My Girls!

This weekend, Alyssia and Rissa are moving into their respective universities.  Alyssia will start her senior year at Dallas Baptist University and Rissa will be a freshman at Southeastern University (Lakeland, Florida). 

Alyssia took her MCAT (Medical College Admission Test) yesterday.  The results will come in about a month.  Thank you to all of you who have been praying for her.  She will also start a new job in the Security Department at DBU.  Alyssia has started to raise funds for a nine-month medical volunteer tour she has planned for next year (a gap year between college and medical school).  This trip will take her to Cambodia, India and Ghana. We will soon set up a Facebook page to keep you updated and to let you know how you can help her in this missionary journey.

It was discovered that Rissa has a cyst in her left ovary (the size of a golf ball!).  Please pray that the medications she is taking will take care of dissolving the cyst, if not, she will have to have surgery in a couple of months.  Rissa has spent the summer in Clermont, Florida (thank you Clermont Baptist Church!) working as a server at Flipper's Pizzeria, but she is thrilled to start a new adventure in college.  Please continue to pray for her!

I love my girls!!

Alan's First Day of School

Alan will be attending The International School of San Salvador.  Please continue to pray for him as he adjusts to a new home, new country, new school, new friends, etc.  I am so proud of him.  He has been a great help to me in this transition and his attitude has always been positive.  Please also pray for his protection in these new sorroundings.

It has been a whirlwind... and it's not over yet!

It has been a long  time since my last blog... It has been a whirlwind!!  I am tired but excited about all the new changes in our life.  I still have a lot to do, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel! 

Here is a quick list of our busy past couple of months...

June/July:

• Alan and I arrived in Mexico City and started packing almost right away
• Alan emptied a lot of flower pots so we could sell them
• I washed, dusted, scrubbed and clean for what it seemed forever!
• We had three garage sales
• We visited several churches to say our good-byes (that was hard!)
• I had the opportunity to spend two days with the church I planted in Toluca... What a wonderful time!
• Alan and I spent a couple of days with dear friend and Mexican missionary Lili Bahena in her home town of Taxco.
• We met all the Mexican government requirements to be able to get our things out of the country
• We attended a mandatory week long missionary meeting in Queretaro

August:

• We left for Tegucigalpa, Honduras, but had to stay a day in Panama because we missed our flight (not our fault!)
• I will live in such a secure neighborhood in Tegucigalpa, that Alan and I were not allowed to enter until someone proved that we were the new tenants.  By that time I was more frustraded than happy for their security.
• Two days after arriving in Honduras, Alan and I left by bus for El Salvador to get him settled in my parents' house
• The same day we arrived in San Salvador, Alan and I visited his new school, bought his uniforms and books and attended a parent meeting for new students
• Alan started school on August 16
• I left for Tapachula, Chiapas (Mexico) by bus to pick up some things I had sent there from Mexico City.  The trip there and back is a day long ride!  I just returned yesterday and now I have a little time to write this update
• My main purpose of being in El Salvador right now is to get Alan settled in his new home-away-from-home with his grandparents (I continue to remind him that his home is still with his mother!), but since this country is also part of my area of ministry, I have taken the time to visit with some pastors and churches also.

Please continue to pray as I continue to make all the arrangements to get settled in my new home and to adjust to all the new changes in my life.

With members of House church in Naucalpan

Sharing with the church in Toluca

With pastors and leaders in NW Mexico City

In Taxco

With a grouo of women in Tapachula, Mexico

I love you all... I need your prayers!!

My Graduate! My Joy!

My daughter, Rissa Joy, will be graduating on June 2.  She is truly a joy to me!  It has meant so much to her (and to me) to have the opportunity to graduate from the same high school that her daddy did.  Gary did not only graduate from Crosby High School, but he also returned to teach Spanish and to coach football.  He left a great legacy for his children!

Rissa will be attending Southeastern University in Lakeland, Florida, a great Christian university in the Orlando area.  Her desire is to study Social Work to work in international adoptions.  Rissa will drive to Clermont (Orlando Area) on June 6.  Clermont Baptist Church will adopt her for the Summer until she is able to move into the dorms at SEU.  I also would like thank First Baptist Church New Orleans and First Baptist Church Panama City who will host Rissa during her trip to Florida. 

What a blessing to be part of the family of God!!

New House in Tegucigalpa!

Charlie Sell, logistics coordinator for Honduras, sent me these pictures of a model house that looks like the one that will be assigned to me in Tegucigalpa.  It has given me a good idea of the space available so I know what to move and what to leave in Mexico City. I thank God for my new home, and I thank YOU who thru your giving has allowed IMB to provide for me as I serve on the mission field.