Los Betanzo

I know, I know. It's been forever since my last post. And I don't even have a good excuse! But I wanted to post once more before Thanksgiving. For those of you who don't know, we (the team) will be out of pocket this week at the annual Mexican missionary retreat. This year, it is being planned by the missionaries in Mexico City and we are going back to Acapulco (I know, life as a missionary is tough, isn't it?). Anyway, we ask for your prayers for safe travel (Acapulco is 7 hours from Morelia) and a blessed time while we are there. Sam and Ann head out this afternoon (Tuesday, Nov. 22nd) and Summer and I leave in the morning. The Gonzos will come back on Saturday while Summer and I won't be back until Monday, just so you know. We are all really excited about getting away for a few days to relax and hang out with good friends. We're even going to have a Thanksgiving meal, complete with turkey and stuffing made by the restaurant at the hotel where we are staying.

I wanted to introduce you to another family in the church so that you could be praying for them. They are the Betanzos. They joined us around the beginning of this year. In the picture, from left to right, is: Lorena, Gerardo, Diego, Lucila and Leo.
Some of you may remember back in February when all five of them were baptized at the same time. They had been involved in a few churches back in Mexico City, where they are from, and when they moved here, they started looking for a place where they could be used by God. Lucila at that time worked with Blanca, so Blanca invited her to one of our activities. Shortly there after, Sam and Ann started studying with the whole family and they all decided that they wanted to dedicate their lives to God, specifically as a family. It was so great watching them all commit themselves to the Lord on the same day. Sam baptized Gerardo and then Gerardo baptized each of his family members in turn.
As is often the case here, they'd had some difficult financial struggles. They moved to Morelia to be closer to Lucila's parents, but since arriving haven't been able to get settled financially. Lucila has worked in sales off and on and Gerardo worked for an insurance company, I believe, until he lost his job. They started selling food out of their house at night, which went well for a while, but then went downhill. They've been so low on money that often they couldn't come to cell group during the week because they didn't have the cash to get all five of them there on public transportation. Well, it looks like things are turning around for them! Gerardo signed a contract last week with the Nestle company. This new job will require him to travel quite a bit, most likely, but they will be able to stay in Morelia, which is good news. From what I understand, he will be going around to the different Nestle plants in this area as an inspector.
As far as prayer requests go, pray that this new job will give the entire family the stability they have been lacking. Also pray that it will free up some of their time to be able to dedicate themselves more to the church. Lucila has been working two or three jobs for the past few months and Leo (14) has also been working to help cover expenses. That has made it hard for them to consistently attend cell group or other activities that we've had. Also, pray for more families like the Betanzos who are ready to give themselves wholly, as a family, to God!

Well, I think that's all for now. Thanks for reading and praying for the work here. I'll try and do a better job of keeping you updated, I promise! Hang in there with me. : ) Happy Thanksgiving! We are so thankful for each and every one of you.