Final Thoughts

 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. Philippians 1:6

Hello from the beach!

I have decided that this will be my last blog, even though we won't leave until Monday, July 17th. We have spent time everyday with friends and acquaintances, catching up without actually saying good-bye. That would be too hard.

         Yua and Diana

We took Yua and Diana to McDonalds one more time. They just love it, specially McFlurries! There is a brand new McDonalds that opened in January only an hour from here. It is very nice with all the latest technologies. They don't have a car, so they don't get out of town much. They are the last couple to get married at our place here.

Pastor Alejandro and his wife, Alba, came over for dinner the other day. They pastor the church plant near here. Alba keeps in touch, occasionally asking  for prayer; therefore, I knew that they have gone through very hard family problems. This last year has been very hard for them. Just a month ago, their son was riding a quad with his daughter and got into a serious accident. They both had multiple fractures. Their son had to use a wheelchair for a while, but he is walking again. The granddaughter was taken to the children's hospital in the capital for a month of multiple surgeries. She is 12 years old. She still cannot walk, and has to go back to the hospital for more surgeries. Please pray for Brianna. We talked about the ministry. The church plant is not growing much, but he has two Bible studies going on in two different towns. He works full time in his business (he builds swimming pools) and tries to pastor these groups. We always try to encourage them. They thanked us for that. They say it is always a respite to spend time with us. We will still see them on Sunday at church.

             Yunior and Glenys

We also had dinner with the Cuban couple who live here permanently and are supposed to take ove the ministry in town. If you see my last blog in 2020, I stated that I was not sure they were even going to last here because I did not see a call to missions (apostolic spiritual gift), nor the gift of evangelism. They are very nice people. Since they are Cubans, I enjoy their company, but they have not done anything in three years. We, of course, introduced them to the couples group, but then COVID came, people couldn't get together, and the group disbanded. Everybody in town says that they are very nice people, but that's it. The reason they are still here is because they bought a lot in town and built a house.  His brother is a pastor for the Spanish congregation of a big church in Texas. The missions committee of that church has organized short-term trips here, they helped building their house (presented as a house for a missionary to their church), and they are now building a small community center and a house for hosting visitors. It is the old fashion belief that if you build a building, people will come. The brother is actually arriving here Saturday with another group. This time they got permission to do an activity in the town hall, like we used to do. This town is very hard. One must make friends before trying to talk about Jesus.  It is still our hope that the Lord will use their efforts and build His church here.

          Christian, Daniela and girls

         Walter and girls

The town itself has changed. Here in the Hacienda, they are building over 100 houses. All those workers have temporary housing in town. At night they wonder around with nothing to do. There are a lot of drugs and alcohol. The women do not walk alone after dark because they get harassed. In fact, even some of the men say that they do not go to town after dark to avoid problems. 

I know that all of the above is kind of depressing, but we still know that the Lord is in charge. He will bring His work to completion. As far as we are concerned, we know that our season here has come to an end. We feel that we would be interfering with what people here are trying to do; therefore, we are not planning to return, unless the Lord brings us again.

John went fishing with the guys one more time

       We had fish tacos at Francisco's house that evening

Praises:

• We praise the Lord for all the years of ministry and blessing in this area
• For the people that the Lord allowed us to meet and fellowship with
• For the privilege of living in this beautiful place 

Pray:

• For complete healing for Brianna and her father
  
• For Pastor Alejandro and Alba
• For Yunior and Glenys
• For all the couples who we were able to disciple and love

Thank you for all the years of prayers and encouragement!

One last time … from the beach...

Playa Avellanas

Old and New Friends

  To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven. Ecc 3:1

Hello from the beach! 

Last week Carlos and Rosario came from the capital to spend a few days with us. We always enjoy their visits they are such good friends! Those of you who followed the blog in the past may recall that in February 2020, a non-profit organization called "Valores" was formed to facilitate the work here. Well, due to COVID and actually problems in the lives of the leadership, the organization was not active at all. Carlos suggested that we transfer the non-profit to another area where the ministry is flourishing in the community; therefore, we had a Zoom meeting in 2021 with all the original board and the leadership of the new group. It was all done according to the laws of this country. We all simply resigned and then a new board was elected. Our lawyer friend, Patricia, recorded everything according to the law.

Carlos suggested to take us to meet the new group in person. They have a very active community outreach. They have sports, a ministry to unwed pregnant girls, and evangelism. Carlos drove us on Wednesday. We met with the group that evening, spent the night at a hotel and drove at our leisure back on Thursday. Both the pastor and his wife are very active. The pastor's wife leads the ministry to pregnant girls. It is a one year program. They are given a book with daily devotionals, and the pastor's wife meets with each girl individually for about 45 minutes every Thursday. They get points for doing the devotionals, memorizing Bible verses and other things. Then they can "purchase" items such as diapers and baby clothes from a "store" of donated items. One of the women at the meeting Wednesday night had gone through the program and continues to attend the group Bible studies now. One interesting tool that she has is a set of dolls featuring the baby's  gradual development in the womb. Girls that are considering abortion are given a talk using these dolls. The actually very in weight, as well as size, giving a feeling of a real baby. We came back feeling better about having to let go of the non-profit at our town. We know that this group will take advantage of the legal status for the glory of the Kingdom.

Wednesday night worship

Pregnancy stages dolls

While at dinner at a restaurant, John mentioned to our waiter that I was from Cuba. He said that his boss was from Cuba also. So, he went and got his boss to come and say hello. The man was very friendly. He talked to us about a local Cuban connection from the time of the war of independence from Spain. It is a school named after one of our historic. Since Friday was the last day of school  before a tow week vacation, Carlos insisted that we had to go to this town, about an hour from here to visit the place. So we went on Friday and were allowed to visit the school and were given tour. The locals are always polite and friendly. The children were playing games and being entertained by a clown and Spiderman. I personally had a great time. Carlos, always looking for contacts, found out were the local evangelical churches were located. Couldn't meet the pastors, but I know he will follow up.

Antonio Maceo

The school was the Maceo residency

We visited three families with Carlos and Rosario.  They left Saturday morning. We had a family over for hot dogs and pool on Sunday and will have another family here again for pool and hot dogs today. After all, today is July 4th. The only way to celebrate here!

Hot dogs and fellowship

So, happy 4th of July!

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