Laura's 54-year-old brother, Pepe, died unexpectedly Friday night
after a week-long illness. She called me crying at around 7 pm saying that he wasn't responding to treatment, and she wanted me to come pray with them. I dropped everything and headed for the hospital, but by the time I got there 20 minutes later, he had died. Thankfully, we had talked about how to lead someone to Christ, and she was able to share the plan of salvation with him earlier that afternoon while he was still conscious. He was anxious to pray with her, and 4 hours later, he was in heaven! Nothing is easy about death, but there's nothing that takes the place of the "hope" we have when a believer dies. She had to go to her house to get Pepe's papers for the hospital. Their mother, who is 80 and blind, lives with Laura and her family, but Laura said that there was no way she was going to tell her mother that Pepe had died. I can't believe how easily people in this culture lie! I told her I would go with her, but it was her obligation to tell the truth. Not easy, but she did it, for once in her life! Then the wake... all night and all the next day and night at the funeral home.

I didn't stay long after midnight since I still had to come home and make "my" birthday cake and get stuff together for "my" big birthday dinner on Saturday night after the young people's meeting...after 9:30! Sounds crazy, but that's the custom. The point is to express to everyone who comes how much their friendship means to the birthday person. I made an extra cake while I was at it to take to Laura's family. When I got home from delivering the cake at the funeral home (the wake goes on until Sunday morning), there were 10 Huichols on my front porch...hungry! So thankfully, I had extra beans prepared for "my" dinner that night, and I whipped them up some quick burritos, just in time to head to OANSA.

I had made up little bags of candy and tied them with a bow for each of the AWANA kids ...in honor of "my" birthday. They were so happy! I passed them out as they were leaving, but they had to give me a birthday hug and kiss before they got their little bags! I made exactly 80, and there were exactly 80 counting the leaders! Sure glad there weren't 81!

Then the youth meeting, then dinner, then clean-up, then getting the music together for Sunday morning, then crash! I've already planned next year's birthday, I'm heading to one of the Huichol villages and pretending my mother never knew or told me what day I was born!!!!

I am absolutely in awe of how Martin has matured and taken on the horrendous task of pastor/leader of the Tepic church and counselor and champion for the Huichol believers. His message on Sunday was well-planned, organized and very moving. Half the congregation was crying by the end of the invitation! No one can communicate like Kirt did, but Martin is sure working on it, and between Eren and me, he's got his hands FULL of ideas to carry out and jobs to do! I hope we don't give him a heart attack! After church on Sunday, we had our annual, pre-anniversary work day at the Tepic church. Not everyone, but lots of people stay to scrub, trim, paint, polish, re-arrange and work while a few stand around leaning on their broom handles watching everyone else work. Then we eat lunch together around 4:30 or 5 and work another hour or so before we all head for home...exhausted, but satisfied.