Incapable, Unworthy and Lovin' It!

For nearly a year now, I have had the huge privilege, and great joy, of leading a women's Bible study on Sunday mornings at the church we attend. Sunday we began a new six week discipleship study and 40 women attended! Praise the Lord! I would be hard-pressed to find something more exciting than watching people grow in the Lord, whether it be "my" ladies or "my" children (they really all belong to the Lord!)! However, as I led the introductory session I became overwhelmed by the sense of my unworthiness and incapability for the task set before me.

Later on in the morning, I sat down for a scheduled counseling session with a 21 year old rape victim whose 3 month old daughter is the result of that horrible experience! As we sat on the preschool Sunday School chairs in the church kitchen (the only chairs and space available to meet), and I listened to her, I just kept thinking: "Lord, what am I doing here? This should be Teri (my sister-in-law and licensed counselor), not me. What am I supposed so say, suggest, do?" The Holy Spirit just kept whispering to my soul, "Julie, this is where you are to be." No guidance, no words of wisdom, just a reassurance that this was my place. (Counseling and therapy services in Mexico are few and far between, much less Christian counseling. Boy am I glad that God believes in me more than I believe in myself!)

After church, Victor and I met with two young people who had entered into a dating relationship. However, the young man involved is coming out of the same neighborhood and situation in which Victor had grown up - lies, streets, robberies, etc. Once again thoughts of utter incapability crowded my mind, threatening to choke out any truth that I could share!

On the way home, our family bought some roast chicken for dinner and headed to the side of the volcano for a picnic. As Victor and I took a walk with the youngest children, I counted them to see who we had with us and who was playing in other areas. I felt like we had most of the kids with us, but I only counted to 7! That meant that there were 10 more of our children that weren't with us at the moment! When all 17 are together it doesn't always seem like many, but when I am with seven or eight of them at a time and realize that I have 10 more children besides, my mind suddenly starts to whisper (shout): "You can't do this. There is no possible way you can raise these children up in the love and fear of the Lord."

BUT, thank Jesus for a breath of fresh air this morning! I started a new Beth Moore Bible Study and began to watch the introductory video session. Here are just some if the things that the Lord shouted at me loud and clear:

• God has called us to live far beyond what we are able. (Good thing because I am definitely there!)
• In Christ we can do what we can't. (Can you see me wiping the sweat off my forehead?)
• "I am still confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Psalm 27:13
• Let's live lives of exclamation points!

In a world where "recession" is a daily word and weekly giving to Fishers of Men definitely reflects that reality; in a family where 10 of my 17 children have parents or siblings who have passed away and who face innumerable memories of abuse, neglect and abandonment; in a nation where drug-trafficking and kidnappings get closer to home each day - I can only praise Jesus that the answer, nor the strength, nor the provision, lie in us, but in HIM!

"But we have this treasure in jars of clay
to show that this all-surpassing power
is from God and not from us."
2 Corinthians 4:7

On the lighter side of things there is something else that I am incapable of doing...catching a mouse! Catching a mouse? I am incapable of standing on the floor in the same room if I know there is a mouse on the loose! As soon as a mouse has been spotted, I seek higher ground... aka a nearby chair, couch or, if necessary, table! A few Sunday afternoon's ago, I was in the kitchen chatting with Angie and Diana, our two eldest daughters, when a quick movement to the left caught my eye! I turned and said: "Girls, I think there is a mouse in the house." Thankfully, my kids are very understanding of my fear and quickly came to my defense with brooms and flashlights to get rid of the little menace. When the initial emergency had passed, I grabbed my camera and recorded the following video of my children's heroic efforts (and of a few others who follow in their mother's footsteps:-)!

Building...by Lucy

Julie reminded me yesterday that it is my turn to blog. I spend most of my days in the school so I don't have as many stories as Julie or Mark about playing with the kids. I had to think back a little to find a story. Most of our play time is spent with the younger kids who aren't afraid to ask if they can come into our home. Danny usually comes over at least once a day for a story, and sometimes David comes with him.

It was in the evening, and most of the kids were playing outside. Danny followed us from the supper table, and David wasn't far behind. Mark read a story to them (Who knows what they understood, but everyone loves a Curious George story!). Afterwards, they started horsing around (like boys will), wrestling and laughing. Before someone got hurt, we decided to get out the few blocks we have. There are fourteen blocks with which to build. It isn't much, but they don't care.



