Saturday, October 31, 2015

October, 2015 Newsletter



We're back.  At the end of August we were back in the states for our first visit since leaving in January.  We stayed for a month and had a wonderful time visiting with our families (including little Charlotte's first birthday) and also a very encouraging time visiting with our spiritual families.  We got to go to several life talks and speak at services at Central and Rock Hill.  But, by the time a month had passed we were really looking forward to getting back to our work in El Salvador and our spiritual families here.  We arrived back on Tue. Sept. 22 and after spending all day Wed. renewing our contacts and studies, we spent the afternoon Thursday looking for a house in Juayúa. At the end of the day we decided on a house that is adequate but still temporary.  It is small, doesn't have a water source in the kitchen and no garage but at least we are not on the road every night returning to Ataco.  We got to start two new studies in October.  In one, Charlotte is studying with a lady who helped us several times in looking for a house.  The other study is with our current landlord.  He is a really nice fellow.  He did not want a deposit or a contract on our house and when we told him we were probably not going to take the other house his is reconstructing, but would probably look for some other place he was super nice about it.  Charlotte, Rachel and Linda held a seminar for Children's Bible class teachers with about 80 people coming from 10 different congregations.  Charlotte had the object lessons, games and Bible themed snacks part and everyone raved about it.  We got to attend two monthly preacher's meetings in one month for the first time since there was a lot of preparation for a big weekend on Nov. 7th. And 8th.  We also attended our first El Salvadorian wake and funeral which were very different from anything in the States except there was a deceased person present.  The studies we had going before our return to the states are mostly continuing.  One family that we had been studying with had separated while we were gone, but we are continuing to study with each one separately.  One study seems to be drawing to a close with the lady refusing to make the changes in her life that she knows she should.  And our study with Nelson and the one with Jose and Kelly and family still both look very promising and we are praying for their decisions soon.  We are also getting back into door-knocking to find more contacts since we are now in Juayúa full time.  At the end of Oct. we made the decision as a church family to change our meeting time for the main Sunday service from 5 pm to 10:30 am starting Nov. 15th.  Our number is growing and this will be a better time for most everyone except that we will not be able to continue attending in the mornings in Ataco as we have been every Sunday since we got here.  Also, October saw the beginning stages of a new work in Salcoatitán which is only about 10 minutes outside of Juayúa and we will be working closely with the families starting this work and they will be helping us here also.  They plan to start meeting on Sundays the first of January and at least for a while to have their services at 8 or 8:30 so that we can attend there and they can attend here. On the last day of the month, Charlotte got to go to Santa Telca for a ladies’ class with Ricardo and Joli that had been in the plans since August.  Lots happening and it is great to be back!

No comments:

Post a Comment