We continue to try to serve wherever we are and be a blessing.I’ve posted newsletters thru the year (on the newsletter page link)  but since I didn’t make a post here on this “updates” page I’ll try to do a quick rundown of what I remember in 2022. 

In 2022 we had a great time of building friendships while growing closer to the Lord.

We have made contacts/ friends with some local pastors and Marty has had the opportunity to preach multiple times (in English with a translator but we’re praying that his Spanish will continue to improve so he can feel confident to preach in Spanish).

We found some very good doctors in Mexico in January 2022 as I (Michelle) had medical problems and was diagnosed with 2 autoimmune diseases (rheumatoid arthritis and mixed connective tissue disease) and Marty developed a fracture in his low back and needed treatment (and rest which is hard to get him to ‘not work’). We praise God for His leading us to some great doctors and they spoke some English too.

We have been working on our house here since it wasn’t finished when we arrived. We praise God for His provisions. We have multiple gatherings in our home and opportunities to share the gospel at our kitchen table. We also had a church use our house for their church anniversary service in January. And we were excited to share our home with some members of our church when they were here on their mission trip.

Our ministry has been utilizing our talents for the churches as well as people in our village. We’ve mainly been doing building projects for small churches as well as working around the camp. They were able to have camps resume in 2022 at the ranch and it was a blessing to see all the youth on the mountain.

The first youth camp here at “Rancho La Paloma”, since the pandemic was an Easter camp with Over 260 people showed up to learn, study, grow and worship the Lord. We stayed extremely busy trying to keep the camp running and also make some improvements. A few people from “Mission Bautista El Vastago” stayed the week and helped Mike with the paperwork and also helped around the camp. What a blessing they were to us all.

We finally got our own electricity for our house in 2022 with transformer set in March and the meter installed in June.

We survived some close wild fires in May on our mountain and met multiple groups of people that were helping to contain the fires. We thank God that the fires didn’t reach the camp property.

We’ve been adopted by a very dear family in Mexico and have been able to attend college graduations as well as a wedding and multiple family gatherings with them. What a blessing they are to us and a blessing for us to grow and learn with them. 

Our church sent 2 work groups to the camp in 2022 and it was a blessing to get a lot of work done and see familiar faces from our church. 

We had our second grandson born in July and we praise God for healthy and safe delivery. 

Marty had the opportunity to preach my grandfather’s funeral in August. We do have comfort and a joy knowing that he knew Jesus as his personal savior and that we will see him again.

Marty’s dad was diagnosed with cancer in the summer of 2022 and so we started splitting our time with one month in Mexico and then one month in Texas so Marty can stay with his dad during the week to help him since he was so sick. He passed away in February 2023. We do also have the same comfort and a joy knowing that he knew Jesus as his personal savior and that we will also see him again. And we thank God that Marty had the opportunity to spend those months ministering to his dad. 

I do pray that each and every one who reads this update, will share their salva- tion with their families, friends and the rest of the world. There is nothing more comforting than knowing where your loved ones will spend eternity.

It’s been a busy summer since we finally made Mexico our home this past spring.  We are still making relationships, learning more Spanish and working on our house.  Marty has had 2 opportunities to preach in small missions here (with an interpreter) and we’ve helped on some building projects as well.  We have been using the talents that God has given us whenever the opportunity arises. This is helping us to grow our Spanish and witness to those around us.  We’ve made some wonderful friendships and have enjoyed many meals, birthday parties and fellowships.  We’ve had lots of laughs on this adventure.  We feel so blessed that God is allowing us to be a part of His ministry in Mexico. You can read more in our recent newsletter at https://mailchi.mp/a8508da148d7/summer-update

I have uploaded our newsletters as we send them out but realized I haven’t posted an actual update on this page.

So here it goes. We were packed and ready to leave for Mexico last March 2020 when covid hit. Marty had his ordination ceremony and our sending out service from our church the first of March and the only thing we were waiting on was his passport renewal to come in the mail. So here we wait on the Lord this past year.

