Great Victories don't bring Great Relief...

Enjoying a great victory in the spiritual world is a sure fire way to guarantee you will be receiving more attacks from Satan. Today we had another flat tire (seems to be an epidemic) and we did not get the drill rig repaired. We did make some progress and may have it semi-repaired tomorrow, but that will be too late for drilling since a team is coming to build a house.

Satan never tires of trying to discourage us, or of trying to get us to focus on something other than our successes. But the gift of 4 new souls entering the Kingdom yesterday is one he can never steal, and although I may be grumbling a little at today's events I will not allow him to cause me to dwell on defeat in the face of such awesome victory!

The Floodgates have Broken...

You all know that we have been having a very difficult time lately and today was no exception. Just when I thought I might finish a well the mud pump blew a seal and is blowing oil everywhere. That's just the latest straw in a series of mind-boggling setbacks for us.

HOWEVER.....

The Lord's rewards make everything seem as if nothing! Lately we have been really pressing in on the kids to think about Christ and tonight the dam burst! It all started with Cesar who this morning asked me if he could invite Jesus into his heart. I told him to think about it during the day and if he still wanted to to remind me tonight...he reminded me 3 times! Joyce, Emily, Fabi, & myself took Cesar to our room and ask him to explain to us why he wanted to invite Jesus into his heart and what he thought it would mean in his life if Jesus were with him. He said he wanted to change and knew he couldn't w/o Jesus and he wanted to be able to go to heaven and not hell. We ask him to explain some scriptures for us and he did it perfectly and now Cesar is a child of the King! We wish you could have seen him beaming when we told him he now had a door in heaven w/his name on it!

As we were getting ready to leave the room Mauricio came in with Gershon and Antonio and told us they wanted to accept the Lord. We went through the same process w/them and in fact we were a little tougher trying to be certain they really meant it and were not just following suit. As much as we can determine (and of course only God knows) they are fully sincere. They, too, beamed as we talked about their place in heaven and that they were co-heirs w/Christ! Hugs and tears were everywhere!

While leaving the room Fabiola said, "I wish Rosa would invite Jesus into her heart." Before I got one foot on the steps to go downstairs Fabiola came out of their room and told me Rosa had been in there crying. I told her to go talk to her. Moments later Fabiola and Karen came downstairs and Fabi told me Karen had helped Rosa accept the Lord!!! (Our first missionary!) We all headed back up stairs, called Rosa into our room and repeated the 'sounding out' process to see if this was real or not. Again, as best as we can ascertain, IT IS REAL! There were more smiles, more tears, and more hugs...more talk of the strength of our family now! It is just unbelievable...it seemed as if nothing would ever go right for us and then this night comes...

I have no idea how to quantify or qualify this night; this is not something I've experienced before. I've been present when others have accepted the Lord and helped some to find their way, but never when it was the fruit of so many months, weeks, days, and hours of trying to bring light to your own! We can only say thank you to each of you...this is certainly your fruit as much as anyone's! Rejoice with us over this day: June 22, 2010!

Frantic times

It seems as if we've been running through the raindrops for far too long. Undeveloped wells, damaged swivels, flat tires, truck in the garage for three more days, minor accident, taking visitors to the airport, picking up visitors, hosting youth teams, trying to drill, surveying build sites for the next team, making hotel reservations, and trying to keep up with ten kids!

The visitors, Mike Sawyer, Emily Macon, Craig Mesman, & the team coming on Thursday are all major blessings. Without their help we surely would've sunk by now. A special thanks to each one!

Please pray I can complete a well tomorrow and Wednesday and then be completely prepared for the team arriving on Thursday. Sometimes it feels as if we're a million miles away from you all and the only thing that helps is knowing that your prayers are boundless!

Bless you all!

Blessings......

Joyce, the Kids, and I have been blessed lately with our visitors...this week Craig Mesman from Nothern CA. has been with us and seems to have 'morphed' his way into the kids hearts.

Emily Macon from Gallatin, TN. has been here long enough she lost her 'visitor' status. The kids have adopted her and it will tough when she gets ready to leave here.

Emily & Craig watched the kids for Joyce and I last night and allowed us an opportunity to go out for dinner. We didn't go anyplace special, but the hour or so of tranquility was like falling into your own bed after a hard day's work!

Thanks to Emily & Craig!!!

IHNFA

Irma strikes again...today we were supposed to be visited by a Social Worker who would speak w/the kids at 8:30 this morning. However, when no one showed by 10:00 a.m. I called and she told me I had to take Gershon, Karen, & Jesus to court immediately. Once there we were greeted by a child psychologist who first interviewed me for an hour and then each of the kids, one at a time. At the end of 5-1/2 hours we were told nothing except that we could go home and expect more of the same next week.

The difficult part is not knowing what the agenda is and how we can combat it. Truly the scripture about "...we don't fight flesh and blood, but...." comes to mind. Our only weapons are the spiritual prayers of all of you and ourselves. Please don't tire of lifting up these children.

Update.....

Sorry you haven't heard from us in so long, but our computer crashed and it has taken this long to get it back. The following are brief recaps of some of the events that have occurred since our last post:

• Joyce is home and slowly getting better daily, she is still losing blood, but has a doctor's follow-up appointment on Friday and we will know more then. She spends less of her day in bed now and is slowly getting up and out more and more.
• We've had a series of flat tires lately...two in the truck and one in the rental car, and for some reason it's never just as simple as changing a tire when it happens here.
• We've had some visitors...Emily Macon & Mike Sawyer came in on June 2. Mike stayed for a week and helped to drill a well and do some repair on our rig. Emily is still here and will be here until July 7. She's been a big help to us as she is tutoring Angel & Jesus in math and reading. On June 14 Craig Mesman joined us and is currently helping us to drill another well. Craig will be leaving on June 21.
• The truck was in the garage for 10 days and has to go back for 3 more.
• IHNFA is coming in the morning w/a social worker for an "inspection/interview"...we have no idea why.
• The three girls, Fabiola, Karen, & Rosa, had a dance recital that consisted of 5 performances. They were awesome and even got their picture in the La Prensa, the local newspaper.
• 
  

Sooner than expected........

Joyce is home! After taking in 3 units of blood yesterday and last night her blood counts were up to an acceptable level and the doctor said she could recover at home as well as in the hospital. We are overjoyed!

The girls are at their second night of a 4 night dance recital and I have to go get them at 9:00 p.m. Karen and Rosa had a great picture in the La Prensa today.

Tomorrow I finally get our truck back and if it's working properly it will be a huge blessing.

Our problem is much the same as it always is; money. Joyce's hospital stay was 49, 000 limperas($2500), the truck is 15,000 limperas ($750), rent for the Mike's stay last week $350, meds for Joyce $50, meds for Joyce & I (generic lipitor) $45, electric bill 6700 limperas($330) and so on, and so on, and so on...

When you look at the numbers above and realize that all but the electric bill and lipitor bills were a surprise you can easily see how we are in a bind. We would like to ask each of you to consider presenting one, or some, or all of these bills to your church and ask them to take a love offering to help us cover our outlay.