November 2, 2016

Day of the Dead.  This is the day everyone visits the cemeteries, taking flowers and spending precious family time together.  Our first study was behind the cemetery, so we got a good view of people visiting. It reminded me of Matthew 9 when Jesus had compassion on the crowds.  I know there were more ‘dead’ in the cemetery than those who were buried.  It was a very moving sight. Briseida was going out with her family and Antonio was working.  She said she would drop by our home later in the day to bring us some oranges. We had given Cesar a ride up to the area, and he went to study with Eber.  When Briseida was not available, we walked on to join him at Eber’s.  That was the first time I sat in on that study.   After a short stop at the grocery store, we headed home for our study with Douglas and Sonja.  They arrived about 11:45 and Douglas came with several questions.  After answering those, we did a study on repentance. Not long after we started, Carolina arrived with Ingrid.  As she was entering the door, she kept looking away and motioning to someone.  I opened the door a little wider and Marina was sitting across the way.  I was so excited that she came too!  They sat through the remainder of the study and then I thought I could round up enough food for a lite lunch for everyone.  So, we put that together and enjoyed a meal.  When we finished, Dwaine took Douglas and Sonja home and Carolina and Marina stayed for another study.  Marina is always in and out of studies at sister Ana’s so she has not had many focused studies.  With that we did an overview of the gospel message with a focus on baptism.  At the end, she did make some comments and this was a huge step for her as she is always very quiet.  We are in prayer for her decision.  Dwaine took them home at 3 and I walked over to Socorro’s for her study.  We are going to start on “Que Dice la Biblia.”  So, we mostly talked about how to use and study the material.  She was expecting clients for the night, so she said that she probably could not come to the study for the evening.  While I was gone Briseida and many of her family members dropped by with a huge bag of oranges!  They did not stay too long.  We don’t have any idea what to do with so many oranges.  She wouldn’t accept payment for them, but we will take that next Wednesday when we go by again.  For the night, we had a good crowd for the kids and adults.  Arnoldo taught the class and I am so excited that Arnoldo and Gisela are beginning to take on the teaching.  For the evening we did a little house cleaning to prepare for the Bible study in our home on Thursday and for Jim’s expected visit for the weekend. 

Day of the Dead