Feliz Dia De La Madre

Happy Mother's Day--it's a bit early for everyone back home--but May 10th is the "day" here in most of Central America.  Several years ago, the government added it as an official holiday so banks, government offices and many businesses are closed so families can celebrate the day.

I thought I'd also take this opportunity to share the most recent projects of the ladies of Hilo, Aguja y Biblia.  Although the group was smaller than usual, almost everyone finished the baby bibs which we started in April.  The reversible bibs have cute cotton fabric on one side, absorbent terry cloth on the other and close with a plastic snap!  They will soon be worn by cute grandchildren or gifted to new mom's in the church.

We also started work on our next project--hanging kitchen towels.  We are going to make 50 of them to give as gifts to attendees at a women's ministry event at our church in Apopa.  Here's a sample of our work.

Would you consider supporting this family from our church in San Salvador?

Women's Prayer Retreat

Our women's ministry hosted the second prayer retreat of the year.  The first one (for the women at our hotel campus) was in March.  The second (for the women at our Miralvalle campus) was last Saturday.  

About 35 women traveled about an hour and a half outside of the city to spend time "listening" to God's voice.  We left the church at 6:00 a.m. and stopped for breakfast at a restaurant named Kaltepet on the way there.  

Once there we had a short time of praise and worship and a testimony, followed by the "prayer retreat" rules:  

• Stay silent--not the time to talk or pray with anyone else--just you and the Father
• Concentrate on listening for His voice
• Morning prayer time is from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

We enjoyed a great lunch with time to share our experiences, before repeating the same schedule in the afternoon.  We ended the day with group prayer and a short testimony time.  We were loaded up and ready to leave at 4:30 p.m. and arrived at the church at 6:00 p.m.

 

Women's Ministry Leadership Team

Prayer Request for El Salvador

The seismic activity that began two weeks ago (when we were in Nicaragua) has started up again. Today while at church in the hotel there were 2 strong (in my opinion) tremors and the hotel asked everyone to evacuate while they examined the building for any damage.  We returned to the service about 10 minutes later. People who were here two weeks ago said today's tremors were mild in comparison to those. Makes me thankful I wasn't here. Please pray for the activity to cease,especially for there not to be a major earthquake.

We are flying to KC on Tuesday and will take steps to secure our belongings in the apartment to avoid damage if there should be major tremors while we are gone. 

Thanks for praying for El Salvador. 

Semana Santa in Managua, Nicaragua

We flew to Managua on Friday night about 7:00 p.m. and arrive at the hotel about 9:00 p.m.  Rodrigo and Miriam were there to pick us up.  On the other hand, Guillermo and the Salvadorans left for Managua at 5:00 a.m. Friday morning and didn't arrive until midnight.  Once again they had problems at the borders which delayed them for hours.

The teams from Crossroads Baptist, Benson, NC; Hickory Grove Baptist, Charlotte, NC and Glen Baptist, FL, all arrived in time for orientation on Saturday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.  We had our first campaign on Saturday night.  Sunday morning we had a Koinonia service with both campuses. 

During the week we visited door-to-door in neighborhoods in the mornings and had family festivals in the evening.  

Here are some pictures from the week:

Second Update on my niece

Friends, one more update on Liz's kidney situation. Turns out the positive update from earlier has turned out to be somewhat less so. The definitive results from the biopsy shows severe rejection indicators, likely from being under immunosuppressed for some time. She is at this moment receiving a treatment to "zero out" her immune system (a type of chemotherapy) which she hopefully will tolerate. If that works well then she and Jane will fly home tomorrow night where she will spend the next seven days in the hospital for the remaining doses of immune system therapy. So, we would appreciate continued prayers for her situation to improve. The prognosis is good if the doctors are correct in their diagnosis and treatment option. Our greatest worry is the amount of damage, if any, caused by this episode. Thanks again for your care and concern

Update on Prayer Request

Update from my brother about my niece, Liz:

Friends, I wanted give an update on Liz since so many have been interceding in her behalf. We are forever indebted. Good news- no signs of rejection! Likely some sort of infection which caused an acute reaction. Clearly, prayers work. She will be in the hospital in Denver until Tuesday while they confirm the type of infection and start treatment.

