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!