March Update: Victory Over Darkness

"I have told you these things so that in Me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world." John 16:33

Where do we start? Spiritual warfare has been very real in present in our lives the past month. We feel the battle for our work here everyday. The devil has been busy trying to keep our lives in turmoil so that we do not have time for Christ’s work here in Mexico.

We have been able to spend some time in Ojitlan playing basketball and soccer with people from the village and also doing balloons and games with the young children. Having the Greens here with their children was an awesome time of encourage and advancement of our work in Ojitlan. We also had 14 youth from our church here at Peniel Baptist Church go with us to play at the sports complex and they also did a drama portraying the gospel. We are so thankful in many ways for our church here in Mexico. We plan to start going to Ojitlan every wednesday evening and spend time at the sports complex to establish more of a consistent presence in the village, and hopefully start developing relationships to share the gospel.

We are still studying through the book of John with the Domingo family by the river. They are eager to study with us and read, but are struggling to find the time to read on their own. Please pray for the family because the devil is working hard to create division within the family as some of them grow stronger in their faith. One of the sisters Katalina, which was the first family member that we met will not sit in on our bible study despite continued invitation. Also pray for Marisol the wife of Ramiro, she is pregnant and due in August, pray for a healthy pregnancy and baby!

We also have 2 different churches planning to bring teams down to help us with our work in Ojitlan in the summer and fall. Please pray that the Lord uses these teams to spread the Gospel within the Chinanteco Ojitlan people group, and possibly open the doors for further partnership with these churches.

We are encouraged that we even have an update on ministry work, because we have been very busy in our personal lives. It just goes to show that despite the devil’s handiwork indeed Jesus has conquered the devil.

“These will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will conquer them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings. Those with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. Revelation 17:14.

As for the Knight family we covet your prayers! In a short list in the last month we have experienced; our truck broken into with all of our important documents being stolen, along with Garrett’s laptop, our go pro, and Hopes special blanket and bear, and Gideon’s blanket. We were not able to get Hope’s permanent residency because we did not have all the paperwork for her because it was stolen. Everyone except for Brittany has been sick with a fever within the last month. Our small car that we bought to help with more space to transport teams has been in and out of the shop, which is to be expected because it is 10 years old but none the less an added expense. The truck has been in 2 different accidents. Garrett unexpectedly had to drive all the way to the border to renew the papers on the truck, which we found out will eventually have to be driven back to the states to be sold because we can not afford to import the truck or keep driving it back to the states every 6 months to renew the papers. Our air conditioner broke just a few days ago and had to have a part replaced.

If I stopped there it would seem like the devil has won but indeed that is not even half of the story.

“For I am persuaded that not even death nor life, angels or rulers, things present nor things to come, hostile powers, height or depth, or any other created thing will have the power separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord! Romans 8: 38-39.

Please rejoice with us in the Power of Jesus despite everything that has happened in the last 2 months.

An encouraging visit from the good friends of ours that serve in Oaxaca that have children the same ages as ours.
A successful fundraiser dinner at the beginning of March at our home church, Shindler Drive Baptist Church, put together by our moms.
We were finally able to meet the IMB team that we are apart of that is based in Oaxaca city.
Garrett and Brittany were able to get their permanent residencies, and we will only have to pay a fee for Hope when we are able to apply for her card once our papers are replaced. (There was a possibility that we were going to have to leave the country with her. )
An encouraging visit from the Greens.
G-Joy (Felicia Joy) was miraculously able to find the exact replica of Hope's special blanket, and send it down with the Greens... the look on Hope's face was pure joy!
The truck does not in any way look like it has been in 2 different accidents, and we have 6 months to figure out what to do with it.
We dedicated Gideon to the Lord while the Greens were here.
We were able to open our home to host 6 young ladies who participated in a 4 day camp hosted by our church here First Baptist church Peniel.
We have continued with our Spanish lessons and are learning little by little.
As we start to process of replacing our papers we look forward to spending more time with our friends in Oaxaca City. And we also look forward to visits from both sets of our parents in April and May.

And those were just the big victories we have experienced. I could go on and on about the victories in Christ we experience everyday. The devil is hard at work in our lives, but please share with us in the fact that we know he can never steal our joy nor our salvation!