October 2015

The first days of October were busy with classes and getting ready for me to go to Rogers AR for a missions conference at my home church.  I decided about 1 ½ weeks out from leaving to make some thank you items for my donors.  I spent hours and hours embroidering flowers.  Then 3 of the other teachers helped with different tasks to make the pieces into refrigerator magnets.  It was fun to work together and be able to say that we all had a part in them.  One memorable thing was during class, when we realized that we needed more magnets.  I had to run all over town (well, I walked fast anyway) to find more magnets.  I stopped in 10 different places and finally found some in 2 of the stores.  I bought all I could find.  Exciting times!  Lol

I treated Sofi and Victoria to breakfast at Desayunazo, which serves great pancakes and waffles, as well as other breakfast items from the states and Nica.  We pigged out. 

I flew out to AR on Saturday, Oct 3.  I had a long layover in ATL (7.5 hours), so I bought a day pass to the Delta SkyLounge.  It was so worth the $50.  I got to sit in some comfy seating, eat 2 meals plus snacks, enjoy a fancy bathroom, use free wi-fi…  If I ever have a long layover again, I’ll remember this!  I got a lot of work done on the computer, preparing for the conference.  It was great!

The GIC (Global Impact Conference) Missions Conference at FBC Rogers (my home church) was very nice.  It was great to catch up with lots of people that I only see once or twice a year.  I also loved getting to see old friends/fellow missionaries and meet some new ones.  I got to speak to various small groups during the week and attend different banquets and hear other missionaries speak.  We received some cash donations and some material things for the ministry.  Many people said they are praying for us and want to start supporting us, too.  What a blessing!  Our display featured a lot of the items that the ladies have made in class.  I was blessed with a loaner car of a 2016 Buick Enclave SUV.  How awesome!  It was wonderful to have all my stuff in the car all week and not have to pack and repack each day, depending on who I was going to see.  Many blessings and lots of love was shared.

While in Rogers, I had an appointment with my doctor to make sure everything is in working order after having the Dengue in July/August.  I also met with my accountant and got my taxes sent off.  The bank account for the ministry was set up and is ready for when the 501c3 is filed with the IRS.  I stocked up on clothing for Victoria at a thrift shop and got lots of goodies from Hobby Lobby and Walmart for the Skills classes.  Of course, there were lots of great meals with friends.  And some very exciting meetings with some people that God is leading to work with us.  I truly felt blessed throughout the week.

Malorie Maxey, a young lady from my church, flew back to Nica with me to work with us for 2 months.  We had a pretty good flight and enjoyed getting caught up with each other.  I found out some more talents/gifts/skills that God has been preparing her to share here in Nica.  He is so awesome and faithful!

It was great to get to see Sofi and the baby again!  I had missed them both so much!!!  It was fun to get share the goodies with Veronica and Enia for the Skills classes, too.  I always love my homecomings back to Nica.

When Sofi started having trouble with a cyst on her tailbone again (she has seen the gov’t doctors many times for this), we called Marcos again.  He was gracious to help us out.  He even did a procedure to lance it, cut away bad tissue and clean it.  To save us money, he came to our house and did the procedure in my bedroom.  I was his assistant.  I don’t mind telling you that I hope to never have to be a part of a surgical procedure again!  Yuk!  But, it was for my daughter, so I gritted my teeth and said lots of prayers while holding her hands and helping him.  I will spare you the gory details, but I was shaking by the time we said goodbye to Marcos.  He came over everyday for a week and taught/supervised me cleaning the incision.  We served him cake one day.  He has given us hugs and spent time just sitting and talking.  He is a believer and said that the prayers that were said over Sofi has helped to heal her incision faster than he thought possible.  We are so glad that God brought him into our lives.  I feel so much better now that we have a great doctor to call on.

The rest of the month was business as usual and unusual.  We celebrated some birthdays, took care of Sofi’s physical needs, kept up with Victoria’s demands as she turned 9 months old.  Sofi got her long awaited eyeglasses and we got her registered for school that starts the end of January.  It was great news to get that finalized. 

Malorie has been sitting in on Skills classes, helping teach children with a friend’s ministry, learning to cook cinnamon rolls and lots of other things.  Her Spanish skills (which she has kept hidden due to shyness) have been getting a workout.  She is loving translating some of our Bible Study curriculum into Spanish for me.  I’m so glad that she loves doing it, because I have a lot of it for her to do!

