I had a fantastic time with Belkis visiting. We celebrated my birthday, visited places I knew, and discovered a lot of new places as she got to meet the people I minister with and see where I live. Besides places in or just outside of La Paz, we spent a few days at Los Barriles (middle row) and went to Los Cabos at the southern tip of the peninsula. The last photo shows where the Sea of Cortez meets the Pacific Ocean. I’ll get to the work in a minute, but first the play…
I got to go kayaking for the first time here, skin diving in Los Barriles and at a new beach, and I went paddle boarding for the first time in my life. I saw lots of the red crabs while kayaking and we saw Sea Lions on the boat tour at Los Cabos. Steve and Lois Dresselhaus took us to their favorite beach. You can see what it looked like to my left and to my right and, to see an underwater view, you can see Steve’s first video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDtQW6Be_EA It’s a rough life!
I was eager to identify the new fish I had seen, but my book is of the fish of the Caribbean. Speaking of identification, the orange-winged creature is a Pepsis Wasp, also known as a Tarantula Hawk. I’ve seen several of them and found out that they are said to have the most painful sting of all the animals in the world. I hope to not find out! The other two photos represent the frustration of not having my camera. The repairman tried three times to prolong it’s life, which allowed me to take a few photos. In both of these instances, I could have had a fantastic photo because the birds stood motionless for the longest time and allowed me to get pretty close, but this is the best I could do with my cell phone. The Yellow-crowned Night-heron is recognizable, but you probably can’t even distinguish the plover in the centre of the other photo. I’m glad that other people were around to help take photos and that my co-workers were able to recently bring the new one that I purchased on-line.
Even with Belkis here, it wasn’t all play. It was great to have her participate with the cell group and in a church outreach to a migrant workers’ camp. Our cell group worked together to prepare the bags of goodies to give to the kids of the workers (there are a lot of little bags in those big bags!) and, at the camp, we helped prepare and serve the food after others helped with the distribution of shoes and clothes.
I love this small group and it’s the highlight of my week! It’s very dynamic and we enjoy being together to study God’s Word, pray, and fellowship. Beside me is Camilo with his wife, Lucy, in front. After our favourite guest is Clara, her sister Magui, Siria with her husband, Aníbal, and their son, Fernando (who participates along with everyone else). Please pray for us to continue to grow in our love and knowledge of God, in interpersonal relationships, and in ministry outreach. This would be a good time to also ask for you to pray for my/our safety. Last week as the group left my building, they found a death threat – not aimed at me or us. Apparently someone related to the building made an attempt at selling drugs and the message was left to let them know they were in someone else’s territory. One of the apartments is used by a group training door-to-door salesmen. There are large numbers of new people in and out of the building every day and they turn over personnel every couple of weeks. They constantly leave all the doors open (increasing security risks) and possibly one of them was the intended recipient of the threat. At any rate, it’s a good reminder to seek refuge in the Lord.
I’m looking forward to two additional areas of ministry for June. One is that I hope to have a Ladies’ Retreat reunion. I now have all the photos from the different groups, so I need to organize some photo essays to present along with the visuals from the retreat. All that is to spur memories as the main focus will be on the testimonies we can share of how we’ve applied the teaching received to our lives. I’m looking forward to hearing how the Word of God and the retreat experiences have impacted our lives. Please pray for the preparations, for good attendance, and for an encouraging time of fellowship together. The other area is that I’m the supervisor for a short-term worker coming in July. I’ll write more about Hayden next time, but please pray for the Lord to be preparing her heart for the ministries she’ll have in her five months here and please pray for me as I set up the logistics and schedules.
Grateful for your partnership in prayer,
Brenda
