Hello, everyone! What a blessing it is to serve the Lord! Thanks so much for praying for our family! I am going to try to make this short...we'll see how that goes:)

Let me start off by telling you that at each service, one representative from every missionary family had to go before the church with a reasonable need that could be taken care of by any one in the church. That was hard! Because the Lord has blessed, and we had such a hard time coming up with needs that we still had. So, here were the needs that we requested and were met: 1)The spark plugs in the van were changed. 2)Someone tried to meet the need of Austin's dress clothes. One family brought in a suit jacket and a suit that they were saving for THEIR son. This thought really blessed us, however, they were a bit small on him. But he did get a pair of blue pants and a pair of shoes. 3)Alan mentioned that with Bethany's dry eyes, we were constantly buying fake tears and Polysporin Antibiotics for her eyes. Several people brought in both, and one person even donated some money towards buying some. I was just in awe!! Just before the evening service started, I showed Bethany all those blessings that people brought in for her, and her response was: "Boy, am I SPOILED!!" It was funny because I told her that someone even talked with the pharmacist, and taking the pharmacist's advice, bought the best kind, just for her! Well, later that night, while we were at the Pennell's house for supper, she was obviously having trouble with her eyes, so I put some drops in them for her. Well, I used the already opened bottle that I had in my purse, as there was still some in it. Thinking that I was using the new stuff, she said, "Wow, that IS the best kind! It didn't even make me dizzy like that other kind!" Hmmm...I didn't tell her that it actually was the OLD stuff:) 4) For the last service, Alan just told the people how that our children LOVE to read books, and that we would be travelling for long periods of time, and books would be helpful. Well, we didn't receive any that night, but the next morning when we picked up the display board, I think they gave us half of the school library!! I may be exaggerating some here, but there were certainly MANY books! Thanks so much for being such a blessing to our family!

So Mrs. Pennell also provided lunch for us. I tell you, she was a busy lady!! That night, after the service, the church voted to take on all the missionary families present. That included Nick and Susan Ruby to El Salvador, Bro. and Mrs. Townsley, planting a church in Terryville, Connecticut, and our family. It was also during this evening service that Pastor Pennell called each missionary husband up, along with his wife. Do you remember my stating earlier that Alan had to "see" the room before we checked in? Well, in that envelope with all the instructions were also instructions for the husbands to have something written for their wives about how much they appreciate, love and are thankful for her. I guess Alan and Bro. Nick got together Sunday afternoon after telling us that they were just going out for "coffee". So, as a surprise to each wife, the husband read to her what he wrote, and then she was presented with a rose and a gift card for Home Sense. It was REALLY sweet! This must have been extremely hard on Alan because he is such a private person. But I loved and appreciated his kind words. I know that he loves me. Very much. He tells me every day. Several times a day. Most of the time, just out of the blue. For no special reason at all. He is wonderfully sweet that way. I am privileged and honoured to serve the Lord alongside him...no matter what continent the Lord takes us to!

Have a wonderful day!

Psalm 113:1,2

Love,

Ida