Ramon, a local cowboy, herds his cows across the salt flats behind our house. Our boys help milk Ramon's cows in exchange for milk a couple of times a week.
At the front of everyone's mind is, of course the flu bug H1N1 (known in the States as "swine flu"). We wanted to let you all know that we are all well -- although still struggling with colds and allergies. The flu hasn't surfaced in our area yet, but the uncertainty certainly has. Faced with human mortality, many people are much more open to speak of Jesus Christ and eternal life. Unfortunately, in a culture deeply entrenched in tradition and superstition, this also causes people look for answers in the traditions of men. Pray that we would have wisdom as we share our Hope with people around us. A mission organization in Mexico City has constructed a page to keep folks informed with virus updates. You can click here to open the H1N1 Virus in Mexico information page.
Before the flu virus stole the headlines, the country of Mexico was enjoying the annual celebration of semana santa or Holy Week. You can read about Semana Santa at Sarah's blog and more semana santa at Rebecca's blog. During the week, we had a mission team visiting from Calvary Chapel -- Rancho Santa Margarita. It was a great time of outreaches on the beach and fellowship with our Christian brothers and sisters.
Another great blessing during their time here was the day we were able to take part of the team to La Pitahaya (pronounced La pi TAH ya). A group of ladies from a prison in Southern California had sent many handmade quilts to share with the people of Mexico. The village of La Pitahaya is a small village with no electricity, no piped water, no telephone, no school, no church. It's accessible via one dirt track across salt flats...or by boat, if you're a fisherman. There are only about 15 households in the village, but all the women and children of the village turned out when we went to visit. Pastor Ricardo shared a powerful message of God's love, forgiveness and justice. As he shared and prayed, you could see the ladies relax and open up to the Word. When he was finished, we all prayed together and then handed out blankets to each woman. It was a really precious time!!!
Afterward, several of the ladies agreed to get together weekly for a Bible study in the village. We were all very excited about that, but when the day came to meet -- a week later -- no one showed up. Karen said the village was like a ghost town. Even the dogs were hiding. Please pray for this village. Witchcraft and idol worship are strong there. Our family does have some friendships beginning to form with a couple of families in the village, so we are hopeful that through these relationships, doors will begin to open that otherwise would not. You can click over to our blog to see more photos of our time in La Pitahaya.
As mentioned before, even before the flu scare hit, our village was under attack from some serious colds. One little guy who's been fighting the "crud" for a few weeks is Ezekiel. We actually had a scare with him about a week ago. He stopped breathing and had to be resuscitated. Please pray specifically for Ezekiel, Nehemias and Jahasiel. These are three of the babies in the church who have been battling with bad colds for the past few weeks. The parents are beginning to believe that there is a spiritual attack involved. All three are children of the leaders of the church.
We've been exploring our environment during science class. Even though our terrain is mostly sand and scrub brush, we do have a lot of birds who call our scrub brush home...and we also have some really big cactus!
There are only a few more weeks of school left! For this, the kids are glad, but that means that we are pushing to finish a few classes which we really want to wrap up before summer break. Pray that we wouldn't lose focus of the One who gives meaning to our education. It's so easy sometimes to get so focused on the task that we lose sight of the goal. We pray for each of you that God would give you clear vision of the goals He has set before you!
End of school also means beginning of the hot season and the time of summer mission teams. We have two teams scheduled this summer and are anxiously awaiting their arrival! Pray for these teams from California: for those they minister to and for the teams themselves.
Don't forget to stop by our Blogs from time to time. We post several times a month, and it's a great way to stay up-to-date with the happenings of our life. Especially when we aren't as faithful with update letters as we should be! The Coult Family's Blog, Beautiful Feet, Go Therefore and Be Light
Prayers and Praises
- Physical health for our family and the families of those we minister to and with here in Mexico
- Those with whom we were able to share the Gospel during semana santa and in the days that followed. Pray specifically for Horacio, Chacho and Juan Ernesto.
- Praise God for saving the life of Ezekiel last week!
- Pray for complete healing in the babies of the church -- Ezekiel, Nehemias and Jahaziel.
- Praise God for the time of sharing in La Pitahaya. Pray for a change of spirit in this village and that He would be building relationships with the people there.
- Pray that God would continue to give wisdom as Doug leads a discipleship class for some young men in our community.
- Praise God for the parenting class we've been leading for the past 2 months. All three couples are growing more confident as parents and are learning to better apply Biblical principles in their families.
- Praise God that school is nearly finished for the year! ;^) Pray that we would finish well!
- Pray that God would supply for the mission teams who are planning trips this summer.
- Praise God for His abundant blessings over our household this past month. Continue to pray with us for God's provision!!! We serve a BIG God!!!
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