Lindsay is a young lady, who works with another ministry and is staying with us for a while.  She has been a great companion for Malorie and for Sofi.  She is trying to find how she fits in with her ministry and on the mission field.  It can be quite overwhelming.  Keep praying for all of us as we adjust to multiple people coming together under one roof.

The year is going by so fast.  Sometimes I get dizzy thinking about it.  God has a big, wonderful plan for all of us to do Kingdom work.  It’s exciting to see those plans unfold.  I’m so grateful and humbled for all He allows me to experience.  What an honor.

September 2015

I continued to regain my strength from having Dengue.  It will take a while to get completely over it, and I may have residual effects for a long time, but it was great to see progress every day. 

Classes chugged along as usual.  It’s so much fun to see the different women coming through the mission house each week.  Some can’t come every week, so it’s especially nice to catch up with them.

I spent a lot of time in September doing things to prepare for being in Rogers AR in October for the missions conference at my home church.  Admin stuff is not may most favorite thing to do on the mission field, so each accomplishment meant a lot to me.  Being on a limited budget, special planning has to go into printing costs and other parts of preparing for conferences.  God provided through some wonderful people. 

Sofi was a little sick during the month, as was Victoria.  Veronica hooked us up with a wonderful peds doctor, who makes house calls.  He is great and is now more of a friend than just a doctor.  He had ordered some blood and urine tests on Victoria, just to rule out some stuff, and to see where she is at healthwise, since it was his first time to see her.  He came by the next day to read the results and explain everything to us.  He listened to V’s lungs and said that the headcold/flu had not reached them.  She had spiked a high fever the week before, which had Sofi and I up every 4 hours giving her Tylenol and keeping cold rags on her head.  Her fever broke at 4am and by the time the dr first saw her, she was feeling much better.  We were glad for the thorough exam he made on her, even though she was better already.  He also talked to Sofi about nutrition and suggested the formula that his baby is on.  He gave Sofi an injection ordered by another dr (she was scared to let me do it).  He also talked to her at length about her health.  He came by the third day just to listen to V’s lungs again. 

Victoria is growing so fast.  We hate to see her change, but it is so exciting to see the next stage in her growth.  I just love that little munchkin so much.  I can’t wait to see what God is going to do in her life.  I know that He has great plans for her.  I am humbled and blessed to be a part of raising her.  And it is a blessing to be a part of the team that God has made out of Sofi and I.  It’s all for His glory!

Finances are a big part of ministry and one part that I least like having to deal with.  I wish I could have everything lined out, in order and no worries.  But that is not reality.  I do love sharing about the ministry and getting people involved, and with that, comes financial support.  But asking for money and being concerned with the bookkeeping is not much fun.  Living on support has definite challenges associated with it.  One is that I have no control over how much money comes in each month.  It all depends on how God is leading people and if they are responding to His prompting.  I also do not have control over when the money gets put into my account.  It has been difficult in the past to get the previous month’s donations deposited into my account so that I could pay our bills on time.  When I was so sick, I just didn’t have it in me to make those weekly pursuits asking when the deposits would be made.  That ended up with my health insurance lapsing due to the funds not being in the account in a timely manner before the auto-draft was made by the insurance company.  It took phone calls to the church and the insurance company to finally get that all rectified.  It also caused some other problems.  But I think it got the attention of the appropriate people to get the deposits made in a more timely manner. 

Living on support from partners/donors is a very humbling experience.  It makes me trust God on a very personal level.  It’s not just my living circumstances that are affected by the income, but also the teachers and part-time employees of the ministry.  The classes themselves depend on the income being received in a timely manner.  When we are broke, it’s not fun, but it’s another way of living the message of trusting in God to provide.  When we have had to sell clothing and other items to buy food for the week, it was noticed by the people we minister to, and they, in turn, could see our faith at work.  We could still praise God for everything, even the tough times, and that spoke volumes to the people watching us.  As hard as times can be, we are grateful for the opportunities to share Jesus in very real ways.

The end of September was spent finishing up things for the conference, making appointments with doctors, accountants, etc., for my time in AR, and making lots of stuff to bring to the US for sale.  Kervin was working hard on finishing the website, which we have been working on for a year.  Enia made a laptop bag for me to use in AR.  It is beautiful and shows her great workmanship so that I can take orders for her.  Also, 4 of us worked hard on some embroidered magnets to give to our supporters as thank you gifts.  Each of us had a small part in putting them together.  It was fun to do it this way.

God continues to reveal Himself in big and small ways to us each and every day.  He is faithful to guide and carry us through this walk with Him.  We are so thankful that He never gives up on us.  What a privilege to serve Him.