Beautiful Feet: September 2016

Friday, September 30, 2016

September 30, 2016

We left to go visit with Claudia Veronica, but she was not in. She is spending a lot of time working at the school and has been out regularly. On in the morning we went by Mauricio’s, who has a shop that sells fried chicken. He was open with his life, saying that he was very busy, and often did not take time for God. He did have several interruptions, so we suggested we might try our home next time. He works in a small school near our home, so hopefully this will be convenient for him. For the afternoon, Cesar had ran into Nelson on the street and he said that he would be willing to study again. So, Cesar, Dwaine and Nelson got together for the afternoon to study. Seily and I set out to Angelia’s. She had moved from her home to her husband’s home. Her husband, William, is brother to Oscar, Wendy’s husband. So we were round again to Wendy’s. Needless to say we had a baby holding time with Eleazar and Lucas. Sandra, Wendy and Angelica all set in on the study, so it was a blessing to spend time with them all. For the evening, Dwaine assisted Cesar with the leader’s class and I went to Rachel’s in Apaneca to meet regarding the seminar next weekend. Everything seemed in place, so we just wrapped up a few small details. On my way home, I stopped at Salcoatitan to visit with Linda. Carlos and Linda had been in a study and so Linda couldn’t attend the meeting. I shared meeting details and we worked some on the details for the ladies’ and children’s event on Saturday. We both got home about 8 and worked on into the night.

Seily with Lucas, Angelica's son

Thursday, September 29, 2016

September 29, 2016

In preparation for the Ladies’/Children’s Event on Saturday, we went to Ricardo’s and Yoli’s to pick up two piñatas. Yoli was able to pick them up in Caro Sucio for us. This was going to be our first time to offer this for a church event. Even though they were small, they sure did take a lot of candy. In the end Dwaine put in about $25 worth of candy in the two and they were completely full. I am hoping to get in my first ‘swing’ since one is for the ladies. In our comings and goings we passed a man, Mauricio, who speaks English and works several jobs around town. He had been helping a young band get ready for Independence Day and had said when we returned hopefully he could study. We set up an appointment for Friday. After lunch, we picked up Xiomara at 2 to go to two studies. The first was with Carla, who has a lot of religious background and the second was with Blanca, who has not been to church in quite a while. At the end of Blanca’s study she asked for prayers to make changes in her life for she knew that would be hard to do. That was a very moving request and one we don’t hear too often. She said she would come on Sunday night to the service in Salcoatitan as she works on Sunday morning. Next, was our evening Bible study at Mario and Seily’s home. Sylvia didn’t come because her son was sick with a bad cold. Socorro was also still sick. Kelly was traveling to a graduation in San Salvador, so they did not come as well. A good group came from Ana’s home and Mario and Sara came. Others were there too, but the number was a little small. Seily prepared rice pudding and it sure was good.

It's in the freezer now!

A 'langosta' was dead on the sidewalk, but it was still moveable and no ants.

Perfect specimen, so put in freezer to pass along to Kiki for his collection

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

September 28, 2016

Up at 4 to start final prep for seminar on the 8^th in Ataco. Early morning for sure. After some progress, we visited with Xiomara, Omar, Emilet and Gisela at 9. It was a good visit to catch up on things. Xiomara has a lot of health problems and was really struggling with a headache. Afterwards I met with Seily to go to Briseida’s. She wasn’t home, so we went for some visits and to hand out invitations for our Saturday event. Cesar went by the mayor’s office to get permission to put up canopies for the event. For the late morning, Dwaine went with Cesar to Delmy’s and a visit with Rafael. They also set up a study with Eber, Michael and Melvin for the afternoon. On our way home, we stopped by Socorro’s to confirm my study with her in the afternoon. Arnoldo joined us for lunch, but Carolina did not come. She had been coming on Wednesday’s, but I had not seen her so she did not know to come. The men studied with Melvin and Michael and then on to Sister Ana’s. I went to Socorro’s. She had a bad cold and so we just talked and caught up from our absence. We had to make two trips to pick up people for church, but the second trip was empty. Sylvia was not able to come. Carlos taught the class and we wrapped up for the evening.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

September 27, 2016

Well, one can’t say, ‘back to the grind,’ like going back to work when you are missionaries, but maybe, back to routine after a quick visit to the States would be approiate. We started with a study with Sylvia on repentance and she said she would try to come Wednesday night. We are trying to have a Ladies’/Children’s event on Saturday and we invited them to that as well. For the afternoon, I picked up Seily for our study with Sister Ana. Usually on Tuesday night Dwaine studies with Don Santos, but he had to go pick up a new car he had gotten. I worked on Wednesday’s children class and Dwaine on his lesson. It is good to get going, but we were still a little tired from traveling.

