Brother Modesto

There's been several things happen lately that I need to blog about but tonight I only have time to mention one of them. Last week Nathan told me that one of the pieces of playground equipment was broken so I went and checked it out. It was the monkey bars and the top part that the kids hang from had come loose because one of the pieces of wood that supports it had rotted. I asked Jose about getting a brother to repair it and he said he would ask for volunteers on Sunday. Brother Modesto quickly volunteered to help out and showed up later in the afternoon (we hadn't expected him to react so quickly!) to repair it. He first had to remove the old and rusty nails from the equipment. Monte went and brought
him a drill (two actually, because the battery on the first one died) to help with the removal of the screws that were in it. Shortly after this second picture was taken, the wooden piece came free and before they could catch it, the wooden beam hit Modesto in the forehead and the metal rod hit him squarely on the bridge of his nose, splitting it open. I retrieved the necessary first aid items and we bandaged it quickly. He didn't let a little blood stop him from working.
Modesto is one of the men that Monte and Jose have been working with and encouraging to step up as a leader. He is attending faithfully and eagerly stepping in to help in areas where he can. Tonight we were elated when he led his first public prayer in the services. After church he commented that it was very short but we assured him that he did fine and that the length of it is not important. We are optimistic that he will continue to grow in the Lord and become a stronger leader in His church.
Our family will be heading to San Salvador on Tuesday morning to renew our visas and then to hopefully do a bit of sight-seeing/touristy activities. We don't have any definite plans made yet, since our time schedule will depend on tomorrow's meeting with the immigration department. I would ask that you be in prayer for a safe journey and also for a quick and easy process with the visa renewal.
One more prayer request is for the people of Central America in the coming days. Tropical Storm Paula has begun dumping rain on the Central American countries and they have already suffered with flooding and landslides so more rain is a very bad thing. They have lost a great deal of their crops which will cause a tremendous financial impact on the area as a whole later.
Thank you for your prayers. We serve an awesome God.