Well, it's been a couple days since I last wrote. Time is flying by and my trip is already half over. Mom will be flying home tomorrow and I don't think any of us are ready to have her leave yet, but I'm thankful she was able to come and experience Bolivia and El Jordán even for a short time. Many of the people here have encouraged her to return and her visa is good for 4 more years of visiting, so who knows, maybe she will come again sometime.

For the last few days we have continued busily baking cookies most of each day and Yesterday I spent more time putting together plates with a variety of cookies and wrapping them up so they would be ready to give away. Volunteers at El Jordán are making bows to put on top and have been writing personal thank you notes in hand made cards to make the cookie gifts complete. I don't remember the exact count right now, but I believe Mom and I have made something nearly 4000 cookies so far. More than half of those were taken by volunteers this afternoon to be personally delivered to local people who help with the ministry of El Jordán. The volunteers also received their own personal plate of cookies today with their thank you notes for serving here at El Jordán.

Mom and I were not left out. There was a meeting of volunteers today and at the beginning of the meeting Corina publically thanked both of us for coming to help and gave us each a small gift. Mom received a beautiful little flower made out of beads and wire by one of the students at El Jordán. I was given a small, round, personalized plaque thanking me for my continued help. (For some reason they always give me something other than a plate of cookies. I wonder why? Ha Ha.) Seriously, I am thankful for the opportunity to be here and feel very blessed. It is still amazing to me that God can use something as simple as baking cookies to help a ministry.

Yesterday Corina took Mom along when she went to visit a place where they are considering providing Christmas meals and gifts from El Jordán's annual "Christmas on the Streets". The event has become very large and the focus has shifted away from El Jordán's intended vision and goals for the outreach, so they are trying to get things back in focus this year and are visiting all the possible locations in the city where there are street people or extremely poor in order to find the neediest and focus on them. The home where Corina took my mom was in a poor area where Corina said many of the students at El Jordán live. The man who lives there once had two children in his Sunday school class die of malnutrition. It opened his eyes to the desperate need in his area and he started inviting needy children home for lunch. Now, after a few years, he and his wife and children are serving 80 children lunch on most days and he has started adding a second floor to his small house in order to have two small rooms with enough bunk beds to sleep 20 of these children. Can you imagine doing something like that? I'm glad that there are some people who are willing. The need is great and someone has to do something. Why not us?

Tonight was the last "chapel" meeting at El Jordán for the year. Once a month on Friday night all the students and volunteers are invited back to El Jordán for a time of worship and learning from God's word. Tonight's speaker preached on the story of the prodigal son from Matthew 15 and he had people in the congregation reading the verses aloud and responding to his questions. There was a very good turnout and they had to pull out more chairs a couple times to make sure everyone had a seat. Afterward, Corina told us the story of one young woman who came tonight. A few years ago, when she was about 20 she and her boyfriend had a baby. They were people from the streets, but were doing pretty well. One day this young woman fell asleep on the bus and she and the baby ended up far away from home. She didn't have a way to get back home right away so she ended up staying in the area for a couple days and while she was there someone stole the baby. She must have been devastated, but the baby could not be found, so she returned home. Her boyfriend was so upset that she had allowed the child to be stolen that he began abusing her. Now she no longer talks and expresses very little. Corina spent time paying her special attention tonight... sharing her Bible and pointing out verses, asking her questions, talking about and showing her things done at El Jordán once the chapel was over... Corina was encouraged by three things. First, the girl came to the meeting tonight. Second, she responded by nodding or shaking her head during chapel and third, she actually spoke three words to Corina tonight! It is only a beginning, but we are praying that she will return and find healing here at El Jordán that can only be found in Jesus. Some other men who attended chapel tonight are former prisoners from the men's jail. Pray that they too will find the truth and be transformed into vibrant servants of God.

Well, it's late and I don't want to oversleep tomorrow. We need to leave for the airport at about 8:15 to make sure we have plenty of time to get mom on her flight. (I know that's not really early, but we have had several long days and are pretty exhausted.) Also, please pray for me. Some muscles in my shoulder and neck have knotted up for the last two days and are making it painful to turn my head in certain directions. It drains my energy level and also sometimes gives me a mild headache. It has caused me to work slower and rest more often over the last couple days and it will be hard for me to accomplish all I want to do here if my neck remains painful through next week. (I am taking Advil, but it doesn't seem to help much and I don't want to take something that will make me feel drugged. I slept well in spite of it last night and I'm hoping some good nights of rest and some careful massaging and stretching will take care of the problem.) Pray that God will relax the muscles or give me the wisdom and energy to deal with it and continue on.

God bless you all.
Medin