Dear Friends,
The weather this week is very nice -- still cool, but not too cold.
In the weekly women's Bible Study, we are learning about "How to have Mary's heart in Martha's world," using material that my mom prepared several months ago when she was a speaker for the women at a retreat for pastors and their wives. Not many women come, but those who do have said that they don't want to miss a single session!
Claudia Gamboa, for whom you have been praying, is opening her own taekwondo school. She works all day, and now two or three evenings a week she takes her children over to the school and teaches. She is hoping that one day the school will make enough money that she will be able to work fewer hours during the day. I admire her for coming alone to church with her four children (two toddlers) every Sunday, and sometimes walking if they miss the bus. They are rarely even late! I think it's very good for the children to grow up seeing the importance that she places on her Christian walk.
Oscar, the teenage boy for whom you've been praying, is maturing into quite the young man. He has started mentoring his younger cousin and brings him to church now. The boy is named Benigno ("Nino" for short) and is in my Sunday School class. He is quite eager to do all the work and memorize the verse every week!
Dan and Marcela recently took the youth group to the city of Aguascalientes for an outing. It sounds like they all had fun.
I am contemplating having an operation soon. I'm not sick and it isn't any sort of emergency, but basically the doctor says it's a good idea to do it soon, and now that I've done my own research I'm convinced he's right. Also, if I'm going to adopt a baby, I'd like to have this out of the way first. It turns out that the reason my stomach acid goes into my lungs is because my lower esophogeal sphincter (also known as the cardiac sphincter) has apparently been open all my life, and also I have a hiatal hernia. They want to fix those things. The only thing I still need to know in order to decide is the price (I don't have insurance), and they can't tell me the price until they do some more tests.
Here is my prayer list:
Please (requests):
- Pray for my mom and dad and my grandparents, especially during this time that they are together.
- Ask God to continue to provide for my financial needs.
- Pray for my continued health, that I would soon be able to get the tests and find out the approximate price of the operation, and that God would provide the money if He wants me to have the surgery at this time.
- Ask God to continue to provide Dan and Marcela's financial needs. They are hoping to rent a house of their own soon, which means that their expenses would go up.
- Please continue to pray for Claudia Gamboa and her kids.
- Pray for God's guidance for me and the World Missions Committee as I continue the process of applying to be a full-term missionary.
- Pray that Oscar's cousin Benigno would become a Christian.
- 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. Also pray that God would use these lessons to speak to the children and teachers who use them.
- Pray that I'd do a good job as Sunday School teacher and superintendent.
- Ask God to help me spend my time wisely.
Thank you (praise):
- I have learned the cause of some health problems that I had always taken for granted, and they can be fixed!
- I trust that God will continue to take care of my financial needs.
- Oscar brings his cousin Benigno to church every week now!
- Nena still needs a lot of prayer, but she is turning back to the Lord!
- I get to live with my charming nieces and see them every day!
- I thank God for my prayer supporters. I believe this work wouldn't be possible without them.
Sincerely,
Ingrid Giles
