TUESDAY, 3/15/11
Obvioulsy, I am in Guatemala so I do not have a lot in the way of information from South Mobile County. I assume that Lindsey & Parker went home from the hospital yesterday. Lisa and the ladies in our Sunday School class prepared a meal for them last night. I appreciate folks who do ministry!
What can I say about the blessings of God yesterday? Amazing! The flight to Guatemala City arrived around 11:18AM which was 18 minutes early. I arrived at Samuel & Reina’s house around 12:23PM which is absolutely incredible. I had asked you to pray that I would find favor with the customs official and God answered those prayers – he never even looked up, just stamped my passport and sent me on my way. Had to wait about three or four minutes on the rental vehicle but that was good. The traffic in Guatemala City was very light and moving along nicely and I never got caught by even one traffic light. Is God good or what!
Arriving at Samuel & Reina’s house was tough. We embraced and they just wept. I assured them of the many prayers being offered on their behalf. The casket was closed but Samuel asked me to look at his daughter. Wow, like a little doll.
The funeral service began at 2:00PM and they had three congregational hymns to begin the service. During hymn #2, Dr. Tico shared with me that I would be preaching the message. Nothing like advance notice. Not a problem as I felt the prayers of many folks and simply went and got my Bible from the truck. Dr. Tico translated and I preached. I think God met a need in the lives of Samuel & Reina. Pastor Walter ministered at the grave side and it was a special time too. Many of the people walked from the church to the cemetery. I am guessing it was about a mile away.
Samuel, Reina, & Denise rode in the truck with me from their house to the church and then from the church to the cemetery. Samuel & Reina sat in the back seat holding the casket. As Samuel was taking care of a few things before leaving the house, Reina sat with the casket open and sang “Jesus Loves Me” to her daughter. Folks, I was struggling! However, it was a very special and sweet time.
It was a great thing to tell Samuel that GRACE Ministries was covering the entire cost of the funeral and all related expenses. He was relieved and blessed. Hallelujah! Thank you for being there for this family with your prayers and finances! May God bless you!
I have three meetings today – one about the El Salvador pastors’ conference, one with a potential person to oversee our feeding center, and one with the architect about the building of the feeding center. Pray that all will go well in these meetings.
Please do not tell Lisa but I took another woman supper last night. Louise & I dined at Pollo Campero. She leaves in five days for Arkansas as she will be officially retired. What a blessing she has been to GRACE Ministries!
I pray that you will have a great Tuesday with Jesus.