Psalm 68:5 "A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling."

The Real Life Church team left Canilla early yesterday morning. They were a great group who came to work alongside of us - and they did it with pure hearts of service. Together, we built a small house for a widow and her son up near Chiminisjuan. Estella and her son Juan Daniel have been living in small room made of corn stalks and the remains of their adobe home. Estella's husband died about 5 years ago from alcoholism. She and her 11 year old son have been receiving food in our nutrition program since the beginning. And it gave us great joy to be able to bless her with this new home which is way beyond anything that she could ever have hoped for. What a privilege it is to be able to be the hands and feet of the Lord as He defends the cause of the poor!

We also spent three days working in village schools teaching the children about the miracle of our bodies which are "fearfully and wonderfully made." It was a great opportunity for us to teach young children about simple things like covering your mouth when you cough, and how to protect our bodies...not smoking, drinking, taking drugs etc. We are given an open door in the schools to talk about the love of Jesus as well - which we did! We go each year with this group and this year the director of all the schools here, asked if we couldn't somehow go into each of the 28 schools in our township! Maybe next year.....

That, in addition to our 3 weekly clinics, made for a very full couple of weeks. We also made two trips out to a village way up in the mountains to see a young man who was sick with a severe infection. We gave him the medication that we could and then asked if his heart was well with Jesus. He prayed for forgiveness and accepted the gift of salvation. And then both of his parents asked to pray as well. So the entire household knelt in prayer as they asked Jesus into their hearts. This week, I heard that this young man died. What a blessing to know that he is with the Lord now and is no longer suffering!

We continue our countdown of days until we leave for the US - as of today, only 4 more. Grace and Abi have their backpacks packed and are ready!! Although they have no idea really, of what to expect as the travel for the first time outside of their country, the anticipation exceeds that of Christmas. They ask about a thousand questions each day about what they will see. We, too, are anxious to be with family and friends as we celebrate the marriage of Hannah and Matt. We hope to see you soon!

we have a website!

Our website is now up and running again. Please visit us at:

http://www.adonaiinternationalministries.org

Sunday is the day when we distribute corn. The truck is fully loaded and waiting this morning to go to San Andres. Thankfully, this year has brought lots of rain and the fields are green. A few people are beginning to harvest the early corn. Yesterday I saw beans drying on the street in front of our neighbors house. Once the corn is fully harvested( in November), we will bring an end to this project which was designed to meet the need of those who were hardest hit during the drought of last year. However, what we discovered when we began to evaluate the need last fall, was a large number of women - mostly widows, but some women abandoned or whose husbands are incapacitated by alcoholism - who are hungry. Some are "viajitas" (older women) who for some reason do not have families to help them. Others are women with young children. Women here who do not have husbands to plant and harvest the food that will be needed for the year, are left without a way to earn money. Some will make patates - which are large woven sleeping mats made of grass. A weeks worth of work will yield Q25-30 (about $3.50) - not enough to buy corn, much less the other (more nutritious) foods, or clothing, or school supplies, or medicines that their children need. So we began to help these women with "viveres" ( a 25 pound bag of beans, rice, oatmeal, and sugar) which we distribute every two weeks. This project will not end. Even though we are financially stretched as we buy more 100 pound bags of food each week, we can find no way around God's repeated command to feed the widows and orphans. For we know that this is the fast that He requires. Isaiah 58:6-7 says, "Isn't the fast I choose: to break the chains of wickedness, to untie the ropes of the yoke, to set the oppressed free, and to tear off every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your house, to clothe the naked when you see him, and to not ignore your own flesh and blood?"

Here at home we are busy getting ready for our annual visit from the Real Life church in Washington. We will again be going out to several of the local schools to teach a lesson about how God has created our bodies, and how to care for them. They will also be building a small house for one of the widows up in Chiminisijuan whose house is falling down. It should be a fun week! Four days after they leave, we will close down the clinics and leave for Houston to celebrate the wedding of Hannah and Matt. We will continue food distribution during the time that we are gone but will not operate the clinics. It is challenging to make sure that all those folks who get monthly help with their medications for diabetes, or hypertension or asthma have enough to continue their treatments during that time when we are gone.

We will be at home in the Marine for a few weeks after the wedding (from September 2-23). We hope to see some of you during that time!