First Week

Tuesday morning we were greeted by locust of biblical proportions!

Some of you may have been wondering what happened to us, but everything is fine. We had the best trip here ever. Since we left on Monday, MLK holiday, we got to the airport very fast. From the time we left home to the time we were at the gate was just one hour. There were no lines anywhere at the airport. (Thanks, Bob for taking us!) Both planes left on time, and our driver was waiting for us here.  We arrived at our condo at about 10:30 pm local time.

Next day we found out that we had no Internet, no local cellular phone, and there was a leak in the kitchen. The leak got taken care of the same afternoon, but the technology challenges took a little longer. We ended up buying a new router and getting a new chip for our pre-paid phone under a different carrier. Today, one week after we arrived, we finally have the confirmed service on our phone and a way to recharge it through the Internet while we are back at the States. Everything takes longer here. We are not in the USA anymore!

Arelis and Evans trying out new shoes. They were too small! :(

Tuesday night we had our first visitors. Luis Carlos's brother was visiting from Colombia, so they came over for dinner because he was leaving on Thursday. Wednesday we went to see Eduardo and Arelis, just to say hi. They are willing to have a Bible study at their home again. We are starting tonight. Thursday we went to Francisco and Luz's house. They are having weekly meetings at their house. I offered to start teaching on 1 Thessalonians, since I have been following Beth Moore's study with my friends on Mondays (Hi, Ladies, I miss you!).

Eduardo, Arelis and Evans

Luz had gone to Honduras to visit her family, so she was not home on Thursday. Francisco told us that one of his sisters who lives in this country had had a motorcycle accident and was in ICU. He was going to go see her at the capital. On Sunday, he went to the Sunday morning Bible study, but he was very sad, since she had been disconnected from the breathing machines. We prayed for him and his family. Today he called John to let him know that she passed away yesterday at 3:20 pm. Her desire was to be buried in her native Nicaragua; therefore, Francisco is on his way to Nicaragua to be with his parents and to bury his sister. His sister was a believer, and so are his parents. In the mean time, Luz came back from Honduras (30 hours by bus), got home yesterday, found out about her sister-in-law and is on her way to Nicaragua, by bus again, to be with Francisco and his family. We promised to keep an eye on the children, all teenagers, who will be home alone for a few days. School is out at this time, since it is their summer vacation.

Since we had no activities scheduled for Friday, we had the whole day to watch the inauguration on CNN. We watched the whole day for 12 hours. I mentioned on my email that Carlos and Rosario were coming with a Cuban couple who live in Florida and are related to them by marriage. We had such a great time with them! Saturday night was the first couples meeting. We had 26. It was good to see them all. Rosario shared about a strong marriage based on Genesis 3. It was very good. Some of the couples promised to work on their marriage. We stayed very late afterwards just talking.

Sunday morning we just went to the one Bible study in our town. Carlos shared again about relationships based on Philippians 4. We spent a precious time of singing, praying and studying the Word. That's when we found out about that Francisco's sister had been disconnected from the machines and spent time with him in prayer.

After spending a couple of days with us observing the ministry, Carlos had a suggestion: he asked us if we were willing to present this ministry to his church, which is kind of a big church like EFCC, to see if the pastor and the Missions pastor were willing to help us out. We really need a pastoral couple who would live here permanently. Pray that the Lord will open doors and bring the right couple for this work, whether from that church, from Bolivia, or from some other place. We are opened to the Lord's leading on this.

Our company just left, the Internet is on, the pre-paid phone is active, so I now have time to write.

Prayer requests:

• Luis Carlos and Irene are having problems. Please pray for their relationship
• Pray for the right couple to come to take over this ministry
• Arelis and Paola, two believers, are not talking to each other. I need wisdom to intervene for reconciliation
• Pray for Francisco and his family in Nicaragua
• Pray for traveling mercies for Francisco and Luz, protection for their children while they are away
• Pray for our family back home
• Pray for our good health and safety

Thank you for praying!
Until next time...from the beach