On a More Positive Note... Sort Of

Jimmy sent me pictures of the doggies so I wouldn't worry about them. I thought it looked like he had just drug Fije's corpse in the house for this one, so he took another photo of her for me!

I was planning on Jimmy taking baby stuff back with him this time, but I think most of his weight was dog bones! They were very happy to see him. Quincho is doing a great job of taking care of them. They really like him too.

My husband is so thoughtful, he even sent me pictures of all my plants. We had just repotted these Jom trees that I started from seeds. They are doing so good! By the time we purchase property, they will be ready to plant in the ground. Jimmy even weeded all my plants for me before he left!

Jimmy polyurethaned the cribs he built for me. It's water based, so it didn't smell at all. The colors in the wood pop now! I love them!!

He had to sand them one last time before he polyed them. He was moving his hand across one of the boards really quickly and the sandpaper caught on a piece of wood and pealed up a big junk of it, so when he slid his hand across it, it went into one of his knuckles... in one side and out the other... yuck! He couldn't get it out, so he called a Mennonite friend who is a nurse.

Quincho was laughing because it was so gross and Jimmy wasn't reacting very much. (He doesn't understand that the many emotions of Jimmy all look exactly the same on the outside!) Quincho also doesn't understand that you have to hold the camera still to get a good shot!

Benj was very helpful. He got the splinter/tree limb out and bandaged up the wound. Jimmy was proud of his pool of blood! This is part of the piece of wood. Benj had to remove it in pieces.

Kicked Out Again

I have been having Mac issues so I haven't been able to upload any new blogs. This week has had a lot in it. Jimmy has been in Guatemala since last Thursday. He returns tomorrow.

God's timing is perfect to have Jimmy there this week. Some lies were started about Quincho in New Horizon. Part of the lies were that he had stolen something. He is treated like us now since he has decided to follow Christ. The lies were so serious that 3 men said that they were going to have him killed. Jimmy found some of the people involved and realized that the lies were started by the real thief. The town of New Horizon wanted to kick Quincho out so that no one would be hurt when they came to kill Quincho... or at least that was their story. Well Jimmy fixed the confusion with the 3 men so there should no longer be a hit on Quincho's head. He went to the mayor of New Horizon and the town council to update them on the news. Well since Quincho has been living at our house for that last month and will continue to do so until we return the mayor claimed that we were "harboring" him. The town council got the story right, but when the mayor, who we had believed to be our friend for the last 2 years, went before the town, the council kept their mouths closed. Beatriz, the mayor, rallied the community to have us voted out along with Quincho. We have spent hours talking with this woman. We have been invited in her house several times and spent a lot of time with her children (teens and adults). We have never had a problem with any of them. Jimmy was given the official letter yesterday that said we could no longer hold our Bible studies... and the best part, it is "due to the town's high moral standards". There are known child molesters in the community who aren't asked to leave. The president of the town council told Jimmy that he knew it was all based on a lie, but that basically it is a mob rule and there was nothing he could do. He said, "That's a true democracy." The place is so twisted. He said that when we return we can ask permission to speak to the town and tell the whole story and see if they want to let us back in. Jimmy and I are allowed to be in New Horizon, we just can't hold Bible studies there. We knew that was the issue the entire time. Most of our friends don't even know yet. That is how they do it. They hold secret meetings and don't invite our supporters. It's funny how these meetings are always scheduled during when our Bible studies are held.

We will pray for wisdom. There are so many villages and communities with no Gospel in our area, maybe God wants us to move on. Matthew 10:23 "But when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the Son of man be come." We are not tired or desire to give up, we just want to use our time here wisely. Do we stay and keep fighting? This is the second time this has happened and it will happen again.

We invested our heart and soul into these people; we want to see more come to Him. Please pray that God gives us clear direction over the next couple of months. No matter what we will stay in contact with many people from there. Also, please pray for Quincho as he has lost his home. We think this is the best thing for him, to be out of that evil place.

Back In Jax

We are glad to be back. We have been driving in rain for 2 days. I forgot to take pictures yesterday. We were in 2 new churches. In the morning we were in a church where we were invited by the pastor to come for a one day conference. We didn’t even get to present our field to the church nor was anyone interested at all in international missions. It was basically a social project conference where nothing about evangelism or discipleship was even mentioned. It was a very strange experience. We felt like we wasted a lot of time and money getting there.

The church we were at in the evening was much better! The pastor gave us the entire service to present our field. All we want is to be able to tell people about the need in Petén and what God is doing there. The pastor had been a missionary in South Africa, so his heart was reflected in the church. Afterwards he talked like he wished he was still on the field. I think we made him homesick. He might be coming down next November to teach in the institute!