Life of IDC...

In February of 2007 we began a mid-week Bible Study on Wednesday Nights. This began with approximately 25 people. Here we are a year plus, almost two years later. This past two months we have seen a growth spike. Our weekly attendance for this event is typically 60-70 persons. While we have a few visitors, the vast majority is from the local community - meaning people that live in the valley full time or at least for an extended stay period. Before we would see spike to this attendance level occasionally when mission teams were visiting. These numbers reflect no team traffic.

The Worship Ministry has grown to the point that we needed more opportunities for the total number of people that we have. Hence expansion to the Wednesday Night - "Food for the Body and Soul" Meetings.

Even more exciting is the growth in the children's ministry on Wednesday. For a time we only saw staff kids. This has changed as we now have a group of typically 10-15 kids, mostly Latin. This is more than babysitting. An entire focus for children has been developed for Wednesday Nights. Including additional teachers. Seen here are Howie and Nan Atherton working their magic with the children.

God is good.

Koko...

Nancy and I's son and daughter-in-law, Matt and Ale opted to start their family. A Husky named Koko.

Looking oh so cute in the pet store and so small and cuddly... that is only the beginning. Now a mere 8 months later they now harbour an 80 lb canine with the attentions span of a 2.5 year old.

The pooch having a thick layer of hair has always found solice in sleeping under the bed of Matt and Ale. This is cute when the hound is not much bigger than a large raccoon but things are different now.

We can only hope that the furry friend laying under the bed doesn't try to roll over. I am sure am glad that he is family.

Ridge Association Visit...

This week we ran an interesting first time event that returned great rewards. Most of our teams represent single organizations however this week we hosted a team that brought five different churches together.

There focus included children's ministry outreaches, work with the Malnutrition Center and home construction. With the help of this team we have broken new ground in two new avenues of outreach. These include ongoing children's events in the greater community of Pastores as well as home construction working alongside the social services of Pastores. While the construction was anticpated to exceed the time available, this team completed the home in record time. And now a single mom has a roof over her head for herself and her children.

Other activities included tours of the Ruins Tecpan Ixmche and Volcano Pacaya with it's fresh lava.

Great job - Ridge Association!

Flood Waters...

In Antigua, there is primarily 2 seasons lasting roughly 6 months each. Moderate to comfortably warm temperatures with no rain. And moderate to cool temperatures with a lot of rain. One of the blessings in living on the south end of Antigua here in Panorama is that we are at the lower levels of the valley.

This means that in an extreme rain, we are the recipient of most of the local run-off. The image you see is jsut outside our compund gate. What you don't see is that the side the cars are traveling is 3 feet higher than the grass side. To exit the compound in one of these flash floods requires a bath in 4 feet of water. Quite the blessing.