Rafael

We were so sad this week to learn that our very good friend Rafael from Spain lost his battle with cancer on Saturday. We met Rafael and Laura through an outreach cafe in our church in Edinburgh. Each August at the height of the tourist season our church opens its doors to the public. The music group play and sing some contemporary and praise and worship music. Free coffee is served and people are on hand to chat and give personal testimonies. Back in 2003 Andrew was singing and I was looking specifically for Spanish speakers. I met Rafa and Laura and instantly we hit it off. Over the years we have visited them several times in Madrid and they returned to Scotland to visit us. The last time we saw Rafa was when he visited us in Ireland a couple of years ago.

This was a friendship which was very strong despite being in different countries. We have so many happy memories of fun times. There was always lots of laughter when we were together. But Rafael was always eager to get into deeper things. Having been hurt and left rather disillusioned by previous experiences be was on a quest to know what the real truth was. It can't have been a co-incidence that one night in 2003 they happened to drop into a church (which they would never have done had they known it was), that we had been learning Spanish and introduced ourselves, that we hit it off and had many opportunities to share our simple faith. And our gracious God allowed us to enjoy a super friendship too.

Let us offer what we have and make the most of every opportunity.

Half Way

We have now spent 2 wonderful weeks in Scotland and are halfway through our trip to the UK. It has been so fabulous to spend time with fantastic friends. We are blessed beyond measure to be able to soak up so much love and support.

The kids are doing really well even with the moving around. It has been amazing to see Tabitha really settle down. She is full of confidence and happy to interact with anyone. She is loving time with other kids and as you may see from her blog she has had various visits with some kids. Consequently she goes over their names all the time. She has started to pray herself in the evenings and it just touches our hearts to hear her give Jesus thanks for individual people that she is meeting. Of course there are still obstacles to overcome and we have our struggles but generally she is responding positively to discipline and just such a joy to parent these days. We haven't had any travel sickness but most journeys are under 30 mins. Thank you for your prayers for her.

Oscar is doing well too. The appointment mentioned in the previous post showed that his weight was leveling out and he was not putting it on nearly as fast as he should have been. Consequently he has been weaned and a diet of soya milk and some basic solids seems to have helped. After 2 weeks his weight was beginning to rise again though he still brings up quite a lot at different times of the day. He continues to delight our hearts with his gorgeous smile which he shares from the moment he opens his eyes.

It has proven difficult to get in touch with folks in Mexico at appropriate times. We did get a brief conversation with our pastor's wife. She told us that the breakfast finished small in number due to holiday days. We pray that leaders will come back refreshed after a short break and that the Holiday Bible Club at the start of August will be a great platform for re-starting again.

Once again thank you for your interest and prayers. We are overwhelmed by the support of so many at home. We just can't get enough of spending time with folks and while we are tired (late nights are not rewarded with late mornings with kids to attend to!) we are refreshed by the love of friends and fellowship together.(an evening of fun and sharing with the youth from our church on Saturday evening. It is incredible to see these kids who are growing up far too fast. We taught some of them when they were little (wasn't that just and month or two ago?) Missionaries in Mexico will recognise the game we are playing here. Thanks Leroy for teaching us this one.)