David & Sherri Pryor Helping Plant Tribal Churches in Mexico 
When we arrived in Mexico over a year ago, we had 60% of the recommended support for this field (the minimum with which field leadership allows new missionaries to come). However, over the last year, with the downturn in the US/world economy, our support has fallen to only 45%.
As it is, we can make it on this amount of monthly support. But, it does mean that things are very tight. If we incur any unexpected expenses, such as car repairs or doctor visits, we’ll be in a bind. Not to mention the inability to acquire the things we really need to carry out our ministry.
Nevertheless, we praise the Lord for the challenges that we find before us. Although we never look forward to them, we know that they’re used of the Lord for our good (Romans 8:28).
2009 was a year of unusual expenses for our family. First, we traveled to Paraguay in June to take care of our possessions left in storage from when we were missionaries there.
Then there were some medical expenses we incurred at the end of the summer. Now that we’re both over 50 & haven’t had physicals in over 5 years, we wanted to get thoroughly checked out. Thankfully, no problems were found.
Finally, there was the expense of setting up a new household on a new field. We had to sell or give away almost all of our possessions in Paraguay, so it was like starting over again as newlyweds.
Now, with our savings depleted & finding ourselves operating on a tight monthly budget, we’re facing some major ministry expenses. Not to mention the need to see our monthly support increased.
It’s not usual for us to explain our family’s financial needs in such detail. But, we realize that if our friends, prayer partners & financial supporters don’t know what’s going on with us, they can’t pray as effectively for us or know how they might be of help to us.
Below are the most important prayer requests we have right now:
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Increased monthly support – Having only 45% of the recommended support puts significant restrictions on how effective we can be in ministry here in Mexico. Missionaries with New Tribes Mission are not salaried. We are individually responsible for our personal & ministry expenses, equipment (computers, vehicles, etc.), travel expenses (both on the field & for furlough time in the States), Social Security taxes, medical insurance, life insurance, emergency evacuation insurance & retirement. Thus, it’s very important that our monthly support commitments increase.
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New computer – We’re down to only 1 working laptop & 1 old tower with a fuzzy monitor (we bought the system for $25 from another missionary). With these hooked together in a home network we’re trying to home school Bethany & Matthew with our computer-based curriculum. However, when they’re both doing school of a morning, neither Sherri or David can use them – a hindrance to his Spanish study & her class preparation as a Spanish grammar teacher to the new missionaries here on the field.
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Vehicle - As David transitions over the next few months from Spanish study into his full-time ministry overseeing safety & security issues for the entire field of Mexico, he’ll need to start routinely visiting our tribal mission locations. Most of these are located in very rugged mountainous areas & are scattered across 5 different Mexican states. We’ll need a reliable 4×4 SUV or pickup to make these trips. We’re thinking it’ll be best to purchase the vehicle here. This will do away with the cost of importing it into Mexico, which can be quite expensive. In addition, buying one here will make it less conspicuous as a foreign vehicle, as well as, reduce the cost of insuring it.
Tags: computer, doctor, economy, Mexico, Praise Reports, Prayer Requests, vehicle