As long as you can put one on top of another, and they can knock it down, they are happy. They were trying to build things separately, taking from each other's creations as they needed blocks. What made me laugh is that they didn't care. I figured we would have a fight because they both wanted the blocks for their own creation.


Mark and I started building taller creations that they could knock over. They never got very tall before they would clatter to the tile floor and the boys would laugh.



Eventually they left the blocks to attack Mark. I think that was way more fun for them than watching the blocks fall.


Eventually after trips to the Marshall bathroom (They love to use our bathroom for some strange reason!), and some homemade bread, we walked them back down to their house. When we came back, there were the blocks scattered on the floor, not one creation intact, no building to show for all the work. Then I thought about what we had built that would last.

We may have been building with blocks, but we were really building young boys who someday will be men of God who will build up the kingdom of God! We were building relationships with them that will last far beyond anything we could build with the blocks. I was reminded that sometimes things that are hard to go through are there to build us into better children of God, ones that can stand the tests and trials of this life.

The next time you're going through something tough, remember that. Building takes time and effort and a lot of sweat and tears! But what God is building is a child of God! Allow Him to work!

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 1 Peter 2:5

Follow in the Footsteps

5:45 a.m. last Sunday morning- I had gotten up early to finish up my Sunday School lesson that I give to 50 or so women each week at the church we attend, when I was joined by 5 year old Ana! Let's just say that my early morning time is a haven, a reprieve, a recharger, an absolute necessity right up there with eating and breathing, so I have a very hard time being joined by little ones!

Ana during one of her sweet moments (not at 5:45 a.m.!)

Upon joining me in the office, she promptly informed me that 2 year old David was sleeping in her bedroom. Hmmmm! David's bedroom is downstairs. Ana's bedroom is upstairs. David's bedroom is literally in the opposite corner of the house and I KNEW that I had put him to bed in his crib the night before. Ana pulled me to her door (across the hall from my office) and, sure enough, there was David, curled up on top of Ana's pink blankey there on her floor! I decided that I really didn't want to try and figure this all out before 6 a.m. so, I took Ana back to my office, laid her down on the floor and tried to finish up my Sunday School lesson...when....David arrived!

David showing off his "innocent" look...NOT!

Hmmmm! He was completely naked except for his diaper, which was on backwards! I KNEW I had put pajamas on him the night before and, after changing diapers for the last 10 years of my life with no break, I KNEW I had not put his diaper on backwards!

"Ana, where is David's pajama?"

"He took it off, Mommy."

"Oh. How did David get into your bedroom?"

"I took him there."

OK, so this was not making any sense, but I was more anxious to get them back to sleep and get myself back to my Sunday School lesson than to try and figure out this early morning mystery!

An hour later Angie, our 18 yr. old daughter, pops her in head into the office:

"Mom, why does the bathroom floor have diarrhea all over it?" (Sorry if that was too much information:-)

A few more pieces of that morning's interesting puzzle began falling into place in my mind.

Ana woke up and I began asking her questions about her night that had surely been most interesting!

As far as I can tell here is what happened:

• David woke up in the night with a very dirty diaper full of diarrhea.
  
• Since most of the time he doesn't wake up until morning and knows that he can find me doing devotions in my office upstairs, he went upstairs looking for me. However, since it was the middle of the night, he didn't find me there.
  
• The noise of him going upstairs and calling for me woke up Ana, whose room is near my office.
  
• She got up and found David in the bathroom taking off his own very dirty diaper, which he promptly carried to the garbage can...dripping all the way! :-)
  
• Ana told me that she then cleaned up his bottom and put on a new diaper! She is five years old and the diapers are kept in the downstairs bathroom. She and David were in one of the upstairs bathrooms. So, in the middle of the night, Ana went downstairs, climbed onto the changing table, got a new diaper for David (the right size, too, as we have kids in two sizes of diapers at night) and put the diaper on him, backwards, but she got it on.
  
• Then, she took him to her bedroom, used her own blankets to make a little bed for him on her floor and put him to sleep!
  

I couldn't believe it! I was so proud of her! I was proud of her initiative, caring spirit, responsible actions, calmness and bravery!

As I thought more and more about this situation, one curious aspect of it kept grabbing my attention. Why did Ana put David to bed on her floor if the two of them would have fit in her bed with no problem?

