Beautiful Feet: April 2015

Thursday, April 30, 2015

April Report

It is so hard to believe we have already been here 3 full months. So much has happened and the time has passed so quickly. The month began with a wild night for Charlotte with having the teen girls over for a spend the night and for me with going to spend the night at Hector’s and having to drive in the hardest rain so far and in the dark too. Somehow we both survived and as the girls left they were telling Charlotte how much they wanted to do it again. The theme for the girl’s sleepover was Friendship and there were ten teen girls and five ladies who helped. The first weekend of April was Easter with all the parades and beautiful flowers. We went to a birthday party in Ahuachapán and ended up not being able to get back into town with the car until the next day. It did give us the opportunity to walk through town past all the decorations and this was better anyway. Sat. April 5, was our first Saturday evening service in Juayua and there was a small earthquake during the service. I was talking and didn’t notice it and Charlotte could not believe I didn’t. Our co-workers in Juayua, Cesar and Eliza, got settled into their house this month including us helping them to paint their large living room. We continue to find more contacts in Juayua and are excited that the work is off to such a good start. After a 4 hr. preacher’s meeting on the 2^nd Friday of the month we went to Santa Anna and got our drivers licenses and got our car registered for another year. April 12^thwas the trip to the beach for Sunday services with the Ataco church. It was fun, but made for a long Sunday since we still had evening services in Juayua as usual. We also got to spend an entire day waiting in Santa Ana for a lady we were trying to help to go to the doctor. We got there at 6 am and left about 4:30 pm. She was not able to see a physician and the daughter had to return the following day to make another appointment for the end of May. It is not good if you need to see a doctor in El Salvador but have no money. We have also now gotten to have three days of going door to door in Juayua. Some are willing to talk or take a study course but most say they are already going to some church. Pray for us to find those who are still looking for God. Charlotte started teaching the children’s classes in Juayua this month. In May, Elizabeth and Eliza will also start teaching. This month was rough on Charlotte, first she got another infection and then she fell on the stairs and hurt her foot pretty bad and then she ended the month with a tooth problem. She is surviving, but we do hope and also ask for your prayers that this month will be better. April ended with the brothers from Central and Signal Mountain coming for a weekend visit and bringing with them the biggest surprise of our lives. When we arrived at the airport to pick them up there was our daughter Leanna with them. We had no idea she was coming. It sure was great and really special for Charlotte. We also had a wonderful weekend with the brothers and tried to cram as much into one weekend as we could. I am sure everyone was tired when the weekend was over. Keep us in your thought and prayers and if you want pictures and details-read our blog: Simmonsbeautifulfeet.blogspot.com.

Teen Sleepover with Devos and Crafts and Eats ALL NIGHT!

Service at the Beach

First Children’s Classes in Juayua

Visitors from the States…..Including the SURPRISE visit from Leanna!!!!

Family we are working with: Cesar, Eliza and Abi

April 30, 2015

Thursdays are our Ataco days now since we go to Juayua so much. We have not really taken any days off much that I can remember and you probably can tell if you have been reading the blogs. Jim said when he was here that we needed to carve out one day that we did not commit to anything and rest or do what we wanted to. We are at least looking toward that being Tuesday. We were going to try to go visit Terry Finley in Guatamula next Tuesday but for various reasons that is not going to work out. I told Charlotte that should be our day off but right now we are trying to get an appointment in San Salvador with a dentist to see about Charlotte’s toothache. When we were at the airport taking Leanna and Jim back on Monday I had parked the car a little far from the airport and I told her she could wait while I went to bring it. She said “If I am walking or standing my mouth is going to hurt either way”. That was the first I knew of her mouth hurting, I was thinking about her foot hurting. We have decided it must be a broken crown or abscess or something. Going to San Salvador is anything but restful but that seems to be the only place to go to get good results in most anything. I am still waiting for the neighbor to help me find the good garage in San Salvador to get the AC fixed. Anyway, we had to go by Rachel’s to take some things for the kid camp, then we went to Rosaria’s for about an hour. She is asking more questions these days and we do a lot of talking about things rather than just reading to her so that is good. Then after lunch we went back to Stephanie’s. At the end she asked us about the Kingdom (she has also been studying with the JW’s) so we are going to have a study on that next week. Then we studied with Reina and came back home. We skyped with Caleb and then with Leanna and were about to watch a tv episode when Brian dropped by. We reskyped with Leanna since Lea was over there and he knows them both. He stayed for quite a while but we finally yawned enough that he got the hint.

This was funny, when we knocked on a gate,

these chickens came running towards us from

the end of the road.

This is for Leanna. The purple flowers overtake the picture,

but there is wild Baby's Breath growing around the flowers.

