Last Week - Wedding Day!!

Hello, Prayer Partners!

We had a wedding!

Wedding in a truck

I have to start on Friday. That's when I started making lasagna for 40 people. That took the entire day. Saturday I also needed to make a cake for the couples Bible study and a breakfast casserole for Sunday, since Carlos, Rosario, Luis and Patricia were spending the night. I had finished cooking and cleaning the kitchen, so I put some kitchen towels and other towels in the washing machine. We were upstairs when we heard a noise that sounded like there was an open faucet somewhere. We rushed downstairs and found laundry room, pantry and kitchen completely flooded. Quickly, we stopped the washing machine. As I was using the broom to push water out, John called our friend, Ricardo, who is a handy man. He came right away with his son. It turned out that the hose that drains the tub had come completely off and the tub was just draining unto the floor. They fixed it, and Ricardo helped me mop the floor. I was exhausted, but the day was not over, we had to go to the Bible study.

Some of the couples were late because they had to deaths in town last week. There was a funeral and a memorial service. Carlos and Rosario, with Luis and Patricia arrived before everybody else, even though they were coming from the capital. Everybody stayed until eleven o'clock, since it was the last meeting, nobody wanted to leave.

Sunday was a beautiful day. The weather was perfect for a wedding. John went to pick up the bride and her mother early, at 10:30 for hair and make-up. We had a hairstylist and a make up artist come to our condo. It took two hours to do hair for three of us and make up for the bride and her mother. Flowers also arrived early. Then chairs from the house where we have the meetings. Rosario brought decorations from the capital. She is very good at that kind of thing.

Bride

Bride and daughters

Bride and mother

The bride has three daughters. They were the wedding party. Her father could not get off work at the last minute and couldn't come, so her brother walked with her. We played the wedding march from YouTube. Also, Carlos brought two special songs. Luis officiated the religious ceremony, but his wife, the lawyer, was the one who actually married them under the laws of this country. The celebrated communion for the first time in their lives and as an act of togetherness as a couple. It was a very simple and nice ceremony, a good testimony for a lot of people, specially family members who are not believers.

Arleth and Randall were the witnesses

Before leaving, everybody helped to clean up and put the chairs back in Francisco's truck and Gardy's van. They are very good about helping out. Now everything is quiet. Everybody is gone. We will be leaving the day after tomorrow. We would have never imagined that we were going to have a wedding at our place on this trip! The Lord always surprises us.

Celebrating the Lord's supper

Tomorrow we will work on shutting down the place. We will leave on Tuesday morning.

Prayer requests:

• Pray for Walter and Yesenia - bless their marriage and that they continue to grow in the Lord
• Actually, pray for all the couples - that they may remain true to the Lord while we are gone
• Pray for traveling mercies for us

We praise the Lord that we have been healthy and for His work in people's hearts!

Thank you so much for keeping us in your prayers through this journey.

Both mothers

The entire group

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

Sixth Week-We bought a horse!

Video going to see the horse

We bought a horse! Actually, a one-year-old mare. The girls are excited. Click on the above link for a short video.

Princesa

We continue our schedule of home Bible studies and the couples Bible studies on Saturdays. Last Saturday it started to rain hard at the beginning of the meeting. Some of us were getting wet (we sit outside on the porch), so some of us went inside with our plates to eat, and some stayed outside. I was wondering how it was all going to work out for the study, not to mention the fact that we had to shout to hear each other over the rain, but it stopped raining as we were finishing eating, and we were able to conduct the Bible study and even celebrate Arleth's birthday with a piñata.

The cake said "Feliz Cumpleaños" but the lettering disappear!

Happy Birthday!

Ricardo doing the dishes

Last Friday we went shopping for a bridal dress. We went to the biggest town nearby. We parked the car on a side street and started walking (no malls), but couldn't find anything appropriate. The stores have very limited stock of dresses in general. John had the idea to call a friend who lives in that town, and he happened to be in town. He explained our dilemma. So our friend came over to where we were and took us in his car to the only shop that actually carries better dresses. We could have never found it, since it was located on a side street. We found a dress! We also went to another store and found dresses for Yesenia's three girls. We were very tired when we got home due to all the walking and the heat.

Today we had special visitors, Jim and Cheryl Early and their two children came over to have lunch. We took  them to the little village so they could see our reality. They actually got to meet some of the people

The wedding will take place on Sunday. I will make lasagna for 40 people. Cooking is not my gift, but catering is out of the question. Pray that my lasagna will turn out well. Carlos and Rosario, Luis and Patricia will arrive Saturday night. They will go straight to the couples Bible study, and then spend the night here. We will let you know how everything went next week.

Click on the link below to watch a typical traffic jam at the village:

Traffic jam on our way to church

Prayer requests:

• Pray for the wedding on Sunday: blessings and good weather
• For Walter and Yesenia - that they may keep the Lord at the center of their marriage
• Pray for all the couples to stay committed while we are gone
• Pray for a couple to come live here and take over the ministry
• Safety and traveling mercies
• For our family back home

Thank you for your prayers!

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