Sixth Week - Wedding Day!!

The big day was Saturday! We had a few glitches. The worse was that the wedding gown did not arrive. John and I did not know that the dress was coming from Colombia as a wedding present, and it was stuck in customs because it was part of a larger package. It arrived two weeks before the wedding, but it wasn't released. Packages from Colombia rise suspicions. Somebody had to take the bride to the big town by the airport on Friday to find an appropriate dress. They found a dark red dress that worked. I already mentioned on last year's blog how hard it was for us to find a dress for Yesenia. They got home at about 8:00 pm that night. The ring boy's outfit was also part of that package. Well, the wedding went on! That was the important thing. But now you know why the bride was wearing red while the groom was wearing white!

Carlos and Rosario, Luis, the pastor, and his wife, Patricia, the lawyer, arrived Friday afternoon. Rosario decorated the condo for us. She brought everything from the capital. Carlos brought the special music. I downloaded the wedding march and played it in our computer. It was a beautiful, but simple ceremony. I have explained before that they had to have a civil ceremony, usually done a few days before the religious ceremony, but since we had both a lawyer and a pastor, we did both ceremonies together, one after the other, first the civil ceremony, and then the Christian marriage. There were a lot of relatives who had never been to a Christian service. They were all impressed by the music, the preaching, and how meaningful everything was. Luis preached on Proverbs 3:5-6. He applied it to marriage in a very clear way. We are going to review it with Yúa and Diana before we leave, since we know that they won't remember much because they were so nervous.

Diana coming down the stairs

Yúa waiting for his bride

Civil ceremony

Pastor Luis preaching

Kiss!!

All the guests

We had a long talk with Carlos. He said that of all the things we have tried here, the Lord has blessed the couples' ministry the most. He told us to keep concentrating on that as long as we can, and then leave it to the Lord. We have been worrying too much about finding a couple to take over the ministry, but it is the Lord's. He will provide the workers just as he brought us to this place.

We only have two weeks left here! We will continue with Bible studies and counseling right up to two days before our departure.

Prayer requests:

• Pray for blessings for Yúa and Diana, that they will keep the Lord at the center of their home.
• Continue to pray for all these couples. Some of their marriages are still fragile
• Pray for good health for the final stretch
• Pray that both of our flights leave on time. We only have 90 minutes in Houston to go through immigration, custom, security, and get to our second flight. It is also the last flight out of Houston. If we miss it, we have to spend the night!

Thank you so much for your prayers. You are an important part of this ministry.

Until next time... From the beach...

Fifth Week - Valentine's Pizza Party

The schedule continues pretty much the same.

We celebrated Valentine's Day on Saturday with dinner at a pizza restaurant. We also talked about true love, using 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. It is important to keep it simple and to the point with this group. John and I made some cards with the verses printed in an easy version for each person. We brought a lot of chocolate candy from the States, mostly Christmas gifts that we saved. There were children in the group also, so they had a good time sampling the different types of chocolate candy. The new couple went to the pizza party and came over Monday night for counseling. They are sincerely trying to save their marriage.

As we were leaving for the restaurant, our clutch went out, and we had to call Gardy to come pick us up. They also took us to church Sunday morning. Gardy brought a mechanic Monday morning to get the car good enough to drive it to the mechanic shop. He has been a great help throughout the whole thing. John wanted to also do all the check up needed to get it ready for the DMV check in May. It has to be taken to a DMV site.  Randall will take it for us, so we need to leave it in good shape to pass. They do a thorough test of the whole car, not just emissions. Anyway, the car might be ready Wednesday (Emphasis on might). We had to cancel our Bible study tonight with Walter and Yesenia because they don't have transportation, so they can't come over. But Eduardo and Arelis will be able to come tomorrow night because they have a car.

Irene fell off her motorcycle and injured her leg; then her oldest son broke a leg in an unrelated accident. She had to hire a taxi to take him to the hospital. I will call her tonight. I really wish she would come and talk to me because she is not making wise choices.

The wedding is Saturday!!! Stay tuned!!!

Prayer requests:

• For the wedding, that the Lord be glorified
• For all the couples to work through challenges and stay close to the Lord
• For Irene to make wise choices
• Wisdom as we teach and counsel
• Safety - that the car will be fixed
• Protection from mosquito-related diseases and other insect bites
• For our family back home to remain safe

Until next time...From the beach...

Fourth Week: Counseling

We continue our weekly schedule of Bible studies and counseling. Except that now we have a new couple, not part of the Bible studies, that wanted counseling (we feel so inadequate for this, but rely only on the Lord). This couple is also in a big crisis. Again, only the Lord can work in their hearts and save their marriage. The husband is Walter's boss. After noticing the changes in Walter, he wanted to know what was happening in his life, so Walter told them about us, the couples' bible studies and counseling. They want to try to save their marriage. More about them later.

Warry, Debora and their two daughters arrived Friday around noon. They were on their way back from a country to the North of us where they had a CIMA conference. It is similar to Urbana in the States. They work for a para-church organization called MOVIDA that mobilizes the youth to serve the Lord. There is a heavy emphasis on missions, but the approach is to serve the Lord wherever you are. Warry is the director for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. He is training leaders  to work in each country; at the same time, they put large conferences all over the place. They stayed with us until yesterday, Tuesday. It was their short break after two conferences in two different countries. We live about two hours from the border, so they stopped here before driving all the way home.

We met at the beach Saturday night. The couples collected money, bought meat and everything else that was needed. They brought a BBQ to the beach. The menu was simple: meat, chicken and tortillas. That's it. They had ice cream, and I had baked chocolate chip cookies. John shared about love on 1 John 4:19. We stayed on the beach until about 10:00 pm. It was a great time.

Gardy had never watched American football, so he wanted to come and watch the Superbowl with us. I printed out a diagram of the field with all the positions and their function in Spanish. Gardy came over with his wife and daughter, of course, but I had told Debora that I wanted to watch the game and asked her please to entertain Paula and her daughter. The game was at 5:30 pm here; therefore, there was still some daylight left for the girls to go to the pool. One drawback was that we had to watch the game in Spanish, which meant that we did not get to see the commercials. The commentators are all Mexican. It is FoxSports in español. So, Warry, Gardy, John and I watched the game upstairs in the loft where we have the TV. Warry and Gardy got a kick out of the commentators' Mexican accents. It was nine of us for dinner, but we managed. I had made spaghetti and meat sauce for lunch, so I used the same meat sauce for tacos! (I can see some of you rolling your eyes) Hey, they don't know the difference and said it was delicious.

Last night the couple I mentioned at the beginning came over for counseling. We asked them the same three questions:"Do you believe in God? Are you willing to apply Bible principles to your marriage? Will you pray that God will strengthen your marriage?" They agreed. Now this couple has not accepted Jesus as their Savior. The first interview is just intake for us to see the problem, but we will work on one issue at the time for the next three weeks, and then we will be gone. The Lord needs to work fast in this situation! After they left, I said to John, "I need a hug right now." So thankful to the Lord for our marriage! (Pastor D, your material is still giving fruit)

Prayer Requests:

• For the two couples struggling with their marriages
• Safe travels for Yesenia coming home with her daughters
• For Irene to make wise choices
• For all the couples - that their marriages will be strong and that they will walk with the Lord
• Wisdom as we counsel and teach
• Safety as we travel back and forth
• Protection for mosquito-related diseases and other insect bites
• For our family back home

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