Second Couples Meeting

I apologize for not writing much this past week. I trust that all of you moms had a great Mothers' Day. I heard from both my sons, which is pretty good for them. We still don't know when our car is going to be ready or how much it is going to be. All we know is that it isn't as bad as originally thought. We only have a week left, but it doesn't look like it is going to be ready.

We spent a lot of time planning the second couples meeting. Our friend suggested pizza from Pizza Hut. He called them and told us that there was a good special. We thought that the price was good, We only had to call an hour in advance. Well, on Saturday afternoon we called to find out that they could not deliver here. I couldn't believe it. We went back and forth and thought about it. They told us that they could go as far as the edge of town (the entrance of the Hacienda is only 5 minutes from there by car). It is interesting how business is conducted in third world countries, but it is what it is. We agreed to meet the delivery man in the parking lot of a big appliance store at the edge of town at 6:00 pm. We went first to our friend's home where the meeting was going to take place with all the equipment because we had to get it set up before dark; otherwise we can´t see all the plugs! (It gets dark here at 6:00) As we were doing that, it started to rain, but it didn't rain for very long. Remember that we have these meetings on the front porch of his house. We left everything ready and drove back to meet the pizza delivery man. The manager called us twice to make sure that we really wanted six pizzas and that we really were going to meet them at Gollo's Appliances. Our friend's second son wanted to come along for the ride. He couldn't wait to eat all that pizza, but of course, he had to wait a long time for it.

When we got back to the house, there were already some people waiting for us. We had a total of seven couples, but not exactly the same seven as last week. We had pizza, played a romantic Bingo game that I did in the computer, watched a clip from last week's movie, and then sat around in a circle and talked about resolving conflicts in the marriage. The subject of respect came up, and one man said, "If the wife doesn't show respect for her husband it is because she doesn't love him." Wow, I could have planted that comment, but he said it on his own. That is straight out of Ephesians 5:33. I made sure that all the girls heard that comment, then we talked about what respect meant. We had such a good discussion! We also talked about why so many of the men in town drink excessively. They said it is because there isn't anything else to do. There is a culture of drinking here that is harmful in many ways. One of the guys, not a Christian, said, "If you tell the town that there is going to be a dance, everybody shows up, but if you tell them there will be a meeting with Bibles, nobody wants to come." Interesting! I think this group is very open. The one Christian couple in the group doesn't have a good testimony because they fight a lot. I am praying that the Lord works on the wife because it is her sharp tongue that causes trouble.

Last night John preached in church. There were five people in attendance besides the pastor, his wife, and John and I. John talked about what does it mean to really believe. The people in town need to really believe in order for them to come to Christ,  He will preach again next week, in the morning in one town, and in the evening in our town. We were also invited to a baby's christening, pretty far from here on Saturday morning. Pray for our witness and traveling mercies!

We are going out tonight with a very nice American couple who also owns a condo here, but doesn't live here full time. We always go out at least once when we happen to be here at the same time. They volunteer for the Gideons. Tomorrow the two missionaries from Christ for the City come to stay with us, as they do every week when we are here. The pastor invited the four of us to his house for lunch tomorrow. It is on a beautiful beach. I will take pictures to share with you.

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