The Smith Connection

And He said to them, “Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while.” Mark 6:31 (NASB)

Dear Prayer Partner,

In the above verse Jesus encouraged the 12 apostles to "go to a secluded place and rest a while." As part of our home assignment we are certainly being refreshed in the beautiful countryside of Lancaster County PA! After five years in Mexico we are enjoying a change of pace and a ministry of a different kind. Thank you for your prayers! Our transition to Home Assignment has generally been very good.

PRAISES:
~ We praise the Lord for a good transition for our family so far:
- Kendra and Tara had their first week of school and are loving it! God sent special friends to sit with them on the bus for their ride to school the first day, and they both ended up being the girls they were assigned to sit with in their classroom as well!
- Our church family at Calvary Bible Church has been very warm and helpful in our transition
- We are enjoying our time to reconnect with our supporting churches, supporters, family, and friends
- We are benefiting from taking time to read some books that we have been wanting to read and not had the time to yet
- We are loving life in farm land again after living in a city of 2 million the last few years - having a lawn to mow is great!
- Bryan plans to attend a men's retreat from Sept. 22-24 and Lori plans to attend a women's seminar on Sept. 30
~ We praise the Lord for ministry opportunities:
- We have had three opportunities to speak in supporting churches so far, and have several more on the calendar in the coming months
- We are enjoying the opportunity to reconnect with many of our individual supporters
- We are looking forward to being involved at our church being Pioneer Club leaders and teaching Sunday School starting this month
- We are praying that the Lord would open the door to meeting and ministering to some Hispanic people who live in the Mount Joy area. There is a great little authentic Mexican restaurant and store there, with quite a large population of Mexicans surrounding it.
~ We praise the Lord for the good reports we are getting back from the New Birth Bible Church in Mexico:
- We have been told that all the seats in church have been full the last few Sundays
- We hear that the church is motivated and people are getting involved, and taking their responsibilities seriously
- Our national co-worker, Mauricio, is teaching a group of men hermeneutics and homiletics on Saturdays so that they will soon be able to help him with the preaching. Currently one of our fellow missionaries, Rick Burnam, is helping out by preaching at the church once a month

PRAYER:
~ Please continue to pray for the growth and development of the church in Mexico. Pray that the servant team of five men and their wives would be able to work well together and get excited about what God can do through them.
~ Please pray for our ministry opportunities during our home assignment. Pray that God would open the door to work with some Hispanic families here if it be His will. Pray as we do some traveling and speaking, as well as reconnecting with friends and supporters.
~ Please pray for our support level. At this point it looks like we will need to raise between $400 and $500 a month before we head back to Mexico next summer.

Thanks so much for your prayers for us! Please visit our website for recent pictures of our life and ministry here: www.smithconnection.com

Resting in God,
Bryan, Lori, Kendra, Tara, & Ben

Bryan & Lori Smith
*NEW ADDRESS AND PHONE
2062 Bossler Rd.
Elizabethtown, PA 17022
(717) 361-8804

Mission:
CAM International
8625 La Prada Dr.
Dallas, TX 75228
(214) 327-8206
http://caminternational.org

E-mail: bsmith@cam-mexico.org
Web: http://smithconnection.com