Prayer request

This isn't a serious request, but we would appreciate your prayers for Regina. Saturday we discovered an abscess on her gums. We contacted a dentist who prescribed an antibiotic for her and said to bring her in immediately Monday morning.

The abscess is from a cavity that went to the root of the tooth. Thankfully, it is a baby tooth and can be removed. We are scheduled to take her back in on Wednesday to pull the tooth. She is a brave little girl, but it is unnerving to think of having dental work and such done in a foreign country, especially after some of the experiences we've had. Pray that all will go well and she will be on the mend soon.

Meanwhile, we are receiving rain from Tropical Storm Gustav. Last weekend we received 10 inches of rain from Tropical Storm Fay. Things are getting pretty wet. We're thankful for the storm as it brought a comfortable/chily 76 degrees this evening. I think it is to be breezy here tomorrow. As long as the electric stays on, we plan to start school tomorrow during the storm. :-)

No video

I guess the video of VBS isn't going to work. If we can get it trimmed down, it might. Evidently the file is too big to load.

We're starting vacation on Monday! We are going to stay at our house, but will be taking off ministry responsibilites and will be having activities each day, either in the house or in the city. We ALL are looking forward to a break! This is the first time we've taken off since we arrived here last September. I'll try to post pictures of what we did after vacation.

Jonathan's cheesy grin

Jonathan's favorite place to eat his snacks is on the steps. If you give him a bowl with peanuts, raisins etc, he will carry it to this spot. Snacks make you stand on your head.

failed attempt

I tried to post a video of VBS on here, but it took me almost an hour to try to get it uploaded and it still won't post. I will have to try again later. Maybe the connection is slow today. Maybe the heat is affecting it, too. :-)

Handling the heat

Currently at 3:01PM
Mostly Sunny
RealFeel®:120 °F
Temp: 97 °F

We have something free here nearly everyday that most people pay to go to - a sauna! You can even steam dry your dishes with it. They really do dry fast in this heat.

We're getting warmed up down here. I remember previous summers - "Just when you think it can't get any hotter, it does!" The heat will continue to climax until September, which is generally our hottest month. Then it will slowly decline again to comfortable temperatures somewhere around the end of November.

Thankfully!!! Our AC is still working and the electric has been on all night the past few weeks. So at least we can get a good night's sleep. That does wonders for us, yet we still feel groggy and draggy through the day. The heat just seems to zap you.

I was visiting my neighbor yesterday who was outside painting boxes to make "villages" for Christmas. She said she took up this hobby because it's too hot to do anything inside right now. Even outside, it's nearly unbearable, but you can at least feel a bit of a breeze at times.

In this heat, most people are outside. Most do not have AC inside and the inside of your house (especially the second floor) is like an oven. It at least promotes a "free" culture where they sit outside on their porches visiting with neighbors.

Especially for my missionary friends.....everyone else, too

You can listen to this campmeeting in central Kansas going on right now through Friday, I believe. Hope you enjoy it as much as we have!

http://www.centralchristian.edu/ksha.html

New convert

Several weeks ago, Angela, 14, invited Jesus into her heart. Pray for her as she begins her walk with Him. See full story in post below.

God's healing hand

Several weeks ago, Esperanza (left) testified on a Sunday morning of how God touched her. For months, she has been suffering from severe back and neck pain due to a spinal problem that the Doctor said would only be corrected by surgery. She was layed off of work due to the problem. She did not have the money for surgery and her faith reached out to God trusting Him for healing. We anointed her and prayed for healing and nothing happened right away. But her faith remained steadfast and unmoveable. She was still waiting for the day God would heal her.

The previous Friday night she had been at prayer service and when I asked her how she was doing, she replied, "I'm in a lot of pain today."

She testified how that the following Saturday morning she awoke at 8:00 a.m. and realized she had slept all night. That was strange since she would normally wake various times throughout the night due to pain. As she got up and moved about, she realized she could turn her neck any way that she wanted and she did not have pain! Over the next couple of days, the pain in her back also went away. Jesus passed by her and gave her His healing touch!

The incredible part to the story is that she has told this to her neighbors and family. Her next door neighbor is a living witness of what took place because Esperanza would sometimes have to call her over to help her get up or lie down or do various jobs. This has touched Marleni's heart (Esperanza's neighbor pictured right). She has seen with her own eyes that something took place as Esperanza can now move freely without pain!

We had a ladies' meeting in Marleni's house and she is very interested in becoming a Christian. There was much of the Lord's presence in that little house. I wanted to take pictures but forgot my camera. Besides the church ladies, several of Marleni's neighbors came. When asked if anyone wanted to give their heart to Christ, another girl raised her hand. Angela has now been brought into the Kingdom. Pray that Marleni will also come to the point where she is ready to yield to Christ.

Isn't it just like God to heal in a way that he gets all the glory and no man can take credit?! Esperanza's doctor says he can't believe it. She told him, "Well, believe it because God healed me." What a mighty God we serve!

Recipe mistake

Oops! Someone informed me that I did not put the vanilla in the ingredient list in the brownie recipe. It should be 1 t. vanilla for the 9" pan or 1-1/2 t. for the 9 x 13 pan. I also made the correction on the recipe post.

