Tap & Denise Hornor & family

Tap and Denise are missionaries to Mexico. Members of Trinity Bible Church for many years, the Horners and their three sons moved to Mexico to minister in a small town. Now the sons are college-aged and split their time between Bob Jones University and their parents' work.

Mexico, the United States' neighbor to the south, is rich in culture and color. A federal republic, it's government is similar to the United States with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Mexico is actually made up of 31 separate states that vary in economic and cultural backgrounds.

http://www.tdhornor.com

Area:
761,600 square miles

Population:
98, 552,776 (1998 est)

Major Religion:
Roman Catholicism 97% Protestant 3%

Official Language:
Spanish, Indian languages

Ethnicities:
Mestizo (Indian-Spanish 60%, Amerindian 30%, Caucasian 9%, other 1%

Literacy Rate: 87%

February, 2005

Greetings from cool and rainy Sinaloa! This weather is a bit of a surprise, but the rain is always welcome. We had a great Christmas as we had good attendances for the Christmas program and the meal on the following evening. Everyone enjoyed seeing our church people sing as families — many sang for the first time up front in public!  

We want to thank you all for your Christmas cards, letters, and emails sent to us over the holidays. It was great having our three sons and Katie home. The time flew and they returned all too quickly to the tasks that the Lord has for them at this stage in their lives. Paul had a good amount that needed to be paid on his school account before he could return to school. The December giving provided enough to cover, but wouldn’t have left us much to live on the rest of the month. Tap called the school and Paul’s loan was reduced by $1000! We were so happy, relieved and thankful for the Lord’s provision.

We have been excited and encouraged by increased attendance in January. The youth group has doubled in size! We will be adding an adult Sunday school hour this month.

We have seen several answers to your prayers since our last update. Pablo’s hand has healed well. He is the sixth grader who got his fingers caught in a blender a few months ago. He now shakes hands normally as for a while was greeting everyone with his left hand. He recently told us that he wants to be baptized!

Our vans seem to be in good working order now. The Lord provided the funds to rebuild the engine in our ’94 Dodge van. We took the Suburban in for a much needed tune up as Tap wants to use it to take the youth from Alhuey and Guasave down for a teen activity next Friday night and all day Saturday.

Denise and Aydee have started two Bible studies. We are offering evangelistic Bible studies to those who haven’t made a profession or seem too timid to attend our services.

Tap and Katie had their first deputational meeting at their home church, last Sunday night, Jan. 30. They have a second meeting this Sunday night in NC at Katie’s parent’s church. We are also very happy and excited to announce that Katie is expecting their first child and is due around Sept. 6, 2005.

Brian feels it is not the Lord’s will that he accept a Graduate Assistantship at Bob Jones for 2 years, so he will be going through graduate school the conventional way—working and living off campus. Pray for him as he and a friend look for a place to live and jobs. Brian will be graduating on May 7, 2005 and we’ll be there for that happy occasion. We also want to take April and May to visit some new churches and visit a few supporting churches and our families.  

We were recently informed by our mission director, Dr. Richard Mercado, that the Lord has provided a replacement for him as director of the mission. Dr. David Shumate from Greenville, SC will be starting to train under Dr. Mercado and in the Lord’s timing take over as director. We were happy to learn that as Tap knows Dr. Shumate and feels he will do a great job in that ministry.

Thank you for your prayers and financial support. You all are very encouraging to us, just knowing that you are back home and praying. We hope to see many of you when we are in the States in a few months. We wish we could see you all, but time won’t permit us to this trip.

Praises:

Tap and Katie — expectant parents, beginning of deputation
Lord’s provision for Paul’s school bill
Good church attendance and youth interest
Lord’s provision of a new director for MGMI

Prayer Requests:
February 13 Valentine Banquet and showing of a film on marriage
Meetings in US during April-May
Brian as he looks for job(s) and place to live for the summer and beyond

Redeeming the Time,  Tap and Denise          

"Blessed be the LORD, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our Salvation."