April 29, 2015

We had a little time in the morning because we didn’t head to Juayua so early today. So Dwaine took an early bus ride to Ahuachapán to pay our water bill. We had gotten a notice that our water was in ‘suspension’ and had to be paid in Ahuachapán. When he arrived there, he had to consult with a lady at a desk and was told he would have to pay a reconnection fee. The bill had not been paid since November. In the end he paid $37. We actually owed about 5 dollars. The landlord of the house had not paid any services since November. Since the house was vacant, she left the bill unpaid. Fortunately, the water was never turned off and the landlady said to take her part of next month’s rent. Edgardo dropped by while Dwaine was home, so I didn’t invite him in. But I did ask him to come back for lunch since Dwaine would be back. He did come and we were able to present him with a Thompson Bible in Spanish. He was overwhelmed. The brothers had brought that from the States. He is such a hard worker and does not have many study aids. It was a great gift for him. Dwaine had noticed the car tire was leaking, so he went to the tire repair shop after lunch. It was a small nail and was able to repair it quickly. We went to Juayua a little late because Cesar and Eliza had to take Abi to the doctor. She has not been eating well and has lost some weight. We arrived about 1ish. We went out to revisit our contacts we had made from door knocking last week. Most were not at home, but we did get to visit and read the Bible with Julia. She was an interesting lady. When we finished we were not sure if we had gotten a word in edgewise, for she was quite a talker. She was really sweet. Because she is elderly, she has trouble seeing, so she had gotten a magnifying glass. It did not work very well, so she was not able to read along. We will have to work on finding some reading glasses. As we finished, we noticed she had a lot of rabbits. We asked if they were for eating, and of course they wereL. We joined with Regina and Pedrito and visited Sister Ana for her afternoon devo. Afterwards we had planned to go to study with Raul and Ana, but they had to work today, so we went to our evening study. There was a good study and a small children’s class. Cesar decided to come home with us so that he could head out early for San Salvador. Eliza had stayed for more testing for Abi on Thursday morning. Cesar planned to join her at the doctor around 10 on Thursday. Keep them in your prayers.

Special gift for Edgardo!

Rabbits for dinner?

They are too pretty to eat!

Turkey along the road....now he is too ugly to eat!1

Doves with young ones.....sure these are to eat too,

Alex in Bible class

Precious smile.

April 28, 2015

Hay más! We really didn’t allot for any ‘catch up’ time from our company through the weekend. That is probably good for me so that I didn’t dwell on how much I missed Leanna….sorry guys. We headed out at 8:30 for a meeting at Rachel and Hector’s for the children’s camp this upcoming weekend. It took about 2 to 3 hours to finalize the details and practice our skits. Rachel has really done a lot of planning and it looks to be a great event for the kids. It is geared for the 7 to 11 year olds and they are expecting between 12 and 15. They had originally planned it to be in a camp beyond Juayua, but parents asked for it to be at their home. Everyone felt more secure at their home and the traveling distance was going to be hard for some. We are thankful that it will be closer to our home so we can spend the night at our house. We had also planned to have the Tuesday night Bible study group into our home for a devo and dinner. Hey that beats any movie and a dinnerJ So, we cooked and cleaned for the rest of the day. I was able to plan the food so that I could join in the devo and everything was ready to serve afterwards. We had about 12 folks over and really enjoyed the meeting. Dwaine told the story of Andy Griffin when Aunt Bee was going on a trip for a week and she asked everyone to have Andy over each day of the week. Someone asked what his favorite meal was and he said spaghetti. We laughed that we would be eating the same leftovers for a week. So we kept saying, hay más, meaning ‘there is more’….so eat up! It was good to have everyone over and enjoy the fellowship.

Carolina, Phillip, Osmin, Zoila, Tatiana, and Alex!

Devo with a lesson by Carlos

Great lesson. Ricardo also shared part of the lesson.

Younger crowd.

Dinner is complete!

April 27, 2015

Monday was good by day. We decided to drive Leanna and Jim to the airport in our car so we would have that last time to spend with Leanna and to see her off. We went through Sonsonate because there was road construction between Santa Ana and San Salvador. We left out about 8 and didn’t really have any trouble. I made one wrong turn as we were just before San Salvador on the way to the airport but it took us into a little town that was just off the main road so it did not take long to realize we needed to get back on the main road and go further. When we got to the Airport we called Hector and he said they were still about 30 min. away. Leanna’s flight was ½ hr. earlier than the guy’s so she and Jim went on in so he could make sure she got through ok. We walked down to Subway and had a snack and waited for the rest of the group so we could tell them good bye. We were concerned about Leanna being delayed because there was possible bad weather in Houston about the time she was to arrive there. We didn’t want to get too far away so we drove back to San Salvador to wait. Charlotte said we had not eaten at Pizza Hut since we got here so we went there for lunch. It was good and Leanna texted us that she was on her plane so we headed on to Juayua. I got a little off the route in Sonsonate and had to stop and ask about three times. Everyone kept saying I need to go to the bridge but it was farther back than I thought and I kept giving up too soon. We finally made it and arrived just on time in Juayua. Charlotte met with Elizabeth and Eliza at Eliza’s house to discuss the children’s classes in Juayua. They we able to plan out through the end of this year. Cesar kept Abi and we talked and walked around a little. Then we went over to Raul and Anna’s house for a 5:00 Bible study. We sure were tired when we got home but we did hear from Leanna on Skype that she had made it home about 9:30.

