April, 2025
Dear Prayer Warriors,
The following verses came to mind when we were thinking of you and your families and the blessings that the Lord can give you. “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 KJV
Thanks for those who sent Christmas cards; we appreciated them. The ones that we received came through my son, David, in Florida. The best way to contact us is by email (given above), or WhatsApp (502) 4422-4872, or by using David’s address (4524 28th Street, West Bradenton, FL 34207). I trust you and your family had a blessed Christmas and are enjoying a prosperous and blessed New Year.
SPECIAL PRAYER MEETING
On Friday, December 27th from7:00pm to 11:30 pm, we prayed for God’s blessings on the new year, and at the same time thanking Him for blessings of 2024. We also thank the Lord for the 5,000 TBS scripture calendars and 900 colored Bible calendars and other free literature, tracts, and booklets that were distributed. Some were even sent by freight to other parts of the country.
CIEF OF GUATEMALA
The pastors and elders of CIEF take their turns visiting the Chimaltenango church every week. About once every seven weeks I take my turn. The pastor there is still in bad health and constantly must go to the hospital. Praise the Lord that the leaders of CIEF met January 4th and March 8th to plan for the conference activities for this year, and how to better defend the faith in these dangerous days.
HEALTH
Stephen and I traveled to the US on March 17th for various appointments at the Veterans Hospital in St. Petersburgh, Florida, and also to see my regular VA doctor in Bradenton. I was having some issues with low blood pressure, but for now it has returned to my personal normal. After blood work and other exams, the doctor told me some results were higher, and other results were lower, but at the age of 101, I was good; but some other pains tell me otherwise. My next appointments are again in six months. We returned to Guatemala on April 4th and are back at work at the Trinitarian Bible Society and bookstore.
MONTSERRAT AND LOS ANGELES CHURCHES
In January, we changed to the shorter catechism for children, young people, and adults at Montserrat Church. For the Los Angeles Sunday School, we continue using larger letters, so that it can be seen better using the overhead projector. Continue to pray for Brother Juan Carin who had been laid up in bed, unable to walk. Yet with better food and therapy, he is now walking again. We praise the Lord, because for the last two weeks, he was able to attend the worship services in Montserrat Church. He lives in a difficult and somewhat dangerous place. Continue to pray that he will receive full strength.
24th ALADIC CONGRESS IN CALI, COLOMBIA
It was a great privilege for me to attend another, and probably my last, Latin American Alliance of Christian Churches Congress, which was held February 3-7. The Theme was “Be Watchful and Strengthen the Things Which Remain that are Ready to Die”, Revelation 3:2. I traveled a few days ahead of the congress with Stephen and his family and returned a few days later because
of the work they had to do. Praise the Lord for the excellent sermons and for the wonderful fellowship with many of the pastors, leaders and brethren from many Latin American countries. We learned a lot. The Rev. Dr. Brad Gsell, president of the ICCC, was able to attend and speak at the meetings as well. Pray for the new ALADIC president, Pastor David Aragon from Cali, Colombia, and the new Executive Committee, that they would be faithful. Among others, a resolution was made about good and bad Bible versions. It was rather technical, but good and exact. In CIEF Guatemala, we hope to get a simple resolution that all church members can understand. Bill Greendyk, of the TBS USA, also spoke and answered many questions on the Bible at the Conference. He gifted me a new imitation leather Bible that just came out with of the Reina Valera TBS version, which has a little larger print and is flexible. I ordered a case for our TBS of Guatemala. Praise the Lord for all the delegates who safely returned to their churches and homes. On the front of this letter you will find a picture of me, with Stephen and his family, at the Congress.
GRACE AND FAITH PRESBYTERY OF GUATEMALA
Early Saturday, February 14th, we were on the road at 5:00am to go to Presbytery at the Monte Carmelo Church in Mazatenango. We arrived at 8:00am and the ladies of the church had breakfast waiting for us. All the committees gave their reports. The evangelistic committee gave their report and shared suggestions to have evangelistic methods of soul winning taught in the adult Sunday School classes in all our churches. The Montserrat elders were already thinking about this and implemented the class right away since it had just finished studying the book of Joel, verse by verse. Pray that all will have a love in their hearts for the unsaved and that they will learn new and old methods of evangelism. We had the timely words of Charles Spurgeon’s five points of truly getting people saved. Presbytery closed around 2:30 pm, with a lunch, and we left around 3:15pm to head back to Guatemala City for the Lord’s Day preparations.
TRINITARIAN BIBLE SOCIETY OF GUATEMALA
I would like to take this opportunity to request prayer and financial help for our independent Trinitarian Bible Society and Bookstore of Guatemala. We desperately need your monthly or yearly support for this ministry as our expenses are great and growing, due to inflation. Please help us if you can by sending your gift marked “SUPPORT FOR TBS OF GUATEMALA” to the IBPFM office.
POLITICS FOR 2025
We pray for the leftist President of Guatemala, the deputies of the Congress, the Constitutional Court, and the judges of the various courts as we are exhorted to do in the Bible. We are praying for the Financial Commission of the Congress that they would have wisdom as they work on a very expensive budget for 2025. They are still talking about cutting it down, as many experts think it’s too big and will need many financial bonds to make it work and not go broke. Many Guatemalan illegal immigrants are being deported and sent back from the USA, and the Guatemalan president said he will take them back, but to “please send them back slowly”.
Lastly, we exhort you to please pray for Guatemala and the work of the Gospel, that we would have more Biblical evangelism and a good and strong defense of the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We thank you all for your faithful prayers and continual financial support, and may our Lord richly bless you for your sacrifice.
Yours missionaries for Christ,
The Rickers
Hal, Stephen, Juanita, Samuel and Joshua