Well, I don’t have much to say, but I think it’s time for an update, so let’s see what I can come up with…

David had an eye opening class for his youth on Sunday.  He started out by asking one of the kids if she was better than a Baptist.  She answered yes.  The class was about the Prodigal Son, so through out the class she began to see that the answer was no.  Who did the father love more?  He loved the both equally.  Who received more?  They both had full access to the blessings of their father.  Both sons are equal, and likewise all the sons of God are equal, and loved equally.  The story doesn’t tell it, but we know because of our lives, that though the older son didn’t run away doesn’t mean he was perfect.  We all sin, and none is greater or worse than another.  We all need our Savior.   And are we glad we have one!!

In our kids class we have been studying David, before he became king.  This week we talked about when David asked for food from Nabal and was refused.  David was going to attack Nabal, but Abigail came and took the offence of her husband on herself, plead mercy from David and gave him and his men food.  Because of her humble attitude David didn’t commit his revenge.  I always ask the kids questions as I’m taking them home, and I’ve been so impressed at how much they learn.  They could tell me all the names and details of the stories. 

Renata, Carolina’s sister, was married this weekend at our church building.  I got to help decorate, and everything was so beautiful.  Carolina said I embarrased her because I went around asking everyone for flowers so that we could decorate with them, but I think when we live in a place so full of flowers, why buy them?? =) 

It seems we might have electricity all day long today!!  Just think of all the things that could get done!  Since about June we’ve had the electricity go off from 7:15-2:15 every day.  Yesterday I couldn’t think of anything to do, so I started a list and all of it needed the computer.  Hmmm, too bad.  I just had to read my book.

Malu, our dog, had 8 puppies a few days ago.  There are 6 girls and 2 boys.  They are about as cute as can be.  There’s one little runt that’s about half the size of all the others, but he’s fighting for his own.

Today is a national holiday (don’t ask me for what), and most of the students are marching.  They march around an area of their school with the band playing drums and all.  It’s like the football marching band basically.  They honor the best students with carrying the flag and leading the march.  We have lots of the best students in our congregation:  Julito is in second grade, and he attends services all by himself.  Juan and Chico Guido come from a family of 7 and almost all are best students (their brother and sister graduated 1^st and 4^th in class last year).  Keylin is in kinder garden and is the best in her class.  I’m sure there are more, but it’s hard to keep up!

I was able to teach ladies class this past Tuesday, and decided to teach about Grace.  I just finished reading “What’s So Amazing About Grace?” by Phillip Yancey (I think that’s right) and 12 Steps for the Recovering Pharisee by ? Fischer.  Both books are great for getting back on track and remember what wonderful things that God has done for us.  In the class, we talked about how God’s grace has saved us.  Under the Old Law, everyone tried to be saved by their works, and everyone failed miserably!  Too often we try to go back to that old system (like the Galatians) and earn our way into heaven.  We forget that it can’t be done, and included in that we forget to be grateful to God for our salvation.  We also become overly critical of those who aren’t “working” as hard as we are.  Not that we don’t have a part, just that we should forget whose role is most important between us and God.  The second point was all of the ways we are blessed by God’s grace.  Paul calls his role as an apostle and a minister a gift of God’s grace.  When Paul was successful, God got the credit because he remembered where his abilities came from.  All of our gifts come from God, so when we have a talent, and when we use our talent to work for the Lord, we must always remember that we are only able because of God’s grace.  Even our measure of faith comes from God.  These blessings do two things.  1 - Keeps us humble and thankful remembering that our success doesn’t come from ourselves. 2 - Keeps us respectful of others and keeps us from judging others for what they’ve done.  We remember that when it comes to comparisons, we can only compare to Christ and we all fall WAAAY short.  We also remember we don’t know what measure of blessings, talent and faith God has given them in His grace.  Maybe they are doing much more with what they have than what we are.  Finally, when we recognize these things about God’s grace, we want to share it with others.  We imitate God: love and do good to others regardless of their spiritual state (Jesus died for us while we were still sinners), sacrifice for others (Jesus, rich, became poor so that we might be rich) (the 1st Christians sold things to help others in need and the Corintians gave even in their poverity), and forgive and show mercy to others.  Sorry I don’t have all the verses.  I didn’t bring my outline.  Maybe I’ll add them the next time I come.

I’m constantly surprised by the way our website helps us out in our work.  Just this week I was talking to some friends from the states and they knew most of our news because they had been keeping us with us on the site.  It’s so nice to not have to try to bring people up to speed after months of not talking to them, and it saves us so much time being able to write one entry that can reach so many.  I’ve also had a lot of people be able to get into contact us through a search engine.  They can find our website, read about our work, and then write to us if they have any other questions.  Right now our website is featured on our designers website www.tandswebdesign.com.  Take a look!

David taught a great sermon on Sunday titled “Christian Ambition” based on 1 Thes. 4:11.  He talked about how we are to have a strong, intense, burning desire for the following: Tranquility.  Prov. 11:33 and 19:23.  A rest is important to renovate us and time to get close to God.  He told a story of a man who challenged another to a wood chopping contest.  They were to see how much wood they could chop in one day.  The challenged man worked all day long.  He didn’t rest and he only took a 10 min. lunch.  But it seemed that every time he looked over the challenger was resting.  He even took an hour long lunch.  At the end of the day, the challenger had chopped the most wood, and the challenged was shocked.  “How did you do it?  Every time I looked over you were resting and I never stopped!”  The challenger replied that what the other had failed to see was that during those rests he was sharpening his axe.  Rest provides us time to prepare for the work.  Busy ourselves with our own business and resposibilities.  2 Thes 3:11 and 1 Tim 5:13-14.  Work with our hands. 2 Thes 3:8 and Eph 4:28.  We work to support our family, to work for God and to have so we can share with others.  Why do we work for these things?  By our way of life we gain respect of non-Christians and can win them to Christ.  And also so we will lack nothing.

I forgot to mention the most important part.  We had 3 baptisms.  It was a mother and her two kids.  It’s always exciting to see the church grow!!

I had to joy of going to he states for two weeks last month to visit my sister who just had her third baby.  While I was gone David did lots of fun things.  He drove up Mombacho, the volcano in his new Land Cruiser.  The car made the trip just fine, so that was good.  There are pictures in the gallery.  You can see a lot of beautiful sights from up there, so it’s worth taking a look. 

This past Saturday David took all of the kids who have been keeping up with their daily Bible reading to play paintball.  Everyone had a great time, including the girls, who I was a little worried about.  David came home with a few bruises, including one on his neck that looked like a hicky.  One of the ladies from church told me on the way home Sunday that if she saw anyone looking funny at David’s neck she started telling the story about them going to play paintball.  Good to know she was looking out for my reputation!

Monday the evangelistic team took a break to go to the beach and eat fresh fish.  A whole fish with scales and eyes isn’t my idea of a great meal, but everyone enjoyed it and we all had a great time.  That was supposed to get us ready for a week of work, but the hurricane has been causing rain, so we’ve had basically the week off so far.  That’s great because it gives me time to catch up from my vacation.

Hmm, just one cute niece story.  One evening I was watching the kids and we made a pallet on the floor to watch a movie.  The kids shared a blanket and I had a sheet to cover me.  Isabel, 2, was trying to move my sheet and I told her I needed it because I was cold.  After that, about every 5 minutes she would get up from her spot, come over and tuck the sheet under my neck to make sure I was warm.  Awww, how cute.

Last news, our dog is about to have puppies.  Who knows how many, but she is about as fat as can be!