Good-Byes

All good things must come to an end! Here we are on our last day already. Today John shared in both churches, as usual, it was an interesting experience. It was so hot in the first church that he was drenched in sweat and was having trouble concentrating. Afterwards, we hugged every body and said our good-byes. It is always sad to leave. We got in the pastor's SUV to go to the next town, but the river had swollen to a point where we couldn't cross even with the SUV; therefore, we turned around, went back to church and got our own car because we had to go the long way. The other town is surrounded by dense wooded areas and two rivers. Pastor Alejandro called ahead and told the worship leader to start without us. They like to sing for about an hour anyway. By the time we got there, they were almost done with singing. John preached again the same message. This time it wasn't as hot because this church has no walls. There was a dog napping by the pulpit the whole time. I did not see any little boys going on the bushes, but I was seated towards the front this time.

The pastor invited us out to lunch. We had lunch in a nice restaurant by the water near his house. They had the Argentina-Mexico game on TV. There were fans for both teams, but they were having a good time. We were able to sit away from the fans so that we could have a conversation, but still keep an eye on the game. Again we encouraged the pastor and his wife for the good job that the Lord has allowed them to do in these two towns. As we were driving home from lunch we just praised God for all the blessings during this trip. We think that this has been the most successful trip so far.

Now we are home packing, washing clothes, cleaning out the refrigerator, etc. Tomorrow we will get up at 3:00 am to leave at 4:00 am for the airport, which is an hour away. We will get home at around 4:00 pm California time.

Until next time...From the beach

Last Events

Sharing at church

Saturday morning: a time to take a break and reflect on the last few days. John is out golfing in the rain, and the USA/Ghana match is not on yet. GO U-S-A! For those of you who still haven't caught soccer fever, I am talking about the World Cup. Life here stops every time there is an important match, and from now on, all matches are important.

Last time I mentioned that we would be very busy, and it has been. Thursday evening I was asked to share at the church Bible study. I led a study about the Christian walk based on Deut. 10:12. The little place was packed because the pastor had invited the other congregation in the town nearby to come. They came on the local bus. We did not start until they got there. They responded positively about the study. Being a teacher, I had hand outs that they could take home. Towards the end of my talk, an American walked in. The pastor turned to John, thinking that we had invited him, but actually, he is a guy who lives in town. Years ago we were passing invitations for one of our events and happened by his house, which he was building at the time, he yelled at us, "Are you lost?" He couldn't believe that they were Americans walking around this remote place. He is a Christian, but attends the local English-speaking congregation. He just saw that the church was having a meeting, and decided to drop by, and...there we were again! I hope he gets involved a little bit with our church because he speaks Spanish fluently. He was either an MK or an Army brat.

View from the event site

Now for the couples big event, as I mentioned before, we got to use a beautiful outdoor site reserved for weddings and special events, Well, our event is pretty special, don't you think? The Hacienda also provided free transportation from town. I really don't have refrigerator space and tools needed to prepare dinner for 22 people, including us, so I had to improvise a lot. Wednesday we went shopping for the ingredients. I bring the noodles from home because I can get better quality, but all the ingredients, except for ricotta cheese, can be found here; I used cottage cheese instead. Even that is not easy to find. I started cooking on Thursday. I made four pans of lasagna. That is the maximum amount that I can make here. Yesterday I prepared the salad and garlic bread, which John helped to butter. You ladies know that it is hard getting dinner ready for all those people, and I was doing it all by myself this time. Not only that, but everything needed to be loaded in the SUV and carted to where the event was going to take place. It wasn't very far, but still, it needed to be loaded and unloaded.



It started to rain early Thursday morning, not just a few drops, but a regular tropical downpour. We kept praying for nice weather in the afternoon. We specially wanted a beautiful sunset. We had an engagement for lunch, so I had done my hair with special care so that it would be nice for lunch and the event. At 3:30 our friend Luis, who works at the motel administration, and who is just an invaluable helper, ran our door bell. He had a truck with four tables and 24 chairs, table cloths, and Shafer warming pans (the professional kind with covers that they use in restaurants). We also loaded the rest of our equipment, including screen, projector, DVD player, sound systems, table decorations, dishes, table settings, Bibles, pencils, hand outs, and other stuff. It was pouring rain!! We got drenched just loading and unloading the stuff. You should have seen my hair!! It went wild! I have naturally curly hair, but the weather in California makes it straight. I go back to Cuban hair in this weather conditions. Only women with naturally curly hair can appreciate what I am talking about. My hair looked like a lion mane. It was very funny. We tried to set up the tables and decorations the best we could in the middle of the rain and the wind. We did not dare to set up the rest of the equipment, but we wanted the place to look a little festive when the couples got there. I drove home to put the lasagna in the oven, change, and try to do something with my hair: I put it in a pony tail. John stayed to welcome our guests when they arrived. All this time we were praying that the rain would stop on time. I kept hearing the Lord's words in my mind: "Oh, ye of little faith."