HOLA FROM THE HORNORS
November 2004

Psalm 121 begins: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills." We did just that last week-- we saw the beautiful hills of northern California while we participated in the 16th annual missions conference of four fundamental Baptist churches in the San Francisco area! We were also able to see some fall color, absolutely beautiful, and one of the things we miss about fall.

We thank the Lord for His care and guidance in our trip to CA and back. We left Alhuey on Tuesday Nov. 2 about 11:30 am and about an hour and a half from home our van started to experience problems, it was overheating. We kept adding water but couldn't tell how or why the water was being used so quickly. The problem slowly got worse and we were forced to leave it in Obregon, four hours to the north of us. We called the Bible Institute in Hermosillo and they gave us the name of one of the student's parents who who quickly came to our rescue. They helped us empty the van and took us to the bus station. Then they made arrangements to pull the car to their home for safe keeping. We arrived in Phoenix the next day around 8:30 pm Wednesday night and flew out on Thursday for CA. We are very grateful that Mexico has very good and widely accessible
bus service.

We were able to spend two nights with Denise's cousin and his wife in Yuba City before the conference began. Mindie has two horses, so Denise enjoyed riding their horses. From there we returned to the airport area where we were picked up by Tony Perez, a member of Pastor Brent Snow's church. He is a Filipino and Denise enjoyed recounting her two months spent in the Philippines during the summer of 1976. She also sang the only children's song she learned in Tagalog. Tony said it gave him goose bumps to listen to her sing the song. We stayed with Tony, wife Letty, and son Troy the whole time we were part of the missions conference. Tony let us use one of his cars, so we had mobility to drive to the four churches, which were within forty minutes of his house. It worked out well and we enjoyed meeting the pastors and their church families. We hope and pray that all were blessed by the four-night missions conference.

It was great to see Diana and Radames on our return trip. We left Phoenix on Thursday, Nov. 11 around noon and arrived home Saturday morning at 8:30 am. We traveled by bus all night so that we could have some time on Saturday to unpack and get ready for Sunday. Our church families were faithful in attendance and high in spirits during our absence, for which we are very thankful. The testimonies were fresh and vibrant. The heart of the pastor was really encouraged! The Thursday before we returned, 11th, was a difficult day for many. We'll mention those prayer requests in a moment. Satan was working overtime that day, but thank the Lord it wasn't any worse than it was. We thank Him for His protection and goodness to all of us. Faith was strengthened in everyone. We went to Navolato in the afternoon to attend the final service of a confe-rence at a sister church. Dr. Spence, president of Foundations Bible College in North Carolina, preached a good message. There were 23 of us from Alhuey and Guasave and we used three vehicles to get everyone there.

We will be seeing Tap and Katie, the newest members of Mission Gospel Ministries International, in Hermosillo Nov. 29 and 30 during our annual missions business meeting. Then we hope to pull our van back home. We think it blew a head gasket, and prefer to have someone we know close to home, fix the van.

Brian and Paul stay busy with schoolwork, their weekend ministries, and this week is Cyrano, a Shakespeare play, where they work stage crew, behind the scenes. Brian and Paul will be arriving home, Lord willing, on Dec. 17 or early the 18th. Tap and Katie will arrive in Los Mochis on Dec. 22, so we are counting the days until all arrive home for Christmas!!! Diana and Radames will also be here, so everyone will have a great time together and as usual, it will fly by all too quickly.

Praises:
1. For our safe trip to CA and back.

2. For the privilege to get to know four pastors and their congregations and to share with them our ministry in Sinaloa.

3. The van broke down in Obregon, where we knew of a family, and not out in the middle of nowhere.

Prayer Requests:
1. Last Thurs., Nov. 11, Pablo, sixth grade, got his right hand caught in a blender. He lost one entire finger, part of another one, and broke the remaining two. His thumb was unhurt. Pablo is left handed. Pray for him as he heals and as he adjusts.

2. Griselda, was diagnosed with uterine cancer and was operated on last Thursday and had her uterus removed. Pray for her as she recovers. She was in a lot of pain. She is unsaved, although she has heard the Gospel numerous times. Pray for her salvation.

