Last week's blog was one of those old fashion programs that ended on a cliffhanger and the words, "tune in next week;" therefore, this blog will start with an update about Osvaldo: After spending the whole day Monday at the big hospital 40 miles from here, they found out that he had a hairline fracture besides a deep cut at the bottom of his foot. They gave him more shots and a temporary soft cast, which he was supposed to keep on for two weeks. Well, he is evidently feeling much better because yesterday he showed up to church without the cast, which he took off himself and wearing flip-flops. We were all amazed that his parents had allowed it and told him that he can get an infection, but he won't listen. I guess the lesson did not sink in deep enough. He is the typical stubborn 14 year old.

Wednesday we had lunch with the pastor at our regular restaurant. It was sold last year, but the new owners have kept all the staff and the same menu. We are glad about that! After catching up with the pastor about a lot of things that went on while we were gone, he told us that he is planning to leave to start a new ministry by the end of the year. His denomination, Assemblies of God, want to open groups in unreached communities, and he and his wife are feeling the call. He says that he is going to pray about it during this year and work towards leaving this ministry in good hand and in good standing. We were surprised, but after Pastor D's messages on the book of Esther, we feel that the Lord might be moving the chess pieces around. Our prayer is for the Lord's leading on this, and for the ministry to be left at the care of the right couple. It has to be a couple, since the women in church really need a lot of Christian counseling.

Thursday we had dinner at Francisco and Luz's house. Osvaldo still had his cast on then. Both Luz and Francisco are having birthdays on the same day this week. They were not sure whether to have a party or a dinner for friends. She will probably call us on the day of the party. Luz is not attending church, which is of great concern for Francisco. She gives all kinds of excuses, but his prayer request is for her to fully commit to the Lord. None of the children are walking closely to the Lord, although Francisco takes the three younger ones to church every Sunday. We need to continue to pray for the whole family.

From left to right: John and I, Gardy and Paola,the  new couple, Luis and Irene, Randall and Arleth, Luz and Francisco. On the floor: the new couple's boy, Nazareth, the new couple's girl (yes, she is a natural red-head) Irene's nephew and Hernan, their son. Front: Yirardi

I told you that we showed The War Room on Sunday, but that I felt that the couples were distracted by Osvaldo's accident. Nevertheless, one of the women called me because she was so impacted by the movie that she wanted to talk to me. She came over Friday afternoon and stayed two and a half hours pouring her heart out. While I was waiting for her, I prayed Psalm 49:3 and also 1 Cor. 1:24-25. I wish I could tell you that the Lord gave me great pearls of wisdom, but mainly what I did was to listen and pray with her. Afterwards, I prepared of list of verses that she can use to pray for her "husband." She has lived with this man for 10 years. They both are growing in the Lord by leaps and bounds, but she feels that he doesn't want to get married, although they both know what the Bible says about that...stay tuned...

Saturday was our day to rest. We walked on the beach and had a quiet day home. Sunday we attended both groups: the Bible study here at the town near us, and John preached at the "big church" in the other town. As I was listening to John preach, I just praised the Lord for His mercies. John has come a long way in the 10 years of reluctant preaching that has been required of him. Last night we went back for the second couples' bible study. Since we felt that the movie presentation was rather disjointed, we started out with an open discussion about the movie and about any applications that they might had tried during the week. Well, they were really impacted about the movie, and some shared that they were changing the way they prayed. Francisco and Luz took the movie home to watch it with their family, since they did not get to see the whole thing, but Randall wants to borrow it also to show it at his house to a few other couples. So, I think that the Lord is going to use the movie to impact many lives here. We kind of tied the discussion to the new study that we are starting using The Hope Project videos. We are going to go from Genesis to the Gospels in about 6 sessions! The videos are excellent and narrated by native speakers, not dubbed. The really liked them. The video was very short, then we started with Genesis 1. We also had a new couple. Since some have dropped out for various reasons, Randall and Arleth brought a new couple. They are very nice and were very receptive, and the husband did all the dishes!! I told him he definitely needed to come back next week.