Tables set and ready to go, even though the wind kept knocking the decorations down

By the time John came back to help me with the food, the rain had stopped, of course. The couples were able to take advantage of the sunset and take a lot of romantic pictures. When we got back, they were starving, and we served dinner immediately. It all went very well. We had games after dinner, like the newlywed game. They really had a good time. Then, with help from the men, we set up the equipment, and we watched a video clip of the movie and had our discussion/Bible study, and time to be off by themselves discussing some of the questions as they apply to their own marriage. We actually finished 30 minutes ahead of schedule, so they helped to put everything away and had time to chat before the van came to take them all back to town. They genuinely enjoyed the evening and are willing to do it again when we come back in January. As we chatted waiting for the bus, one of the Christian couples announced that they are starting a Bible study at their home and invited some of the non-believers. They were asked: "what is that?" They replied: "Just what we have been doing, reading the Bible and learning together." Another very young couple, who are not married, but we did not know it, pulled me aside and told me that they had decided to get married because of the meetings. PTL! It had started again to rain a little bit by that time, and by the time we went to bed, it was pouring again. It just let up long enough for us to be able to have the event.


The entire group with John. You can see the place where we had dinner on the background.

Couples Bible study

John preaches in both churches tomorrow morning. I'll blog about it tomorrow afternoon. By the way, we just found out that we had four inches of rain last night, yet we had nice enough weather for our event!

Until next time...From the beach...

Getting Ready For Last Events

I haven't written anything lately because I was hoping for some news, but things are still more or less the same: car #1 is still at the capital and car #2 is being repaired. The latter would have been ready this weekend, but the parts were incorrect and had to be sent back. This is normal for this country. I think Cuban mechanics would make a killing here. They can fix anything.

Anyway, today we are cleaning closets and getting ready to shut down the place because the next few days will be hectic. Tomorrow the two missionaries will come to spend the night. They will arrive late afternoon and stay through early afternoon Wednesday. Thursday I am to lead a Bible study in church. I also have to start working on my lasagna for Friday evening. I will be cooking most of the day Thursday and Friday because I don't have the large pots I would need. Friday afternoon we are supposed to go out to lunch with some friends. I really did not want to do that, but it was the only time available.

Friday evening will be the big couples dinner event. The Hacienda has allowed us to use the location that they rent for weddings, right by the ocean. They will also provide tables, chairs, table cloths and Shaffer warming pans, and free transportation back and forth from town. They probably will throw in some other things; I am sure. We will have dinner and continue our discussions on getting along within our marriages. Sunday John will preach in both churches. We will return home early Monday morning.

Please pray for all these events. I don't know if I will have the chance to do some blogging in the next few days.

Until next time...From the beach

John's Birthday

It was John's birthday yesterday. I would have a lot of pictures to share, but, alas, I forgot the camera. Since it was Tuesday, Erika and Nichole, the missionaries came over during the afternoon. We had an early dinner and they left for their Tuesday meeting. Nichole brought a chocolate cake for John. We were all to meet at 8:00 pm at our friend's house behind Christ for the City. It was supposed to be a surprise party for John, but I told him; otherwise, he probably would not have wanted to drive out that late. It is extremely dark here once the sun sets. At least I kept the guest list as a surprise.

We set out in our little borrowed Nissan Stanza with one windshield wiper, but we did not even make it out of the Hacienda, which was a blessing, because the clutch went out. We were stuck a few yards away from the guard gate. We tried calling our friend where the party was, but he did not pick up his cell or his home phone. I guess they were all very busy with the getting the party started. We then called Nichole and told her our predicament. She, then, told everybody at the party our predicament. We had a flash light with us, so we walked to the guard gate. By the time we got there, our friend was already calling the guard gate. He works here also, so he has all the phone numbers. We can make phone calls here with our cell, but it is an international call for them to call us. Anyway, in a few minutes Nichole arrived with our friend. With the guard's help, they were able to push the car out of the way. I got the cake out, John locked the car, and we were on our way to the party.