2021 it is TIME! Marty has been in Mexico since March 12, 2021. He drove down and was able to get 6 month visa for himself and our vehicle. He got a lot of work done on vehicles around the camp and was able to start working on our house. Our missionary Mike drove down with him and was there for 2 weeks before he had to return to the states. So Marty has been by himself for the past 2 weeks.

I (Michelle) flew and arrived Wednesday (4/7/21) afternoon in Mexico. It is surreal to finally be here where God showed us several years ago. I look out the window and can’t believe it’s real.

Marty got so much work done on our house that we were able to sleep and shower in it my first night home. We still need to cook and make coffee at the main house but it’s awesome to already be able to set up a home.

We had church Thursday evening (they do Thursdays here) and I made some new friends and met the ones Marty knows. He made a lot of friends Easter at the sunrise service here (he had to jump start several cars at the end of the service and already has the title of “gran mecanico”).

I’ve been invited to women’s Bible study this afternoon. Marty gets to preach for Heirberto in Saltillo in 2 weeks. I’m so excited to have this opportunity God has given us here in Mexico. What a great adventure it is going to be. When God called us here I didn’t think we would be here alone but God is using this time to have us lean on Him more and not on our own abilities (since our Spanish is not developed -yet). I am grateful to be able to make my own relationships and see what Ministries God presents for us.

And I know we are not alone & that we have people praying and HE is always with us, HE goes with us, HE is sovereign and HE knew it would be this way.

I am So excited to see God working already. Thanks so much for praying 🙏🏼. God is good!

God blessed us during our 3 month time at Christian Immersion Spanish Academy in Cost Rica. The school and our teacher were great. We had many laughs with our “Spanglish “ mistakes and learned so much. We still have a lot to learn but have a good foundation in the language. We miss our teacher A Lot!

We had a wonderful experience with our host family and couldn’t have asked for a better family to live with for 3 months. The food was delicious and we enjoyed the fellowship. We also miss them A Lot.

We also enjoyed making new friends with others that attended the language school. And enjoyed making new friends in the area as well. We will treasure the memories and friendships made during that time. We spent a lot of time with two other missionary families at school and some of the kids even called Marty “grandpa” and we miss all of them A lot as well!

It’s great how God puts people together and allows us to minister to each other and witness to others.

We had one couple join our class for a week from Missouri last Fall and this past weekend we stayed with them in Missouri and presented our ministry at their church. God is good!

Marty also had the opportunity to preach at the mission in Costa Rica before we came home. He preached in English with an interpreter but he was able to introduce us and tell a little about us in Español and I was surprised and proud of him. We are thankful for all the opportunities God provided to us to be able to serve others in Costa Rica.

Please continue to pray for us as we travel on deputation and study. We are planning to move to Mexico this March.

We thank God everyday for allowing us to be on this journey for Him.

We’ve been able to present our ministry in West Texas, Florida and Kansas this summer. God has been faithful to provide us with the appointments and new ministry partners on His timeframe. We are so thankful that it’s not always what we want but what He feels is best for us. With that being said we would have had our schedule booked solid if it was up to us but God knew we needed to be available to minister to family and friends during some very difficult weeks as we lost Marty’s younger brother, Bryan Herman, and our very good friend Lonny Parson. We know they both are in Heaven and have both left great testimonies. We ask for you to pray for both families.

Michelle had her 47th birthday Monday and a good oncology checkup Tuesday. We praise God for so much!

We are currently in route to the camp in Mexico for a short mission trip. It’s Apple season and a group of ladies is with us to go help make apple butter. I’m sure the guys will be working on projects around camp as well. Pray for us and the group of 8 we are taking across with us. We are so thankful God has allowed us this opportunity.

Picture in Muleshoe, Texas 8-21-19.

