Thank the Lord we did get all our missing luggage. My pillow was in one of them and I didn’t realize how much I missed it until I had it back!

We started school last week. It’s nice to have something normal in our schedule. It’s been an adjustment not having internet at our fingertips but we are learning to improvise. Flexibility is certainly key here!!

Last week they dug the pad for our house. Some brothers from San Juaquin came and helped get it started. Then Saturday since the kids were out of school most of them were out there helping as well. Even the little ones were helping to carrying dirt on feed sacks to Stan where he used it for fill. The job went a whole lot faster with so many helping!

Stan has been kept busy with the many projects here. They started a fence before we came but were having trouble so he helped them work on that on Thursday.

One day this week the cooks were all gone when it was time to cook supper. They have their main meal at lunch time so it wasn’t quite as crucial. Cynthia decided we would have ‘spaghetti’ as the main dish. The older girls were here and they usually help in the kitchen so together we made spaghetti. Cynthia had to stop and take care of her baby so she told me what to do and I finished it up. It was completely different from anything I’ve made before but was very good. It was good to have a break from rice. ☺️

Our main cook came home, soon after we started, and was very happy to see she didn’t need to cook supper.

Israel has been teaching a series of classes for young believers. He invited the boys to join the Sunday morning class. They are pretty excited about it. It’s all in Spanish so studying is a challenge but it should also help them with their Spanish.

On Sundays Stan takes our family, Cynthia and their children in to Nauta for church in the van while Israel rides his motorcycle. We leave here about 8:30 and take laundry along with us. When we get into town we have to stop at the end of the bridge and tote our laundry, back packs and all across a ¼ mile bridge by foot. Our laundry room is real close to the church so while Israel teaches his class Cynthia and I wash clothes. I usually finish hers up while she goes to help Israel set up for the service which starts at 11:00 and lasts until 1:30-2:00. I try to do a few batches of my own laundry then. I don’t think I’ll ever take my own washing machine for granted again!

Yesterday we had the blessing of being part of a baptism for 5 new believers- all youth. It was scheduled for Saturday afternoon. As we left it started to storm with thunder, lightning and rain but that didn’t deter the locals one bit. Here the baptisms are kind of a party – a time for everyone to play in the river before and after. So while the rain poured and the lightning flashed for 3 hours everyone had a great time. (Austin and Stan were the only ones that used raincoats.)

Wishing you all God’s blessing until next time.

-Ruth