Baker Bill Rosa 1983 Mexico

8/11/2019 Baker Bill Rosa 1983 Mexico

1/8

olume No. 2

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FROn

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98

The Bill Baker Family

Serving

Christ

through

Spanish

American

Evangelism

3135

Forney

Lane

El Paso TX

79935

June, 1983

umbe r 1

Dear Christian friends

It seems

like

almost yesterday

that

we sat down to write our

last

newsletter.

That

was our

Christmas letter.

There

have

been

several

a ttempts a t getting

it

started

since

the

first

of

March. It seems that the newsletter always takes second priority to more pressing items.

Well it is

now almost June

and time to really get going on something.

1 am

writing

this while

sitting

in

the

Dallas-Fort Worth Regional

Airport , on

May 26,

my

33rd birthday. I am scheduled to meet with Mr.

Jim

Powell, executive

vice-president

of the

International Bible Society

( former ly the

New York Bible Society). Yesterday, I learned of

Mr.

Powell s

visit

to

Dallas

and

as we

have

been in negotiation with

the

IBS concerning the

printing

of

a Spanish

New Testament

in Mexico, it

was

an excellent opportunity

to ta lk face

to face

without

a

barrier of

miles

of

telephone lines between us. I

hope to

give

you

a full

report

at the

close of

this

letter.

Tlie

work at SAE has been growing

and

improving all the time.

Just IV

years

ago,

the

Baker

family moved to El Paso with a dream.

Since

that time

approximately

1

million

tracts

have been

produced and

dis tr ibuted through the efforts

of the

organization. Praise God for

the

manner in

which

He

has

provided.

Yet, with

1 million

down,

the work is

just

beginning. I feel that I could

spend the rest of

my life in leading and

expanding

this ministry and still just scratch the surface. We are

shooting for

2

million tracts

during

1983 alone


2/8

So much for business I am sure

that

you would like to hear

about

the family. With the

addition of Caleb it seems we have grown to platoon size and I need training as a sergeant.

The

family has

been

able to be

together

in many different mission activities since the first of

the yea r.

The first major event was the Bi-lingual Convention in Eagle Pass Texas during the first

week

of

March. It was good to renew relationships with family and friends at Colegio

Bihlico and to share the ministry

of

Spanish American Evangelism. Rosa played the

piano

for one session. Billy Barbie and Frances teamed up with a cousin Learsi Martinez for a

special song.

Later in March we headed up a special

tour

to south-central

Mexico for the annual missionary reunion. We had enough people

in the party to charter a railroad

car

to Mexico City and a

motor-coach bus on to Oaxtepec and the reunion.

Our

cost

for

the

familyround trip

transportation,

meals

and

hotelwas less than

S200.00

total for

the

9 days. An excellent

value

when one considers the

fellowship

and work which

was

accomplished.

A high-light of

the

reunion

was Billy's

confession of faith in

Jesus as his Lord and Saviour on Thursday evening. Following that

moment, 1 had

the

honor of

baptizing

him in one of the pools on

tiie grounds at the same hour. Please be in prayer for him as he

continues to grow in

the

Lord.

During April Rosa

Frances

and I represented

the

work of

Spanish American Evangelism among several churches in Florida.

It was a good trip

and

I pray that some long range general fund

support

might

have

been developed.

We

left

Billy

and

Barbie

in

the

care

of

Ed and Donna Weckerly in El Paso. Caleb was under the

careful eyes of Bob and Wanda Church in Schertz, TX.

We feel

that God

has

answered

our prayers concerning

the

sale

of our house h

have

taken it off

the

market.

Some Christian

friends

who

saw how

much

we use the

house

for His service

offered

to re-finance the

3rd

note. We will be paying interest only at 10 for the first 4 years and

then

300.00 monthly

interest and principle payments after that. Our first mortgage will be paid off by the time

our

payment increases.

The to tal

interest

on

this re-financing will be about the

same

as

the

previous note, which

was at I 7 .

Speaking

of

finances

our

personal

support

has

dropped

sharply

since

the

first of

the

year.

For the first 5 months of 1983. we are approximately 3,600.00

short

of what the t rustees

of Spanish American Evangelism have allowed me to raise as salary. Be in prayer concerning

this and if you do not regularly support

our

work a special gift

at

this time would be

greatly appreciated.

Diicidy wisliitiu

that

he

ha d

never jiiiiiped. Billy fol lowed

shortly afte r this pic ture was

taken,


3/8

Caleb is growing very fast. He began crawling

while we were in

Florida. H e really

wants to

walk

and

shortly will be. His eighth-month

birthday is May

29th.

He is also a jumping jack'

and likes to try t o jump

up

and down.

