It's been so long since our last letter that now there is too much to tell. We can't cover all of the news so we have decided to highlight some of the ways that God has been providing and working in our lives.
God has been, of course, faithfully supplying all of our real needs but we had wanted to continue working in the poorest part of town and we didn't have the gas money to get there and back very often. With the tool trailer in tow the cost runs about $35 per trip. In November, we decided to sell our gun collection and safe to raise money in order to continue to minister in Tijuana. Our first thought was to sell them on consignment through a San Diego gun shop. That idea did not go very well. We would only be able to get half of what they were worth. While driving around talking to various shops my cousin's car was impounded (delinquent registration). The police found it necessary to run a check on every serial number and give us a generally hard time. It was a low time and we were really questioning and crying out to God. We sensed that God was leading us to try selling them ourselves. We made up a page to show them off and sent out an email to see if any of our friends were interested in purchasing one of them. The response was incredible. We had immediate offers one of which was from a friend that wanted to buy the whole collection and safe so that we could, if ever we wanted to, buy them back. Thank you God!
Since before we came to Mexico Andrew had hoped that the family could do some musical entertainment and training for the orphanages and for some time our Pastor had been giving our family the opportunities to serve by playing or singing for the church. Each time, though, the children were too shy. In December God gave Sandra, Sarah, Mary, and Anna an opportunity to be in the Christmas musical. They did famously and had a fantastic time. Now that the ice is broken the family is finally ready to stop being nervous and help out.
We hadn't been able to care for our van very well in some time. It lacked registration and insurance and was no longer legal to drive in California. It had several problems and we did not expect that it would pass a smog inspection. We wanted to be able to visit friends in California but did not see how we could. We had been asking God to fix our transportation issues and if we could go see our friends. The answer came in the form of an old friend and customer of Fruin Communications who asked Andrew to come up and do a job for his company. He said he would be willing to pay for the whole family to come up. It turned out the cheapest way to accomplish that was to have our van fixed, re-registered, and insured. Additionally we were able to spend the last week of December and the beginning of January there. Not only were we able to visit with many friends but we actually got to stay with friends as well! It was a very blessed and refreshing time.
