Friday, January 15, 2016

Back Home

Goodness, it has been a very long time since I last updated!

This last Monday we returned from three weeks in the States visiting my family.  We had not expected to be able to go, but a financial gift and Abraham´s careful searching for sale ticket prices made the trip possible. Because we decided to go without much time between buying the tickets and the actual flight, we had to do lots of paperwork quickly: my passport had expired which required two trips to Mexico City, Leilani needed her Mexican passport, and Abishael´s Mexican passport had expired which meant trips to the government offices in Puebla.  What a scramble to finish it all!

standing on the US - Mexico boarder
We flew from Mexico City to Tijuana where we used the new CBX bridge to cross to the United States.  My dad picked us up there, and we drove another few hours to Long Beach.  Both going to Long Beach and returning home to Huejo required 14 1/2 hours of travel and waiting each way.

We enjoyed the time with family. While there, we visited some fun places and took the kids to the park several times.  They warmed up to the uncle, aunts, and grandparents that they hardly ever see (except on skype).  Unfortunately, illness visited, and our final days were shadowed by first Lani's fever and then Abishael's.  They both still have coughs, although they are slowly recovering.

Before we left for Christmas, we had the opportunity to partner with another missionary family and a team that came from the States to distribute water filters to our neighbors.  The water from the pipes here is not clean, so most people buy containers of water.  With filters, they can now save that money, a great help to tight budgets.  When we gave the filters, we also asked if the recipients wanted to hear about living water.  All the families agreed.  Abraham and I also offered Bible studies to them, and some said they did want us to visit.

We continue with the Bible studies already established, and there has been an increase in the number of children attending on Sunday afternoons.  Our Saturday and Tuesday English classes have a varying number of students, since some drop out but more join.

Please pray for us that 2016 will be a year of blessing.  Continue to pray for health, especially for Abish and Lani.  They are entering the third month of homeopathic treatments, and we pray that the natural medicines will strengthen their immune systems.