In Jerez for a visit

Debbie and I flew to Jerez a couple of weeks ago. Debbie stayed here with Marcela, who is due to have the baby any day now, and Ingrid and the two little girls, our granddaughters, Ari and Andi. Daniel and I loaded up the van with stuff we had left here and can use in Phoenix, and drove out of the country. Daniel needed to renew his papers, which requires him to be outside of Mexico for ten days.

We drove to Phoenix and unloaded, stayed a few days so he could touch base with his cousins there, and then drove back. On the way North I got really sick with a "stomach flu" (probably food poisoning), so I was out of it for about a week, recovering just in time for the return trip.

Now we are back in Jerez. We got to see most of the church members on Sunday and will have dinner with the Schiekolks on Thursday- all plans are tentative and postponable if the baby makes his debut.

It's so good to be here and see everybody.

Mexico is under siege with the AH1N1 "Swine" flu, but so far the Giles and Schierkolk families have stayed healthy, thank the Lord!

Debbie and I fly home on Tuesday the 12th of May. We hope we get to see our grandson before we leave. The Dr just told Marcela that he could be born any time after this Sunday.

Minneapolis

On Monday I flew to Minneapolis, to teach a class at the Seminary and meet with Del Palmer, the World Missions Director and a couple of members of the World Missions Committee. I was warmly received, saw a lot of old friends and met a few new ones, and was reminded all over again what a privilege it has been to work in the AFLC all these years.

The Mission Board is meeting this Friday and Saturday (March 28th and 29th) and will discuss my letter of resignation which I gave to Pastor Palmer on Tuesday. Please pray for them as they seek the Lord on this and a number of other matters that affect the work of World Missions.

We will probably be going to Jerez the last week of May to explain ourselves to our friends and church there, say goodbye, and pick up a few things we will need for our new life in the US.

Big Decisions

We have been increasingly faced with the fact that in spite of wonderful progress with therapy and a large measure of independence that has resulted from it, Dad will still be needing someone to provide full time care for the foreseeable future. We've been warned repeatedly by different Physical Therapists, Doctors, Nurses, etc., that Mom must not be given the task of sole care giver ever again. She is also 88 years old and has some osteoporosis going on, so a fall while helping Dad could be disastrous for both of them.

After much prayer and careful consideration, Debbie and I have come to the conclusion that the only viable solution, and what also seems to us to be God's answer, is that we resign from the Mexico mission work and stay here in Phoenix to provide the care that Dad needs.

We spoke with our adult children in Mexico (Daniel and Marcela, and Ingrid) and they told us that the Lord had spoken to them last week to let them know that this was coming, so it wasn't a total surprise for them. They will continue working as Short Term Assistants under AFLC World Missions with Todd and Barb Schierkolk and living in what has been our house there in Jerez. If any of you would like to help support them, please send to AFLC World Missions in Plymouth MN. As STA's they have no guaranteed salary, medical insurance, etc. and are supported entirely by what is sent to AFLC designated for them. They are doing a wonderful job, working as full time missionaries in Jerez and we are very proud of them.

Keep tuning in to this blog, as we will continue to update from time to time both with news from here and from the Mexico field.

(By the way, we all need your prayers now more than ever!)

Dan Giles

Some Pictures and More

Here are a couple of pictures of our grand-daughters, Ariadna and Andrea. They are with their parents, Daniel and Marcela, serving as Short Term Assistants (STA's) in Jerez, together with Ingrid, even while we are with my folks here in Phoenix. They are all living in our house. It's a big house, so they have plenty of room for two families, especially with us out of the way!

The work is going well there, with Ingrid continuing to translate Sunday School material and Daniel and Marcela handling the Youth Ministry. Todd and Barb Schierkolk are heading up the whole operation, Todd pastors the church, and they also have the Kid's Clubs outreach ministry. Barb's music is a powerful blessing at the heart of the work.

Dad home!