In May, we were able to see our daughter graduate from college with honors from Wayland Baptist University in Plainview. We are so proud of her and can’t wait to see what God is going to do with her and her husband Ethan.  We are moving them  to Waco TODAY for them to serve at a church and Ethan will be attending seminary at Baylor Truett for his Masters degree.

From the Middle to the end of May We were able to spend 2 weeks in Mexico at the camp where we will be basing our ministry in Huachichil.  We carried a trailer load of our furniture /belongings to the house were we will be living.  It was weird to pay Mexico taxes at the border on stuff we have owned for 20 plus years – but such is the way it works in Mexico.  It cost about $170 in tax to bring that load into the country.  Gas ran about $4.25 a gallon (after conversion from peso to dollar and liters to gallons).

We also celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary while there in Mexico. We got a lot of work done around the camp with the Starling’s during that time.   Marty also got to preach in Saltillo (in English) during our trip.  We were able to attend our first Mexican wedding reception which was fun.  We are still working on our language skills and are praying about language school.

I will be posting our prayer/newsletter from April/May today as well.

Pray for us as we travel and for appointments with churches as we are still trying to fill our calendar with appointments until we raise the needed support to live in Mexico.

We are so grateful and thankful for all your prayers and support.

Your fellow servants,

Marty & Michelle Herman

*God has blessed us with the perfect vehicle for Mexico. We now have a 2003 suburban and it truly made our Mexico trip comfortable.

We were also able to buy a used cargo trailer that has worked perfectly for Mexico as well. And both are legal for Mexico for 6 months, so that will make our next trip thru the border even quicker.

Have you ever thought about the fact that God wants us to have JOY. Everlasting life starts now at the time of your salvation with Jesus. You don’t have to wait till heaven to experience everlasting life. However, You do have to have Jesus in you to have this type of joy. I’m not saying you won’t face trials and temptations but as a follower of Christ we are not alone.

We had an awesome morning at Countryside Fellowship in Decatur, Texas. We showed up early for Sunday school and got to hear the praise team practice. That was great 😊 and got us pumped for the rest of the day. We really enjoyed being able to worship the Lord with them. We just want to thank pastor Mark Webb for allowing us to come present our ministry. And special thanks to Curt and Julie for the fellowship at lunch. What an awesome couple.

The next half of our day was equally as good. We spent the afternoon in Wichita Falls at Dustin and Heather Culver’s home (from Anchor Baptist Church) with their discipleship groups. We really enjoyed doing life, eating good food, and talking about the Lord.

Thank y’all again for the blessings.

This whole day from beginning to end has brought joy to our hearts.

God truly is too good to us.

What a Busy February.
We had most of the month booked except the first week of February. But God had a plan for that week too. Our good friend pastor Lonny Parson suffered a ruptured aorta on Sunday 2/3/19 after his morning service and was not supposed to survive but he has and is still in critical condition at Medical city.
Everything happens in God’s perfect timing and that week was our only week off from having churches planned on deputation and He allowed us to be home and free to minister to our friends. It was hard for us to leave from staying with our friends in the hospital, But I was reminded that We also had another task God had given us and we had to get on the road again to follow God’s calling for us.
We have since been to see our friends at Anchor Baptist Church in Wichita Falls, TX and to a mission conference at New Testament Baptist Church in Lubbock, TX.
We then left Texas for four appointments in Florida and even had a chance to pop in to the Tristate Conference held at Pine Level Baptist Church in Starke,FL where we were blessed with great preaching and testimony sharing.
We are headed to our fourth appointment in Florida today (2/27/19). Our other three appointments went great and each church was set up differently but all still filled with the body of Christ and such a blessing to us. God has blessed us with opportunities to be able to help and serve beside other brother and sisters while in Florida.
Pray for us as we continue our travels today to Pensacola, FL and then tomorrow as we head to Texas.
Please continue to pray for our pastor friend Lonny Parson still in critical condition in Medical City. And pray for his family and the other families in the CCU waiting room. We’ve seen miracles for Lonny and it has been amazing to see God work.

