The Weather Outside is Frightful

Though it's not quite a winter wonderland outside it is definitely a cold blustery day.  The weather reported the temperature at 7 degrees F but it feels like -7.  BRRRR!  Thankfully the church we are staying at has a game room with carpet ball, foosball, ping-pong and a Wii in their youth room or we would be dealing with some very bored kiddos. 

The kids have loved the time to play all these games together but it sure is cold in the church with the heat turned down.  We took a thermometer into the youth room and it was 48 degrees in there.  It's hard to believe we survived cold like that throughout the winter time in Uruguay.

Last night was our first American service as a family and it was wonderful!  Pastor Kaighen here at Grace Baptist gave Scott the opportunity to share our ministry and even had a Q & A time, then he took up a love offering for us!  We still don't have a presentation but had it been done we would have been able to share that as well.  Keep in mind we are just here to pick up our rental van, we did not have a meeting set up.

It was so nice to sing in English, here the preaching in English without an interpretor and not on my iPod.  Later I bowed my head in prayer with two other ladies with no fear of mispronunciations.  And no need to think about how I would conjugate a verb or choose the correct word.  The people in this church have been so welcoming to our family.  They have provided food and meals for us.  The teens have included our teens.  The children have made friends.  And the nursery workers were patient with little Silas' Spanish and English even though his mommy (aka Me) forgot to tell them that he usually asks for things in Spanish.

It is clear to me that the Lord desires to encourage us.  He is reminding us of those years of Bible College when things were tight financially.  Our dependence upon God was strengthened during those years of not having a job while attending college.  As we prayed over everything we put into our shopping cart we learned that God had things in mind for us.  If we didn't pray and bought something on a whim we usually had a duplicate waiting for us in an anonymous bag of groceries left for us in our van.  (Although I'm sure in this case our kids would gladly accept duplicates of the things we need and the things we would like.)

I will admit it is very hard to wait on the Lord right now.  We have some definite needs and I know He will provide as He always has.  But I find myself wondering how can we do well what must be done at, what seems to me to be, the last minute.  Ah, yes, God is once again working in the 11th hour and no doubt in a way much unlike what I have planned.  And I need to trust that His will is best and His timing too!  And I need to trust that He is at work in the hearts of those who are also expecting us to do our best and that they will be understanding of our current limitations.