November Update

Well, we have now celebrated our first major holiday outside the US and can I say that our God is faithful and continues to do more than I can ask or imagine! We celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday with about 50 fellow Christians from here in the area where we live and work. It was an incredible thing to see the community that Christ has blessed us with in such a short time. We are closer to some people than others, but to know that all the people in that room yesterday are followers of Christ and most are here trying to make a difference in His name is quite amazing. We had a traditional American Thanksgiving meal, with all families contributing something. We fixed a ham and green bean casserole—from scratch (no Campbell's soup here and they were all out of canned green beans). We also had turkey, cornbread dressing, bread, potatoes, deviled eggs, salads and pineapple. We had a whole array of desserts from cupcakes for the kids to pumpkin and pecan pie! We haven't eaten like that in months! We were so full. Our tropical twist to the day was a walk down to the beach after we ate. Eden and I played in the sand and water and Bart went spelunking! He finally had a group of guys here to go exploring with and they had a blast. We are going to have to get a waterproof camera so he can get some good pictures of the caves.

My heart is full right now. As we continue to serve here, I am humbled that God chose us to be here and grateful that through your generosity we were able to come! Since you last heard from us, we completed 6 weeks of language class and are so thankful we did it.

Bart and I can now function pretty completely in Spanish, though he is much better than I am. The family that are the caretakers here at Refugio Solté speak only Spanish and we now are able to visit with them as well as accomplish the work with them that we need to. I am overjoyed with how far we have come. Bart even made a trip to an island where we have been working with some locals and served as the translator for the day! Can you believe it?

The longer I am here the more I hunger for the local people to know the love of our redeeming savior. For so many of them, they have no joy. I know there lives are far more difficult than mine will ever be, but I also know a redeeming savior who can change so much of their outlook on life. Please pray for them and that God will provide ways for us to reach out to them and show them His freedom and love!

I am now serving as coordinator of our Preschool Sunday School at Iglesia de la Costa, our church here. I teach the class once every 3 weeks as well as plan all the lessons and activities. It is also a great chance to use my Spanish as Eden is generally the only English speaker in the class!

Speaking of church, we had a program last Sunday afternoon for the kids in the community. It was a great time and the group that presented not only gave the kids a fun time, but presented the gospel of Christ! There were clowns, an obstacle course and candy! Eden was also one of 2 gringo kids present but she had a blast. When it was all over she told Bart and I we need a clown at home so she can play with them all the time!

We said 'goodbye' to JoJo early last week. Bart and I miss her, but not like Eden does. She was such a blessing to have here. She is a beautiful young lady of God and I am looking forward to see how He chooses to use her sweet and caring heart! She is a special one!

We are still waiting on our container...I know, I can't really believe it either. We have word a month ago that it would be about 2 more weeks and here we are...We spoke with our agent again last Friday and An he says it really will be just about 2 more weeks now. I guess we will see. I think about all of this and realize how little I feel like I need most of that stuff now. I am praying God will show me how I can pass it on to bless someone here that doesn't have much! Please be praying that God will open all the doors to finally get it out of storage and that He will provide the last bit of money we need. He has been faithful to give us all we have needed up to this point and we know He will continue!

We make out next trip out of the country the beginning of this next week. It is hard to believe it is already that time again. We are going a little early so we have it done before Christmas activities at church pick up and before my Mom arrives! We are looking forward to some family time together and to enjoying some air-conditioning for a little while!

As far as Refugio Solté goes, Bart is working very diligently to have what we have here complete by the end of February, including a more reliable power supply. He is currently working on building a house for the caretakers and then will dive into really finishing up the kitchen. Please be praying that as Answering the Call is working on raising the funds we need to complete the work, that God will open doors and lead them to the people they need to be in contact with. It is exciting to think we may actually have a full schedule next spring.

My role here at Refugio Solté has finally come together. While we are still planning on having and hosting groups of pastors from other countries for training and recuperation, that only partially fills our calendar. Based on that fact and in an effort to raise money to maintain RS and bring in the pastors at no cost to them, we are going to begin hosting groups to come in and do local mission work. These groups will utilize RS as their "hotel" but we will be able to more fully serve them because we will cater to the work they will be doing. One thing that sets us apart from other place is we are welcoming families with children of all ages. Many of the areas of service here are kid friendly—working with kids in the orphanages, minor construction projects, community VBS programs to name a few. For those projects, parents will take their older children along. The younger kids, say from 3 to 8 years of age, will stay on the RS campus and I will provide a missions based program for them to go through. I desire to provide them with learning opportunities in many areas. I want them to learn about the local community, the areas and people Answering the Call is ministering to around the world, and learning more about God and our responsibility to share His love with others. I am in the process of developing the program and am really excited for the opportunity to do this. I am praying that God will use this to open the hearts and eyes of the kids to the world around them and to ways that they can share God's love even at a young age. I know this is part of God's plan for me here.

Thank you for reading all of this. I know it has been a while since we have been in touch. Know that we think of you often and miss you dearly. Our hearts are full remembering all our Lord has blessed us with especially his love and gift of salvation. We thank you for providing for our family so we can follow where God has asked us to go and we can do the work we have been asked to do. Your faithfulness and willingness to bless us is beyond words! Your prayers and encouragement keep us pursuing all God has for us and we thank you for that. We love you and are praying for you!

With a thankful heart,

Heather

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now." Philippians 1:3-5