Dear friends and family:

Things here are overall going great.  Our only problem right now is that one of the volunteer preachers does not like to show up to preach when he's scheduled :-(  Such is life!.  We can laugh about it and take care of it since it is typical of too many people here.

We were very happy to have Harvey and Le Ann Waddelow with us to videotape the work here in the Merendon Mountains.  They were just with us 2 1/2 days and then 2 days with John and Madonna Spratt at Las Brisas on the North Coast.  We packed those days with activity.  Harvey and Le Ann did an excellent job getting everything on videotape.  It was quite interesting trying to get a week's work in 2 1/2 days but we were able to get the majority in.  Tomorrow we are planning on working on the script for the video.  We are looking forward to showing you (our family, friends, and supporters) what it looks like here and what we do.  We plan on sending out videos to you once they are finished.  We were extremely grateful to Harvey and Le Ann for bringing down thousands of dollars worth of medicine for us.  That medicine is and will be a tremendous blessing.

Last night Toby had the guys (Orlando, Henry, and Sergio) over for their discipleship meeting.  One of the major problems in the mountain is that people say the spirit tells them and others do something but it is not backed up by the Bible.  Toby has slowly been working with the guys on how to judge what comes from God, Jesus, and the Bible and what does not come.  Toby was really excited last night that the guys seemed to really understand what he was talking about.  They discussed how to use that in their personal lives and in the church.  We were also excited that Henry brought his son to the meeting.  Orlando has been bringing his son Naun for a while.  The guys have gone from not paying any attention to their family to being very actively involved with their families.  It is exciting to watch.

Toby's time spent individually with Santos and Emilio (our two ministers from the mountain) has gone really well.  A lot of problems are solved and insight given to what is really going on in the community.  It is also great to see the unity between Emilio and Santos growing.  They are finally trying to help each other out and be encouraging to each other when for a time they were at odds and critical of each other.

Every day we give thanks for Juan Gutierrez who has been with us for a month.  He is far wiser than his 23 years.  The youth group is just exploding.  For meetings he is having between 30 to 40 instead of 7 from the previous youth program.  Juan has the respect and the attention of the youth in a way Toby, Emilio, or Santos don't have.  He spends a lot of time visiting the youth.  The other night they had an impromptu meeting and had 32 kids show up.  Juan has also helped a lot with people unity between Santos and Emilio for which we are grateful for.  One of the guys that Toby is discipling cannot read at all.  Sergio has such potential to be a minister but not reading is a tremendous hindrance.  Juan is working with Serge throughout the week teaching him how to read.

Last week when we took Harvey and Le Ann to La Union. Yami had 64 patients.  and is really keeping busy with the clinic there.  She has seen a great number of skin infections.  Over the last 2 or 3 months she has seen around 300 patients.

I have been keeping busy with my patients at the Penitas clinic.  Although we have had fewer patients we have sent several in the hospital and I have been visiting them weekly.  Two of the patients with broken legs are waiting for surgery and doing well.  The young man who had appendicitis is doing great.  I just took out his stitches. He is so happy not to be in severe pain.  The little baby with bronchial pneumonia has healed from that but now I think she has a staph infection around her neck and I started her on medicine for that.  Yesterday, I sent a little baby to the hospital with acute abdominal pain, a serious stomach problem that could be caused by many different things.  She had been very sick for a couple of days before I saw her, so I sent her down to the hospital as quickly as I could.  Unfortunately the parents are not that intelligent so there is nothing more I can do for them since they cannot communicate very well even with mountain people.  If you would pray for Roxana.  I know her parents would appreciate it.

As you can tell things are going great.  Toby and I spent two days at the hotel over the weekend so we could get some rest. Toby has not had a day off for a long time and it seems the only way to get rest is to go to a hotel where people cannot find us :-)  It is a great problem to have.  It was nice to be able to relax and get some sleep.

I almost forgot to mention that we bought Juan (it is the mission's but for his use) a
motorcycle. A 300cc mountain bike.  Toby is slowly teaching him how to use it with hopes he doesn't injure himself due to inexperience of traveling the roads.  It will make a huge difference in the ministry for him to be able to get around on the bike.  He will be able to make it to La Union in half the time it takes by truck. It is great to see the ministry exploding here. Juan is a wonderful coworker and we want to keep him safe and healthy.

Thank you for your prayers and support. The Lord is blessing us indeed.


God bless,

Toby and Amy Hill