Diving in!

This week was our first official week of school. We feel like we have been here forever, so we are very glad to now officially be here as students. We have been treading water a bit this week, but I am glad to report we expect to be doing the doggie paddle by the end of next week! Thank you for all your prayers this week as we have I believe finally settled somewhat into a schedule. We leave for school each morning at 7 am and return most days by 3pm. Ken and I have lunch together most days, but we are not in any of the same classes because we are not at the same level (I'll let you guys guess who tested higher :) )

On Mondays Ken will be a part of a men's ministry and I will be part of a women's ministry on Thursdays. Both of these ministries are called Restoration House and are for women and men that are former drug addicts/alcoholics/prostitutes (it is a legal profession here by the way) that give them a place to stay and to study the Bible until they can get back on their feet. I had the opportunity to go to my first meeting on Thursday. The women are nice and they are genuinely excited to have us gringas there to lead the Bible study. There are 2 other ladies that have been going regularly there for the last 2 trimesters. They told me they would work me into the teaching schedule easy, I don't have to lead my first lesson in Spanish for 2 more weeks. Ken got off a little easier with his guys, he has a whole trimester until he leads! Anyway, we are really excited about the opportunity to be a part of such a great ministry.

Please pray in particular for one of the ladies I had a chance to meet and spend some time speaking with and praying for. She was recently diagnosed HIV positive. She starts her medicines on Monday. She is a believer and she knows that God has a wonderful plan for her life, but she is understandably a little worried about the treatment and converting from HIV positive to AIDS. Please pray God will give her strength and courage during these difficult days ahead.

God is so gracious to us in so many ways, but sometimes I need to be reminded of this fact in just the little ways, the beauty of a sunrise, the light that shines in a child's eyes when they laugh, and the warm embrace of a fellow sister in Christ who has shared such a great burden with me and who still says to me, "Mi Dios es fiel." (My God is faithful)