Rocking chair connections

It´s interesting what a rocking chair can lead to.  My husband´s grandmother used to be a midwife, and we persuaded her to attend me during Abishael´s birth.  While she was at our house the day he was born, she enjoyed our rocking chair, and we decided to give her one.  We told her we´d visit her home a month after Abishael was born, but that month extended into four.

Finally, we chose a day to go visit, taking the rocking chair with us to give it to Abuelita Esperanza.  Normally we travel by bus to San Martin where she lives, but taking a rocking chair on the bus would have been difficult, so we called a taxi instead.

It took a long time for the taxi to arrive, because the driver got lost.  Although he only lives about a mile from us, he misunderstood Abraham´s directions, in part because of extreme tiredness.  Just as we pulled out into traffic, he admitted to us that he had been working all that night and morning.  Now that afternoon had arrived, he was still at work. 

With the rocking chair sticking halfway out of the trunk, tied in by a shoelace that the driver had pulled out of a pair of work boots in his trunk, we began the drive to San Martin.  As we travelled, Six and Abraham began to talk with the driver, Alfonso.  Alfonso told us that he never takes a day off.  Any time of night or day that he receives a call, he goes to work.  He talked about his three sons, the youngest of which was born with heart problems that require expensive medicine.

As he continued to talk, Alfonso said that he considers himself a Catholic but that he also doesn´t like the way of life they lead.  "We drink and smoke and carouse," he said, "We are some of the most difficult people there are."  He went on to say that he sometimes attends a universal church, a Brazilian cult church, in Puebla.

We arrived in San Martin, and Alfonso asked Six to bless him.  She prayed for him, and he bowed and kissed her hand.  Abraham invited him to visit us if he wanted to discuss the Bible and faith in God.  He also offered the option that we could go to Alfonso´s house instead, if he preferred.

Alfonso asked us to visit him, describing where he lived.  The following Wednesday, we went.  There was a lot going on at the house with his sons running in and out and hurrying to get ready for school which they attend in the afternoon, and with other relatives also entering and exiting.  We stayed for awhile, and Abraham explained how the Bible came to be in the form that it is now.  Alfonso told us more about his home situation which is difficult and declared that he plans to go to the United States at the end of the month.  He said it was better for him to visit our home for further talks, but so far he hasn´t come. 

Please pray for this new relationship and for Alfonso and his family.  Pray for his 1 1/2 year old son who suffers from heart problems.