Ok, here comes the hard part!

Here it is....tears of departure.

Last group picture.

Last picture. We can't go into the airport. I miss her already!!!

Huntsville crew came about 30 minutes later. More good-byes!

April 26, 2015

Sunday we got up and got off for Shucutitian services at 8:30 so we would not be late. As we walked up the road together from our parking place Hector called out “you’re late” but at that time it was 8:50 and we started about 9:05. Charlotte taught the children’s class (she had been helping but this time she taught and Leanna went in with her) Before we broke up for preaching and class, Hector introduced everyone who came from the States and asked Butch to lead a prayer of blessing for the church here. Then Jim preached on David being chosen king and killing Goliath and did a great job. Hector interpreted. For lunch we went to Entre Nubies (In the Clouds). It was our first time there too. We had been eating so much I just got a ham and cheese sandwich and fries but it was good and plenty. Leanna went all out (see photo). After lunch, Charlotte, Leanna and I came back to Ataco and rested a little and then walked around town until time for the 4:00 service in Ataco. Leanna bought a beautiful bed spread. Jim preached again and this time he got a young man from the audience to come up to represent David. It was great and we all had lots of laughs. Then our group came back by our house for snacks and we headed out for Juayua. We passed Hector and his group on the way, so he told them what a fast driver I was. We had a good service with lots of people and Jim taught on Eph. 5. Then we all went to a Pupusaria for a late dinner. That was fun but we sure were tired when we got home. We did have more room in the car because David and Rodney went back to Hector’s for the night.

It was great to get to teach class. What a blessing to have Leanna come in and help. I was so delighted to have her. All the kids loved her. Of course, Zoila and Carolyn came and Rachel joined it too. What a blessing to be with such a great group of teachers. Everyone helped me to pull off my first class in Shucutitian. We had over 20 children. Bessy stayed after church to do the devo for the young ladies. We had to go be with the group, but I would have loved for Leanna to get to be with the teen girls. Leanna helped me again in Juayua to teach our smaller group there. We had 5, and a lesson on David and Jonathan. It was a really nice group and Pedrito told the story for us.

Gathering for the morning service at Shucutitan with visitors!

Welcome to all the visitors!

First time to teach the children's class in Shucutitan.

More than 20 children for class.

Cats for Christina

Enjoying lunch with Leanna!

Large group for lunch!

Yummy Meal

Yummier Coffee

Yummiest fellowship

Luzelana and Leanna

Mommy Daughter Picture

Daddy Daughter Picture

Jim Preaching in Ataco

Leanna helping with the children's class in Juayua.

Leanna with Pedrito

Pupusas after the Juayua service

David went loco for his pupusa....meaning it is stuffed with everything!

Luzelana with David and Edaurdo

Last night together!

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

April 25, 2015

Only Jim spent the night with us Friday night. David wanted to spend time with his niece and nephews and Rodney wanted to spend some time on stuff with Hector. Really, he just wanted to sleep in Hector’s hammock outside. After unloading the whole breakfast on Jim and Leanna that we had planned for more people, we got to visit some and Jim and I even went for a short walk around Ataco. I showed him the fanciest house I knew of and we got some things from .99. At 10:30 we had a meeting at Hector’s house and talked about some problems the church in Ataco was dealing with. Then we went to lunch at a very fancy outdoor open air type restaurant near Juayua. We got to go to a couple of places this weekend we had not been before. It was quite a spread. Then Charlotte, Leanna, Rodney, Jim, David and I went over to Cesar and Eliza’s for about an hour to visit and get to know them better even though they had all met Cesar before. At about 3 we went out to walk about Juayua to see the town and to do some souvenir shopping. See photos. Leanna even braved holding the large snake. To be honest, we are not sure if it was a python or a boa constrictor. We also visited a great ice cream shop that we had been to before. Then at 4:30 we went on over to Regina’s house to meet all of them and to have the 5:00 Bible study. Cesar taught and I tried to discreetly translate (at least I think they got the gist of it). We did have several members come so I was glad of that. Saturday night when we got back to Ataco was our one big dinner at our house for the folks from Central. Charlotte put on quite a spread and we had a great time and all ate till we could not eat any more.

Since I did not know that Leanna was coming, I had to put her to work. Otherwise I would have gotten everything done before her arrival. I was teaching two classes on Sunday, so she help me get some of the crafts ready. It was funny, we both determined to stay up late and talk ourselves silly. It didn’t take long and the conversation got further and further apart. We were really uncertain the next day who quit talking first. We were both so tired. It was so good to visit and show her all the sights in Juayua. We sure took advantage of the photo ops. I thought we were going to have to pay poor Rodney for his photography skills. It was a great day of fellowship and catching up!