HERE’S THE CHURCH AND HERE’S THE STEEPLE…

Open the doors and see all the people!Well, the doors aren’t in place yet on the two churches we are building in Campo Grande and San Rafael Caleria.  However, the two winter groups we received, from LaPorte, Indiana and Madison, Wisconsin, did raise the roof on both churches!  Each church has two wood open beam-style roofs, covered with sheets of wood, then covered with corrugated metal.  We were putting the roof on the second story Sunday school room at both churches.  It was a long, hot job accomplished at dizzying heights that was definitely not for the faint-hearted!

 Those of us who remained earth bound were quite busy also, cutting metal and wood for the roof, painting and treating the wood and beams against insects and staining them.  It was a smelly job but after the first 30 minutes everyone was quite happy and splattered with paint and stain!

The project in Campo Grande was interrupted on Saturday when Terri and Jeff King were involved in a head-on collision with a motorcycle.  They are both injury-free.  While on a mountain road, they rounded a pronounced curve and the motorcycle was in their lane.  The collision was unavoidable as they hit the Trooper on the passenger’s side of the vehicle.  Unfortunately, the other driver had been drinking.  The driver and his passenger sustained minor injuries; he broke his leg and she had a large hematoma on the top of her head (no helmet).  The police arrived and both vehicles were impounded, as is often the case in third world countries.  The next day the Wisconsin group went to Veracruz for their free day before returning home.  Relaxing by the pool is a wonderful way to recover from an accident! 

On Monday we returned to the police station where we met with the family of the motorcycle driver and went to inspect the damages to the Trooper.  If a financial agreement could not be reached then we would have to appear in court on Wednesday, with the possibility of us having to pay for some of their medical bills, even though we were clearly not at fault.  An agreement was finally reached, contracts were signed, money compensated, and on Tuesday we received our vehicle.  It is currently being repaired.  We praise the Lord for His intervention in what could have a costly and time-consuming event.  He sent us a Christian police chief who was honest and fair, and good friends who guided us through the whole process.  We can certainly claim Romans 8:28: “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

ADVANCING THE KINGDOM

On March 5 another group graduated from the “Foundations of the Faith” basic doctrine class in Sumidero.  Juan and Irma Mejia, the pastors of the church, received their Fraternidad Cristiana diplomas from Jeff along with 3 other sisters.  Basic doctrine is a foundational class on which to build a strong Christian life.  We thank God that 5 more lives have been trained in His truths!

CASA DIETRICK

A small peek in to our lives

hos·pi·tal·i·ty   Cordial and generous reception of or disposition toward guests.

Many guests have blessed us since the beginning of the year.  In January we hosted Dilean’s family along with Mark Lohner and Pedro Gama.  In February we received Larry Owen and Vic Hildebrand for a week, then Sam Ambrose who proved to be a wonderful construction helper to Jeff.  Our friends from Chiapas, Larry & Juanita Godwin stopped by for one night on their way back from the States.  In March, Naomi Briggs came for 2 weeks to help with the winter groups.  While the groups were here we had a wonderful week with Pat Mandeville and Jeff King and his two daughters, Hannah and Sarah.  Michael Kilkenny (David’s brother) was also with us for a brief weekend before returning to school in Puebla.  As you can see, the door is always open….