God’s Work Done God’s Way

Dear Ones,

Thanks so much for your prayers in these days. I am sorry I haven't written. Between the women's conference and the Canadian team's arrival, I haven't had anything except very brief access to the internet. Many of you have asked about the liver situation so I did want to let you know what's going on.

I had another ultrasound done this week when I escaped from the Villa because when the first one was done, they didn't tell me that I had to be fasting and of course that was the one day I decided to eat a tamale at lunchtime! That obscured the gall bladder and bile duct so Elvia felt I needed another ultrasound. One of my spiritual daughters (Varinia) was able to get me a free ultrasound in the public hospital. It came out the same...enlarged liver with a small benign looking spot. Dr. Ken in Charleston feels that this must be some type of hepatitis since hepatitis is endemic here. He told me to slow down from 80 mph to 60 mph and so far I have been able to be with the team of eight men from Canada without too much fatigue.

Which brings me to this very wild time that we are having with the Canadian farmers. We have seen God's hand in a big way. I still get so amazed by His ways. They are so NOT mine. The men came on Monday the 3rd and they are a mix of ages and nationalities and beliefs.....four are Dutch, two are French, one is Honduran, and one Anglo. They have been working nonstop, putting in islands in the kitchen, hanging fixtures, stuccoing walls.......all the things that the builder left undone.....these men have been attacking with gusto. One of the men noticed the drainage problem in the back and from day one, he started trying to rent a back hoe to dig the trench we need in the back. He wanted to move dirt and rock so that they could put a nice garden in and help us resolve the drainage problems. We tried all week long to get that blessed hoe to no avail. We had prayed and prayed and God had seemingly closed the doors. Bert, the one farmer who had grabbed onto this back hoe idea and was not going to easily let go, finally took a shovel and started working by hand. That was on Saturday.

Hae Young's Korean Bible study called us to ask if they could come out on Sunday to have a service with us and bring lunch. That sounded great to us! So you just have to stop a minute to picture that service in our Villa living room. Koreans on one side with their hymnbooks, Hondurans in the middle making lots of noise (I'm in that group), the Canadian/Dutch/ French contingent on the other side sitting quietly. It was a little bit of heaven this side of earth. The Korean pastor spoke first in Spanish and then repeated everything is English. And we sang "How Great Thou Art" in all three languages. So beautiful.

But to continue the story, one of the Korean men who came, who is not a Christian, invited two Honduran men to come with him to our service. One of the men I recognized from the newspapers. He was the former head of the national police. I couldn't remember why he'd been in the papers....it seemed for something infamous. Perhaps it was better that I couldn't remember. The other man, Don Alberto, had come in a Land Rover. I went to talk to them after the service to see if they had enjoyed it, and Don Alberto told me that he owned a company that made gravel and that he rented out farm equipment! He told me that when he came up the road to the Villa, he began to have a desire to help us. He told me he could lend us his backhoe and jack hammer and that all we would have to do is pay for the diesel. So God delivered Mr. Backhoe to our door! Both Don Alberto and Gen. Pacheco began to ask me how I had come to be working in such a ministry. It was the perfect opportunity to share my testimony. I felt compelled to share the Gospel with them, especially because Don Alberto kept asking about salvation and what was required for it. It was an amazing opportunity to sow seeds. Later, Don Alberto asked me and several of the men, including Bert, to go and visit his gravel operation and we were able to nail down a plan for using the machines. Before we left Don Alberto, I sensed the Holy Spirit nudging me to press in a bit more on the spiritual front. I asked Don Alberto if we could pray for him and he was open. The leader of the Canadian team, Bob Dekraker, and I prayed for Don Alberto in his office and he seemed quite touched. We asked the Lord to unbind him from anything that would keep him from coming into the Kingdom.

Honestly, this all seems rather messy to me. If it were up to me, we would just have gotten that backhoe the first day from a nice Christian man and we could have avoided all the worry and bother. But I am so glad that it's not up to me because we would have missed seeing the glorious way that God works, not only to get something done on the temporal level, but on the Kingdom level as well. I think that is a theme with us......you probably have discerned it too. God's work, done God's way.......there is never a lack of provision nor glory.

So on we go together in this adventure for His Glory. Thank you so much for praying.

I love you all!