Michelle had 30 minutes to see the Atlantic Ocean and put toes in the sand.

We hope and pray that you had great times with family and friends during the holidays and lifting up the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Thank you all for your prayers and continued support.
We continue to be so thankful to the Lord for presenting us with opportunities to share our ministry burden. We pray that God will continue to bless you and your churches in the coming year as you have been such a blessing to us.

We’ve started the new year with appointments in Texas and already have a busy calendar for February with only 2 dates empty (the 3rd & 6th).
God is good all the time!

We are still praying to be able to move to Mexico in March and asking God to show up BIG between now and then. God is already so good to us. But, if it is not in His timing to move by that time, then we will understand and continue to serve—but it doesn’t hurt to ask!
We are both in awe that our God chooses to use us in this way. We are truly thankful.

We did finish our newsletter today and it under the newsletter tab above or uploaded via this link https://mailchi.mp/059734834562/january-newsletter-2019

If you want to be on our email list for our monthly newsletter please email us at fivetalentsforChrist@aol.com and request us to add you to the list.

God bless, Marty & Michelle

We are so thankful to the Lord for presenting us with opportunities to share our ministry burden. We had appointments all thru November. It’s the first time our calendar had been that full and what an exciting feeling. And what a busy month it was traveling from Missouri to Paris Texas to Alabama, North Carolina and Georgia. We saw beautiful sights and made lots of new friends along the way.

I realized today that I have only been posting about our visits on our facebook page and not as updates on here. So, I hope you are following us on our 5 Talents facebook page too.

We did finish our newsletter today and it under the newsletter tab above or uploaded via this link https://mailchi.mp/44b7cb86bbbc/december-2018-update-509125.
If you want to be on our email list for our monthly newsletter please email us at fivetalentsforChrist@aol.com and request us to add you to the list.

We are praising God that we are at about 35% of our monthly support and haven’t been on deputation that long. God is good!

Have a Merry Christmas and God Bless,
Marty and Michelle

We are on the road again. Praise the Lord for presenting us with opportunities to share our ministry burden. We have appointments all thru November. It’s the first time our calendar has been this full and what an exciting feeling. 

We are currently on the road in Missouri and head to North Carolina in a week for medical missionary training. God has blessed us with meetings and opportunities to present along our trails. We have been blessed by meeting so many of God’s servants at each of our stops. 

We’ve recently been able to present our ministry in Aurora Texas to Aurora Baptist church and in Grove Oklahoma to Bible Baptist Church. We’ve had 3 meetings with pastors in Missouri and get to present our ministry this coming Sunday at Majesty Baptist in Lees Summit. 

We are thankful for getting to visit and stay with Marty’s extended family on this leg of our travels. 

God has blessed us in our travels this fall by seeing His beautiful creation. The leaves changing have been gorgeous. We are thanking Him that he has sent us   North at this time of year and get to see the beauty. He could have arranged us to go anywhere or Missouri at another time but we are here at the most beautiful time of year. 

Don’t forget to sign up for notification of our updates. 

Thanks for the prayers and continue to pray for us on deputation. 

God bless, Marty & Michelle

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  Ephesians 2:10 KJV

God is so good to us. I don’t know why I get surprised when God blesses us or answers certain prayers. He is a loving father and just as I like to surprise or treat my daughter well, my God is a perfect parent and knows what we need and want.

We had an amazing time at the Fall  meeting of the World Baptist fellowship. We loved getting to see our mission family again. We were able to meet more members of our family too and making new memories. We were also able to book some new appointments with churches (praise the Lord). First Baptist Church of Canton Michigan hosted it and was so gracious to us. The food they provided was so good too. SouthPointe Baptist Church in Jacksonville Florida mailed a lot of goodies too for the missionaries and would like to thank their members as well. It may not excite you but I got some large baking pans I can use at the camp in Mexico 😊.

