Dear Friends,
We want to thank you for praying for us over this last stay in Lajas.
It has been really cool seeing how God has been answering our prayers. As mentioned in our last email, there had been talk that we were going to be asked to leave Lajas for good. We thank the Lord that it never happened. We were able to talk to the governor and he told us that certain people from the outlying communities had been speaking out against our presence there in the village. It seems no one from Lajas itself was particularly against us, and so for now there wasn’t really a problem. In talking it seems that we may get invited to the next general meeting, and there we may be able to get a written permission from the leaders that will last 12 months (or longer), and then be renewed again. In the past things like this have never materialized and we have never been called down to the meetings, but pray that if it is the Lord’s will for us to have a 12 month permission or a 5 year permission, that we will get invited to the meeting, and a permission or contract can be arranged and made official.
Many of you specifically pray for our safety and God has been very faithful. Sophia was in our bedroom playing on the computer and was stung on the foot by a scorpion. Her screaming and profuse crying made it difficult to determine the facts, but Madeline had indeed seen the scorpion. He had crawled under the bed and was soon added to the casualty list. Scorpion stings can be fatal if one doesn’t get the antivenom in time. We found the stinger in her foot and thought we would at least wait until she began to show some of the symptoms. Five minutes later she’s back outside playing with her friends, crying has stopped and no symptoms appear. We’re not sure if he didn’t quite get his stinger in right, or perhaps had recently bitten something else, but God mercifully spared Sophia from having to go through a painful day and the potentially numerous antivenom shots required.
The final week of our stay in Lajas was taken up with running a dental clinic. Dan and Susan Bentley and their daughter Michelle flew in from Houston, and John and Linda Steinbacher came down from Chihuahua. In the four days of running the clinic, we saw over 80 Tepehuan patients, of which around 15 came back for more work to be done. In effect, in four days, over 100 consultations were done. What is really great is that we are doing less and less extractions (although there were still plenty) and we’re doing more and more restoration work. Having run dental clinics in Lajas now for around 7 years and handing out tooth brushes and toothpaste is beginning to show results. Many of the younger people coming in are needing minimal work as their teeth are in great shape. Check out the pics of the clinic and hanging out round the kitchen table. Our kids especially enjoyed having visitors in and had a great time with all, especially Michelle.
The dental clinics are a special way for us to e able to show God’s love to the people and to be able to touch them both in a healing way and a spiritual way. The clinics are really the major reason we are allowed to be in Lajas at all. We thank each one of you for praying for us and giving in a way that enables us to be able to help and bless the Tepehuan people.
For Jesus,
Andrew and Anne Marie
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March 2008 letter
