Hola mis amigos!
As usual this was written earlier in the week. I wanted to get pictures in and that always takes me forever! Anyway, we do have more to share and will next week. JoJo is here safe and sound and Eden is EATING her up! What a blessing this time will be and we are looking forward to it. Please pray for her and her family as I know this will be a growing time as well!I hope this finds you well and enjoying what God has blessed you with. I know it has been a while since you have heard from me. I have had a bit of difficult adjustment since my short return to the States. I struggled a little getting back into our simpler way of life and with having a positive perspective on it and all that we are going through. God and I have worked through so much and I find that I have a new joy in what he has given us here and beginning to find my place.
I know one of the things that we asked for prayer for as we began our new life was for fellowship. Can I tell you our Lord has been beyond faithful! We have Sarah and Jason who are here serving with ATC and have been such a God send to us. They have helped with so much as far as knowing how to save money on food, where to go for the things we need, how to get to certain places and then helped us through our first short stent in and out of the country. I cannot imagine where we would be without them and I know their first couple of years were tough not having been through this and not having anyone here, but wow, what they have provided for us is just beyond measure! Then we have Joe and Danette! They are also serving down here in a nontraditional missionary role. They are running a coffee shop and ministering to the local families through that. They have become really good friends. We find out selves at their place or them at ours several times a week. If we haven’t talked in a day it’s a little strange. They have 2 kids that are older than Eden, but they play with her and spend time with her and Eden just eats it up! I want to tell you that that prayer has been more than answered. God has moved, as always, beyond my wildest expectations!
We celebrted Eden's 3rd burthday here last week. We had a good time and she is PROUD to be 3! She is such a joy and a blessing. It is still so amazing to watch and listen to her here. She was created by our Heavenly Father to be here! We are soblessed!
I have a couple of funny stories I want to share - some things that have happened in getting adjusted to our new country, new money, new language and new surroundings, i.e. the jungle! First was a while back. I had gone to the store to buy a bill of groceries and we needed aluminum foil. I actually saw a brand I recognized as a cheap brand in the States but a very satisfactory product none the less. I glanced at the prices on the shelf and a far as I could ascertain, it was reasonably priced. I grabbed it and put it into the cart. I finished shopping and then went to check out. I was watching the prices and when the foil was rung up I about fell over. It rang up for the equivalent of about $14 American dollars. I was so flabbergasted that I couldn’t even manage to explain that I didn’t want it so I bought it. Now, I have never been one to feel the need to wash and reuse much like that – foil, saran wrap, ziplok bags, etc. But at $14 a roll, you begin to think twice, first before you use it at all and then again before you throw it away. I haven’t resorted to saving it yet, but wow was I surprised!
We have had a couple of language flubs of course but my favorite of mine was asking for butter (mantequilla) instead of a broom (macarena) – which here broom is escoba, so I wasn’t even close! And the ladies I was asking were very confused.
And as far as living in the jungle – or close anyway. Bart woke up one night because he heard something rattling the gate that acts as our front door. He came out to look, but couldn’t see anything. So, he came back to bed and just listened for a while. I woke up per my normal listening for Eden and all of a sudden I hear this noise and he says “That’s what I heard.” and jumps out of bed. He grabs the flash light and shines it into our living room which is actually a giant screen porch. As he does he sees something scurry across the floor and then up the wood brace on the other side of the room. At that point he turns on the light and there is a small opossum on top of this rail that runs along the front wall of our living room. I have joined him at this point and don’t know how we (or he – I wasn’t going near it!) was going to get this thing out of our house. He opens the gates and then opens the doors on either side of our living room/screen porch. He tries to shoo it out with the broom but it just runs back and forth on this pole and seems to have no desire to come down. So Bart grabs the pole the opossum is on, which is like 20’ long, and carries it out the door. I imagine that it is going to run back at Bart and attack him when the pole starts to move, but once it is out the door and close to the groun
d, it jumps off and runs away. We haven’t seen it again and I am very thankful. I had quite the mess to clean up in the morning and was thanking God for bleach and having enough towels that I could just throw the one I used away. I also wondered how zoo keepers possibly clean up after these critters every day. The smell was horrendous! So, we headed back to bed and had quite the story to share with Eden the next day. She was sad that she didn’t get to see the ‘possumus’ as she calls it and made us promise that if something like that ever happened again that we would come get her up.
d, it jumps off and runs away. We haven’t seen it again and I am very thankful. I had quite the mess to clean up in the morning and was thanking God for bleach and having enough towels that I could just throw the one I used away. I also wondered how zoo keepers possibly clean up after these critters every day. The smell was horrendous! So, we headed back to bed and had quite the story to share with Eden the next day. She was sad that she didn’t get to see the ‘possumus’ as she calls it and made us promise that if something like that ever happened again that we would come get her up. As I have been sitting here writing, I have seen this flock of birds that lives in our yard, guans, walk across our driveway and just now fly behind me. They aren’t small birds, about the size of a grown rooster though skinnier and quite goofy in their behavior. They are quite funny and make a ton of racket when they want to. They entertain us pretty often.
It looks like things are coming together for my role with ATC. It will be in a role of working with children and I am thrilled about that. Pray that as this develops we will all be faithful to what God desires here.
God is teaching me so much right now. I am doing a study about who we are in Christ and it is just such a blessing. There are so many things that I have never been able to grasp about being a daughter of God and here in this place, I am understanding it so much better and feel like for the first time in a long time He and I are actually making some real headway in my understanding of how he loves me. There have been so many things that I have heard and studied during the past few years that I was curious about and wanted to believe, but was never able to make them a reality in my life and now I know my mind is being renewed and I am really taking these things to heart. Please pray that I will be faithful in my study and that I will continue to see what the Lord wants me to see and live a life that reflects my new understandings!
We want to share fully with you about the first retreat we had at Refugio Solté. Bart and I are working on it and we will have it to you soon. We appreciate those of you that prayed over that weekend. Know that the pastor and his church members were encouraged and uplifted and had God move in their lives in a mighty way that weekend. What an amazing blessing to get to be a part of!
Please continue to pray for the provision for the taxes and the release of our belongings we shipped here on the container. Also pray that we can come to some resolution quickly as our transportation situation is a strain not just on us but the family that lives at Refugio Solté. Based on information we received, we underestimated our taxes on the truck and personal belongings. We are working with an agent here to try and get things sorted out and to see if we can get any of that reduced. We know God, as he has in all things, has a plan and whether it is to supply the money we need, to reduce the money we owe, or a combination of the two, He will be faithful and provide what we need.
Thank you for each of you that are faithfully giving to allow us to be here. Thank you for each of you that are faithfully praying for us and our ministry. Know that you each are the reason we are able to follow the call God placed on our lives. We love you and look forward to hearing from you!
Feeling loved and blessed!
Heather
Heather
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