Taking Care of Business

I do like to write... you may or may not concur, depending on whether you judge by the scarcity of my updates, or by their often-manuscript length! I try to be interesting and creative... so I draft and edit and revert to old habits of taking months trying to say things to my satisfaction until I wear myself out and in the end just send it to you half-polished... In the process life gets ahead of me and I neglect to keep you current on our whereabouts, future plans, and other perhaps important information. (If you are interested in staying current on those things, you may have better luck following us on facebook!) But, to take advantage of the current missive, we are right now enjoying a couple more weeks here at my parents house near Oroville, California before flying back on Feb 12 for another school year in Bolivia! We were so blessed to get the tickets we did, they come with a return flight to Mexico so we can visit Lyli's family next December, Lord willing! God's timing was impeccable as always! Classes will start in mid March this year. We are praying God will send the right people to fill the openings for boys and girls deans, math teacher, an additional primary school teacher, and somebody to help us get the agriculture really going... so if you know anyone... or perhaps hear the call... we should talk! We are pleased that Dr. Neal Spiva, a retired physician and skilled construction worker/ equipment operator/ electrician etc. will be accompanying us and will stay for about a month to help us improve our electrical system!

Lyli and I have been so blessed to have a few days of work and also opportunities to visit a couple of elementary schools, hang out with the kids, show pictures and share stories. This year I didn't pursue any speaking engagements, in part because I don't have my car anymore and in part because I just wanted a break. Well, just last week I was thinking that perhaps that was selfish on my part and feeling the need to repent of my reticence to speak. So I prayed about it and told God I am willing now, and if He gave me an opportunity I wouldn't turn it down. Well, just a piece of advice: don't ever pray something like that if you don't mean it!  The next day was Friday and Dad came down with the flu and asked me to preach for him Sabbath! Not only that, but I'm scheduled to share again for the next two weekends! (If any of you are interested, I am happy to send you the PowerPoints). Andy Landis, one of our church brothers agreed to teach me the basics of welding... I have zero experience with welding, but I am excited to have a chance to learn a little. Especially after seeing all the gizmos and tractor attachments and different things that Mr. Darren Greenfield has manufacture for the farm over at Wiemar College! I also have a job pruning grapes and roses and splitting and stacking wood for the physical therapist who is helping my wife. God opened that door this break for Lyli to get some help for her chronic back and leg pain. She was in an airplane accident back in 2008* and suffered fractures to the L5, S1, and S2 and the nerve that runs through that region down to the sole of her left food was nearly severed. Well, a kind physical therapist donated some time to work with Lyli and show her some exercises to do and also gave us a TENS unit (Trans-electric neural stimulator). It is an external device with electrodes that mask the pain signals from the damaged nerve with mild electric stimulus. A dear friend also introduced us to an herbal blend (largely white willow bark) and the combination of these various simple methods has given Lyli a surprising amount of relief. She is still not pain-free, but it has been a great help and blessing. We are still pursuing the possibility of finding a neurosurgeon who can order some scans and see exactly what is going on with her back now so we can be sure there is nothing else that needs to be done.

As always, we appreciate all of you who support us in your thoughts and prayers and with your donations and words of encouragement! May you all be so blessed!

 *If you're interested in hearing the story of the plane crash you can watch it at http://boliviamissions.org