Wednesday, June 16: The Viriginia team arrived safely last evening and were greeted buy 10 very excited children at the airport. After giving them a brief tour, they headed to their rooms to unpack. (I remember those days...very overwhelming!) After their first night of not much sleep they were ready to go to work. Most of the team stayed with Nikki who headed up the painting project. (Martha and Adrian...Nikki is doing ya proud!) Two rooms are painted already. My son, Ben, Beth Sellers and I went to the market to purchase donation food, fruit and vegetables and fiesta food. Tio Willy PATIENTLY drove us everywhere we needed to go and helped us load up the food. The bus was pretty much packed by the end of our adventure. We are praising the Lord for good prices and the opportunity to bless MANY people. This evening the VA Westside will be doing the service and having a picnic with Mama & Papa at their house. Their testimony changes lives and challenges hearts!
We have had a lot of wind...hot wind. I took another shower this afternoon to cool off but the water was as hot as the air. The good thing is that the air is dry with no humidity. Makes it more tolerable!
The crazy bacterial infection I was fighting for the past 3 months has returned as of a couple days ago. Please pray for me. We are crying out to God to take this away so I can stay down here.
GREAT NEWS!!!! Ed will be receiving his cornea transplant on Monday afternoon at 2:00. (Don't know if came from a Christian donor or not. If so it will be a WIN-WIN situation!) We are all praising the Lord for such a quick answer to our prayer. God is so good.
Eleaseo is stillin the hospital and doing good. They are doing more testing on him to see if his cough is from the choking or something else. The great news is that the hospital is keeping him until everything is clear. It's a miracle that a hospital would take him at all since he is Indian. Usually they deny medical treatment to our mountain children and we have to beg for it. We sure have a Faithful Father!!!!!
I smell rain. Just happened to look out the window and the sky is black to the west. Water is refreshment to a desert. The winds sometimes will take out our electricity for a couple of days so I am hoping this won't be the case. Our fans are too precious right now! =) Welcome, showers of blessing! Revive and refresh us today!!!
Samuel returned from a weeks vacation and Brenda has been on a month's vacation. It is so fun to see everyone.
Ashley (from Dallas) has been a real trooper down here just like Nikki. These girls have helped me so much with the team. They are my angels, indeed!
Thursday, June 17: Praise the Lord, I am stronger today. Instead of accepting the sickness, I am expecting the Lord to heal me! With God all things are possible!!!
Last evening the group listened to Mama and Papa's testimony. (I never tire of hearing it!) Their faith challenges me to live more dependently on my BIG God. Why do we run ahead and try to make things happen? God is so able! His plans are always higher than ours.
The second thing I was reminded of through Mama and Papa and a book I am reading is to "find Jesus through the eyes of real people around me"...in the eyes of the poor, the handicapped, the orphan, the forgotten, the staff...EVERYONE. It sure changes my perspective. It slows me down and makes me embrace longer, care deeper and love like there is no tomorrow. I really believe it is Satan's tool to cause us to forget this important lesson in life. The moment we step foot on 'American' soil, we forget these truths. Father, help us!
Today the Virginia team is painting the teen girl's dorm and packaging up food for Pastor Saulo's church . We will be showing the movie, "Facing the Giants" this evening. Last year Satan blocked the attempts of another team to show this powerful movie. We are not giving up and by God's mighty power, the movie will work. We will be loading up around 3:00 our time and the service begins at 6:00. You can be a part of this outreach through your prayer support. Pray for salvation and rededication of lives. We also appreciate your prayers for safety as we will be traveling to the very poor section of Chihuahua to visit this precious church.
My adoption work has been postponned and I'm hoping to get a new appointment. The Lord willing, I will be at DIF next week. It's in my Father's hands!
A precious couple from near the mountains visisted Lily today and shared with me about their ministry. They feed 50-80 children a day, 3 days a week. They have no running water or electricity. The kitchen where they serve the food is a makeshift shelter outside that looks like it could blow away in a strong storm but their ministry is thriving. They are a cousin to Tia Lidia here and they have a great reputation. The amazing fact is their zeal to serve the Lord through feeding precious children. The VA team was able to give them a generous offering...that should feed children for several months. If anyone is wanting to work on a team to help build a kitchen for this ministry, go to: oneagleswingsministry.com. I am sure that Nikki will be putting together a team to minister to these precious people in the future.
Friday, June 18th: Today I will see if the blog server will work so I can post some info and pics. It has been very frustrating to have all these pics and info with no service. Apparently it's not just Mexico. My daughter-in-law in the states is not able to post on her blog as well. God is teaching me PATIENCE!!!
We had a tremendous experience at Pastor Saulo's church and the outreach service. We felt the prayer of God's people as the team presented a skit, song by David Moul, movie and follow-up. The best part was being a part of the donations. Usually this is done when the team is not there...but this time Pastor Saulo wanted us there. I didn't understand at first. On Sunday several ladies in his church came to him and told him that they were out of food for their families. One lady lost her money from her week of work. They were destitute. Pastor Saulo knew the team was coming with some donations but he really had no idea of how much. He did not tell the church people about the donations...but he told them to arrive early before the outreach service. When we drove up in the bus we gathered to pray. After we prayed Pastor asked us to bring the food in the church for immediate distribution. As the large 80 lb bags of food were carried in, the people began to weep. It was very humbling. Once the people received their food, Pastor Saulo reminded them of a message he heard on Sunday from another Pastor. The pastor told the congregation that God was going to send down manna from heaven to bless his people...and God used the generous hearts of VA Westside to feed many people who love their Jesus. Last night will be forever etched in my mind. I can't help but think that if we all would give up a couple coffees a week or pop (soda), we could feed so many people who are starving. I have never suffered from hunger or watched my children beg for food but I have met people who do...and I can make a small difference in this world, with the Lord's help. Will you join me?
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