Can you believe it’s already April?
March was a very difficult month for me. There were four people I knew that died last month, my grandpa, and three people from my church here in Mexico. One of the ladies from our church, Anita, died from health problems, and she left behind an 18 year old daughter, 15 year old & 4 year old sons. But the testimony that she had with sharing the gospel & how she discipled her friends was incredible. Because of her testimony with others there are so many people here that are Christians! It was so encouraging to see how God worked in her life!
My grandpa died about two weeks after Anita did. He was 91 years old. I was not able to attend the funeral because I had turned in my visa and wasn’t able to leave or reenter Mexico. My family was able to attend including my brother from San Diego, I’m anxiously awaiting the DVD of the funeral.
And then two weeks ago, a lady, Brenda, & her daughter, Sofia, were intentionally targeted & died because of the drug violence here in Mexico. Brenda was the same age as me & had a job as an investigator with the state attorney general’s office. Her and her husband, Sergio, had study chronologically through the Bible with a couple from our church, and had become Christians! We praise God for their testimony. They no longer lived in fear of dying because they knew where they were going when they died! Praise God for their testimony to their friends & family, and please pray Sergio as he lives life without his wife & daughter.
Through all this time God continually reminded me that He still had everything in control. I know that might not be a shocker to y’all, but to me it was a great reminder, that before the creation of time, He knew that I would be here going through these difficult times, and He even knew that I wouldn’t be able to travel home for the funeral. But He gives us so many promises in His word so that we remember that “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you (Heb. 13.5)”! Wow! I believe that God takes us through these trials, to remind us of his love and care for us. And those were some of the things that I needed to learn & be reminded of in March.
Remember Juan and Dorothy? The missionary couple we helped move down to Nyarit last summer so they could start working with the Cora people? They came back to Chihuahua in February & on March 11 they had a baby! Levi Yuhan Miranda Xiong was born here in Chihuahua. Amy & I even got to meet him & hold him, and of course he’s super cute!
Upcoming Trip: After last month, I’m so excited & ready to take a trip next week! I’m going with my friend Jocabed to the state of Mexico! Jocabed is a student at the Missionary Training Center, and she lives near Mexico City. I get two whole weeks of Spanish with Joca! Her parents already have a lot of stuff planned for us while we are down there!
Prayer Requests
:: a safe & fun trip to Mexico City with Jocabed
:: continued faithfulness in Spanish!
:: for the ladies in the English class, that they would be able to make it to the new class day on Wednesday
:: one of the ladies from our English class, Rosa, she just found out she has breast cancer
:: friends & family that lost a love one last month
Praises
:: the Casa Hogar ministry is going great!
:: my laptop is back! It was 7 long weeks without it!
:: great language & culture sessions with my friends Ana & Rouss
:: the amount of Spanish I’ve learned in this last year! There are a lot things that now make sense to me in Spanish!