I think I have it figured out! When any of our children get scared at night or wet their bed, they come into Victor's and my bedroom. However, we only have a full size bed, so nobody else can really fit in it besides ourselves. So, we always have an extra warm blanket on hand in our room to throw on the floor and create a makeshift sleeping space for the needy child. So, in Ana's estimation, if you have to help a child during the night and bring that child into your bedroom, then he or she needs to sleep on your floor!

This occurrence brought to my mind, front and center, just how powerful our example truly is for our children. I know...duh! Of course I know that our daily example of living forms and shapes our children much more than our teaching and words but, every once in awhile, a situation arises that reminds me of just how powerful our daily example is! This was one such situation!

The Apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 11:1, "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." Oh, that those words would be true as I parent my children! May I be able to say to my kids: "Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ." There are so many days when my actions, attitudes and words are so far from that ideal. On those days I am so thankful for the grace of Jesus Christ and the assurance that His mercies will truly be new the next morning!

Our goal is for our children to follow the example of Christ, but sometimes Jesus just seems too far away for them to effectively follow in His footsteps. As they start out, they need some human-sized footprints to follow - our footprints. As our kids walk in their mommy and daddy's footsteps, even putting blankets on the floor at night for their younger siblings, may their mommy and daddy follow their Father's footsteps so that one day, they too, can grow up to follow their true Daddy's footprints all the way to Heaven!

Easy Giving in a Hard Economy

Did you know that you can earn money for Fishers of Men when you buy groceries or do a search on the internet? It’s as simple as that! The economy may be hard, but giving can be easy…especially when it’s not even your money, but corporate money just waiting for you to access on behalf of Fishers of Men!

For those of you who live in Ohio, Fishers of Men participates in a program through the Kroger Corporation. With a few seconds on-line at: www.krogercommunityrewards.com you can identify Fishers of Men (NPO# 82464) as your chosen charity so that each time you swipe your Kroger card a percentage of your purchase is donated to Fishers of Men.

For those of you who spend any amount of time on the internet, each of your searches, and even your purchases, can produce revenue for Fishers of Men. Go to www.goodsearch.com and follow the easy step by step instructions to start earning money right now for Fishers of Men!

Giving has gotten even easier through PayPal! You can give a one-time gift on-line or, to prevent forgetting to send in your monthly donation, set up a subscription for an automatic donation to be given each month. Just go to our website: www.fishersofmenmexico.org and click on the PayPal button!

We thank our gracious Heavenly Father for His faithfulness in providing for His work here in Mexico! However, we have never received a check with God written on the signature line nor 1 Pearl Street Place, Heaven, 77777 as the return address! God meets the needs of His ministries around the world through people like you! He meets your needs so that you can help meet our needs so that we can meet others’ needs who then meet their neighbor’s needs and the heavenly accounting system carries on! Giving can get tough in the midst of a tough economy, but with a little creativity and a tiny bit of effort we can simply help channel funds to the places where they are needed! We can’t do everything, but we can each certainly do all that we can do and trust God to fill in the gaps that we can’t fill!

Do you know of any other businesses that support non-profit organizations? Let us know!

So, giving is just that easy, creative and productive! Even in the midst of these hard economic times, let’s use creative ways to support all that God is doing in and through Fishers of Men!

Miracles...by Lucy

Danny helping out when a work team came

Playing with toys!

Joanna gets a hug from Danny

Danny and Ana go f0r a ride

Helping Mark fix a broken chair

Playing in the "Ball Pit"

Danny getting a piece of gum from Grandma and Grandpa

Mark and Danny reading "Green Eggs and Ham"

Caleb, Ana, and Danny playing with balloon swords

Julie has done a lot of research about Danny's heart condition. She has contacted numerous hospitals and doctors for him. When (and if) they look at his paperwork, usually they are amazed at what Danny has accomplished in his short life thus far. Julie has checked out blogs about other children with the same heart problems. Most of these children have spent most of their lives in the hospital. Most don't have the energy to get up and play. Most never leave their beds. Most of these kids with Danny's heart problem don't get to enjoy life the way "ordinary" kids do.