Frances really

likes to

be able

to help

Mommy

with Caleb. She

is

r th r affect ionate

and about

two weeks ago, I

offered

to 'warm

her

up'

when

she

was cold. I gave her a

great big

'bear

hug'

and

she loved it.

Almost

daily

now,

she

comes

up to me and says,

Daddy, I 'm

cold. Could you

warm me

up?

Temperature has

nothmg

to

do

wi th it .

Barbie is just finishing 1st grade.

She

enjoys

school and is always

coming

up

with something

new. It is going

to

take a quick mind

to

keep

ahead

o f her.

Billy will be in 6th grade

next

fall. He is still a very sensitive

boy.

He

wants

to play

the

violin in

the

school

orchestra

next fall. I

th ink the en tire house

will

need

special

patience

Rosa has been filling in with many

different

tasks at the office

during

the past several

weeks.

For

her

it is strictly

voluntary, but she does supply

several hundred

dollars worth

of

labor

to the

ministry.

Some friends

of

ours from the Spanish

church

watch Caleb while Rosa helps us out. They

live

just

two houses down from th e office. It is

very

convenient. The husband is a

native of

El Salvador. If El

Salvador

is s ti ll there

and

open during

the summer

of

1984,

he

wants me

to

guide

him through

Mexico,

and together

we will visit

his

family

in

San

Salvador. What

an

opportunity

to

share Christ

in a

troubled land

Well, I

am

now back on

the plane

to El Paso.

Tlie

hour

meeting at

D.F.W. was better

than

I

could

have ever imagined. In

addition

to

the

vice-president

of

the

International

Bible

Society,

I met representatives of the

World

Home Bible League

and

Wycliff Bible

Translators

I was able to open

the

door for permission to print a new Spanish

translation

New

Testament

in Mexico It will be the Spanish

equivalent

of the

New

International Version.

Also,

25,000 test

copies were

ordered

at a

cost of $12,500.00.

A

down payment of

$6,250.00 was made and delivery will be within 8 weeks Lord willing, final corrections will

be

made by January, 1984,

and

we will be

able

to

produce 100,000

copies

at that

time

Printing

in Mexico

should

be cheaper

than

the 50 cent

cost

by the International Bible

Society.

This

t ranslation has every posibil ity

to become the

new

'standard'

text

in the

Spanish

world, even

to

the replacing of the

I960

Reina Valera version.


4/8

In addition, the IBS offered a large

quantity

of Spanish scripture

portions

to Spanish

American Evangelism for free distr ibution in the Spanish-speaking world.

PRAISE

THE

LORD

On June 26, 1983, the churches of New Mexico and Texas are going to participate in

New

Testament

Miracle Day . If your congregation is interested in also participating in

this

special day with a special offering,

please

contact me.

God

is

continuing

to bless

our

efforts Our potential impact

upon the

Spanisli

world

is

greater every

day

Well, this fliglit is about over, and I need to finish

the

letter before I de-plane

or

it will

take another 6 months to get it finished and in

the

mail.

May God

continue

to bless

you

as

you

serve Him.

Sincerely in

Christ.

Bill Bake r

Rosa, Billy. Barbie. Frances and Caleb

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5/8

o lume N o . 2

M 16 384

The

Bill Baker Family

Serving Christ through

Spanish American Evangelism

3135 Forney Lane

EIPaso TX 79935

D e c e m b e r 1 9 8 3

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Greetings dear friends and

may

God s

grace and blessings

reach down

to you at

this time

of

th e

year.

What

a

wonderful

time

of

year

this

is

to me.

I get so excited

thinking o f people to

give to . I also like

to

receive

but

I ge t a

deep

beautiful

feeling

when

I see

someone s

face shine as

they open my

gift

Then

I thinkCan you imagine how

God

feels and felt as He

gave us His Son

Jesus

Christ?

But

oh how

sad He must

feel

when

people

reject

Jesus. That was

and

is Hi s gift to m an kin d which He so

l o v es .


6/8

It has been very busy around Spanish American Evangelism. Bill

seems to be always tied to the print shop and has little time to plan,

promote and continue to direct his co-workers. The ministry does

need another full-time printer. This will allow Billmore time to plan

for further growth and advancement. A new office worker will be on

the field in a few

months

and

this

will help lessen

the

load. Please

pray for

ill

that the Lord may continue to lead him in God s way.

Also offer a special prayer for the general fund at Spanish American

Evangelism.

Our goal of 2 million tracts during 1983 was not reached. How

ever, approximately 1 million tracts were distributed in the past 12

months and countless

individuals have

been reached with

the Word

o f

God s

love.

