August 2016 Newsletter

Another wedding and two more baptisms.  August was a good month and was really packed with activities.  Starting with the usual ladies event on the first Saturday which had 13 visitors to following up on contacts we had from our campaign and then starting some new studies as well as continuing with the ones we already had. Charlotte also conducted a teaching seminar in San Salvador.   Our biggest events for the month were having a repentance study with Ana Vilma and Jorge at the end of which we asked them if they wanted to have a civil wedding.  They have been together for several years which is very common here and have a son Nelson who is six years old.  They said they were ready so we set the date for Sunday August 21^st.  They wanted to have the wedding on the weekend so that Ana Vilma could invite her mother and some other family members who do not live in Juayua.  In the end we had about 32 people.  Jorge is Sister Ana's son so she and all of her family came as well as several people from Ana Vilma's family.  Seily Lara performed the legal part of the ceremony and her husband Mario did a religious part. Together, they did a beautiful ceremony.  Cesar and Eliza were the official witnesses as usual.  The wedding was in our house of course.  This was the first time we had to miss Sunday services in Salcoatitan but at least it was for a good cause.  The last weekend of August was spent in a big retreat for all the preachers in this area and their families.  We started Friday afternoon at 3 at the Vision Hotel here in Juayua.  Noe spoke first on the intimate relationship in marriage and did a great job.  After dinner I did a session in group discussion format on family ministry.   We had a couple and their baby spent the night in our house since they were from out of town.  We really enjoyed having them and almost talked till too late in the evening.  Saturday morning we started with breakfast at Entre Nubes restaurant in Ataco followed by a lesson on finances by Hector.  About 10 we all headed out to a small lake in Apaneca which was far back off the beaten path.  We stayed there until 3:30 in the afternoon and had lots of fellowship, some group activities and a cookout lunch.  I think Charlotte and I were the only ones who actually walked all the way around the lake.  It was pretty in spots but you could not actually see the lake most of the time.  When we got home we had another study with Ana Vilma and Jorge and asked them what they were waiting for to have their baptisms and they could not think of anything. Jorge said he had been baptized before and asked if he could be baptized again so we studied about that and set the time for 7 pm.  We called a few folks and then some just came in who happened to be available so we had a pretty good group of witnesses. Ana Vilma's sister, Flora, whom we had first met at the wedding was in town and she came to the baptisms.  Charlotte talked with her about studying the Bible and she and Ana Vilma came over the next week and started studying with Charlotte.  Jorge and Ana Vilma are a great young couple and have been very consistent in coming to services even before their baptisms and we are very excited that they are now part of our Juayua family.  The following day the children had their first program conducted during the morning service with memorization lines from the Creation story and a beautiful song.  The good news on that was that it brought in several visiting children and parents.  Probably by the time most of you read this we will be back for our September visit.  Little Charlotte will be 2 on Sept. 12^th and we are excited that the time is so near to get to see her and all of you in person.