I've been thinking about Danny's life. We keep praying for a miracle to happen in Danny's life, but it is happening every day, minute by minute, second by second, step by step. Everything about Danny's life is a miracle. When Victor and Julie first heard about Danny when he was about 18 months old, he had no name. He wasn't walking yet. I'm not sure if he was speaking. Danny is now 3 years old and thriving! Here are the miracles we get to see every day in Danny's life.

1. Danny woke up this morning!
2. He went to the bathroom by himself (He's a big boy now!)!
3. He ate his breakfast with no help.
4. He climbed up into his mama's lap for a hug.
5. He ran and played soccer with the big boys.
6. He breathed in the air which is thinner up on this mountainside.
7. He went to preschool.
8. He read a storybook with Mark.
9. He helped Joanna do the dishes.
10. He said the prayer for our meal.
11. He helped make pizza.
12. He danced while Angie played the piano.
13. He laughed at something funny Aaron said.
14. He went for a walk with his dad.
15. He picked a flower for Rosa.
16. He rode his tricycle through the kitchen.
17. He rode the horse with Joanna leading.
18. He played in the rain puddles.
19. He asked me for cookies in English.
20. He enjoyed life!!!!!

As you can see, Danny is a pretty busy guy. He doesn't do each of these things every day, but he is free to be a little boy, to laugh, to run, to play. Danny is not lying in a bed in a hospital somewhere waiting to die. He is living life to the fullest. I think that as I've watched him grow, the thought that comes to my mind is this: Maybe the miracle that God wants us to see in Danny's life is that despite the problems with his heart, if God wishes, He can keep it beating. He can awaken Danny every morning to a beautiful sunrise despite the malfunctioning human heart beating inside him. He loves Danny even more than we all do. And daily miracles are what He does best!

"You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the people."
Psalms 77:14

El Chilar EMMC by Becky Shanahan

The following journal is from Becky Shanahan, who went with us to El Chilar, Oaxaca on an EMMC. She posted this on Facebook and when I read it I thought that it would be a great way to share about our trip in the blog. I have added some photos but the rest is as Becky posted it.--Mark

Becky made a lot of new friends in El Chilar

This was easily one of the craziest and most amazing weeks of my life.

Last Sunday we (I traveled to Mexico with 2 ladies from church, Robyn and Nora) left Lancaster county to fly down to Mexico City. I took about 12 hours to get to Mexico because of all the driving, flying, and long layovers and delays. Flying into the city was amzing: Mexico City is the 3rd largest city in the world, and completely engulfs you. There's traffic 24/7, and even at 1 in the morning, we passed a flower shop that was open for business. It took almost 2 extra hours after landing for our contacts to find us because of the multiple airports in the city. The 3 of us joined Arian, Veronica, Candy, and Armondo in a older van and began our trip to our hotel. We stopped at a gas station for hot dogs and bottled water (tap water will make you sick) and were surprised to see that our hot dogs came with mayonaise packets and smothered in spicy salsa. We eventually added 3 young guys to our van, and another girl not long after. So our 15 passenger van now had 11 people and everyone's luggage. Thankfully the van has jumpseats so you could comfortably fit 4 people to a row.

We arrived at our hotel at 2 am, exhausted for the nonstop travel. The frontdesk man didn't have our room key, but we found that the door could be pushed open and since we were only there for the night we didnn't really need a key anyway. Adrian told us someone would be back around 6:30 (4 1/2 hours later) to pick us up for breakfast at their headquarters. The room was small but very cute, and thebathroom had a shower, the toilet had a seat, and there was free toilet paper-things that seemed like luxuries by the end of the week. And by the way, you NEVER flush your toilet paper in Mexico, it always goes in the waste paper can. Anyway, I was asleep within 10 minutes of getting to the room.

My alarm never went off in the morning, I woke up at 6:30 and panicked. Thankfully, Mexico time is a little more relaxed than here-so we ended up having plenty of time to get dressed before our ride came. I didn't have time for a shower though, I just used some deordorant and dry shampoo and was set for the day. Mark and Lucy, 2 American missionaries who work for the Fishers of Men organization, came for us and we left for Refugee Ranch. It was a short drive, but they had time to tell us a bit about what to expect this week. The organization has 2 missions: one is Refugee Ranch, an orphanage. The couple who started Fishers of men have adopted 13 children, and have 4 of their own. The wife, Julie, takes care of the kids, their education, and making sure the kids know that they have a mom who loves them. The husband, Victor, leads the other half of their organization-the medical crusade we would be going on. We would be traveling to a small village town to set up a make shift medical center for dentistry, gynocology, ophthalmology, and other services like hair cutting and massage therapy.

