.

The first week of December I'll be flying to Memphis for a continuationcommittee meeting for next year's missionary convention. We'll bemeeting for two days, trying to get the workshops lined out, speakersfor the workshops, etc. Much of the preparation has already been done,which makes it easier to get a lot of the program lined out during thetwo days.

Plans for Christmas call for me to go to Denver once again to spenda few days with my sisters and nieces and nephews. 1 really enjoy

spending time with them, and I wish I could see them more often. Allthe family will be there except by brother and sister-in-law.

As most of you know, I try not to talk about money, but it is a must.Through June, 1986, my monthly average Income was $1,050.67 (whichjust covers all my expense): however, in July I received $754.00;August—$808.00; and Septerrrber—$848.00. Needless to say, with adrop in income like that for three months in a row, I fell behind on someof my bills. In October the Lord richly blessed me with enough incometo bring the monthly average for the year to a little over $1,000.00;however, I still had two bills that did not get paid. As I write this(November 24th), I have received a little more than $500.00 for themonth. I have a few more bills that are now outstanding. As I've mentioned before, the trustees have okayed a salary of $1,300.00 monthlyfor single personnel. As you can see, I'm nowhere near that. Part ofthe difficulty has been that some of my supporters have had to droptheir support altogether, and there has been no one to take up theslack. I do know that some will start supporting me again after the NewYear, and that will be a big help, but some bills, like insurance, won'twait two months. I'm grateful for all the help my supporters have givenme in the past, and I look forward to our continuing association as weserve the Lord.

As we approach this special holiday season, may we truly be thankfulfor all that the Lord has done for us. May we be reminded that the"babe in the manger" became the "Christ of the cross" and that itis only through Him that we have life. May God bless each one_of.youwith an extra-special season of love and joy.

In Christ,

Marilyn Wood

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