Our first woman........

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We decided to have a traditional dinner here and ended up with a little over 50 people who fell in love with turkey and chicken -n- dumplings!!! Many of them also had fried okra for the first time. So it was a wonderful time. I did miss the Macy's Day parade though......

So many things have happened, I will try to hit the highlights. We received from the government a date to open the shelter. Thursday, 8 January will be our official day to open. BUT..........

We received a call from the local police saying they had a lady who had filed a report with them. Her husband had tried to kill her. She has a 7 month old baby girl. So they asked us if we could give her shelter. Since THEY approached us, we are obligated to honor their request. She knew nothing of us and was not soliciting help from us. So the government said we could take her and her baby!!!!! What a blessing!!!!!

I met with her yesterday and she has bruises on both her arms and on her face where her husband beat her. She received a physical exam and there was no permanent damage and the baby was not touched by him. She escaped with only their clothes, so I went and bought diapers, clothes and milk for the baby and some other things for her that we did not have at the house.

We had set up this coming week to be a "practice" week for us. But now it turns out we are working for real. How wonderful and I thank God He has placed me here to work with these women. I think I am the most blessed person on the face of the earth. Please pray for resources to be there when we need them to meet the needs of the ladies and their children.

Other good things are happening. I am continuing to plan the food outreach in the coming weeks. I (and some other ladies and a few men) will either be going out this weekend or the next. We are waiting for an official response from the local officials of Ilopango. We have learned this area has many children whose parents have died of Aids and the children are infected as well. There are also many single moms there, trying to care for their children. The women have almost no income. There are few, if any, resources to help them. I am thrilled about this part of my work. I am not sure about cooking THAT much rice and beans, but it will be fine. I have great help with Juanita being here to help me cook.

I am almost finished with all the Immigration stuff......I should receive my translated papers from the lawyer this week and then next week be able to take everything to Immigration. I will be glad to have this checked off my list!

There are many other things that have happened.....just know they are all good!!! I may have to update my blog more often. Thank you, Everyone, for your support and prayers. Each of you is also reaching out to the hurting people of El Salvador and you will reap a blessing as you do.