We also got to finally meet the ones that started the camp in Mexico all those years ago (Roman and Betty Alvarez and Marty and Jesse Starling). We had a good time visiting with these special servants. God answered a prayer and worked out our housing arrangements for when we move to Mexico and we are so thankful to Pastor and Mrs Alvarez for that blessing.

We heard great sermons those 3 days and were challenged in so many ways. I’ve been challenged not to pray for safety but to pray for boldness like the early disciples and Paul.

As I was able to view some of God’s amazing, beautiful, powerful creation this week, it brings to mind how beautiful the garden of Eden must have been and how amazingly glorious heaven will be!

Thanks for the prayers and continue to pray for us on deputation.

We had a great week at the mission conference in Chickasha Oklahoma at Maranatha Baptist Church. Such a sweet church with a giant heart for missions. We felt so at home there. It was our first mission conference to ever attend and we had a wonderful time. And what good cooks too!  We heard great preaching from Joey Bacon (mission director of WBF) and enjoyed getting to know fellow missionary Todd DeWitt.  

We had a praise this week too having new church support show up on our month end report from the mission office. What a surprise and blessing. God is good!

Please continue to pray for us as we are on deputation trying to schedule churches to share our ministry/burden and for traveling/safety. We did hit a deer leaving an evening service in Oklahoma (on my birthday) but no one was hurt and the the deer was gone when we turned around. Car had to have some body work but wasn’t too bad. 

God is good all the time.  

We enjoyed our time at mission training the end of July thru the first of August. We learned a lot and made a lot of new friends we now consider to be family through the World Baptist Fellowship.

We have presented in August at 2 churches and have been blessed so far by the experience. We hope to start filling our calendar soon with more churches to share our ministry burden. We got our new prayer cards in to start passing out too.

We did a Small mission trip to the camp/ranch in Mexico during the Labor Day weekend. We left Thursday at 9pm and Lord willing we are getting home today about 8pm.

Live for the applause of the nail scarred hands. 

“Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.” 1 Peter 5:7 KJV

God is so good to us. His grace is never-ending.  Sorry I haven’t posted in a while. It’s been a busy summer. I’m Still packing up and sorting our belongings. I’ve collected a lot of stuff (junk) in our 28 years of marriage and we’ve lived in the same house 20+years. I’ve had a couple garage sales and waiting for it to cool off to have the final big sale. We did get our camper sold and some big furniture items gone. And I’m in the process of trying to remodel our house so we can rent it. It’s been a lot of work and I’m definitely working harder at home than when I had a “real” job (one that I had to leave the house). 

Things have come together for our ministry presentation- Our mission video is finished and prayer cards available. We presented our ministry once at our friends church this summer (they currently don’t support any missionaries but we hope after our presentation that they will decide to start supporting them). It was a great experience that Sunday. 

We are attending missionary training for a week and will end with a few days where we get to hang out with other missionaries. Then we should be ready to start full time deputation. So excited to see how God will continue to use us. I love getting to see Marty preach (it’s just amazing to see what God has already done). Marty has been able to preach a couple Wednesday nights at our church when our pastors have been gone to church camp with the kids.  

Please continue to pray for us and our ministry. I know God has already prepared the way and even chosen the ones that He will have support our ministry, we just have to be faithful to obey and go. 

“And they said, The Lord hath need of him.”  Luke 19:34 KJV

I’m a little behind on my updates.  Been a busy couple of months.  The mission trip went great during Spring Break 2018.  Victory Baptist churches from Paris and Seagoville went to the Camp at Huachichil Mexico and we had several first time mission trippers. We made some great friends and had an awesome trip.  It was great seeing hearts changed for missions but more importantly one from our group got saved on the trip!

My last day employed as a nurse practitioner at the family practice clinic was March 29 and since then I have been boxing up and sorting thru stuff at our home of 20+ years.  It’s been a big job to get done.  Marty has sold his truck and we are waiting to find the right one that does not weigh too much to be able to cross the border in Mexico.  Our camper is still for sale but I keep telling Marty that God is going to allow me to use it one more time for my favorite time of the year at the lake during Memorial Day.  Our church has so many activities during that weekend and we usually camp for over a week during that time and it’s my favorite time at the lake getting to visit with my church family.

