What we're up to

The kids officially started back to school on August 10, Sam in 4th, Georgia in 3rd and Ty in Kindergarten. Ty shed a few tears when we left him, even had to pry him off of me, but when we returned to pick him up, he exclaimed "I LOVE school!". So thankful for that. I actually substituted in the 4th grade classroom for about a week while the teacher was taking her daughter to college in the states. But after a mere 8 days in school, the government closed schools for 10 days due to swine flu. So, our kids have been home with 5 days worth of schoolwork to do at home with the hope that the the kids won't have to make up all the days missed. We've enjoyed having the kids home again, kind of like our homeschooling days. I will substitute in the 3rd grade classroom for 5 afternoons starting Monday as the 3rd grade teacher is finishing raising her support to be here. No shortage of work to be done here!

As for ministry opportunites, we have plenty of those as well. On September 14th we will begin a series called Alpha. Some of you may be familiar with this. It is a series of videos that are shown over 10 weeks and after each video, small groups meet to discuss the topic. It is a very basic introduction to the Christian faith. Video topics include, "Christianity, Boring, False and Irrelevant?", "Who is Jesus?","Why did Jesus Die?". It is designed for open and honest discussion to take place in the small groups. We have 4, possibly 6 Bolivian nationals who will be helping us lead the small groups, and we plan to canvas the neighborhood passing our invitations. Pray for this effort with us if you will. It is a step of faith for all of us, stepping out of our comfort zone, inviting people we don't yet know as well as people we already have relationships with. Pray for a fruitful time. Other SAM missionaries in Peru have used the Alpha series with great success and we are counting on the Lord blessing our efforts as well.

Laura and I (Angela) are praying about opportunites with the women we know. We have 20 or so Women's Devotional Bibles in Spanish. We are praying about how to use these in some type of morning study. Also, a new teacher has come down for a year and is passionate about ESL. She would really like to lead a Bible Study in English as a way to teach English. I may partner with her in this endeavor. She would teach, I would host it in our home. Bubba continues to be busy not only with the professional class ministry, but also with the Ayore, as he's getting ready to harvest the sunflower crop, the CIET board, and SAMAIR. There is no shortage of work to be done here. Please pray that we would seek to do each day what God would have us do for that day. So thankful for each one of you and your partnership with us.