Third Week

The rains have arrived here! We wish we could take some of it with us to California!

We have settled into our routine here, morning walks, either on the beach or inside the Hacienda, depending on the tides, lunch, study, teach in the evening or visits. John gets to play golf a couple of times a week. I don't play golf, so I use those times to read.

Last weekend we had a family from the capital visiting us. They were missionaries for Christ for the City in Chile, and that is how we met. Now they are with another organization called MOVIDA. Their aim is to mobilize young people to serve the Lord. It is like Urbana, but in Spanish. This type of ministry is a better fit for them than Christ for the City. His job is to establish  the organization in Central America, so he is starting from scratch,but he already has made good contacts and found office space with another organization practically for free. They just have been in Costa Rica for three months. This is the couple who visited us in Escondido about three years ago. They have two delightful daughters. The girls had a great time staying here, and Warry preached in both churches on Sunday.

We have not been able to see Yirardi because the chicken pox. I think he should be well by tomorrow, but they are being extra careful with him. Keep praying for his health. Luz got back from Honduras, but we still have not seen her. They did not come to church last night. We are planning to visit them today if it doesn't rain too hard.

Tomorrow John will preach in both churches and we will have the couples Bible study tomorrow night. Pray for open hearts. Next week will be quiet, but the following week will be very busy with a short-term team from Omaha.

Our computer is fixed, but we still don't have it! Our friend left for Bolivia today, so I don't know if he managed to contact somebody to bring it to us. It is just the local way. Pura vida!

Prayer requests:

• For Yirardi to continue cancer-free and for him and his parents to open their hearts to Christ
• For Francisco and Luz and their family to commit themselves to Christ. Praise the Lord that Luz got home safely
• For Gardy and Paola to have a better testimony
• For the couples participating in the Bible study on Sundays. For lives changed through the knowledge of the Truth
• For wisdom as we teach and ministry to all these very dear people
• We praise the Lord for good health!

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

Faith and Fires

Our faith was tested last week. As many of you know because you lived it, there were nine fires around Escondido. We found out late Wednesday afternoon because we had been busy running errands, etc. Even as I was writing our first blog, some of you were trying to get hold of us. There was a notification from the Sheriff department in our email about the need to evacuate.We talked to our neighbor who offered to go to our house and get some things out for us, but, how do you explain where important things are? I just told them to get our wedding album from the garage because it was easy to find. He did that, made sure that our house was secured and evacuated.  I was teaching in church Thursday night; therefore, I had to concentrate and prepare. I kept thinking that if I really believe what I say I believe, then I had to trust God with the outcome, whatever that might be. The fire was in the local news here, so everybody knew about it. Many prayed for us. I just used our situation as an example of how we need to trust the Lord. We kept in touch with our neighbor, and finally we got an email from the Sheriff notifying us that it was safe to return home. Soon we heard from our neighbor that he was back and had checked our house. All was well. I thank the Lord for the firefighters, our good neighbors and for His protection.

John preached on Sunday in just one church, and he did and excellent job. He really spoke from the heart. The couples Bible study took place Sunday night. We were missing a few couples; for example, Francisco and Luz, the couple who got married last year because she went to Honduras to visit her parents. We see some backsliding there. Pray for them. Randall and Arleth, the parents of the boy with cancer, could not go because Yirardi, their son, came down with chickenpox. First Randall had it, then he got it. I am sure Arleth will get it also. Yirardi seems to be doing well with the illness. They rushed him to the doctor as soon as it started to show, but everything seems to be normal. I was disappointed that they could not be there since we are studying the Beatitudes, which is a very difficult subject, because Randall requested it last time. Another couple who are Christian also, did not go. They have a stormy marriage, and I suspect that there is trouble. They were in church Sunday morning, but they told us that they would not be attending Sunday night. Nevertheless, we had two new couples. They are Catholic, but participated in the discussion and seemed to enjoy the whole thing. We always have a game at the end and one of the new couples won. I was glad about that!