Monday, September 26, 2016

September 9 - 26, 2016

Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday and Happy Birthday! We traveled on Friday, September 9^th and got to see Clifton’s car from his wreck on Thursday. The damage was mostly to the right front headlight. We were thankful he was okay. We went to Caleb and Della’s house on Saturday for Charlotte’s 2 year birthday! What a great event to celebrate!! Everyone was there except Christina. We saw her early, but she had a wedding in Birmingham. We were blessed with a car from Tim and Joy McKee and enjoyed being with our Central family on Sunday. Through the week we primarily kept Charlotte most days, visited family and friends and stared looking for a replacement car for Clifton. The car was totaled, but we had good insurance so that was a blessing. On Friday, Dwaine and Clifton went car shopping and settled on an 04 Honda Civic LX. It was a year newer than the one he wrecked, but it had more miles than the old one. Friday was also another special day, a birthday, round two. My dad turned 88 and everyone was able to meet for a nice evening out. Saturday was a trip to Dwaine’s brother’s home in Luverne, Alabama. Caleb and Della just purchased a van, so we had that to make the trip. It sure was nice and roomy. It was a nice surprise that most of his family was there. Of the 13, 6 are living, Dwaine, one brother Guy and four sisters, Maxine, Doris, Mable and Judy. All but Mable came and Maxine daughter also came. It was great to be with family. Dwaine and I shared some in Sunday school and Dwaine did the preaching for the service. He received many compliments afterwards and it was a great visit. Clifton had to leave early for Auburn for he had a big test on Monday. That would be the last time we got to see him on our trip as he did not plan to come home on our last weekend. Weekdays were much like the first week with many visits and Charlotte time. For the last weekend, Christina, Leanna and I were planning a Friday night girl’s night and we did some shopping for gifts and then Christina said she wanted a banana milkshake from Angel’s. When we arrived, I was greeted with ‘Happy Birthday’ for my big 60 in December. Dwaine had asked Christina to pull together a surprise evening with some friends and it was very niceJ! Saturday we packed like crazy, but it was good to have most of that done before our last day. On Sunday, we had a nice send off at church. Dwaine had to opportunity to share about our growth and we were blessed with many clothes and school supply donations from church. For the afternoon, we had one last family reunion at our home and everyone came. Time is short….how to describe two weeks with your family in a short page of details…..seems….just too short. I was restless and stayed up to 1, only to get up at 3 to head for the airport at 4. Travel was smooth with less than an hour to make our gate in Houston. As we walked up, boarding was starting. We missed getting some of that $6 airport yogurt. We arrived back at 11 a.m. and Cesar met us at the airport. We went by Pricesmart (like Costco) and joined with Cesar and Eliza. After going for the campaign, we thought it was worth the membership for a year. Next we went on a wild goose chase, but it wasn’t for a goose. It was for a cat. San Salvador has two pet stores that we know of. The first, had no cats or dogs and certainly never carried cats. It is a dog world here with tons running free on the streets. They had lots of dogs, but no cats as well. But hey, they had a picture of a Persian cat they were selling for $1000! No such luck on that one. The cat is for me, since Wicket is pretty much Dwaine’s dog and the bird only lived about a week. Maybe something will work out another day. Dwaine drove home in a downpour and we got here about 4ish. Arnoldo, Regina, Lisbeth and Danielito came by for a visit and brought our key back. Arnoldo had cared for Wicket in our absence. She actually seemed to fare a little better on this trip, but she still had to ‘talk’ to us for about 30 minutes upon our arrival. We unpacked for the evening, anticipating renewing some contacts and missing family all at once.