Recently our Short Term Assistants, Ingrid Giles and Dan Giles Jr., sent out prayer updates. A number of the subjects in the updates were similar. This prayer and news update will attempt to cover each item without duplicating any subject. Items from Dan Jr. will be in red and items from Ingrid will be in blue.
We are so sorry we haven't written to you in such a long time. The last two month's have been extremely busy, so much has happened.
As you may already know, Dan and Debbie Giles are no longer missionaries of the AFLC in Mexico. They are now in Phoenix taking care of Dan's dad. We are going to really miss them. We are very proud of Dan and Debbie, we are very blessed to have them as examples. We are now working with Todd and Barb Schierkolk, we love them,they have been a great blessing to us.
The youth group is going great. We had a new young lady, Hilda Lizeth de la Rosa, this last Wednesday, and she is going to bring her cousin this Saturday to the youth group. We praise the Lord for that. Pray that God will bring new people and that the ones that do come will keep coming. We will be taking the youth group to Aguascalientes next month to the National Fair known as "La Feria de San Marcos", Saint Mark's National Fair. They are all very excited about that, including us!
Two weeks ago my(Marcela's) sister called us and told me that my Mom was not well at all, so we went to Aguascalientes and took her back to Jerez to stay with us so we could take care of her. She is 62 and she will be staying with us until she recovers completely. Please pray for her health. She gets very dizzy and her situation is very peculiar, so we will take her to a specialist as soon as we can afford it. Please, pray that God would provide a good doctor for her. She is very active in her church and she is very sad that she's not able to do her ministry.
The most immediate news now is that my visa and my brother's expire this Monday. We applied for an extension and were turned down. This means that we need to leave the country for possibly as long as ten days. We will be going to the border together on the bus (leaving Saturday night and arriving Sunday morning), and have made arrangements to work for our lodging. The place where we are going also has a food shelf, so we won't be hungry. Marcela and the girls will stay here, and some of her relatives will visit while we're gone.
God has been exercising our faith through many circumstances in the last couple of weeks! It has not been easy, but the reward has been many miracles, large and small. In the midst of it all, God has given me personally some special gifts to brighten my days: a new pair of jeans that fits perfectly... the ability (doctor's permission) to drink coffee... a day off by myself in my favorite city of Aguascalientes... Claudia Gamboa in the Thursday afternoon Bible study... lower tax than I thought I'd have to pay... and today, several bags of groceries! Oh, and not to mention I can get my eyes checked for free tomorrow.
I will tell you that story as an example of how God has been working in many different areas in the last couple of weeks. Daniel, Marcela, and I all three needed eye exams, glasses, or something related to that. It never occurred to us to pray about all that, though. We only prayed about the most urgent need that only one of us had. When we found a pair of glasses at the fair that seemed to do the job for about five dollars, we thought that was our answer to prayer, and we thanked God for it. Little did we know He had bigger plans! He has sent a group of ophthalmologists from many different countries to Jerez this week, to take care of people's eyes for free. The government agency that is hosting them is giving out tickets. We heard about it, but didn't do anything... after all, we thought God had already answered our prayer, and we didn't think we'd qualify anyway. So God sent the tickets to us. He did not just send them to the door. They were brought inside, upstairs, and put into Marcela's hand while she was busy doing something else! So tomorrow (Thursday) morning, we all three plan to go get our eyes looked at for free -- and if we need new glasses or anything else, that will be free also. Praise the Lord!
Nobody has been coming to the womens's Bible study in the morning, but Marcela and I have been meeting together anyway and the study has been exactly what we needed. Claudia Arcos has made some changes to her schedule so that she can start coming to the afternoon study now. This happened right after I asked God if He wanted me to stop doing the studies, since no one was coming!
The four little boys that I mentioned in my last letter no longer come to church. They have been taken by state social services and live in an orphanage now.
We would like to communicate all of you that we will be serving the Lord in Jerez Mexico for another year and half, or until the Lord direct us to something else. Please keep us in your prayers....
Some specific prayer requests:
- For my Mom, that she will be well again.
- For wisdom to direct the youth group.
- That the Lord would provide our financial needs.
- For Ingrid and Danny as they cross the border.
- Ari and Andy's health and growth.
We Praise the Lord,
- Ingrid, is a great blessing to us, she helps with the girls and everything
- Because my sisters will visit me
- Our two little girls, they give us lots of joyful moments
- Because God provides us with everything we need and more.............
Psalm 9:1-2 "I will praise you, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell all of Your Marvelous works. I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High".