My Dad came home today!
He was able to come home a day sooner than our most sanguine hopes. This is good.
Please pray that he will get stronger every day and be able to get to the point where he can get up out of a chair unassisted. he has made so much progress in the past few weeks that we are very encouraged. The doctor said that there seems to be nothing wrong with him except the polio, which he has has all his life. This is just a new stage in the disease, and he will learn to work around it as he has done at every previous stage.
The good news is that at 90 years old, this is the only serious health problem!

Polio at age 90!

We have been here in Phoenix about 2 weeks now. I've been able to work with my Dad along with the Physical Therapists every morning and every afternoon since we arrived, while Debbie helps my Mom.
My Dad had polio when he was a very small child. Now at age 90, he has developed "Post Polio Syndrome", which means that some of the typical symptoms of polio have begun to show up again.
My Dad is doing very well and making good progress. The doctors are hopeful that he will be able to move from the nursing care facility to home on the 8th of February. Between now and that date, we will divide our time between helping Dad become physically ready for the move, and making major changes in the home to get it ready for Dad.
After that comes the in-home care -- a new frontier for all of us!
Keep us in your prayers!

Getting Settled in Phoenix

We have been in Phoenix for about a week now and all is well, with just one little glitch. Debbie's upper respitory virus turned nasty during the flight and by the time we landed she had lost her voice and was developing lung congestion. She saw a doctor the next morning, who strongly suggested that she not stay anywhere near my mom and dad! So good friends of ours, Dennis and Alice Andert, have taken her into their home this week to recover. She's feeling much better and expects to rejoin me in my parent's home within a couple of days. Meanwhile, I've been with my dad for several hours each day and am encouraged by his progress. Thank you for your prayers!

Prayer requests

About half of us (Schierkolks, Giles, and half of the city of Jerez) have a bad cold that's going around.  Not serious,  but miserable, especially as Debbie and I are getting ready to go Phoenix next Thursday and need to wrap things up here.

Pray for us!

Daniel and Marcela are also looking for a little house of their own within their STA budget.  Pray that the Lord would lead them to the house of His choosing.

Ingrid has found the tarantula that was biting her in the night and turned it into a pet.  She feeds it crickets that she is able to trap and bring home when she is out...

Thanks!

Hospital, Ministry Training Center, Church

When we started work in Aguascalientes over 20 years ago, the Lord made it clear to us that what we thought was going to be a church -- a gathering place for Christians -- was going to be more of a "Ministry Training Center", preparing servants for the church in the Spanish-speaking world.

And so it was.  Over the next 20 years, the church in Aguas sent 7 young people to Bible School, launched one couple into ministry who are now a pastor and his wife in Aguas itself; another couple who are ministering in music at a church in Monterrey and run a Bible bookstore there; another couple who are serving as missionaries in the muslim world, and three others -- our own daughter, son, and daughter-in-law -- who are now serving with us as Short Term Assistants under our own AFLC mission here in Mexico.  Not to mention our daughter's roomate from the Free Lutheran Bible School in Minneapolis, who came to know Jesus in our church in Aguas and who together with her husband, now serves as a missionary of the World Mission Prayer League in Mexico.

Here in Jerez, the Lord has again made clear to us that our purpose in this work is not just a Sunday-go-to-meeting church for people who are already Christians, but a hospital for people in need of spiritual and emotional healing as a result of sin -- whether their own or someone else's.  This is to be a place where people come to find healing, restoration, deliverance, and wholeness in Jesus.

Recently we have been reminded that there is a fine line between a hospital, where people come to find healing, and a hospice, where people go to be made as comfortable as possible while they die.  They aren't the same thing!

Pray that we would be faithful in bringing about a place of healing, deliverance, and strengthening; not just a comfort zone for people who never recover!  We need the outpouring of the Holy Spirit's power in our life and ministry to make the difference between these two.  Pray for us!

Advent Services in Jerez

These are pictures of our congregation in Jerez at one of our Sunday morning services during Advent this year.  The young man lighting the advent wreath in the front of the church is César, one of our young fathers.  Pray for him as he seeks to be a husband and father after God's design.