We had our “student” party and “going away party” combined, last night, and the minister commented that it was a huge success. I didn’t count the people who arrived, but we know there were between 35 and 40. We supplied pizza, brownies and things for games and the students supplied the sodas and other desserts. I looked around the room at one point and hardly anyone was eating. They were having so much fun interacting and talking with ‘new found friends’ that food wasn’t on their minds. The local minister, Osvoldo Valdez, said “Richard, this is what we hope for. I am truly pleased with the success of the party”.

We were hoping that there would be this interaction so the students would feel comfortable with the other young people at the Church, and want to come to visit during Church services.

We played several games and these kept the participants in stitches. We finished with a couple of songs, a short devo in English/Spanish, and a final prayer. One of my students, Betty who is 83, showed up and had some good laughs. I asked her if she needed one of us to follow her home and she fired back “NO”… She is a retired school teacher and is still active in the local theater activities…….

One of our students is a pediatric cardiologist. She finishes her training in a few weeks and has been coming to Church services. She guessed the number of “red hots” we supplied in a sealed glass container for the door prize and took home the prize. Needless to say she was pleased. The number was 722….

I will close for now, as we prepare for our morning worship, and ask that you pass on ‘our heartfelt thanks’ to all those who have been praying for our safety and for God to use us mightily in His service. We have certainly felt the answer to those prayers. We wish we could bring home the enthusiasm here for sharing the gospel.

Keep the faith, With love in “HIM”, rich a.