some bittersweet news

manuel and cecy, the national staff couple that works with my team of five on matías and evangelica, sat us down today.. and through tears imformed us that they would not be able to join us on campus for the month of october, because they need to focus full time on support raising.. they have been so close on finances that it has been difficult paying bills on time.. the entire national staff team leaves campus for the entire month of november to raise support full time, because by the end of the year they are nearly out of support! it is such a difficult situation to be in, because they want so badly to be able to continue in ministry alongside our team.. i just cant imagine the stress they feel as november approaches.. first and foremost, please be praying that the Lord raises their support! pray that the Lord would increase their reliance on Him, and trust in His provision.. pray that they would be encouraged during this time! they, as well as the rest of the national staff, have such great hearts for the Lord.. it is hard knowing that they are unable to do what they love because of money.. so please just keep them in your prayers..

if there could be a bright side to such a sad occurence, i want to encourage you that the Lord has used this in some interesting ways for our team.. it has been difficult for our team as we suddenly had appointments scheduled all week with students who only spoke spanish, which is something our fluency levels were probably not quite prepared for.. but the Lord has really blessed us through this process, as it has stretched us to use spanish much more, and experience a lot more ownership over our ministry here.. and i feel like our language skills have been growing greatly through this 'baptism by fire' process.. it has been hard, but there has been so much joy, and bonding as a team, and growth from all this that it has really been a blessing in disguise having to take the reins of our ministry here.. praise the Lord for His sovereignty, in ordaining this to happen at this specific time! and please continue to pray for manuel and cecy, as they are raising support and being stretched in their faith as well!

love you all..