May  2009

Dear co-laborers:

As I sit here collecting my thoughts for writing this letter, I am amazed and grateful for what has taken place over the past several months.

Your response to the request we made in our January letter was absolutely amazing. The missions secretary for one church wrote, “We have never done anything like this before.” We expressed a need for an estimated $5,000.00 to pay for materials for the work that was to be done in March. You responded by giving nearly $8,000.00, if my calculations are correct. We are very grateful to you for this response.

The work team arrived February, 28, as scheduled, and work began March, 2. Mary Becker, Phil Harmon, Lester Honson, Lloyd Johnston and Les Kidd came from North Carolina, and Dan and Carol Miles from Indiana. Work was planned for three rooms: kitchen, living room and laundry room. Many of the ceramic tiles in the laundry room had been damaged as a result of rain leakage and needed to be removed and replaced.

When Dan looked at the previous work, he said he didn’t feel qualified nor capable of doing that good of a job, and volunteered to pay to have the tiles installed by a Spanish professional at a cost of nearly $1,100.00. Thank you, Dan and Lester, the finished room looks great! Phil spent time in the kitchen replacing a ceiling fan, moving a light and installing the cornice. Les and Lloyd worked in the living room, finishing the installation of drywall. When he wasn’t working in the kitchen, Phil did the electrical work in the living room. Friday, the last day the team had, everybody worked to get the basic taping done to the drywall. Carol and Paola (a member of our church here) spent a great deal of time painting metal work around the outside of the house, staining trim for the living room, and helping Mary with the cooking. Dan and Carol stayed an extra three and a half days to help with cleaning, continue with the mud work, and paint. Although still not completely finished, the improvement is very noticeable. Thank you all so very much for the great progress you made in such a short time.

I never cease to be amazed at God’s timing. Just when I was beginning to hear rumors that I had no intention of selling the house, three people came to have a look and left very interested. This past Friday we signed an option to buy contract with one of those three, a lady from Madrid, and a tentative agreement has been made to close on July 3, in which case we will be flying out the following week with our daughter, Joy, helping with Cheri. What else can I say than “Thank you, Lord, for your great love!”?

Sunday’s services were very emotional. When I announced what was happening, the reactions ranged from: “Oh, no!” to “That’s really bad news!” Please pray that a new pastor can be found for the church. These ladies want to stay together in this church. Two said, “Let’s pray that God will change all this.” There were a lot of tears shed, and no one was interested in singing for the preaching service. I preached today from John 15:9-17, “True friendship and love”.

Cheri and I want to thank each and every one of you for faithfully praying and giving that we might have the opportunity of ministering to these kind people – the ladies who were in the services today and many more. May God bless you! If He doesn’t make any last minute changes, our next letter will come to you from the States.

Serving Christ together,

Clayton and Cheri Livengood