Dear Friends,
We made it back from Canada and it was great to be able to be a part of two weddings. Anne Marie’s brother Joel married Susie in Ontario on June 28th, and Anne Marie’s father married Arlene in Manitoba on July the 11th. It was fun for our kids to be a part of the weddings. Julian was the ring bearer in both wedding’s and is feeling very professional about it now. Sophia was a flower girl in Joel’s wedding. It was great to spend some time with family in Canada although the weather was unusually cold. We did however fit in some swimming and a camping/fishing trip. Joseph pulled in the biggest northern pike of the day. Anne Marie comes from a huge extended family, and so there was lots of visiting to do. We grateful for the two weeks we could spend there, for safety with all the travelling and friends along the way who helped with accommodation. Our only mishap was getting rear ended in Tamaulipas on our return. A young girl didn’t notice we had to slow down for a large ditch across the road, and ran into us. She destroyed the front end of her Ford Explorer and bent our rear bumper. We’re thank God no one was hurt. We have no whiplash and the occupants of the other car were fine. She had no insurance, and her damage was far worse, we figured if we called the insurance it would take hours for them to get to us, and the police would most likely confiscate her vehicle, hence we decided to keep heading towards Durango. I figure I can fix the bumper myself.
Some sad news from Lajas is that little Alma passed away. She had suffered a lot in the weeks leading up to her death, but as her parents only wanted to use the witch doctors, there was little hope. We were really hoping and praying for a miracle, but at least her suffering has ended. We pray that Jesus will use her death to bring her parents Marselo and Emiteria into eternal life and salvation.
We are busy getting ready to head out to Lajas tomorrow. No one is too excited to be back on the road again, but we need to get out there before school starts again. This will be Joseph and Madeline’s last trip to Lajas before furlough at the end of the year. Come August the 18th, they will be starting in a Mexican school here in the city, and staying with another missionary couple while we are out in Lajas. This will be a huge change for them and us as a family so we would appreciate your prayers as we prepare for this. The Lajas work has taken so long that it is becoming difficult for us to school them in the village as they go into high school (junior high). It is also unsafe to have a girl Madeline’s age in the village. Both Joseph and Madeline really need to be with kids their age, and so this is the only workable solution we can come up with. Depending on how well it goes will determine whether or not we can continue with the Lajas work. This four month trial period leading up to furlough will help us evaluate our future. We ask you to really be praying with is in this and all the changes that we’ll be experiencing, especially Joseph and Madeline.
The Tepehuan really need to hear the Gospel, so lets keep praying that this will happen soon.
Our phone line and internet have been down since an electrical storm on Friday night. Telmex aren’t breaking any records in getting on to it, and so I hope I can send this off, otherwise, you’ll get it from Lajas.
For Jesus,
Andrew and Anne Marie
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July 2008 letter