We were able to go to the Hilltop Missions Conference April 22-25, 2018 and met with the World Baptist Fellowship Mission Agency board on that Monday and was announced on that Wednesday as new missionaries thru their STEP program! Short Term Evangelism Program (STEP) is a program that will sanction believers as Short Term Missionary Helpers allowing them to raise support, get proper orientation, and be united on the field with a host missionary.  And if that Wednesday wasn’t exciting enough, Marty also got to preach at our home church that night!  He did an awesome job and I couldn’t be prouder of him.  It is exciting to see God use him.

We finished our missions video that we will use on deputation to the churches.  We got our prayer cards in too.  And during the mission trip our pastor and his wife bought us some awesome items to use on our missions table.  It is all coming together.

May the 9th was our last service in with our youth.  I may have cried a couple times.  We had been back there with them for probably 8 years.  They got us a nice plaque and a cake.  We will miss being back there with them but it is time to start focusing on our next journey.  At least we still plan to go to camp with them in June.

We have both completed 5 courses from Arlington Baptist University (ABU) thru their RLI (Real Life Institute) distance education program and received our certificates of completion May 12, 2018 at the ABU graduation ceremony.  While there we were also able to see our pastor graduate with his Master’s degree.  It was a great day.

Please continue to pray for us.  The next step is to go thru the mission board training in July and start booking churches for our deputation to raise support for Mexico.

God is so good to us!

Michelle

The guys had a great work trip last month and got a lot accomplished in a short amount of time.  I uploaded pics in an album to our Facebook page. I haven’t figured an easy way to upload a large amount of photos to this website yet.

We leave this Friday for a mission trip to the camp in Mexico with our church and a church from Dallas that’s never been on a mission trip. We are excited to have so many first time trippers with us from our church as well as the other one. Pray for them and us. Satan likes to attack families when something important like a mission trip is coming up. Also pray that hearts will be opened here and in Mexico as we spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Marty and a group of guys leave tomorrow (Sunday, 2/18/18) afternoon for a work trip to the ranch/camp in Huachichil Mexico.   He is taking several first time mission trip travelers with him.  He is excited for the opportunity to take new people with him on this trip.

Please pray for safe travels and getting all the work done they have planned for the week.

Also pray for Marty as he will be getting to preach in Mexico on Wednesday 2/21/18 with Mike Starling as his translator.  He is so excited for this opportunity.

Y’all have a blessed week,

Michelle

We have submitted out preliminary application to the World Baptist Fellowship to become a WBF missionary.  God is in control and we are praying that is the organization He will have us become a part of.  No matter what the outcome we know God is in control 🙂

I have already given my notice at work (had to be a 4 month notice) and the letters have went out to my patients to let them know that I am closing my practice as of April 1, 2018. I announce our new journey/made it Facebook official on my “Michelle’s Journey” blog. And we recently posted our camper for sale on Craig’s list. So it’s getting “real”.

In April we will hopefully have a video put together and start our deputation (church to church) visits to spread the gospel (Good news of Jesus) and raise our financial support (to live on in Mexico).  It is very exciting (and scary) for us to step out on faith like He has called us to do – but I know he has never forsaken us and will not leave us hanging!

Philippians 4:6-7 King James Version (KJV)  ⁶ Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Matthew 28:20 King James Version (KJV)  ²⁰ Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Romans 8:28 King James Version (KJV)  ²⁸ And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Psalm 55:22 King James Version (KJV)  ²² Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

2 Timothy 1:7 King James Version (KJV)  ⁷ For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

Thanks for joining us!

“A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour rather than silver and gold.”  Proverbs 22:1 (KJV)

“And if it seem evil unto you to serve the Lord, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve theLord”.   Joshua 24:15 (KJV)