Metropolitan Missionaries

Dear Friends,
June 20, 2008

We are grateful for your prayers.  God is using them
and your support is invaluable here.  God is using
your prayers in our lives and we are here in large
part through your love, encouragement and prayers.
Keep up the great work!  With love, Chuck, Karla and
kids (the Topp Six)

PRAISES - please thank God with us that:

1) there is a great attitude toward service that many
in church have - many volunteered to help with the
VBS, scheduled in late July.

2) there is stability in the church now after several
months of stress and conflict due to the departure of
a couple of families and differences in doctrine.

3) Alex and Liz Pantoja arrived in the US last week
to begin a three week course in preparation for their
acceptance with Turkish World Outreach (TWO) in the
Chicago area (Wheaton).  They then will travel to
Colorado to interview with personnel from that mission
agency.

4) the kids successfully finished their respective
grade levels in homeschooling (except Jonathan - he is
on a different school schedule).

5) our overall good health and stamina.  The Lord is
good - all the time!

6) several people in the church are growing and
serving - Gerardo and Monica (you have prayed for them
before), Ana, Clarita, Sergio, Miriam, and others.
They are being discipled by Chuck or Karla or both.

REQUESTS - please pray with us for:

1)  the VBS planned in late July (the 21st to the
25th), that people from the church would serve with
humility and passion, that many kids, youth and even
adults would make a heart decision to receive Jesus as
their Savior and the Lord would bring new contacts
into the church.

2) two kids clubs are planned for the week before the
church’s VBS (July 14th - 18th).  Please pray using
the same requests for the VBS in #1 above.

3)    Alex’s and Liz’s support and for safe travel in the
US.  They still need a considerable
amount of support before they can leave for long term
missionary service in Turkey.

4)    We are planning a road trip to Nicaragua in
mid-August.  Karla has not visited her home town
in nearly 25 years.  Please pray for safety in travel
(about a three day trip), that we would be an
excellent witness while there and for
emotional-spiritual preparation.

5)    God to raise up faithful men for service - men who
have a passion for Jesus Christ.

6)    Lord willing, Jonathan will participate in the
summer missionary program (his third year).  Please
pray he will grow in his faith, ability to share the
Gospel, disciple people (mostly children) and for safe
travel to various parts of central Mexico.

7)     Please pray the second part of 1 Timothy 4:12 for
us and for the church here in Ciudad Azteca.

The difference between a VBS and kids clubs is for us,
the size and place of these events. The VBS is on a
much bigger scale, about 150 kids attend and there is
much more participation from the church members and
the place of the VBS is where the church meets. The
two kids clubs are on a smaller scale, usually about
50 kids or less, there will be help from at least
three summer missionaries in doing the clubs and they
are usually done in a home or in a backyard (like a
backyard Bible club).

With the two clubs, they will be held in two different
church member’s homes about 30 minutes from Ciudad
Azteca, Mexico City (where we live). We are praying
they will be used of God to begin two new cell groups
which may, Lord willing, develop into two new church
plants in the future.

Jonathan and another young man from the church will
leave for summer missionaries this coming Friday. The
training will begin this Saturday and go until July
4th. On the 5th they will begin their ministry for
the next three weeks in different parts of central
Mexico, in different churches. Their experiences will
be varied and challenging. They will be teaching
mainly children but sometimes a youth or an adult also
is present. Pray God’s Word will do its work through
Jonathan and the other summer missionaries.

The summer missionary program finishes the 26th of
July. The summer missionaries will have their closing
ceremony that day.
With love,

Chuck and Karla Topp

 Dear Friends,

Thank you once more for the prayers and thanks you
offer God the Father on our behalf before the throne
of grace.  God is answering your prayers, although at
times it seems to be slow - from our perspective.  But
His timing is perfect.  Please use the praises and
requests below when praying for us.  Thank you and we
love you, Chuck, Karla and kids

PRAISES - please thank God with us for:

1) the stability in the church.  Since the difficult
times we had in Dec to Feb one family has returned to
the church and things seem more calm.  On a Sunday
recently we announced from the pulpit the changes that
had taken place, reasons why some had left the church
and a warning that some were being invited to attend a
church with false doctrine.  The church responded
well.

2) Alejandro Flores and his family have returned to
the church after an absence of about three months.  He
returned repentant and ready to work.  That is a big
help in the ministry and a big encouragement for us.

3) Our health - it has been good for the entire family
the past several months.

4) Gerardo and Monica Arzamendi are healing, growing
in Christ and serving well in the church.

5) David’s restoration is going well - he continues
responding well to God’s restoring work,  David is
working full time in a Wal-Mart in Mexico City and
learning many valuable lessons with regard to the use
of his time and money.

6) the women Karla is discipling (Clara, Ana, Adelina
and others) and for the men Chuck is discipling
(Sergio, Carlos T., Alejandro F. and others).

7) Alex and Liz Pantoja - Alex was recently given a US
visa and together with his family will visit the US
for interviews with a possible mission agency (Turkish
World Outreach).  Their support raising is going well
and we are trusting God for a departure date in July
or August of this year.

REQUESTS - please ask God for:

1) Jonathan - Lord willing, will take the SAT test
(college entrance test) this coming Saturday, the 3rd
of May here in Mexico City.  Please pray he’ll be
calm, not too nervous, confident in the Lord (he has
been practicing for about the past eight months) and
for clear thinking and good memory.

2) baptisms for the church that we will have this
coming Sunday, the 4th of May.  Please pray the church
will be encouraged, the six people to be baptized will
give an excellent testimony to our Savior and that God
would be glorified through all this!

3) the missions conference planned for the 24th and
the 25th of May.  Please pray that the church would be
encouraged toward missions, Adolfo, the conference
speaker from la Huasteca (where the church has taken
several missions trips), would encourage and challenge
us and for God to raise up at least two more people
for a commitment to become missionaries from the
church here.

4) the women Karla is discipling and the men Chuck is
discipling (mentioned above) that these people would
become more like Jesus in their character.

5) David’s continued positive response to restoration
and his healing and victory over sin.

6) Alex and Liz Pantoja - please pray they would be
able to raise their total support by the summer and be
able to leave for Turkey in July or August.  Also,
that they would have safe travel in Mexico as they
raise support and while in the US in June (Lord
willing).