This morning we took the car for A/C service and all is well! PTL that we found and honest A/C expert! We also stopped by to say hello to our mechanic, even though we don't need service at the moment. It is the local way. You stop by and say hello and happy new year even though you don't need anything. It has taken us 10 years, but now we feel that we have technicians who are honest and reliable. It is a great blessing!

Prayer requests:

• For Osvaldo - may he heal and learn his lesson
• For the pastor and his wife as they seek the Lord's will
• For both church groups that they grow in their walk
• For the couples' bible study, specially for the new couple - that the seeds planted may bear fruit
• For our counseling and preaching - may the Lord continue to give us wisdom and insight
• For our family back home - may the Lord keep them all safe

That's all folks!...until next time...from the beach

Blown tires, Monkeys and Ministry

Wow! It is hard to choose how much to tell you! I should start with the blown tire: Last Saturday we went for our early morning walk on the beach. We usually drive to a parking lot inside the Hacienda and park. Coming back home we heard a strange noise on the back which turn out to be a blown tire. We thought we could make it home, since it is about a mile, but we couldn't. We pulled off to the side of the road almost in front of our condos. One of the workers here, a grounds supervisor who knows us and who is a Christian, stopped to help, but it turned out that he really did not know much about changing tires. I called Luis Carlos who came and helped. This is a picture of the tire:

There is a new service center nearby, so John called to make sure the had the right tires, and they did; unfortunately, most businesses close at noon on Saturday until Monday; therefore, we made an appointment for Monday. The place is just like an American service center with real appointments, air-conditioned waiting room and even a TV. We were impressed. We bought two tires.

Next day was our first Sunday here. We only went to the Bible study in our little town, since church is about four miles away and we have to cross a river. We did not want to risk it on the spare. We tried to go to the "Surfer restaurant" for a late breakfast/early lunch, but now they charge to park. It isn't worth it! So we went to another place on the beach which was very nice, but farther than we really wanted to go on the spare. Remember that we are traveling on dirt roads full of wholes. The place was beautiful, but I really do not want to drive that far for lunch.

Lunch by the beach. The couple with the baby are regular attenders at the bible study

Sunday night we had the first couples' meeting a Luis Carlos' house. John just shared a little bit about joy in the Lord. The gentleman who helped us with the tire came with his wife even though they live kind of far. He really liked the fellowship and might attend on occasions. The group decided to meet on Sundays.

I neglected to tell you that the soccer event scheduled for Saturday has been postponed for February 6th. Since the coach's team made it to the final four here, they had to attend a charity event for cancer on Saturday.
However, we had the short-term team from CIMA here since Tuesday. CIMA is an organization in Latin America similar to Urbana. Our friends Warry and Deborah whom we met as missionaries in Chile years ago are now heading the area of Central America for CIMA. The do a week long conference about missions and ministry for young people, but the add a practicum right after the conference; so they had different groups going to different places. One of the options was our little town. A group of 12 ended up signing up. The first group of 6 arrived Tuesday. They came by bus from the capital and stayed in the house that we rent from Luis Carlos for church meetings. The same house where the "sewing lady" stayed. She was gone by then, of course. The group did vacation bible school type of events for children, worked with the young people at the church in the other town, cooked their own meals and walked everywhere because the was no other type of transportation for them. We did not do anything, except welcoming and saying good-bye yesterday. They were from this country, but also from Nicaragua, El Salvador and Panama. Warry, Deborah and their two young daughters arrived Thursday to stay with us. Warry spoke in both churches yesterday, and the group did the music. One of the girls has a beautiful voice. Worship was very uplifting under their leading. The group left very much encouraged to follow up the Lord's leading in their lives. The young people in church are now encouraged to attend CIMA 2017.

