Dear beloved of God and ours:
We cannot help but to apologized for the delay in updating our blog. It has been four weeks since we updated it last; definitely we want to do better…
So Let’s catch up!
(We will actually have some pictures of these events some time next week. Thought it better to fill you in without further delay, and you can check back next week for posted pix. Thanks!)
Reception: First, we would like to give the King the glory that is due Him, and it is because of His mighty hand that so many people came and locked arms with us to put together an amazing Ministry Team that, together with Him, will bring Glory to His Name. It is for this reason that we had an extraordinary Missionary Reception on the 27th of September. The TEAM put together the most thoughtful, caring, and sweet reception we could have ever imagined. Let’s try to recap in order:
The greeting was rich in love. Our greeters had a display available with a sign-in book for guests to write something special to us (and they did!). But they also had a Bible there with our favorite verses marked off, and highlighters so that guests could highlight any scriptures they might want to share with us. It was a total blessing, and will continue to bring us joy every time we sit down to read these gems.
The worship: We were blessed with songs…in English and Spanish…led by the worship team from Calvary Southwest, and the Spanish songs sung by our sister from the CCAbq Spanish worship team.
The presentation: A couple of videos of Costa Rica gave our friends a flavor of the culture, beauty, and history of this beautiful country the Lord is sending us to. These were followed by Geiner sharing the vision the Lord has given us for the work we believe He will have us doing for His glory in Costa Rica.
The food: The culinary delights included authentic Costa Rican tamales, Gallo Pinto, and cabbage salad, and other treats loving prepared by family, friends, and team members to the enjoyment of the crowd. And let’s not forget the Costa Rican coffee!
The decorations: The Costa Rican flag, map, beautiful flowers on each table, and various other displays of Costa Rican customs and traditions set the mood, along with red white and blue balloons and streamers everywhere. The room was totally Costa Rican…and all prepared by our awesome team.
The silent auction: Wow! What can we say?! The items, the displays, the generosity…what an amazing blessing. We delighted in seeing the “winners” enjoying their prizes, and are eternally grateful for their generous successful bids.
The organization, the humbleness, the level of detail given to each area was filled with the love of Christ. For that reason we want to thank God, through His Son Jesus, who allowed us to experience blessings like this. And we want to take the opportunity to thank our much beloved team for their partnership and availability in sharing Jesus’ love to us. We love each and every one of you.
Next came the Medical Missions trip to Juarez:
We headed out mid-morning on Friday Oct. 9th. We were able to stop at “La Cocina” restaurant in Truth or Consequences and ate a delicious lunch. We continued down to El Paso where we stopped briefly to drop off some supplies for the hospital, and then headed to the border. One of our two vans was
detained there a bit because it had all of our luggage and boxes of medical supplies, which prompted the border patrol to want to charge us taxes. However, the Holy Spirit used Meliton to share with the officers the purpose of our mission trip. They proceeded to give us their appreciation and let us go.
Needless to say, we arrived in Juarez later than expected, but were greeted with a delicious dinner of Frito Pie, prepared right there at the compound. However, we still needed to set-up the clinic for the next day, and did not get to bed until about 10:30.
At 5am we were up to breakfast, worship, and devotion, which gave us the boost we needed it to proceed to the improvised clinic at “Amigo Fiel”. By the time we arrived there we had people already waiting for us. So we put hands on immediately.
We were blessed on so many different levels and so many different ways…but there were also times when it was heart breaking. Some of these people needed medical attention long before we got there. We saw people that hadn’t take their medication in months because they simply do not have the money to buy them. Then there were others that don’t have enough to eat as well. We saw a woman who had a stroke and didn’t know it. It was sad…but the reward was in seeing their faces lighting up because of God’s provision.
By 5pm we had seen 233 patients! Thank God in His faithfulness, His goodness, and His mercy… He provided…He swiftly came to their rescue and the people saw what our good God will do through His people, if they only surrender to His call.
We returned to the compound for dinner and debriefing… exhausted and exhilarated at the same time. And we praised God for what He was able to accomplish through us on that day.
We woke Sunday morning ready to head back. We had breakfast together, and I (Geiner) had the opportunity to share a
devotional with the intention of encouraging each other to continue to give the Glory to our King by sharing what He accomplished in just one short weekend in Juarez. The highlight of the ride home was the border crossing, where we experienced a slight delay because it seems that one of our team members has the same name as someone who they might be looking for in Nebraska! Needless to say, it was not him! However we were also able to enjoy a wonderful lunch at “La Posta” in Mesilla, NM.
So here we are, back in Albuquerque, waiting for the Lord to give us our next call to action. Our plans over the next few weeks include Geiner’s
Chaplaincy training, a trip to El Salvador for the Central American Pastors and Leaders conference, and packing, packing, packing in between. We are hoping to have house-sale information for you soon, which will also bring with it an announcement of a
leave date….
so stay tuned!
Thank you for your patience with our lack of time to communicate….and may our Lord abundantly bless you in these days! We love you.
