His faithful love endures forever...

Friday morning after Thanksgiving, I woke up and began to read in the Psalms. Psalm 136 to be exact. I had been studying the Psalms of Ascent (120-134) and figured I'd just keep going!

It was a good reminder of who it is that we are thankful to this time of year.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good!
Give thanks to the God of gods.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles.
Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully.
Give thanks to him who placed the earth among the waters.
Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights - the sun to rule by day and the moon and stars to rule the night.
Give thanks to him who killed the firstborn of Egypt.
He brought Israel out of Egypt.
He acted with a strong hand and powerful arm.
Give thanks to him who parted teh Red Sea.
He led Israel safely through, but he hurled Pharoah and his army into the Red Sea.
Give thanks to him who led his people through the wilderness.
Give thanks to him who struck down mighty kings.
He killed powerful kings - Sihon king of the Amorites, and Og king of Bashan.
God gave the land of these kings as an inheritance - a special possession to his servant Israel.
He remembered us in our weakness.
He saved us from our enemies.
He gives food to every living thing.
Give thanks to the God of heaven.

Thanksgiving

I was blessed to be able to spend Thanksgiving with my "little" brother. We both traveled to our aunt & uncle's house in St. Louis & spent Thanksgiving with them, praising the Lord for His goodness to us this year.

It was fun to be together again. We haven't seen each other very much in the last 2.5 years, so it was fun just to hang out together.

Thanksgiving morning we ran the local 5K Turkey Trot. He ran beside me the whole way and helped to pace me. With his encouragement, we finished in a record time for me.

We also spent a little time in a cute old historic town & got a few pics by the old train bridge.

Josh is currently attending New Tribes Bible Institute. After that, he is hoping to pursue a degree in medicine to be able to serve the Lord overseas helping people's physical needs as well as spiritual.Josh snapped this one of me.

Pray for these men

There are two men who are regularly attending the Latin church here who are not believers yet. Please pray for them, that they would be open to the Holy Spirit working in their lives. Pray that they would see themselves as sinners, be convicted of their sin & realize the only remedy for that is Jesus Christ.

One's name is Hector. He & his family are from the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, just a few hours away from where I was living when I was there! His wife & girls are believers, so he's the only one in the family who has not chosen to believe yet. However, he's been pretty regular at the church services & evening prayer meetings the last few months.

The other man is Esteban. He's from the state of Oaxaca, Mexico. His wife is a believer and she is from Honduras. They have two young children. He's had a real interest in coming to church & fellowshipping with believers but is not one yet himself.
Please pray that these men would trust in the Lord, realizing that they can do nothing to save themselves but that Jesus already paid their sin debt with His death on the cross.

Last of the Leaves

There is a state park just a few miles away from the campus here in Missouri. I like to go & hike around a bit. Sometimes I take others with me to enjoy the outdoors. Here's what it looked like a few weeks ago.

This trip I went with two students - Julie & Lisa. One of the things that I really enjoy about being here is the opportunity to interact with the students one-on-one or a few at a time. Many times I get to share my experiences in Mexico, how God led me there, how He led me back, what God is teaching me now... I live in an apartment on campus right in the middle of all the student apartments, so I get to visit with students all the time. That's one of the things that I enjoy most about being here.

I went back to the state park last week, and this is what it looks like now:

Very barren, but still beautiful in its own way.

Kids are Hard Work!

The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to work with the kids here on campus. There are 4 classes - nursery, 1 year olds, 2 year olds, and pre-school. The childcare is for children of the students studying to be missionaries. Each room has regular staff women who work everyday with the kids, but moms have to work also to fill the ratio of childcare worker/children. So, every time I work, it enables a mom to go to class with her husband and get the training. Women are just as much missionaries as their husbands - half of the tribal people we hope to reach are women!! So, it is very important that the women get to hear the training also!

I thank the Lord when I am able to work and let moms go to class. I enjoy working in all the classes - I get to rotate around & know all the kids. Its so fun when they see me out of class & run to hug me or shout out "Hi, Miss Rachel!" They are darlings!

My 2nd Race

Bass Pro had a fitness weekend with several races - 5K, 10K, Half-Marathon & the Marathon. A few students & I went down to Springfield to run in them. On Saturday, the girls (top row - Faith Stokes, Sharon Bruce, Keri Patterson, Kathryn Kreiger, Jenna Currey) & Jenna's dad ran the 5K, and Sam ran the 10K.
Then, I stayed the night & ran the Half-Marathon the next day. My Uncle Gerry & Aunt Marge came from St. Louis to cheer me on! Thanks so much guys - that was SO special!

Almost ready to start...

Finished at last!

It was pretty hard race. It was very long. I had run 10 miles in training, but never the full 13.1 Those last 3 miles were brutal. But, by God's grace, He enabled me to finish. I was able to get out & run on Friday and this morning also, and am feeling great!