3. Brian has applied for a Graduate Assistantship at BJU for the first two years of his schooling in seminary. He would attend classes part-time and work part-time for the school in exchange for housing and meals. He is praying for a nine months job so that he could still work for his Uncle Dennis in the summers and come home during Christmas. So far he has been interviewed for twelve month jobs. He wants the Lord's will to be done.

4. Cesar and Gerardo are still looking for full time work.

5. Tap is currently serving as chaplain to the Mexican professional baseball team in Guasave, until the end of the season in January. He is able to hold weekly devotionals with the home team and with visitors. He doesn't have much time, ten to fifteen minutes. There are several U.S. players on the team and so Tap translates the challenge into English. He's trying to train one of the men from Guasave to help with this ministry.

Redeeming the Time,

Tap and Denise Hornor

"See, then, that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise but understanding what the

Sept 2004
Dear friends and family,

Our last update was between Vacation Bible School's. We finished the VBS in Alhuey on July 17 and started the VBS in Guasave on July 27. Brian and the youth were in charge of planning all aspects of the VBS and we feel they did a great job! Brian was not with us for the VBS in Guasave, but we used the same program. Between both VBS's about 25 made their own professions to receive  the Lord. In Alhuey we have a new family attending reguarly now as a result of post-VBS visitation. We have seen even more lasting results in Guasave. Two children showed up early this past Tuesday night in Guasave for the service. Luis had attended VBS, but his four year old sister had not. Also Martin came for the first time since attending VBS, so we are very happy to see these children come. With great anticpation we are pressing ahead in going house to house following these contacts.

It's back to school everywhere! Diana and Radames have begun their final year and third year's respectively. Brian and Paul also with Brian in his last year and Paul as a second semester junior. The Lord continues to meet their needs--spiritually, emotionally, and financially, we thank Him for each of these young people as they prepare to serve the Lord in full time Christian service.

One of the aspects of the ministry that I (Tap) like very much is the opportunity to
work side by side with young people. This morning, Carlos and Raul, nine and eight years old respectively, came to help me work at the church. They mowed the grass while I kept busy nearby. Another boy came by and he wanted to help too! In the majority of homes, even Christian homes, the youth are not being taught how to work. Working together provides so many teachable moments.

Through the summer we have had many visitors come to our services, but so many seem hesitant to make decisions for salvation. I can tell our people get discouraged at times and, honestly, so do we. Nevertheless, we desire to remain faithful and continue to cast the seed of the Gospel wherever we go. Pray for our people, our town, your missionaries, Tap and Denise.

We have been able to finally get a new web page online. You can visit our site at: http://www.tdhornor.com. By no means is the site finished and we will be adding to it, keeping it current. I especially like to maintain the apologetics page and hope to attract visitors through the message board and/or email.

We have a major answer to prayer! Last weekend we were informed that a person would be sending the mission a check that would help us pay off our house. With a little addition from us, we will be paying off the amount in full as soon as we can withdraw all the money. We thank the Lord for this provision!

We hope to hear from many of you as you visit the web page. Thank you for your prayers and financial support. We are honored to serve the Lord in your name.

Prayer Requests:
1.  Sunday: 10 AM service in Alhuey; 2 PM in Guasave; 6 PM in Alhuey
2.  Monday: our day off -- prayer for our own walk with the Lord
3. Tuesday: visitation and evening service in Guasave
4. Wednesday: every 2 wks. ladies meetings and more visitation
5.  Thursday: evening service in Alhuey
6.  Friday: youth and youth meeting
7.  Saturday: men and men's prayer time, 7 AM; visitation at 10 AM  

Until the next Hola . . .,

Tap and Denise Hornor

"See, then, that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is." Eph. 5:15-17

August 5, 2004

It was great hearing from you this past Tues. Tap and I are doing fine. We miss Brian. He was such a big help and it was great having him around. We had our 2nd VBS in Guasave, we started the day after Brian left home. This was the first one in our new location and we had a good turnout. On Tues. night, that's our mid-week service up there, we had 8 kids come to the service!! We were very happy and pleased. I normally have the small children during the message, but we will start another class for the other kids, up to age 12 or so.

