Long but good day

Went to preach up in the mountain today in St Teresa. Headed out at 6am to pick up Marc Antonio in Choluteca. Several of our kids went to help. As we hit the steep grades the kia began making crunching sounds in the gearbox when in 4wd. Wee. Also brought up cement so the church can do a little more on the church building. They have put a cement coating on and begun a water threshold (like a sidewalk but to keep water away from the non-foundation base of the walls) on the adobe brick building to protect it. They still need to do the interior. We had a couple of small wind gusts and the dust from the interior walls and floor kicks up so bad it requires everyone to keep a washcloth to breath through. They need about 60 more bags of cement to finish the walls and floors. Each bag costs about $9 including getting it up the mountain. They haul the sand, gravel and water they need with an old oxcart or wheel barrow from the river about a mile below. When done, the building will last 25-50yrs with only minor repairs.

We bought and delivered a bunch of chairs for the church in San Geronimo Friday, thanks to the big hearts of ministering saints. The whole church had seats, no rocks were occupied. Amen! How long would you sit on a rock or lean on a barbwire fence to listen to preaching?... The San Geronimo church is growing slow but steady under Marc Antonio’s preaching. He is shaping up to be a great pastor.

The church also came to the river to watch first baptisms of the Lighthouse Baptist church. Marc Antonio is always asking me bible questions to verify his thoughts and grow by, I enjoy his conversations. We had several of our children ready to baptize as well as one of our senior ladies. One of our ladies backed out at the last minute because her catholic husband refused to let her participate. Another time, maybe next time he will be included. She pulled me aside and asked, is it ok if she still comes to the church service? Yes of course your welcome. Patricia had been asking for months about baptism and has been beaming all day. Sayder came privately to me yesterday to verify he was ready. Wow was he ready. I asked a few questions and he responded with answers only a bible student would answer with. He then prayed and humbled me. A president of a Bible university could not have spoke with more power, conviction or more articulate. It moved me to tears listening to him talk to God. I tried to record it but did not want to interfere. Lisa made cupcakes to share at the river and of course kids and water cannot be in close proximity without mixing, so most of them dove in and splashed around after the service for a short bit.
Over all a great day… till I sat and looked at photos and realized I had a big hole in my shirt. Preaching and baptizing all day with a big ol hole. As we looked at the photos, I asked the kids why didn’t you tell me?…Responce-It didn’t bother us and we thought you knew. (Insert exasperated sigh) Back to real concerns. Without going into details, we had some issues this week that could have turned very tragic personally and ministerial, that really brought the spirit down in the house. But thanks to ministering saints prayers being heard by our LORD, it seems that it was avoided. Only the LORD could have changed the circumstances and hearts. Please keep us in prayer, it's not over yet.

I am including a video if I can upload it of the girls folding clothes this evening. They have been singing all afternoon. Amen, BTW, both our washer and dryer have died, so we are back to washing by hand. Making their songs even sweeter to hear. Amen! I have tried and tried for days to load this video and the conection just wont handle it. Stayed up all night sunday trying when loads were less. Need a better way.