Praise the Lord for this great news. Will update again if anything changes!

Prayer Request

Around midnight last night I heard from my brother, Ron, that my niece, Liz, was transported by ambulance from Colorado Springs to a Denver hospital with a transplant center.  She had a kidney transplant 4 years ago.  Her blood pressure and creatinine levels were high; her hemoglobin count was low.  Please pray for Liz, my brother (who is at a conference in Chicago) and his wife (who is at home in Kansas City.)  

Please pray for the three of them, especially that the doctors there will be able to get her counts under control and that there will not be any damage to her kidney.  I'll update as I have more information.

Celebrating 25 Years in Turlock

La Familia De Dios, the Spanish speaking congregation of Turlock Covenant Church, celebrated it's 25th anniversary on Sunday, March 5.  We made the one hour, 40 minute trip to arrive in time for the 11:00 a.m. service.  William, Gilma and Amy Flores were there for the celebration, as well.  Her brother, Samuel, is the pastor.  

The service had everything--contemporary worship songs, at least one hymn (How Great Thou Art with William on the guitar and Stephen on the piano), singing and dancing children, recognizing one of the "founders" of the church, video memories and a guest pastor.  If that sounds like a lot, it was--the service was nearly three hours long!  

After the service we had lunch with William, Gilma and Amy and then returned to the church to help with the celebration dinner.  Former staff members and others were recognized at the dinner.  It was a great way to end the celebration.  We left about 9:30 p.m. and made it back to Sunnyvale before midnight.   

"New" Eyes One Week Later

Stephen is really, really happy with his "new" eyes!  Here are a couple of observations he's made since both eyes are done.

• He could read the words on the screen at church yesterday even though we were sitting 2/3 of the way back
• He could follow his golf ball after hitting it today
• He can read the highway signs so much better now

He has been looking for frames for his new glasses although he won't be getting them before we return to El Salvador.  The doctor said he should not be measured for a new prescription for at least a month after the second surgery.  

Second Time Around

Stephen had a checkup on his left eye today and we're praising God for the amazing change in his vision.  The doctor said it's healing nicely and his vision tested at 20-40 today.  Before the surgery, notwithstanding the cataracts his vision without glasses or contacts was 20-400.  

The surgery on his right eye is tomorrow morning so please pray that it is successful, without complications and his recovery is normal.  We are scheduled to fly back to El Salvador on March 16, so his final appointment with Dr. Lee is on Wednesday, March 15.    

A Trip to Hayward

One of the amazing things about cataract surgery is that the recovery period doesn't come with a lot of restrictions.  It's pretty much limited to don't press or rub your eyes and don't let shower water hit you directly in the eye.  Otherwise, he's free to do whatever he wants, including playing golf and running.  

We knew before we came to California that Pastor Julio and Patty were going to be in the area while we were here.  They are presenting a family conference in a Hispanic church in Hayward; so we told them we would come to one of the evening services.

Because the rush-hour traffic across the Dumbarton Bridge between Sunnyvale and Hayward can be crazy, we left about 3:00 p.m. and arrived with no major delays.  We were able to explore the city and walk through the rather quaint, but almost empty (more shops were out of business than were open) stores.  The city hall and other government buildings were quite impressive, though.

We also had time to drive to Garin Regional Park and do a bit of walking.  We weren't dressed for hiking, so we didn't wander far from the parking lot.  These two pictures don't do justice to the scenery--the rolling hills were much greener than they appear.  

Iglesia Bautista La Roca wasn't too far from the park so we were one of the first to arrive.  Pastor Julio and Patty are in the area all week talking about how to have strong marriages and families.

We felt right at home in the Hispanic service!  Pastor Julio even played the piano for one of the hymns we sang.

After the service we went out to eat with Pastor Carlos, his daughter, Rebeca, (his wife, Isa, is battling cancer and her counts were too low for her to come to the service), Pastor Julio and Patty.  Carlos and his wife are both Salvadorans who worshipped at our church in San Salvador before moving to California to plant their current church.