The entire short-term team with us, Francisco and some of the local children in front of Luis and Irene's house

We had the couples' bible study last night. The first activity planned was watching the movie The War Room. Half way through the movie, a car drove up looking for Francisco (He and Luz got married a while back after 13 years of living together, remember?) It turned out that their 14 year old boy got on his uncle's motorcycle barefooted and without a helmet and was hit by another motorcycle. Luz was trembling like a leaf upon hearing the news. We prayed for them and John and Warry went with them in our car to drive them to the nearest emergency clinic, but the emergency clinic does not have an x-ray machine; so they brought him back home because today they had to go to a town one and a half hours from here to the nearest hospital (No doctors available on a Sunday at that time of night anyway). Luz was going to take him in the bus this morning. In the meantime, we finished watching the movie and had a short discussion afterwards; however, they were distracted due to the accident. They all stayed because they wanted cake and ice cream which I always serve last.  John and Warry got home about midnight. I just talked to Francisco. It is 1:40 pm on Monday here, but they are still at the hospital waiting to talk to the doctor about the x-rays.


And now about monkeys. We always hear and see monkeys around here, but they were in our yard the other day. This is the first time I get to take pictures from our own balcony:

Prayer requests:

• For Osvaldo, that he may learn his lesson to be careful and never to ride barefooted again
• Keep praying for Sergio and Bianka: reconciliation and forgiveness
• For the couples' bible study 
• For our safety, health and wisdom as we counsel
• For the upcoming soccer event on Feb. 6th
• For our family back home - may the Lord keep them all safe

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

First Days

Hi, Everybody!

Here we are, back at the beach. We had a great trip on Wednesday. The weather in San Diego did no affect our flight, since we left so early. We were delighted to have our friend Brenda traveling with us to Houston. What a blessing! Everything went smoothly, and we arrived here at about 9:30 pm local time. It is 90° here which is quite a shock to our system.

Yesterday was our first full day. We got up late, and went out after our traditional breakfast of pancakes and coffee. We always leave a box of pancake mix in the refrigerator and coffee in the freezer. The car started right away (PTL), and we went to the grocery store. Then we came back to put groceries away and unpack.

In the evening, two friends came over to say hello. Luis C and Sergio both work here, so they just came over after work. We asked them to stay for dinner. Luis C had to leave right after dinner, but Sergio stayed. He and his wife, both Christians, separated 14 months ago after only two years of marriage. We have been keeping in touch all these time with both of them. The situation is similar to the movie Fireproof. She has a new job and new friends now; therefore, she does not want to get back together any more. She did at the beginning, but she has changed a lot.
As you can see, we started counseling right away. Pray for this couple.

Today we spend a couple of hours in town, visiting friends, getting reacquainted. Our last stop was to Luis C's house. The church meets at a house they own also on the same property. It so happens that a missionary from Christ for the City, the "sewing lady," if you remember some of our very first blogs, is spending a few days there and staying in that house. We were able to spend time talking. She really has a heart for this town because she came a lot at the beginning when we used to have the big events for the whole town. Women really open up to her. She wants to renew those relationships and wants to come three or four times a year. We certainly welcome her help. After praying for her, we came back home, drenched in sweat (no air conditioning in town) and tired.

Tomorrow we will go to Luis C's house for dinner with a few couples. Most of the couples we had the bible study with are gone. Some left town, others are separated. We really have not done very well as marriage counselors! Luis C and Radall say that we will start over with new couples. Anyway, we are open to what the Lord wants.

Prayer requests:

• Keep our family back home in your prayers
• Health and safety for us
• Pray for Sergio and Bianka - for Bianka to change so that they can reconcile
• Pray for Damaris, the sewing lady
• Pray for the couples in the Bible study - that the Lord will show us his will for this outreach

• 

  Same tree - just want you to see what it looks like from our balcony

  
  

  

  We are not exactly roughing it here
  
  

  
  

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