Teams from ALBC and Valley Baptist

Teams from Abundant Life Baptist, Lee's Summit, MO (our home church) and Valley Baptist Church, Bakersfield, California, are here in San Salvador this week.  Everyone arrived in time for us to have a family festival in Apopa on Saturday evening.  It was a great night with more than 50 professions of faith!  God is really moving in Apopa and our church there is growing.  They are moving to two services in May!

Baby, it's cold outside

This is our fourth morning in the states (already.)  Stephen left about 7:30 this morning (yes, I was still in bed) to (a) run or (b) go to Starbucks.  Neither of the two choices are of particular interest to me; of course, if I had to choose between the two, B would would win.

I'm sitting by the fireplace with gas logs burning trying to get warm.  The adjustment to the cold weather is continuing.  I think that a life of constant flip flop weather has left both of us with "thinner" blood.  At least, that's what I thought before my research on the issue revealed this:

Thinner blood, however, "is absolutely a myth," said Dr. Bruce Lenes, medical director of Community Blood Centers of South Florida, noting that blood thickness isn't influenced by temperature. He said people simply adjust — mentally and physically — to a new climate.

Read more: http://www.wptv.com/dpp/news/how-does-south-florida's-warm-climate-affect-your-health%3F#ixzz2nSctKTui

I guess we just need to change our attitude and wear more clothes.  Which, of course, is another problem, as our supply of winter clothes is very low and everything is quite old and out of style.  Not to mention, we're not very motivated to spend money on clothes we only need for a couple of weeks a year.  

Case in point on how our coldness manifests itself to others--last night we picked up Steve and Terisa to go to dinner.  It wasn't until we got to the restaurant and ran into to some people we all knew, that Steve and Terisa admitted that were roasting in the back seat of the car.  We had the heat cranked and the fan on max!

The past three days have been busy with lots of errands--grocery shopping to restock the pantry of the mission house where we are staying, picking up and going through five months of mail, doctor's appointments, etc.  Today I'm hoping to get started on several Christmas projects, before it gets too late.

Tomorrow morning we will be at Abundant Life Baptist to worship with our church family and then have dinner with some dear friends.  Even if we're not physically as warm as we'd like, we've received a warm welcome and are so blessed to be able to be with family and friends for the holidays.

Getting ready to share

The ladies of Hilo, Aguja y Biblia met today to continue packing the bags with the baby quilts we made (thanks to Valley Baptist, Bakersfield) and the baby items (soap, shampoo, diapers, clothes, pacifiers, etc.) that were donated by members of Abundant Life Baptist Church in Lee's Summit, Missouri and by members of Iglesia Bautista Vida Nueva here in San Salvador and Lourdes.  We also added a Gospel of John and Romans and a "Big Question" tract to each bag.

We are scheduled to visit Hospital Zacamil on Tuesday morning.  We will share the gospel with each of the new moms and give them one of the gift bags from the ministry.  We don't know exactly how many new moms/babies will be there so we may also be able to share with the moms who have sick babies in the Pediatrics wing.  I think we have at least 50 bags!  

We are so thankful to everyone who donated items to help with the ministry; we know the moms are going to be so happy and very grateful to receive a gift bag.  Please pray for us as we go and share!