I have had the privilege

of

answering a few letters for SAE in

Spanish when people were asking for spiritual guidance. This for me

has been uplifting. Fray that the Lord will continue to help me as I

answer these questions.

The kids have really grown and were very excited

about

Qiristmas.

Billy and Barbie continue to do good at school. Their teachers seem

to be really pleased with them. At various times through

the

year, we

have asked for permission to take them out of school for travel in

Mexico

Ther^was no prqWem in thisL When one teacher learned

that

i t s

a^hurch-related trip, she said that our children would

probably learn more on that

visit

than if they

were

to stay in school.

It was on

that

trip that Bill was able to baptize Billy into Jesus

Qirist

Frances is a joy to have around. She is now 4 and at a very lovable

age. She loves to sing,making up her songs as she goes. She also loves

to pretend she is playing the songs on the piano as she sings. She is

also a good playmate for Caleb. Caleb is always into something. He is

a cutie, but energetic. He loves to be on the go. A short time ago, he

dragged his diaper bag to me and then had me follow him to the

front

door.

He

sure takes after

his

daddy

We

are really excited about the Spanish Sunday-School Class Bill

has started at our English church. Bill seems to enjoy it and has

started Bible studies on Monday nights at

the

home

of

one

of the

class members. His Spanish is doing real good. Our English church is

in the middle

of

a Spanish neighborhood. Do pray

that

we will be

able to reach

these

people

for

Christ.

Pray that very soon we will be able to take the New Testaments

into Mexico which

are

now sitting

in

our

garage.

The Lord has been so good to us and we want

to thank

all of

you

for your part in evangelizing in the Spanish world. Literature from

Spanish American Evangelism has ended up in several different parts

of

the

world-Mexico,

Cuba, Central

South

America, the Carrib-


7/8

bean Egypt and the

United

States. Your gifts

are

doing a world

w ide w o r k .

Do continue to pray for our work and comeseeuswhenyou can.

May

His

joyous love and

peace be with

each

of you at this time

and

may

you

have

a

Happy

New

Year

as

you

continue

to

work

for

th e L o r d .

May the blessings of Chrisfs birth beyours

now

andfor alleternity.

T h e B a k e r s

Rosa, Bill,

BiUy

Barbie, Frances and Caleb

P.S. Well, Rosa has just about said it all,

but

I would like to add a

few

extra

lines. Many times

the

Lord can lead

without

us even

knowing it It is just such a time I would like to relate here. We

recently had a friend call and wonder if we could pick her up at the

airport. She was traveling to visit her mother in Mexico. This friend

was just out of the hospital and her mother had broken her leg and

had been

in tra ction fo r several months. Rosa felt that maybe we

should

take

her to her

home rather than

put her on Mexican public

transportation in

Ju^ez.

So, on a Sunday afternoon, we left El Paso

and

headed south.

We

made

it to

Torreon

at

about 6:00

A.M.

on

Monday.

We

slept for a few hpurs and

^ e n

took this friend to her

family another

1 i/2

hours

away

The entire family

isCatholic yet

were

interested

in

God s word and

we

left

them

several

New

Testa

m n t s

On the way home, I was dead tired when we hit Chihuahua at

approximately 10:00 Monday night. I wanted to get to El Paso

but

when I almost fell asleep at a stop light, I knew

that

I couldn t make

the

final 5 hours. In searching

for

a hotel I found

one on

a side

street simply because I had taken a wrong turn. I decided to stay

even though Rosa didn't think too much

of

th e accomodations. The

next morning we decided to eat breakfast in the dining room. As we

ate, a well dressed woman sat down next to us and ordered her

breakfast. She pulled

out

a New Testament and began reading it. We

struck up a conversation with her. She turned out to be a govern

ment

social

worker. We

offered

a

few New

T e st am e nt s f o r h er use in

visiting the homes of the poor in Mexico. She gladly accepted. We

found

out that she was

the head o f the

district

and only two

steps

down from the president

of the

country When she accepted

her


8/8

position she wanted no restrictions from

the

government in

the

sharing of

her

faith as she worked with the poor. Both her supervisor

and President Miguel de la Madrid accepted this arrangement. She is

now working on special papers which would allow us to

take

a

truckload o f New Testaments and other l it erature in Mexico at

one

t ime.

PLEASE BE

IN

PRAYER

FOR

TfflS

WOMAN

AND

HER

EFFORTS IN ALLOWING

US

PERMISSION TO TAKE

THIS

BOLD STEP

In looking

back

at

that

weekend I really was

not enthused

about

the trip at the beginning but God used it for His glory. Bill

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Documents

Baker Bill Rosa 1983 Mexico