Hey Everyone,

Well, Cokie did NOT come home with Martha today. When Martha went to pick her up on Friday evening, the grandmother was completely drunk and wouldn’t let Martha enter. Martha talked to the father, Gerson, yesterday though and he said that from the very moment they left that he regretted taking them out. They cried all the way to Jocon and now they are sick and very thin from lack of eating. PLEEEEEAASSEEE be praying fervently for them. Gerson’s girlfriend is 7 months pregnant and the grandmother has threatened to kick him and her out of her house if he gives the girls back to us. So he is looking this week for a place to live so that he can take his girls out and Martha can return for them. We are in the process of calling a friend in Jocon to offer to pay a couple of months’ rent for him and his girlfriend to get the girls out quicker. Martha gets out of school for the year on Wednesday and we are praying we can return for the girls by the weekend. They were so happy to see Martha and kept touching her and asking about “Tia” (me) — she said they were pitiful and they were so sad and mistreated. It is killing me to know what I had just feared before but I know that it is not God’s will to keep them and He promises when we pray according to His will that he will answer us — so pray with me that we can get them out this week. Martha is so sweet and because the grandmother wouldn’t let them out of the house yesterday to spend time with her, Martha just stayed all day there in that house so they could spend more time with her and feel loved. I am so proud of her for doing that for them.

Gabriela returned with Martha and her sister (Gabriela’s mom) and they are just visiting and planning to bring her to stay in a few more months ( but we’ll see) —

Thanks for praying — pray for Martha and I as well as this is so hard to just wait when they are suffering so much. I feel better now about Eidy returning too because Blanca (without any prompting) just said today that she really wants Eidy to return and not just Cokie. I was relieved because I thought maybe she had been miserable with Eidy here before and I was sad about that. Martha really didn’t think we should try to get Eidy back before but after visiting her and seeing her suffering so much, Martha said, “we can keep working with her, we have to because she cannot suffer like that.” So I am really happy about all of this and just can’t wait to have them HOME!!

Thanks and I am counting on your prayers and I will report something as soon as we have some news. We will get them tested for Aids as soon as they get back so we know exactly what we are really dealing with — of course, God can heal that too but it will be nice to know what is going on with them. I think it may be more emotional than anything and God is going to heal them in that way FOR SURE!!

Love you all so much and praise God for your prayer backing for each situation we encounter.

Love in His Grace,

Rhonda