It's hard to believe December is almost half over already! I think this must be the fastest month of the year, with all the Christmas activities going on. Supposedly it is 50 degrees F right now, but it feels a lot colder than that sounds! I think that when it drops to freezing at night, the inside of the house never quite warms up during the day. It makes one want to go to bed just to be under the covers! I remember when I went to Minnesota for a week last December, thinking "I should come to Minnesota every winter just to be warm!"
Oscar, whom I have mentioned in previous letters, needs a house or room to rent. He is on his own right now but living in a city a couple of hours away. Every weekend he takes the bus in to Jerez to go to youth group on Saturday and church on Sunday. He would like to move back to Jerez. Part of the problem with finding a house is that he doesn't have much money to work with; he is about 14 years old and living on whatever his dad is able to send him from time to time. So he needs a house that is affordable and whose owner is willing to rent to a minor.
Cesar and Abril, the young married couple whom I have mentioned before, are expecting their second child. Cesar desperately needs to find a job (he has been looking for quite a while) and they very much need to move out of his parents house. Neither set of parents is really allowing them to be "grown-ups" or to make their own decisions even about little things.
Our Christmas activities coming up in church include a party for the church members at Marcela and Danny's house on Friday the 19th and our annual invite-lots-of-people event on Sunday morning on the 21st. My parents will be coming a couple of days before Christmas and we are looking forward to celebrating with them.
Here is my prayer list:
Please (requests):
- Pray for my continued health.
- Ask God to continue to provide Dan and Marcela's financial needs and also mine.
- Please continue to pray for Claudia Gamboa and her kids, and Nena and her kids.
- 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.
- Ask God to help me be diligent and spend my time wisely. Also ask Him to help me live and do all that I do in a way that honors and glorifies Him.
- Pray for the Bible Study with Claudia Perez.
- Pray for Abril and Cesar.
- Pray for Oscar.
Thank you (praise):
- God has been healing Bibi and bringing her family together.
- I have been healthy.
- Oscar has been making the effort to come to church every week even though he lives a couple of hours away now. He has also been continuing to go to school.
- God is continuing to provide our needs.
- I get to live with Daniel, Marcela, Ari and Andi, and see them every day!
- The wood-burning stove in Danny and Marcela's living room heats up that half of the house wonderfully!
Sincerely,
Ingrid Giles