We got a new computer here with Windows 8, and I had been having a lot of issues with it. (Sonny, I need you! For instance, I couldn't find Office to open a new document. It is there because I could open old files. That was not the main problem, however. It kept telling me that I had no space in the hard disc, which is impossible, and on and on!)  I do not like Windows 8! Well,Windows 8 crashed! Our friend who sold us the computer came all the way from the capital, just to see what was wrong. He probably thought that I did not know what I was talking about because he said that Windows 8 is very stable. He should have reinstalled Windows 8, but he tried other things, and it crashed. He had to take it with him back to his shop because it is under warranty. The problem is that he is leaving for Bolivia this Saturday. He plans to fix it before he leaves and send it with our mutual friend who is coming on June 8th with the group from Omaha. How am I writing this? I have my faithful pink ACER which I decided to bring at the last minute because I was afraid that the new one would crash, since we were having all those problems before we left last time.

Our expats friends here are having serious health problems and are selling their condo to go back to the States. Medicare does not cover outside the US, and they might lose their international cover on their own insurance due to Obamacare. She is having serious heart problems. Actually her brother just passed away last year from the same disease. Please pray for them.

Our mechanic took the car to the DMV Tuesday for the annual check, but it needed some repairs, so he kept it, fixed it and took it back yesterday. It passed, and we finally got our car back yesterday afternoon. We tried to impress upon him the need to check the car BEFORE he takes it, but it is not the local way. He and his cousin are great guys and we are thankful to have found them.

Prayer requests:

• Pray for Francisco and Luz, that Luz gets back from Honduras (by bus) safely Protection for her oldest daughter who is being tempted by a man who is not a Christian and who is openly saying that he just wants to have her. Mary, their other daughter, is also backsliding. Well, they all are. Pray for the whole family.
• Pray for Gardy and Paola, Christians, for a better testimony in the town.
• Pray for Yirardi, that he will get over the chickenpox soon, without any complications.
• Pray for the couples Bible study, both new and old participants. Pray for lives being changed by His grace.
• Pray for Jerre and Mary, our friends here, dealing with health and financial issues.
• We praise the Lord for His protection during the fires!
• Pray for wisdom as we try to minister to all these people.

Thank you for your prayer support! Until next time...from the beach!

Your prayers were answered!

We made it! It was a long day. In order to save money, we opted for a five-hour layover at Houston, but, on top of that, our plane took off one hour late from Houston. We were all loaded and ready to go, but the door was still open. I thought they were waiting for a passenger with a late connection, since there is only one flight from Houston to our airport here on the Pacific side. After fifteen minutes or so, the flight attendant said, "Here he is!" It turned out to be the pilot! No wonder we couldn't take off! We lost our place in the take off cue, so we had to wait a long time on the tarmac. Finally, we were able to take off after an hour delay. Your prayers about healthy backs were answered because we were able to withstand the long day without back pain. Getting through customs was a breeze. They weren't checking any bags. I guess it was late, and everybody wanted to go home. They don't pay overtime in this country.

Today we had our traditional first morning breakfast of pancakes. I keep a box of pancake mix in the refrigerator here that only needs water. I leave butter in the freezer and syrup in the refrigerator. We need a lot of carbs to make it through the first morning. The place is in great shape. John saw that the garage had been swept, and the car started without any problems. It was so nice that he went next door to thank our neighbor who keeps it up for us. They are a Christian family from the capital, but they live here most of the time. They are such a blessings to us. After talking to the neighbor, we took off to run some errands and to the grocery store.

Our first stop was the mechanic. Our car needs to be taken every year in May to the local DMV for a complete check. In California you need a smog check, but here they check the entire car. We took it ourselves once, but after that experience, we decided that it is easier to pay somebody to do it for us.  We have found these cousins who run a shop next to their house. They are a blessing also. They are good and honest. They are so good that we did not have any issues with the car last time we were here, so we did not go by their shop. So Paul, one of the cousins,asked John how I was doing since last time he talked to him I had gone back to the US suddenly due to my mother's passing. I heard him asking, so I got out  and went to say hello to him. He told me how sorry he was to hear about my mom since he had not had the chance to give me his condolences. We told him that we had not come by because we did not have any car problems, and he told us that we should have stopped by just to say hello. It was a major faux pass on our part. We were thinking the American way, but the local way is to stop by and say hello to people even if you don't have any business to discuss. You would think that after ten years coming here we should have know better. OK, we have learned our lesson and will be more careful next time.

John is resting for a while now, and then in an hour or so we will start calling people and the fun will start!

Continue to pray for healthy backs and safety, open hearts and wisdom.

Our backyard from our balcony.

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