After both VBS's and the traveling, etc. we were tired. We are still recuperating! :-)  Just not as young as we once were, I guess.

We have been enjoying our muggy, but rainy weather the past 2 wks. or so. It has been an unusual summer in that regard. After Brian arrived in OH he got a cold. With his traveling, flight, and much cooler weather there, it got to him. Sometimes it goes to his lungs and this is one of those times. Paul has written that he's wheezy, so he's taking medicine for that. Brian seems to do better in the hot weather, asthma and/or bronchial wise.

Soon after Brian got home I was looking at the TBC, March, 1991 Wilds family retreat home video that we had made. It was so neat seeing the boys when they were younger! I want to look to see if we have anymore home family type videos and then we'll all watch them when everyone is here in Dec. That will be fun and I'm sure we'll have some good laughs.

Tell everyone hi for us at Trinity. We think of you all often. I saw the Thurs. pictures of VBS on the website. I didn't know any of the kids, but knew a sprinkling of adults. Looks like there were a lot of kids, a great turnout and looks like all had a great time too. I think the adults enjoy it just as much or more than the kids!
Love,
Denise

Mon, 26 Jul 2004
Mission Gospel Ministries Int.
HOLA FROM THE HORNORS
P. O. Box 2404
Phoenix, AZ 85002                    

Sinaloa, Mexico  JULY 2004

Dear friends and family,   

It is so hot and muggy outside, the best thing for me to do is sit here and bring you up to date. We’ve received our first rains of the season for which we are grateful. We are also grateful for air conditioners!

We are especially grateful for each and every one of you who pray for us and who support the ministry in Alhuey and Guasave. Our people regularly thank the Lord for you and your giving that allows us to minister to them and to take the gospel to so many who have not yet heard the Good News!

We finished our week of VBS in Alhuey with 71 children attending (49 best single day see below). During the invitation 18 children indicated they wanted to be saved and they were given the opportunity to pray to receive the Lord! The youth did the bulk of the work gaining a lot of experience. We are very proud of them. We had 41 children return to church on Sunday morning for the final day of VBS. Right now we are visiting the homes of each child and it still amazes me to hear the parents tell me that they are hearing a clear presentation of the Gospel for the first time! Most say the cults have already talked to them. How great is the need!

Starting on Tuesday, July 27 we will run the same VBS program in Guasave.

This will be our first VBS in the new area of the church. PRAY FOR

THIS OUTREACH: July 27 – 31, 6:00 -8:30 PM. Some of the youth from Alhuey will help a combined team of adult/youth workers from Guasave.Within the last three weeks we participated in two funeral services. Friends of ours, though not church members, asked us to help with the funeral service of their 89-year old mother who was a believer (I had just visited with her four days before she died) and the other man was unsaved, but the father of one of our church families. We were able to preach to more than 200 people, the majority were friends and family that we have been witnessing to for several years.

Brian leaves by bus for Phoenix tonight at 7 PM. He will fly to Ohio on Wed. and finish his summer working for Denise’s brother before he starts his senior year at Bob Jones University. Everyone will miss him, but all the boys (Katie too!) are planning on coming home for Christmas.

Until next month . . .

Prayer Requests:

1. This week’s Vacation Bible School in Guasave
2. Follow up from last weeks' VBS in Alhuey
3. Youth Camp, August 9 – 14
4. For victory over fear of rejection and failure regarding personal evangelism; more participation among adults.
5. Salvation of: Ricardo, Francisco & Isabel, Gualberto & Loida, Israel, Teodoro, and Florintino

Redeeming the time,

Tap and Denise Hornor

"See, then, that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore, be ye not unwise but understanding what thewill of the Lord is."

Eph. 5:15-17

VBS Alhuey 2004

VBS workers (left to right): Maeli, Diana, Abi, Brian, Rada, Karely