Breakfast consisted of the freshest cantaloupe I've ever had and eggs. If you sat out on the porch to eat, you could view an active volcano, Popocatepetl, which they locals called Popo. After eating, we loaded 25 people along with all of our equipment and luggage into a truck and the 15 passenger van and headed off on our 7 hour drive south to El Chilar in Oaxaca (pronounced Wa-haca). I sat in the front of the truck between Victor, who was driving, and Richard, a 66 year old doctor who was coming along. Richard and I had a lot of fun trying to talk but couldn't really understand each other well. I thought he was asking me if people had to wake up early to use the bathrooms in Pennsylvania, and he also thought I had 3 children. I was pretty tired and kept falling asleep, but it's hard sleeping in the middle of the truck with no headrest. About 5 hours into our trip we were joined by a car with 2 men from the town who had driven out to meet us, and Victor asked if I wanted to move to their car and I jumped on the opportunity to be somewhere a little less cramped. A hairdresser from the over-packed van also joined us in the car. I did manage a bit more sleep in the car, but the roads got bumper as we got further south into the country. Also, Mexico has developed a clever way for cutting down on speeding-topes, or speed bumps, are EVERYWHERE. They work well, but they are so annoying! Especially in vehicles with bad shocks.

We arrived in El Chilar mid afternoon, and the cook, Rosa, immediately got to work on our lunch. Her kitchen was a completely enclosed bamboo house with a wood fireplace for cooking. How she managed to feed us all under those circumstances amazed me. She made a variety of traditional meal for us through-out the week: tamales, fish, chicken corn soup that was made with maize (HUGE corn kernels) and topped with radishes and luttuce, tacoquitos... Everything was pretty spicy to begin with, but we also had pepper sauce with every meal for extra kick if you wanted it. I loved the spicy food actually-I had a cold for most of the week so it definitely helped clear my sinuses so I could breathe. Plus it all tasted great. After eating we were taken to our house for the week. It was probably one of the nicer houses in town honestly, although very primitive by American standards. The house was made for cinderblocks and plaster are far as I could tell annd had a very simple set up. 4 rooms, 2 on each side, with a hallway down the middle. No doors, except for the front and back doors. When you went out the back door, you found a sink with running water, and around the back of the house was a bathroom stall and a shower. All the water was gravity powered from a water tank on the roof and was room temperature. Our shower didn't have a light, so we would set a flashlight on the opening for a window if we needed light. We weren't alone in the house either-we shared it was geckos, slugs, and huge spiders that were nearly 3" across. Robyn came to my rescue several times a day with flipflops killing these massive spiders for me. I made sure my bags were always zipped. I avoided the shower for 3 days, knowing I wouldn't be able to straighten my hair if it got wet-but eventually I couldn't take the nasty dry shampoo anymore. So I had my crazy poofball curls for the second half of the week.

Our days began at 8 am with a devotional before breakfast. Several people on the team at least somewhat biligual and would translate the devotionals for us, but for the rest of the day we were pretty much on our own. The people in El Chilar knnew almost no English whatsoever, so my high school Spanish came in very handy. After breakfast, we walked to the town's covered pavilion that became our medical center. There were chairs and machinery set up for cleanning teeth, checking eyes, cutting hair, all out in the open with children and wild dogs running around. Dogs are everywhere in Mexico-it was so strange to see these dogs who would follow you around, yet they won't approach you to be pet. They just wander around looking for scraps to eat and actingn like they own the place.

Nora offering massages and prayers

Nora ended up setting up a station for giving massages. Nora would pray for the people as she massaged them, and afterwards the people would tell the evangelists that even though they couldn't understand what she was praying, they would feel heat in their chests as she prayed, and it gave the evangelists a chance to talk to them about the Holy Spirit working in them and the people were so much more open to what they were sharing because of what they had experienced. Meannwhile, Robyn and I spent our days with the kids. I did a lot of face painting, and stole the idea from Nora to pray for the kids while I was painting their faces. I don't really know what impact that had, other than I know that I had tons of kids coming back to have their faces painted and sometimes repainted once I started doing that. We also colored, blew bubbles, played soccer, and frisbee with them throughout the day. The days were very long and hot, and I always looked forward to our lunch/dinner breaks around 3 to rest a bit before heading up to play with the kids for a couple more hours. Robyn and I also taught lessons to the kids-through an interpretor. My lesson had to do with how we are like sheep and Jesus is our shepherd, and we played a game with the kid that day where we put blindfolds on some of the kids and tried to lead them through a maze by listening for their "shepherd's" voice.

