Dear Friends,We had a very blessed Thanksgiving this year. And God blessed the Sunday of that weekend, by filling the church with 49 people – that's more than we've had in a long time, and it was just a normal Sunday!
It is pretty cold in the morning now – typically around 40 degrees when I get up. Last night we got our first delivery of firewood, so we lit a fire for warmth this morning. It was wonderful!
I'd like to remind you all that I have a website where I sometimes post news at: http://ingrid.zrgtech.com. My parents have just started a blog as well, where their prayer supporters can keep up with their news. The address is www.gilesupdate.blogspot.com . I haven't had a chance to post the pictures of the
Please keep praying for Claudia and Amilcar Gamboa and their four kids. The whole family needs prayer, but the one I'd like to focus on now is two-year-old Alan. He is one unhappy little boy, and he cries for his daddy every night. Claudia and Karen (the oldest girl) are both growing spiritually very much.
Please pray for me as I consider some life-changing decisions. I'm sure that God intends for me to remain where I am, doing the work I am doing (at least for now). He is blessing it. With that in mind, I have started the application process for a resident visa. My two strong desires are 1) to change my status from short-term assistant to full-term missionary with the AFLC and 2) to adopt a child. This is not a sudden decision; it is something I've been thinking about for years and now I think it's time to begin prayerfully pursuing it. Both of these desires seem to be in line with God's call on my life and I don't feel a check about either one; so unless God closes a door, I am planning to pursue both. Please pray for God's guidance and my discernment of His will as I take each step. (If all goes normally, both adopting a child and becoming a full-term missionary are lengthy processes.) I am meeting with the AFLC World Missions Committee in
Here is my prayer list:
Please (requests):
- Ask God to continue to provide for my financial needs.
- Pray for my continued health. The cold weather affects my lungs a little.
- Please pray also for Dan and Marcela's financial needs. Like me, they do not receive a regular salary but depend on donations from people. Unlike me, they have two kids (therefore greater need of money).
- Pray for my meeting with the Mission Board in
- Please continue to pray for the Gamboa family (Claudia and Amilcar and kids), especially Alan.
- Pray for our youth, including Oscar and Abran.
- Pray that God would give me the words and phrases necessary to do the best possible job of translating this Sunday School material so that it will be clear to children from all over the Spanish speaking world. Pray that God would use these lessons to speak to the children and teachers who use them.
- We've been having technical difficulties with posting the lessons I'm translating onto the website. Please pray that that would get straightened out and we'd be able to post them easily again.
- Pray that I'd do a good job as Sunday School teacher and superintendent.
- Please pray also that God would help me to prioritize my time – there are so many real needs that sometimes it is hard to know what to say "no" to so that I can say "yes" to something else.
- Pray for Nena.
Thank you (praise):
- Abran (one of our teenage boys) has been coming to church again for the last few weeks.
- The entire youth group has been coming to church for several weeks! (Some of these kids have not been allowed to come in the past.)
- God has been taking care of my financial needs.
- Claudia Gamboa is growing in the Lord, and her daughter Karen is also strong.
- Oscar has been coming to church and youth group.
- My brother and his family have decided to remain in
- God blessed our family with a wonderful Thanksgiving celebration this year.
- Thank God that Nena is turning back to the Lord!
Sincerely,
Ingrid Giles