All our friends from town were there, even the pastor and his wife came. It was a nice mix of Christians and non-Christians. We had B-B-Q chicken and sausages that are eaten here in a corn tortilla, very delicious. We also have fried green bananas with guacamole, refried black beans and pico de gallo, all very tasty. Then we had Nichole's chocolate cake. It was a very nice party. Pastor Alejandro had a very nice prayer of blessing at the end. We got home at 11:00. A lot of those people had to be at work at 6:00 am today, so it means a lot that they were willing to come for John's birthday. We came home in Nichole's car, since they were spending the night here anyway. I will post pictures as soon as our friends send us some.

And the car? A mechanic is taking a look to see what can be done. We give up! We are going to rent a car for the rest of the time here. Even if our own car gets fixed and we get it back before we leave, I think we are going to stick to the rental. We are a little tired of car problems.

Until next time...From the beach...

Ministry

On my last entry I asked you to pray for the events this weekend. Thank you for your prayers. The Lord blessed all the activities in unexpected ways, as usual.

Erika and Nichole, Christ for the City missionaries

Tuesday and Wednesday we had the two missionaries who work in our town every week staying with us. They normally stay at Christ for the City house, but the conditions are not very comfortable there; therefore, we always ask them over whenever we are in town. We had an early dinner and went to the Bible study they hold for teen-aged girls on Tuesday evenings. They have kids' club on Wednesday. They stayed with us both nights. On Thursday afternoon, we picked up the missionary sewing lady, Damaris, who was arriving from the capital by bus. It is about a five hour bus ride. We gave her the two boxes of donated sewing materials from the SALT ladies. It was like Christmas for her! Specially the bag of embroidering threads! (Thanks, Rory) With a portion of another cash donation received from a person in our church, she had bought embroidering fabric for a project to do during our outreach in the neighboring town. I had told her over the phone about the threads, and she was smiling from ear to ear when she saw what the Lord had provided. She spent all day Friday getting the fabric and designs ready for Saturday, with help from the ladies from our town at Christ for the City. The rest of the materials donated will stay at Christ for the City until Damaris comes back. She will plan the projects according to what she knows she has here. She will come back in a few weeks after we are gone.

Friday evening we had the couples Bible study and pizza night, but before the event, we had to go pick up the missionary clown who was arriving by bus from the capital also. We left him at our condo with a pizza and took three pizzas to Christ for the City. We had to set up the projector, speakers and screen before the couples arrived. The ladies were still there sewing, so we all had to change the set up from sewing to movies. Damaris went across the street to a house to finish getting the materials ready for Saturday. All the couples who came to the first meeting returned, plus a new couple.We used a clip from Fireproof to talk about love and respect. We had Bibles for everybody and told them that we were using biblical principles to guide our discussion. We had such a great time of dialoguing with the couples! The session went far beyond our expectations. We provided the couples with an opportunity to go off by themselves and talk about some of the issues. This went well also. The whole thing took about two hours.

Saturday morning we rested for the afternoon event. We packed all the equipment again and headed for the neighboring town, which is smaller that ours, at about two o'clock. Only about 40 families live there. Our little Nissan Stanza was full with DVD player and speakers, embroidering supplies, the clown's suitcase, water, cameras, etc. John and the clown were in front. Damaris and I on the back, but on the way there, we picked up Cassandra, the young girl from church, who was going to guide us, and one of the full-time missionaries, who was coming to help with the event, and who was also arriving by bus. There were six of us altogether in that little car, four in the back, no need to worry about seat-belts.

Getting the embroidery project ready

The event took place at the plaza, which is really a soccer field. All they have in this town is an elementary school and a soccer field. There are no stores, bars or churches. A group of ladies was already waiting for us under a tree. The clown actually had to go to somebody's house to put his make up on. Damaris quickly got the ladies who were there starting on the embroidery project. She had prepared pieces of fabric with designs that the ladies had helped her draw by hand the day before, the right amount of threads and a needle, all neatly folded for each woman. Some of the women did not know how to embroider, others did. We started to pair up late comers with those who had been instructed, or who knew how to embroider. The clown took the children to another shady spot and started to work. He is so good. He immediately had all the kids, and some of the men, laughing and participating. There is always a Bible story and an opportunity to accept Christ.