Sweating it out

Taken from Accuweather website for Santo Domingo:
3:15PM
Mostly Cloudy
Temp: 97 F
RealFeel®:110 °F

Tarantula!

One night around 1:00 a.m., Doug realized the electric was still off and thought it would be smart to unplug the refrigerator so that our invertor could keep the fans running for several more hours. The thought came to him to turn on the light before he went downstairs just in case something would be on the steps. He was glad he gave in to this thought when he saw this tarantula waiting on the steps! If he hadn't turned on the light, he could have bumped the tarantula and it could have bitten him or given him a good scare.

This thing was huge. It's body was about the size of a mouse. Doug heroically sneaked by the tarantula to get the broom and successfully killed it. I didn't get back to sleep for 2 hours after this episode took place. Can't imagine why.

One step at a time

I have lots to post. God has been working in a wonderful way. It has been a privilege to be here and see His hand working. I will post a little at a time since it would be overwhelming to do it all at once.

For today, here are the VBS pictures. I have some video clips, but can't find them on the computer right now. Till I find them, you can enjoy these glimpses of last week.

VBS pictures!

We're recovering from an incredibly draining week last week, yet one that hopefully will bring results in the future. We had 195 children on Tuesday, 222 on Wednesday and Friday, and 207 on Thursday! The heat index was between 105 and 110 everday and probably at least another 5 degrees hotter in the church with that many bodies, yet they still packed in! They were kind of noisy, but on Friday God helped them to settle as we presented the Gospel message. Our prayer is that the seed has been planted and will yield results in God's timing.

We had a turnover of 370 some children. What an incredible opportunity to minister!

Waiting in line to be signed in.
Taking names, finding their nametags, and making sure everyone is accounted for proved to be quite a job. Our people did tremendous. We had great cooperation and excellent attitudes! Thank you church people for all your hard work!
Algenis listens to verses and collects homework papers. He did an excellent job with that many children to keep straight.
Pastor Euddy and Fluffy. They helped to keep order in the VBS.
Fluffy and Mrs. Fluffy. :-) Dionelly did an excellent job leading the children in singing.

Doug made a bucket of "worms" out of red yarn. For this game, if they got the answer right, they had to pull a worm out of the bucket.
Once they drew their worm, they measured it. The team got 100 points for each inch the worm measured.
The girls cheering.
Ryan cheers for the girls. Oops!
Sara, Pastor Euddy's daughter, "helping" with the music.

222 children are packed in here somewhere
Algenis (left) came from Boston to help us out. VBS is special to him since it was what drew him into our church and later he became a Christian. His brother, Joel, is in the white and orange shirt.
Children had to sit on the floor in the front.

Regina with her visitor, Ashley, who lives in our community.

Brandon was able to bring 2 visitors from our neighborhood. They are Americans and their parents are missionaries here. I asked them if they liked it and they said, "That was cool."
Little boy uses the platform for his "pillow".

Each child got a colored ticket for saying their verse, bringing visitors, etc. Each day Fluffy drew a ticket out of a bag and whichever color it was, the children with that color of ticket won a small prize.
Fluffy draws red!
The reds cheer!
Six grand prizes were given out. The girl and boy with the highest points from their age group won a Bible. Here are the grand winners.

Brandon tied for first place from his age group. He worked hard learning the verses in Spanish. We put the 2 names in a bag and drew one to break the tie. Brandon's name was pulled. However, we felt it best to go ahead and give the other boy the Bible. Brandon was in favor of this and showed a very good attitude about it.

Campmeeting withdrawal

Our conference camp meeting is going on right now and we are having withdrawal. All of you bloggers out there who will be attending, please enjoy it for us. Post a picture or 2 if you can. Tell us all about it. We would love to be there!

Anniversary

This year we got to spend our 12th wedding anniversary on a tropical island - something some people only dream of doing. :-)

Our neighbors agreed to babysit so we could go out for a few hours today. They are an American family who are also missionaries here. Doug and I went to Tony Roma's for lunch. It was delicious. Boy, I sure miss those summer U.S. burgers on the grill. Then we went and sat by the ocean. (Sorry, no pictures. We didn't want to be seen as "tourists" today.) It was so relaxing. I am always astounded at the ocean. It makes me feel so small and realize how big God is. We reflected on the past 12 years. I am a happy woman. I always wanted to have 4 children, stay at home with them, and be a missionary. I am currently doing all of those. I also know that I married the man God had for me. I love him more today than I did 12 years ago and look forward to the next 120 years together. :-)

I look back on my wedding day with great joy. It was the day of my dreams. I remember praying for a beautiful day that wasn't too hot and God granted my prayer. The bright blue sky was filled with puffy white clouds and it just seemed like God was smiling down on us. I'd do it all over again in a heartbeat.

Living on a tropical island as a missionary isn't all glitter and glamor. In fact, most days it's a lot of hard work with cultural frustrations. Even with the frustrations, I wouldn't trade it for anywhere else. We are content to be in the center of the Lord's will and will stay here as long as He bids.