August/September 2006

Dear family and friends,

We hope this finds you all back in the swing of things for fall. We have been busy getting Patrick into school and back into a routine. Our days are really early now. Patrick has to be at school at 7:15! So far he seems to be enjoying it, although of his NINE courses, only his English class is in English! School is pretty tough here but he is making friends and is happy. Through some other American missionaries here, we found a tutor to help him with his homework. Her name is Araseli and she is bilingual, a Christian; a psychologist and a teacher with an emphasis in Dyslexia! Is God good or what? She is awesome with Patrick and he likes her a lot.

The first week of August Britany came down for a visit and joined us for a much needed vacation. We drove to a remote beach about 10 hours from San Luis and had a really wonderful time. Mike (our Mexican son) went with us too and he and Patrick caught our dinner one night! (See photo)

Rancho News:

The rancho is doing well .Things continue to progress there and we have been having some fresh fruits donated lately. The kids have really enjoyed it. They don’t get fresh fruit very often so the apples and watermelons were a delightful treat. There has also been a lot of rain over the past two months. According to people who have lived there for years, this has never happened. Everything is green and the animals are enjoying green pastures. The corn which is usually stunted due to draught is growing tall! We believe that this is just another way God is showing His favor and blessing on Guadalupe Victoria. We also believe it is an answer to prayer.

My youth Bible class continues to grow. We are averaging about 20 kids per Saturday. Jim continues to develop relationships with the young men. They are so hungry to know about God. Some of the boys are even coming and are proving to be some of the most faithful! They were thrilled to get the Bibles that the Rhynes brought and they were memorizing scripture the day they got them. They loved it! Twelve of the youth accepted Christ two weeks ago. I am continually amazed at God’s faithfulness and the power of His word that sets us free. My heart is really turned toward these kids.

I long for the day when I don’t need an interpreter to talk to them

There is also a new area of ministry with the women .We purchased knitting needles crochet hooks and yarn for them to learn how to make scarves that we are going to sell

during the winter. Our vision with this is to have them make the scarves, sell them to vendors here and then give the profits to the women. This is a model used by some missionary friends of ours in Nepal and we hope it will work as well for these women as it has for the women they work with. They are so happy to be learning a skill and to have a way to provide money for their families .Some of the younger women are learning as well. It has been a blessing to see their hope grow as they develope their skills and anticipate the outcome.

September brought us a real blessing!

We had Mary, Sherri, Madalyn, Hannah and Mary Beth Rhyne visit us for 6 days! They blessed us with Spanish Bibles and teaching materials and many things that we can’t get here. It was great to have them here All of the things they brought us were great but the biggest blessing was their presence. Their encouragement meant more than we can ever express. They went with us to the Rancho and just blended in with our lives. They were a blessing to everyone who met them.