July Update

Hello from Canada! I am currently in Canada and have been spending time here with friends and family. What a blessing to be able to receive encouragement and share here what God is doing back in Mexico! Thank you so much for your prayers, support, and for stopping to talk or coming to visit while I am here. I can't express what an encouragement that is. Thank you!

At the beginning of August, we made the trip into Corarayvo, which we mentioned in the past newsletter. That was a lot of fun! We arrived on Sunday and spent the day inviting children to the VBS that week. We spent the rest of the day just visiting with our friends, since I hadn't seen some of them for a year now. Our first evening kicked off the week with a whole new adventure. We were staying with a couple, who were living on one side of the river. But we had gone to visit the grandparents who lived right on the other side of the river. So, around 7 it began raining. We didn't think much about it, until all of a sudden someone mentioned the river would rise and we wouldnt be able to cross. So my sister, the couple's 2 children and I, we ran outside in the pouring rain to go to their home, but the river had risen and the current was very strong, as the water was coming down from the mountains. So we went back to the grandparents house and tried to warm up around the fire. We were soaked. We also had to try to find a spot where the roof wasn't leaking, so we were all huddled together trying to warm up and dry. Since the rain wouldn't stop, around 11:30 all of us who were there (9 of us) went into the other room (houses usually only have 2 rooms; 1 bedroom and a kitchen), and we all grabbed a blanket and lay down on the floor to sleep. I found a dryer area in one corner, where I got the occasional raindrop on my head, but I managed to fall asleep. Around 12:30, one of the kids decided to check the river. The rain had slowed down to a drizzle and the current had become much weaker. So, my sister and I took off our shoes, waded through the river and went to bed. The following day, around 8 very excited children showed up to play, sing, do crafts and learn about Jesus! For the next 4 days we had a VBS with the kids every day. It was so neat to see the kids invite friends, learn the Bible verse, and just get so excited about God and His love for them. On the last day, many of them brought their moms. The kids sang for their Moms, recited the memory verse and presented the play of the Good Samaritan. We changed the characters to cultures of people they were familiar with, and everyone really enjoyed the event. We finished the event with a meal and Bibles to give away. The people had a really good time and wanted to know when we would be returning.