Audience participation

Damaris (red cap) instructing the first group

The women worked on their embroidery for over an hour, and then I shared about the Samaritan woman. I don't ask people to raise hands or come forward during these events, but I guided them into a prayer and invited them to attend church today (Sunday). The women from church had prepared sandwiches for everybody. This was a great help for us because in the past, we would bring everything. The idea was to feed them so that they would stay for the Jesus film as soon as it got dark enough to show it. We set up for the movie outside a house in front of the soccer field that has a long, narrow porch, but right before we were ready to start the movie, the power went out in the whole area. We waited about 20 minutes, but decided to dismantle everything before it was too dark to even see what we were doing. As we packed up and left, it started to rain hard, so maybe it was just as well. The Lord is in control. We all felt that we had an excellent time with great attendance from most of the town. The seed was planted. The Holy Spirit will give the fruit.

Isabel getting ready to share. Notice our white Stanza on the background.

The power was also out in the area where we live, but the condominiums have generators. I brought out all the left overs that we had in the refrigerator and had dinner. The two ladies, clown and us were very tired and went to bed right after dinner, besides, we had to get up at 5:00 am today so that they could all catch the 6:30 am bus that would take them to the big town with bus connections to their different destinations.

We are home from church now and ready for a nice, long nap. Until next time...form the beach...

John Preaching

We had to get up early Sunday to make it to church on time, since John was preaching. Church in our little town is supposed to start at 8:00 am. We picked up our friend who walks 45 minutes to church on our way. We got to church right at 8:00 o'clock sharp, but only Cassandra was there. She had already opened the church, swept and set up the chairs. Little by little, people started trickling in. Even the pastor was late, but he has to pick up quite a few people on his way. They quickly set up the instruments and started to play. I think we started at about 8:45. They are trying to start on time because the pastor has to go to the other town for a service there also.

After about 45 minutes of praising and singing on our feet, it was time for John to speak. He spoke on Psalm 139. While John was speaking, they took the instruments out one of the windows, loaded pastor's car and drove to the other town. After this service, we piled up in the pastor's SUV and went to the other town. We could not go in our little car because we had to cross two rivers and go up a rough road. (Please pray that our car gets fixed soon)

The other church is even humbler than the one in our town. I have told you that we have gaps on the walls, but at least we have walls! This little group meets in somebody's yard. They have six poles stuck in the dirt and have some tin sheets for cover, no walls. They have strung an electric wire from the house and have electricity for the instruments. They actually have better singers here. There are two young women who have very pretty voices. Everywhere we go in this country we find contemporary style worship. I think John's message was better the second time. Right during the service a little two-year-old boy needed to go to the bathroom. Grandma simply took him to the side, pull down his pants in the weeds, and he went. No bathroom, no walls, no fuss.

After the service, we all had chicken and rice, salad, a drink and home-made ice cream. I guess because some come from so far away, and the group is small, somebody cooks and they all contribute to the cost. I was concerned eating and especially drinking because it was well water, but we have not had any problems. Even in the poorest areas, these people are very clean. The pastor drove us back to our town to get our car, but he had to go back again to get his wife. As far as I can tell, he made at least three round way trips between the two towns. We gave rides to one young man and to the lady who walks 45 minutes. They have gone with us to give their support. The walking lady liked John's sermon so much that she asked for his notes, so he gave them to her. We finally got home at one in the afternoon.

Today we went back to the local clinic here because John's shoulder is really bothering him. She sent us to an orthopedic doctor one and a half hours away. She even called and made the appointment herself and did not charge us for the visit. This is the town past the airport where they have a Burger King and a Mc Donalds; therefore, we had a Whopper for lunch today. After lunch, we found the clinic without much difficulty. The doctor ordered X-rays, which were done right there. He also sent me to the pharmacy with a prescription for a cortisone shot while the x-rays were being taken. He told me that the pharmacy was "across the street," but it wasn't "across," and not even on the same street! I found the pharmacy, got the prescription, and a syringe, for nine dollars. I walked back to the clinic, and John got the shot. On our way home, we stopped by the German Bakery. I had a capuccino, John had a strawberry shake, but we shared a dessert. Yummie!! John now needs to rest his arm for 48 hours, so he can't play golf. Pray that he feels better soon.

Tomorrow the two missionaries from Christ for the City will spend the night with us, since we haven't had a chance to talk about the ministry yet. Friday we will have our first follow-up with the couples. Please pray that the six couples will come back and bring some friends. Saturday we are going to do an outreach event in the second town. The clown, the MAF missionary and the sewing instructor are all coming to help and are staying here. Please pray for all these activities.

Until next time...from the beach...

Couples Outreach

I just got back from my early morning walk. Today I saw a family of monkeys crossing the street. Mama monkey had a baby on her back. I also saw crabs and iguanas. It is truly lovely here. The grass is intensely green, birds are singing and flying everywhere, and there are beautiful orange butterflies!

