Beautiful Feet: December 19, 2015

I'll fly away. (Or something will). We understood yesterday that we were supposed to arrive in Salcoatitan at the school for the family breakfast event at 7 so we got up and got ready and Suleyma arrived at 6:30. We took her over to Regina's to leave Danielito and then went by to pick up Cesar. He said he was supposed to pick up the tamales so he would drive his own car there. We arrived at 7 but the gate was closed again and no one else arrived until 7:30. But the school director did not arrive until 8 again anyway. By the time we got everything set up (tables and chairs) people were already arriving. We had about 55 people total representing 24 different families. Carlos talked throughout the time the people were eating but we all said a few words. There were several gifts that were given out again by drawing and then everyone was given an invitation to the first services in Salcoatitan for January 3^rd. The only bad part was the wind was even worse than on Friday. I and some of the other men spent much of the time holding on to one of the corners of the canopy to keep them from flying away. Still, everyone was very happy with the great turn out and how everything went. When we got back to Juayua Cesar went over to see if the lady who owned the house down the street that we wanted to look at for a possible church location could go with us to see it. She lives in the US but her mother and sister live here and she is visiting them for the holidays. We had heard the house had been empty for a long time but that the owner was not interested in renting it. Then on Wednesday Cesar and I had passed by and a lady was cleaning it to get ready for the owner's arrival. We spoke to her and she said she would talk to them about us. Later that day Cesar happened to see her again and she said the owner said she would be willing to consider renting it out. We waited about 30 minutes before they all arrived at the house but it did turn out to be a good prospect. It has a large living room and large adjoining kitchen with only a bar seperating them. This is exactly the layout that Charlotte had wanted us to have for our house so that when people came to visit and she still had cooking to do she could still be able to see and visit with them. There is a bathroom off to the side of the kitchen that will be perfect for the adults to use if they need to. Then there is a hallway to the back with a small patio on one side and three large bedrooms (class rooms) on the other side. Then at the end of the hall there is another bathroom that the kids can use if they need one during classes. With three rooms we should have one for the class we have now, one for a nursery and one for storage for the time being. The rent is $250 which will be a little bit of a stretch but I think we will be ok and we are rapidly outgrowing the space in Pedro and Regina's home but the main thing is that this house is on the main entrance road into this area of town where by far most of our contacts live and we are getting more in this area rapidly plus it is at the edge toward town so while it will be close to people in this area it will also at least not be too far for the people who might come from other parts of town. The street has plenty of room for parking but most everyone walks anyway. We can put up a banner and everyone who goes past will see it and it is a fairly busy road. Also, Charlotte had the idea of doing as Caleb, Della and Lucky had done in Ataco and having bread (her bread) and coffee one morning a week for passersby and getting to know them and asking if they were interested in a Bible study. Just waiting to enter, a man stopped by and chatted. I had met him at the ladies’ and children’s event. Anyway the owner said she had no problem with it being used for a church. But Charlotte had the idea of asking her if the bar could be removed to make the room really large. We want to ask her if we could do this if we have it put back when we move out. Without the bar we would have an area big enough for up to about 50 people and that might serve for a long time. Guess it is obvious I am excited about the prospects of this place still we want to talk to the other members before making a final decision. After lunch I headed out for English class. Carlos arrived about the time I did and Nelson soon after. Arnoldo was working in the coffee fields and he arrived about 30 minutes after class started and I thought he was coming home to be in the class but he said that while he was working in the field he got into a nest of bees and about 15 stung him on the face and head. After class I came back home and Kelly, Kiki and Nicole arrived for their Saturday study. It went well and we went almost until 5. Then we rushed over to Regina's for our 5:00 service. Cesar taught on James 1 about temptation and had a good study but just as he was finishing two of Sister Ana's (the one with arthritis that we visit each Wednesday) daughters arrived and said that their oldest sister Dora had died today. She was only 39 and had 5 children, the youngest only 5. She had some problems and went to the Dr. who gave her an injection. She got worse and he sent her to the hospital and she died of some type of heart failure. After we finished up Charlotte and I went on over and Kenya went with us because Regina was concerned about our going to that area at night and she said we could not stay long. When we got there all the furniture had been moved out of the house and the body was in a casket with candles around it and chairs set up throughout the house. Sister Ana was sitting off to the side and weeping very loudly. Charlotte sat with her for a long time and then prayed with her and we left. We told her we could take her to the cemetery in our car since she cannot walk. When we got back home someone knocked on our door just as we were about to eat dinner (it was on the table). It was Wendy (the pregnant lady Charlotte had the great study with Wednesday) and her husband Oscar. They came by to say they could go to services in the morning. We had a great visit and were really excited that they had come by to tell us even though they walked a good ways in the dark to get here. It sure was a unique day filled with blessings and hope of many kinds and also great tragedy.