The kids of El Chilar chasing bubbles with Robyn

With q-tips for brushes Becky painted a lot of faces and made a lot of kids smile.

The children listening to the lessons prepared by Robyn, Becky and Nora

On friday we were in the middle of a lesson when Adrian came up to Robyn asking if she was ready for something, I didn't really know what he was referring to, but he was carrying a box that said something that looked a bit like papayas (it actually said papayos, or something close to that) He asked if I wanted to come to and I said of course! Well, the word meant clowns, not papayas. He has asked Robyn to dress like a clown along with some of the girls for a special treat for the kids. I guess I kind of volunteered myself too, and soon I was given clown clothes and Veronica was putting on my full clown make-up. All of the clowns headed back to the pavilion, and we played games with the kids, put on a skit, and had another lesson for them about salvation. The skit was a cool play on words-Mark had to explain it to me because it was in Spanish. One of the clowns wanted to write a letter to his girlfriend in America, and asked annother clown to write it as he dictated. He had bought a soda and chips to send with the card, which were sitting next to it. Everytime he told her to write baby, she would take a drink of his soda (thinking he said bebe-the Spanish word for drink) and everytime he said comma, she would eat a few chips (coma means eat). So he ended up with a very short note because of all her eating and drinking, and no chips or soda left! It was cute.

Saturday morning we drove back to the Ranch, and I got a chance to spend some time with the kids there. One of them, Danny, broke my heart. He remembered my name from Monday and kept yelling "Becky!" and wanted me to pick him up. He the happiest, snuggliest 2 year old I've ever met. But he also has heart problems. Danny's hands and feet are freezing cold to the touch because his poor little heart can't beat enough blood. Eventually, sooner than I want to think about, he's going to outgrow his heart. Learnning that made me want to hold him that much longer. I wish I could do something for him, but the family has no choice but to put the whole situation in God's hands-that a hospital would sponsor a surgery to extend his life be maybe a few years, that he will get healed, or to accept that maybe God will take him back sooner than they would like. The whole thing breaks my heart.

Like I said, it was such an amazing week. I'm so much more aware of how rich I am, of the opportunities I have here, of everything I take for granted and expect. I'm planning to take another trip down to Mexico in April and I'm already looking forward to it.

Happy Birthday Rosa

Dr Escamilla leading Feliz Cumplianos for Rosa

There have been a lot of birthdays around here lately. Last week Julie wrote about the five year olds. Yesterday was Fatima's birthday. But the one on my mind is Rosa. She is our cook here at the ranch and she travels on almost all the EMMCs. Last week we were in El Chilar, Oaxaca and Rosa was with us. On Monday we made the 7 hour drive and as soon as we got there she got busy preparing our meal.

The typical meal schedule in Mexico is slightly different from that in the US. The main meal is served in the afternoon around 3:00. In the late evening, after working, we have sweet breads and coffee. Last Monday evening instead of the usual sweet breads we had birthday cake for Rosa's birthday. Those of us who live at Refuge Ranch and/or travel on EMMCs love Rosa a great deal. She has known Victor for many years, since he was a young man. If you have ever come to Refuge Ranch or on an EMMC, you have seen how dedicated and hard working Rosa is. You also know that she is a great cook.

Last week in El Chilar the temperature had to have been in the 90s during the day and Rosa was working in a kitchen cooking over a wood fire. I have no idea how hot it must have been in that little bamboo room. By the end of the week she was not feeling well. I am obviously not a doctor and I don't know the full situation, but part of the problem was related to dehydration. She ended the week resting and then went to her home in Mexico City for a few days. We are praying that she will be back in action in the next day or two.

Rosa is one of the most gracious and Godly people I know. She works very hard here, not only cooking but keeping things clean and looking nice. Whenever I thank her for the meals she always says, "Thanks to God." If only we could all work so hard to the glory of God.

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you" Philippians 1:3