Sneaky Little Buggers

Life on the mission field is a blessing, and we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. So are the lice! I didn't come to Uruguay naive to the existence of those little creatures that live in hair. After all Kaitlin had them after our survey trip. Oblivious to this fact she went two months before we figured out those 1/4 inch size bugs were really lice. Gross!

"I'll not make that mistake again!" says me to myself and I. About three weeks into living here, after I watched all the girls furiously scratching their heads, I realized I hadn't checked the kids for lice. Oops. So out came the lice comb and off we went to the back porch to pull dozens of the creepy crawlers out of the girls hair.

Now a mere month into trying eradicate ourselves of this epidemic, that has now made homes in the boys hair too, I'm not any better than we started. So the boys have been sheered of their nice little boy haircuts. And the girls have bobs. Poor Isabel cried and cried when she discovered that she couldn't have a haircut like Daddy.

So are you all scratching your heads yet?

I Hate Math

My high school transcripts bear witness of the fact that math and I don't get along well. I took Algebra two times and failed two times. It wasn't until I started teaching fractions to my kids that I finally understood how to add, subtract and multiply fractioned numbers. Now I find myself here at the computer, looking for relief from my inability to work with numbers as I attempt to sew tab curtains for our house.

"Scott, please tell me how I equally space these tabs for the curtains." I say in a state of absolute confusion so Mr. Math pulls out his handy calculator, puts in a few figures and comes up with the just right numbers. Now give me a few words to spell, a blog entry to write and we are good to go. Just leave the numbers somewhere else. Did I already mention that Uruguay is a metric country? I'm glad I married Mr. Math!!!

I suppose I better get back to making curtains so Ruthie can have all of her sheets back. Until next time...or the next math dilemma.

Home is where the heart is...

and everything else. There's not much else I can say about our container arrival than Glory to God. It's wonderful to have our things. The house is much quieter now and finally is feeling like home. Many of the rooms are taking shape even though I've spent countless hours organizing our "storage" space which for right now is two walls of the downstairs bedroom/playroom/guestroom/laundry area. Now that I have that done I can focus more on the stuff to put away here. And let me tell you after living my entire life with lots of closets and storage space this is going to take some getting used to. I'll be posting some pics later as right now I can barely think straight. Thanks to all who have prayed for this time on our lives. It's been a great joy.

What an ordeal

I sent out a very excited and hopeful email yesterday to our email list, I should have known things rarely happen simply for us. Add to that Uruguayan importation procedures which seem to have no rhyme or reason and you have the mixture for an ordeal. Boy, oh boy, do I wish I could post pictures of our nearly cramped and disarrayed home because it is finally full of boxes and furniture. But alas I sit here writing a post while my husband and Archie are still in Las Piedras at the camp.

All is not bad though, I got a text message from Scott this morning at 9 am that he could see the container. Then a phone call at about 10 am that the customs inspectors had arrived cleared the container and had left. A truck was supposed to be at the camp to unload the container directly on to. However, they have to unload onto the ground because who knows where the truck is. Most misisonaries have their container taken directly to their homes to be unloaded, but I did already mention the importation procedures, didn't I?

It is now about 11 am and I'm trying very hard to wait patiently for our things to be filling our home this afternoon. Is there a crown for patience? At any rate we are certainly gaining a good foundation for Godliness in our lives. (1 Peter 1:6) Hopefully, I'll be posting some pictures of the house soon. You do know I have to sew curtains and get things in order before that will happen. It could be a couple weeks before those pics get posted. Ha, now you all get to gain a good foundation for Godliness too. In the meantime, I will post some pics of the arrival of our things. Maybe tomorrow. (smile)

9th Annual Anniversary Sunday Part two

Newly baptized believers being added to the membership of La Iglesia Bautista Fundamental.
A gift from the church to Dr. and Mrs. David Cummins.
Annual church picture, we are at the front on the right.

9th Annual Anniversary Sunday

Sunday was a "que lindo" (very nice) day for our family. It began with a baptism service at the river. The wind had been blowing hard for a couple days and so the water was pretty rough.

Dr. Cummins braved the waves and was able to baptize one new believer before his knees could no longer take it.

Scott also baptized believers for the first time. VERY EXCITING!!!

Archie was able to Baptize his daughter Bethany. These three men of God are having a remarkable day together. God used Dr. Cummins to teach us to pray for co-workers, then to direct us to work with the Perez family. It was an honor for Scott to be able to Baptize alongside one of his Hero's of the Faith!

"And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!" Romans 10:15 It is with all praise and glory to God that we have this tremendous privilege.

Maybe today...

...we will get our container. At least we are one step closer than yesterday! Today Scott headed into the capitol to post our bond for the release of the container. The way we understand it, once the bond is posted it takes about 4-5 days for approval and release of the container. The bond is a guarentee that we are seeking legal residency and will not sell our goods once they are released. Once the government gives us legal residency we have been told we will get our bond back.

Scott had to open an account here in order to post the bond, which actually was less an ordeal than expected. Apparantly it's next to impossible for a foreigner to get a bank account here. Just one more proof that we are exactly where God wants us.

Last Sunday, Dr. Cummins asked the people here to pray before every meal that God would work a miracle and allow for our container to be released before the end of the week, so he could preach in the Big Tent. It's still possible, if they will release our container today or tomorrow we could have the tent for Sunday services. Keep praying!

New Years Eve Service

I was going to write Happy New Year in Spanish, but I don't know how to make the fancy little slash (aka the tilde) over the n, maybe next year! It's hard to believe it is already Januray 1, 2007. I realized last night that unlike our first New Years Eve service here in 2003, we are here to stay. YIPPEE and WOOHOO!!!!

This time of year is good to reflect upon our goals, accomplishments and failures in our spiritual and physical lives. How many goals were achieved last year? Which ones need to be set aside and which ones need to be rolled over to the new year? Were the goals of last year realistic? Did we accomplish all we could? What stood in the way? How many failures were a result of improper goals or planning? How often did sin impede our direction? What can be changed this year? Finally and most importantly how can we better serve God, how can we better reflect Him to others and how can we move forward in our spiritual life this year?

That's a lot of questions to ask but they are all important if we want to continue to grow in the Lord and become a shining light for Him.

Back to the New Years Eve service here in Colonia...here are some pictures for you to see how the Uruguayans believers celebrated the coming in of 2007.

In Song:

Debbie sings her first Spanish solo, Listo y Dispuesto, Heme Aqui (Lord, Here Am I) with accompaniment by Tatiana and Andres.

The young people do a great job in music. Here Tatiana and Andres sing a duet while Sabrina and David accompany.

Congregational singing is a sweet sound to the ears!

With Fellowship, Food and Fun:

With testimonies of praise to God for all He has done: