~Our 3rd Women of Worth meeting here in Colombia!~

God really helped with our 3rd ladies meeting here in Colombia. I had wanted to have the meeting in my house, but since I had already started packing up my house, I knew that it would be better if we held it elsewhere. So, I prepared all of the food and hauled it to our church in a taxi. =D The devil is REALLY fighting in some of our homes and among our ladies so during these meeting I wanted to challenge our ladies to keep going forward, fighting the good fight, and to stay faithful to God and their husbands. God really helped us. Afterwards we went upstairs to the fellowship hall and I served my snack that Jesus, and my girls had helped me prepare! =)
~I LOVE this color of flowers and had seen a lot for sale here recently. (They just dye real flowers this color.) Since I had the same color tablecloth I thought it would be fun to have those flowers for my table for the ladies meeting. My sweetheart walked from florist to florist until he found these flowers for me. =)~
~I had forgotten that the walls were the same color. =)
~I made 4 batches (121) of my rolls!~
~I made a double batch of choc. chip cookies.~
~I served my rolls, apples and a creamy apple dip, my choc. chip cookies, and little Smokies in BBQ sauce (Brown the sausages for 10 mins. or so in the oven or in a skillet on top of the stove. Then for every container of BBQ sauce I use one container of jelly [I use grape, strawberry or blackberry] Serve these warm!...This makes a yummy quick snack that people LOVE).~

~Kimberly snapped this pic of Sis. Farly, and Sis. Joanna helping me serve the drinks. (I knew that it woud be nearly impossible to haul my pitchers of tea or juice in a taxi along with everything else, so I just served a yummy apple pop that they have here.)~
~The ladies enjoying my Gringa food.~ =)
~The ladies LOVED the food and wanted recipes (Which I plan to type out and give them soon.)~
~Sis. Joanna helped me by making the coffee. (Actually we served "Tinto" which means coffee with NO MILK. If you say coffee ("Cafe") that means it has milk in it. =) After we ate and exchanged our Secret sister gifts I showed them how to make Rice Krispy Treats. I had made those a couple weeks before that and they LOVED them. They were so glad to find out that they were so easy to make. =)
~Our ladies are really enjoying doing secret sisters. We exchange names each month, for it just works better that way in this culture. =) Some of our ladies are very poor, so I have told them that they only need to let their sister know that they are thinking of her with a note, a small choc., package of peanuts, some fruit (Which is yummy and cheap here), flowers (which are beautiful and cheap here) etc. We don't buy large gifts, but are having fun giving and receiving little "details" to encourage one another. At the end of our meeting last month, I found out that Sis. Farly had my name. She gave me these beautiful roses, a fun pen, and a cute notepad. Gracias, Hermana Farly!!
~Phillip kept Noah and Elijah for me that night. When I got home, I found Elijah asleep on this blanket. =)
Now, I would appreciate your prayers! This Saturday our family will be going to our church in Cartagena (a 23 hour bus ride away, but God provided cheap airplane tickets for our family) to help encourage our people there for a few days. (We were going to send Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Farly and family, but since he just had eye surgery he cannot travel for about a month or so!)
The ladies there have been begging me to come and have a ladies' meeting for them. I hear that there are some REALLY needy ladies there..So I would appreciate your prayers for me as I do a ladies' meeting for them. Also, They live on the coast and speak a lot different then the people of Bogota. (So...while you are praying, please pray that I can understand their Spanish, and that they can understand mine. =) Thanks!

~Our 2nd Ladies Meeting in Colombia~

~We had our 2nd Ladies Meeting at Sis. Farly's house. Excuse the dark picture. Due to the light coming from the window at the far end of the room, it was HARD to get a picture of all we ladies. There were about 32 in attendance.~
~Some of the ladies in attendance. One lady had just gotten her little girl out of the hospital, but came straight to the ladies meeting for she did NOT want to miss it!~
Farly had her neighbor lady teach us how to make a quick dessert. I cannot remember what she called it, but here's what you do.
1. You take some caramel and spread it on a tray (or a 9x13 dish),
2. then layer some graham crackers,
3. then more caramel,
4. then coolwhip,
5. then repeat,
6. ending with coolwhip.
It was simple but pretty tasty.
Sis. Farly spoke to we ladies from Titus 2:4 and 5. The Lord settled down and many of us were weeping. There were ladies there who are bearing lots of grief in their lives, but I believe they felt the Touch of the Master in this meeting. The Ladies love doing the secret sisters (Amigas secretas) and so we drew names again this month. We pray for and give small gifts to the name we chose.~

I had planned on having the 3rd meeting at my house, but since we have already began packing, it isn't the neatest place. =) We'll see what happens.
When I gave my sugar cookies to the Mothers on Mother's day, they LOVED THEM, and several acted interested in learning how to make them. So, I'm thinking of making the cookies and cutting them into shapes ahead of time, and baking them, then letting them decorate them, and giving them the recipe so they can make them at home. Thank you for praying for our Colombian ladies. It is exciting to see God working among them!

~You prayed...God answered!~

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for praying for my last requests (and for your nice comments too).
Adriana, our girls' violin teacher started having problems with preeclampsia on Tuesday and they had to do a C-section on Wednesday. Thank the Lord, she and her baby boy are fine! Please just help me pray that God will help her heal so she won't have a long hard recovery since she is such a busy violin teacher. Thanks!

God REALLY helped with our very first ladies meeting here in Bogota! There were 27-29 very excited people in attendance at the meeting in my home. We sang 3 Spanish hymns on Godly homes, being Godly Ladies, wives, and Mommies, and then I spoke! God really helped me! I had prayed and told God that I would open my mouth and was asking Him to FILL IT with what HE wanted me to tell the ladies. The theme of my Heart Talk was "being our Husbands' girlfriends." As I was talking God brought some fun illustrations to my mind, which the ladies all loved. I challenged them to remember how we ladies were when were still just dating our husbands? Remember? We always wanted to look nice, smell good, have our hair just right...all to try to win his heart! NOW that we have won his heart... how are we?
When he leaves the house in the mornings...what do YOU look like? Still in your nightgown, hair everywhere, and morning breath that would knock him over? ;) Remember that when he gets to his work, he may find ladies there who smell good and look pretty. The devil would love to tempt him with those ladies. (Now if he leaves for work at 4:00 AM, I understand you still being in bed. =) BUT...when he comes home...have the house looking nice, supper ready and you looking your best!! Keep the "home fires" burning. Write little love notes to put in his lunch...greet him at the door with a kiss, and use your imagination to keep him guessing what his girlfriend...YOU, HIS WIFE...will do next to keep your relationship at its BEST! Our men face temptations that we do not even have a clue about. So...let's keep ourselves looking nice, our homes clean and a LOVING REFUGE for him when he comes back home from facing a cruel world. Don't nag, gripe, and drive him away from you...remember...there are A LOT of women out there that wouldn't think TWICE about enticing YOUR man!! God help us to be the wives HE wants us to be! =D
After my talk, we went around the room and each lady gave a prayer request and then the person to their right prayed for that request. God settled down among us and several of us had tears running down our faces as we helped BEAR one another's burdens to God.
Next we ate. I kept my snack very simple as to not intimidate another lady who might not have much means but who would like to have the meeting in her home someday soon. I served tuna salad (in a v-shaped cut canteloupe) with RITZ crackers, baby carrots (Which NONE of them had ever seen in their lives. One lady laughed and said, "Why didn't they let these carrots finish growing? =) I served a dip with the carrots. Heart shaped chocolate and vanilla cakes with a dollop of Cherry pie filling baked in the middle, and lots of sweetened iced tea with lemon (which is new here too!) They "licked the platters clean" and loved all of my food...praise the Lord!
I gave out 2 small prizes to 2 ladies. Then, we each drew a name of another sister to pray for, and to give a card or gift to for this next month.
Then we made 2 cookie recipes together. Like I've said, most ladies here in Colombia have never been taught how to bake cookies, cakes, breads, etc. They were DELIGHTED to watch me make a "No Bake cookie" recipe (that I basically had invented just for Colombia) on top of the stove for those who had no oven, and then we made another recipe for a cookie to be baked in the oven for those with ovens. We served yummy Colombian coffee with our cookies. They went home with full tummies, and happy hearts and are eagerly anticipating our next month's meeting to be held in the home of Farly.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The next morning I woke up and discovered that we had NO WATER!! All day I THANKED THE LORD that that had NOT happened to me on Thursday... the day of my ladies meeting.
God really helped us and gave us a wonderful first meeting. Thanks for praying! Of course I have nice pics...but my husband has been sooo SWAMPED with church related work and with our Colombian visa paperwork (that we are to get renewed this month) that he hasn't had time to finish working on our computer. Someday soon, I should be able to post pics...Lord willing. =)

~Can I count on you to pray?~

Day 4 of our USA company is coming soon...but for now I want to leave you with a couple prayer requests.
Our girl's violin teacher is due to have a baby boy in just a couple weeks or so. Her baby had not "gotten in position" and so her doctors were saying that they were going to have to do a C-section. She told me that as a VERY BUSY violin teacher (who teaches at several schools, plus teaches our girls, plus does a lot of concerts herself) she had NO TIME to lay in bed recuperating from a c-section. I began to pray and asked God to SHOW HIMSELF REAL TO HER and to help her baby to "get in position". She went to her doctors visit last Friday and came back to my house and told me that her baby is now in position and it looks like she can have a normal delivery! I said, "PRAISE THE LORD!" To which she replied, "Yes, When she told me that he had moved, I thought, Heather has been praying!"
Please help me pray that God will help her baby stay in position so she can have a normal delivery...I want her to know that our GOD CARES!! Thanks!

One of the things that I really MISS about being in the USA is the special ladies meetings that y'all have there. (Church ladies meetings, Women of Worth, etc.)
The other day, I was emailing a friend and told her that her ladies meeting that she had emailed me about sounded so nice and that I really missed going to those. And then it happened...an idea popped into my head! Why not start a ladies meeting here in Colombia? So, I talked to Bro. Jimmy and Sis. Farly about it and they loved the idea.
This is where you come in! Tomorrow, Thursday, April 2nd, at 4:00 PM, Lord willing will be our VERY FIRST Colombian ladies meeting and this one will be held in our home! I plan to teach the ladies some Spanish hymns about being a good Christian Lady, wife, and Mommy, have a devotional talk on "we wives being our husband's girlfriends", =) pray together, have refreshments and then I get to teach ladies who have never been taught how to bake ANYTHING...how to bake a couple cookie recipes. The ladies are very excited and it appears that we will have a rather large group. PLEASE PRAY THAT GOD will bless and help our endeavors to touch these ladies for Him!!! (And while you are at it...please pray that God will help my Spanish as I share from my heart! =) THANKS TONS FOR PRAYING...I know I can count on y'all!! =)
I'll give a report later! Now...I must go and get everything done...tomorrow will be here before I know it! =)