Last night we had our first couples' meeting. We showed the movie Fireproof. Six couples attended, three believers and three non-believers. It went very well. We used our LCD projector and brand-new digital speakers with surround sound, with a white sheet for screen because we can't fit our screen in the little Nissan Stanza (with one windshield wiper) that we are driving. We met at the Christ for the City house. Our friend, who is the actual owner of the house and a non-believer, arranged for pizza to be delivered. Now, that was a production. There is actually a Pizza Hut in a town about 20 minutes from here, but when he asked for delivery, they did not want to do it because we are so far away. He was told to call again by four o'clock to talk to the manager. The manager agreed to make the delivery to our compound, which is a little closer and easier to find than our little town. We ended up waiting at the wrong gate for the delivery, but after calling Pizza Hut back, we finally connected with the delivery man. They deliver pizza here on motorcycles. The man apologized because he said the pizzas shifted in the boxes on account of the many ruts on the road. When I opened the boxes later on, I found the pizza stuck to the lids!

Any way, we had loaded our little car with DVD player, projector, speakers, cooler for drinks, cups, napkins, plates, sheet, tape, surge protector, mix for lemonade, ice, hand outs, and Raid for the bugs. Now we also had three large pizzas. We stopped on our way to pick up one of the couples who is also having car trouble. There seems to be an epidemic around here. The owners of the house actually live in another house right next door, so they had come earlier to clean. Everything was spotless. With all their help, we quickly hung the sheet and set up all the equipment. They have these huge Kamikaze bugs around here that like to land on your hair. I used a lot of Raid to take care of that. People were a little late arriving, so we started about 40 minutes late.

As an icebreaker, we read some humorous differences between men and women. We also had a prize for the couple who had been married the least amount of years. We had a soccer ball for the man and a make up bag for the woman. This was one of the Christian couples, but they are having marital problems. I am glad they won. Afterwards, they told me that their son wanted a soccer ball, but they could not afford one, so they had told them that he should wait until the Lord provided. Little did they know that the Lord would provide one the very next day! Pray for Susie and Alexander.

Following the movie, we had a brief discussion about the movie, what they liked and did not like, etc. They all said that they would like to attend the follow-up meetings. We will meet the next three Fridays. They took all the left over pizza and even the left over lemonade home. Nothing gets wasted in this culture. Everybody left shortly before ten o'clock. We are just praying that the Lord will bring back all the couples and He would use our efforts for His glory.

John is scheduled to preach at church on Sunday. Please pray for all these opportunities to share and that the Lord will use us for His glory.

Until next time...from the beach...

Revival

We are still overwhelmed by our experience last night! God works in mysterious and very unique ways around the world. The church invited a traveling evangelist from the Dominican Republic to do two events, one at the little town next door and one in our town. The event at our church was last night. We were a little prepared of what to expect because the pastor had called us during the day to make sure that we would be there. During the conversation he happened to mention that the preacher was a midget (no political correctness here). I also need to mention that the church is about 300 square feet, if that. They had brought all the sound equipment that they had, keyboard, batteries, two electric guitars, mixer and amplifier, three microphones, all for that tight space. They made up in volume what they lacked in harmony. A lady passed away next door over the weekend, and they were having a rosary. I don't think that they could hear each other pray next door. The pastor tried to make them turn down the volume out of respect for the people next door, but they did not turn it down that much. The lady who prayed for the offering did not sound like she was from around here. We asked her afterwards where she was from, and she said that from Nicaragua. Since she did not look like the typical Nicaraguan, I asked her if she was from Bluefields, and she said she was. (Bill, we finally meet somebody from there!)

There were about forty of us, half were outside on the porch, but, of course, they had no problem hearing everything. I wished we were outside, but we were sitting on the second row. It was extremely hot, and soon perspiration was running down my back. We sang for one hour, on our feet, and then it was time for the preacher. He said that people like him are either clowns or freaks in a circus, but he was being used for the glory of God. He preached for two hours on being in the desert. We all go through the desert, even Jesus, but the difference is on how we deal with it. Being from the Dominican Republic, he used a lot of baseball illustrations. He tried to make them clear because he knows this culture is not about baseball, but soccer; therefore, he put a "base" down and ran around the bases. Soon he was drenched in sweat. He also had another illustration using a chemical reaction. I have never seen chemistry used in a sermon. At the end, there were six decisions for the Lord, four adults and two boys.

I can safely say that this was the most unusual church experience that I have ever had. Tomorrow we are going back to church for their regular Thursday meeting, and I can't wait to hear their comments.

Until next time...from the beach...