It's so good to be back in Hualahuises. It feels so comfortable here, and the air is filled with the buzz of conversation. Mr. Alfredo is talking and laughing as we swap the latest stories around the dining room table. Mom is making cocoa mix in the kitchen with Zelina. Dany and the boys are relaxing on the couch, engaged in an animated discussion about...muscles and superheroes I think. ;) Cristina is looking well, having just returned from a grocery shopping trip. Zelina laughs, "She never goes grocery shopping, and has been gone for two hours!!"
Whew! It's been a long day! After a leisurely morning enjoying the San Antonio sunshine as we waited for Capps rentals to open at 10, we loaded our luggage (thank goodness it fit!!) into the rental van and headed South towards the border.
Devotions for this trip center around the life of Elijah. Not much is known about his early history, and there are only a few chapters about this man of faith in proportion to the scope of his influence in Israelite history. He first appears in 1 Kings 17 where he confronts wicked King Ahab, predicts drought until further notice, and runs off to the wilderness to drink from a brook and eat food delivered by ravens.
It's interesting to look at his life from the context of a ministry and mission mindset. When sent to find a widow at Zerephath, he tested her openness by asking her to give him a drink. Often, the best approach to take when making a contact for a "touch-and-go" type of evangelism is the "Can you help me?" attitude. Most people will stop to give help, when they wouldn't stop to take something from someone. When the widow responded positively to Elijah's initial request, he probed a little further until he discovered her area of need.
We had an opportunity to observe this principle in action as we stopped a the border. While waiting in line to obtain visas from the official, we struck up a conversation with the two ladies in line behind us. From Ohio, the pair drove through the night, and were on their way to Mexico for vacation. When it was our turn, we struggled to communicate with the immigration officer, sharing the load between the 3 of us who knew Spanish the best. When we hit a roadblock in trying to explain why we were all coming down together, but two were leaving early, she poked her head in and spoke to the official with flawless pronunciation. A translator! What a relief!
Later, after the moment of opportunity had passed, (of course!) we talked about how it would have been easy to respond with sharing the Gospel with the attitude of gratefulness. For example: "Thank you so much for helping us! Can we share a story that has been instrumental in our lives and would be a benefit to you as well?" Always on the lookout for new ways to share the Gospel. =)
We take off for the tiny town of El Pachon in the morning. Not sure about the wi-fi situation, but I'll keep everyone as updated as I can!
Leslie with our luggage cart. See our fancy new patient chairs for the clinic?
Happy Copilot 
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