What blessings have you received this week?

People from church who went to witness the baptisms yesterday.

Luis, Neiger, Tony and Jon after the baptisms yesterday.

Dear Friends,

I enjoy Mondays. Our week-ends are usually very exciting and hectic...so when Monday rolls around, there is a calm...usually no list of urgent things to try to complete. It is a day to reflect on the blessings of the Lord we received over the week-end...and look ahead to what we need to be doing this coming week.

It is usually a day that we spend working around the house, getting to those odd jobs, that aren't usually huge or any big deal, but that need to be done.

This morning I'm rejoicing that Tony is back home safe and sound. The reports from the Men's Retreat in Santo Domingo are great! 8 men from our church went to the retreat with him. All 8 gave testimonies yesterday during church and what a blessing it was to hear them. One of the men was baptized yesterday, and along with him his son, who he led to the Lord Saturday night when he got home from the retreat! What a blessing to see the smile on Jon's face Sunday morning, and see the glow in his Dad's eyes.

We continue to work with a small church in Portoviejo. I would ask you to be in prayer for his work. There are about 10 people that faithfully attend the Sunday morning service, but there is no "restlessness" in them, to see God do something there. They all seem perfectly content to just go on as things are. Comfortable in getting together on Sunday afternoons and having their little church service. I know that God could do a great work in that place. There are many people that need to be reached with the gospel. Pray with us that, God would light a fire under this believers and give them the desire to reach their lost neighbors, family and friends. Pray with us that the Lord would bring a permanent Pastor, who would be burdened for this work and area.

Work is getting started again at the construction site this week. The next step is getting this ready and pouring the 2nd floor and columns. We are grateful that the Lord has supplied the need to get this next step moving. Please pray with us that He would provide the funds needed to get this first phase of the building completed, so that we can start meeting there soon!

This coming Saturday we will be having a "Ladies Afternoon" (basically a Ladies Tea, but who wants to drink hot tea in this kind of weather, and how can you call it a Tea, if you don't serve tea? :-) I would really appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this special event. We have asked the Ladies to invite their unsaved friends and family members. Many times Ladies that would never come to a regular church service will come out for a special event like this. So pray with us, as we prepare and make the final preparations. Pray too, that God will use it to touch hearts.

As we start this new week, I am thanking God for all the blessings we received this past week...for the great attendance in church yesterday, for the 3 men baptized, for the birth of a precious baby girl, Thursday night to Viviana and that both of them are now at home doing well. I am thankful for the Ladies the Lord has put in our ministry to work together with me, both with the Ladies Ministry and with Children's Ministry. I am thankful for a Godly husband. I am thankful for the work the Lord is doing in our daughters lives and the lives of their families, and I am thankful for the son the Lord has given us to keep us young, and to fill our house with laughter. I am thankful that the construction is starting up again on the building.

I am also looking forward with excitment and anticipation, wondering what incredible blessings will the Lord pour out on us this week? What blessings are you counting today?