No photos this week

Sorry we have no photos. This week we were catching up on work that was put aside last week because of the Holiday Bible Club. We were also trying to catch up on some rest. It was nice to get back to a fairly normal routine.

The benefit of weekly updates is that our stories and experiences are told as we go through them and you get a better idea of our feelings at the moment. Often with a prayer letter the stories are told with a good bit of hindsight or when the difficult situation seems clearer and has passed.

This week has been a tougher one emotionally. We've been here six months now and home seems a long way away. Little things that don't work as they would at home add up to make you frustrated. We received a phonecall to say that a suite we had ordered about 5 or 6 weeks ago was ready. It seemed perfect timing as Jonny and Julie Pollock have arrived from N. Ireland (on a one year term) and they were to get the furniture we have been using. We shifted it all up to their house and waited in all day for the delivery...which didn't come! We were told it would arrive at 12pm on Saturday which meant running away quickly after Mex-i-Kids. It didn't arrive until 2pm and when it did it was stained and not what we had asked for. Nothing too serious but frustrating nevertheless. We are told the correct furniture will be delivered on Wednesday this week!

The breakfast club was also discouraging on Saturday. We had 30 kids which was less than we had hoped for. Kids start back to school this week and for most that involves a LOT of work. Books need to be bought, usually from 3 or 4 different shops, uniforms are bought and some parts made etc. etc. Perhaps there were many reasons to keep kids busy - perhaps the end of the holidays families have lots to do, perhaps the routine of school term will see more kids attend. Numbers are never something to be worried about. Kids are still coming to church as a result of the contact with the breakfast club, one of the little street kids was back yesterday and kids are hearing the gospel.

The more discouraging thing was that we had to set up the club ourselves with the help of and elderly lady who works in the kitchen and a guy who lives on the church grounds. No-one else turned up until just before 10am (the starting time!). Eventually 3 came to help with the kids, a couple for the kitchen and someone to register at the door. There were many who weren't there and we're not really sure why. Please please pray with us about this. We need to be wise. We would love people to realise the potential of the ministry and be passionate about reaching the kids of the area. Perhaps we are asking too much from people to commit to something else, perhaps they have other priorities, perhaps last week was just a particularly bad one... Our job as missionaries is not to permanently run the breakfast club. Our role is to help get it started and then train other people to take it over so that we can move on. Please pray that God will make that person or those people clear and pray that this club will continue and be a success for God’s glory.

We still have so much to learn about this culture, about leadership and about our role here. Pray for sensitivity as we learn and work and the same time.

Of course, it’s not all bad. There are little things that make us smile and encourage us. Today one of the teenagers at La Loma told us we sound like snobs. Now that could sound bad but I take it as a back-handed compliment. Our Spanish has been learned in classes and what she was saying is that we sound educated! It’s an encouragement though sometimes we still feel behind in conversation!

A couple of days ago Tabitha took us completely by surprise when she started to clap and sing, “Ama, ama, ama, ama!” (amar means ‘to love’) then she put her hands from sided to side and sang, “yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.” She was repeating the most common words and doing the actions of one of the songs we taught at the Holiday Bible Club. We can’t believe she picked it up by herself. There are other songs we have been teaching her in English that she still hasn’t got the hang of! She happily sings, “Ama, ama, ama!” with a big smile on her face!

So praise God for little blessings. We are in a battle which sometimes seems tougher than others but our eyes should always be looking up and we appreciate all your support, particularly your prayers. Thanks to those who have sent emails and posted comments on the blog. They are also an encouragement to us

Tomorrow there will be another Proyecto MEFI meeting at the Drop-In Centre. Gary has found a car and Andrew and he will go tomorrow to buy it. We also have 2 missionaries who have a birthday tomorrow so we are getting together for a bar-be-que. Meetings with Beto have stopped for the moment and we will be chatting with Sandra to see if it is wise to continue meeting with her. I really pray that she will open up and be completely honest with us. There is so much work to be done, so much potential and we want to work as hard as we can. Please continue to pray for wisdom.

We have a lot of work to do this week to prepare for a 3 day assembly next week with the national church leaders. During that assembly we will present plans for Social Ministries as well as the ministry of Proyecto MEFI and a plan for how each church can get involved. The leaders will also vote for or against Andrew as their Social Ministries Director.

Who knows what will happen in a week! Keep us up-to-date with your news so we can be praying for you also.