RICK & JACKIE WASHBURN   

Newsletter from Medellin, Colombia                                                                         November 20, 2009  

Dear Praying Family and Friends,

Like the little chorus GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME!

On Sunday, November 8th, between 9-11:30 a.m. we had a downpour!  We thought, this will keep people from coming to the services because everyone, except us, must walk.   We also have to walk up the hill from the parking area, not as far as others.  We ended up with 16 wet crusaders!  We had to give out towels for them to dry themselves and we had umbrellas all over the place!  What a wonderful time we had in the Lord.  We laughed and praised the Lord with wet heads and feet!

We have been blessed with new visitors almost every week in the new work in La Campiña!  Last week we had a record attendance for us of 30!  Many of the new people came after receiving invitations and tracts on our Saturday visitation program.  These people are already saved, but their churches are far away.  We pray that through these contacts we can reach people in the new area for Christ.  What a challenge to have 9 children when I thought I might have only 5!  One of the new boys is a special needs child, so pray we can minister to him and show him love.  This coming Sunday we will be dividing up the kids since their ages are from 4 to 12 years old!  Blanca will begin to teach now that she is over her surgery.  She will have the older ones and I will take the class for the little ones.

The office that has the papers for the construction for the Florencia church has given  Pastor Jimy the "go ahead" to begin the work on Monday.  He is to pick up the final paper on Tuesday!  Pray that nothing new comes up between now and then!  It has been a long time in coming!  Because the area for the services is so much smaller at this time, they have begun taking all the kids out of the services for the whole time to give the adults more room.  It has worked out fine and the kids are enjoying this time together.  

The outing for the ladies on Monday November 16th was a real blessing to all the 35 ladies who were able to attend.  We started out at 8 a.m., and got home after 9 p.m.  We went to a park where we had the devotion and games until lunch time.  From there we began a tour of the area.  We went to a famous waterfall, then to three other small town centers.  One was famous for their desserts another was known for their pottery.  It was all new to the majority of the ladies.  We had a beautiful sunny day while in Medellín they had a three hour rain and hail storm which caused many damages!

On November 2, which was also a holiday, we had 13 people from our new work to come to our home.  We had lunch, a Bible study then games.  They  all enjoyed this.  For David and Marcela it was something they had never experienced before with a group of Christians.  They had never seen such unity and love shared between families.

Thank you all for your e-mails that keep us informed on how you and your families are doing.  May God bless you as you serve Him this week!

Because of Him,

Jackie Washburn