In Memory of Hermano Lalo

It is with sad hearts that we write this. Last night, the phone rang, and we found out that Hermano Lalo died yesterday. For those of you may not know, we met Lalo when we first moved to Mexico and were living in Rosarito. He became our first friend and came over every week to help us with our Spanish, though we mainly just had a good time visiting. When we moved 800 miles south, Lalo went with Daniel to find us a house to rent, and then he went down with us again when we moved a few weeks later. About 6 months after that, he came down here to work with us for 4 months. He lived in our travel trailer in the back yard of the house we were renting. He felt the Lord leading him back home to Rosarito for a time and he was always planning on coming back to work here again. Daniel had just called him last month. He was planning on coming to visit us in August before the summer ended. He was a friend to every one of us...he taught our children how to speak Spanish and made each one of them feel special in a new country where they didn't know anyone. He helped Daniel tremdously in so many areas...He was always smiling and laughing. Most of all, he loved and served the Lord.

He had been feeling under the weather and got a cough a few days ago. He went to the doctor and they gave him some medicine. He wasn't getting better and started coughing worse and vomiting. They did some x-rays and sent him to the hospital telling him he had a bad infection (pnemonia) but it was treatable though he would be in the hospital 2-3 months. They began treating him, and he was feeling better, so they moved him to the recuperation floor. Yesterday, he visited with his family...then in the afternoon he had a sudden heart attack and died. He was only 30 years old.

We know we will see Lalo again soon, for Jesus Christ took the sting out of death through His victory on the cross. It makes us all the more yearn to share Him with others, as this life is so short. Please pray for Lalo's family. He was not married, but last we knew, his mother and father were not saved. He had several siblings too, and I don't believe they are saved either. Pray for the church there in Rosarito as they are all mourning. The older we get, the sweeter heaven becomes.

Excuses for not posting :)

Daniel gave me the task of updating this blog as often as I am able...well, he said every week or so (though he is very merciful as I haven't been that faithful!). I put if off for two reasons: 1. Our camera...I never want to post without some pictures, and when I get the camera to download our pics to the computer, it is usually out of batteries or I can't find the usb cable. And 2. I spend my days at home...caring for my husband, our children, home schooling, and caring for the home (cooking, cleaning, laundry ect...). Daniel is out every afternoon and evening preaching, visiting, discipling, studying ect... I keep thinking I should write more about the ministry here with the people, but my mind is always full of my "ministry"...being wife and mommy :) I need to schedule a specific time that I post here every week and be faithful to do it!

Daniel's youngest brother, Micah, is here with us for a month. He just got here Saturday and we are enjoying his visit. Our children are *loving* having Uncle Micah here. Last time he visited us was 2 summers ago. He was only 12 years old at the time and about a head taller than Timothy. Now he is 14 (almost 15) and about as big as I am! He still has lots of fun with his nieces and nephews and Daniel has enjoyed his company as he takes him out preaching/visiting every day.

Last time I posted, I told you I'd take a picture of our painted house. Well, there you have it...YELLOW! :) Bright and cheery! The day I took the picture, we needed something bright as the skies were quite grey and our dusty, hot desert yard turned into a swamp. It was just as hot and oh so humid. As the rain let up, I could just see the children itching to play out there. I loved the squeals of joy as I said, "Let's go outside and play!" :) They thanked the Lord for sending rain and then we enjoyed the blessing as we made mud pies, went "fishing", made boats ect... The second picture, by the way, is of Isaiah and Josiah dressing up as Indians. I'm thinking their sisters who are so innocently posing in the background had something to do with their attire. They each had a feather taped on the back of their head, one of my dish towels taped around their shoulders, and had painted their faces with a yellow highlighter (without my knowledge). Oh, and the first picture is of our first tree...we planted it just a month ago and it is growing sooo fast. It is a banana tree! It grows a new leaf every few days. The Lord has created so many wonderful things for us to enjoy. He is so good!

Long overdue update!

We have been extra busy the past 3 weeks! I began to wonder if I would actually survive on such little sleep, but the Lord's promises are so faithful and true... "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength...". I'll keep this short and post some pictures as they say as much as anything I could write. We had a group of 16 from Immanuel Baptist Church in Idaho come down last week. They blessed us by painting the outside of our home as well as helping Daniel with many other manual projects. I don't have a picture of the outside of our home...I can't believe I haven't taken one yet! It is dark right now so I'll have to get one tomorrow so you can see (I'll leave the color a surprise...it is a story in and of itself! :) ).

They were able to live life with us...see what we do day to day. They were able to attend all our Bible studies, visit with the people, and helped us by putting on a VBS for the children of the town. They also blessed one of the ladies in our church by building her a new kitchen and patio roof (I'll post pictures of that later too).

This past week, our family took a trip to the American Consulate in Cabo San Lucas to get Nehemiah's paperwork filled out for his passpost and Born Abroad Certificate. Provided everything is in order, we will go back down in 6 weeks to pick everything up. He will then have dual citizenship like Noah and Susannah who were also born here in Mexico.

I'm posting some pictures of the Vacation Bible School and some of the children that I took from our trip this week. I didn't have any pictures of Daniel yet, so I snapped one of him while we took a bathroom break on the way home. Poor guy has to drive while we all get to sit back and rest...he had to get some shut eye sometime...I love that picture...I'm so thankful for him!

Thank you for your prayers. Praise the Lord for the Joy of His Salvation!