26 January 2014

I just realized I didn't post last week. Time is going faster than I think. So this post will cover two weeks.

Last week we received a pleasant surprise. One of the families we have been working with came to church for the  first time in at least 6 months. The wife has been working on Sundays at a restaurant. She is helping to support her family here but mostly working to support her 2 children and mother in El Salvador. So the job is very important to her. Last week, however, she told her boss that she was going to church. She would get everything prepared in the morning and only be gone for an hour or so. We were worried she would lose her job so we prayed for her. The president of the branch didn't think she would show up but she did with her husband and child. We were very happy.

We have also been preparing to teach English classes in a little larger setting with 6-8 students once or twice a week in Tallahassee and Bainbridge. We also held a training session for the Marianna Elders to teach English in Marianna.

For a month now we have been assisting the Marianna Elders teach a young woman from Guatemala. She needs to be married before baptism. Things were going well. We went with her to find a dress but were unsuccessful the first time looking. She wanted Guatemalan mole for the dinner so we tried a recipe to see if it would work. Unfortunately, it didn't. She didn't like it. Anyway that wasn't the most unfortunate thing. Now she doesn't want to get married at all.

So goes the life of a missionary. We have ups and downs based on the decisions of those we work with. But that is all part of God's plan. Everyone has the power to choose for themselves. Maybe the time is right for them and maybe it isn't. We have done our part though in giving them the opportunity to make a decision. Too often we keep going through our lives without making real decisions about what we really want to do; just letting life take us along.