The last few weeks have been very eventful!
My uveitis (the eye problem I mentioned a couple of weeks ago) is slowly improving. My next appointment is a week from tomorrow. Please continue to pray for healing.
My nephew Robert (Danny and Marcela’s boy) was born a little over a week ago.
I went to the nearby city of San Luis Potosí this last week to get my visa, which makes me legal for another year.
I'm not sure how aware you are of the situation in Jerez -- there are bad guys from elsewhere who moved in a couple of years ago and took over the town as they have done or are trying to do in many parts of Mexico, and things have been relatively calm for the last several months even though there are an awful lot of them here and the army is here, too. If it's a battle zone, it's a very quiet one -- even the prison break about half an hour from here was done without a shot fired (apparently they just showed up with a convoy of armed vehicles and a helicopter, knocked on the door, and explained that they were there to remove some prisoners). It's not like we're dodging bullets or anything like that. Daily life is just as close to normal as it ever was.
However, Lois Raser, a friend of ours and retired missionary living in Jerez, had a phone call today apparently from the "bad guys", saying they want to talk to her. We don't know if it was really them or some kind of practical joke. When they intend to do something bad, they usually don't call people ahead of time to warn them. In any case, we know that God is greater than any army, "good" or "bad"! We are praying for his protection for her and her loved ones as well as all the rest of us, and we thank God that He has already freed her from the fear that she felt initially.
Here is my prayer list:
Please (requests):
- Pray for my continued health, including full healing of uveitis.
- Pray for safety for all the missionaries in Jerez.
- 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, for Abril and Cesar, and for Oscar.
- Pray for Nena and Fernando and their family, especially for full forgiveness and restoration.
- Pray for Omar’s family; that they would come to accept Jesus as their Savior and Lord.
- 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 guide me in small and large decisions, and to help me spend my time wisely.
Thank you (praise):
- I have my visa -- and it went well! (Thank God for good lawyers!)
- Robert is born!
- Fernando is here and seems to be trying to follow God and to be a good dad and a good husband.
- We have a new family (Omar’s family) in church!
- I have wonderful loving friends and family and I get to spend time with my nieces and nephew every day!
- God is continuing to provide our needs.
Sincerely,
Ingrid Giles
