I have looked forward to writing this journey for some time.  Since it was first known that Mario was going to have to have a kidney transplant I knew that the family at Maple Hill would rally to his needs to help this servant.  Truly you have done this.  As of today Wednesday June 25, there has been $22,883.44 given for the surgery.  I look forward to hearing from Mario and sharing his response for your generosity.  I felt it would be important to share a few stories with you about the journey that has led to this wonderful gift of love.  They are things that I learned and that have helped my faith to grow. 
For some time, my prayer was that the diagnosis in El Salvador was wrong.  I had hoped that Mario would be made to feel better by medication and that it wasn’t too serious.  That was not to be the case.  My prayers then turned to getting the surgery done in the states, where I felt the success rate would be much better.  The answer to that prayer was no.  God in his infinite wisdom saw that it would be best for him to have the surgery in El Salvador.  My prayer then turned to getting the funds for the surgery.  The answer to that prayer as you know was answered last Sunday.

I felt we would be successful in the collection of the funds when after my announcement on Sunday a week ago; one of our teenagers came up to me and gave me one dollar.  I turned and there was one of our adults and he told me that he would not be here when the collections was taken up for Mario but he and his wife had talked, and whatever was lacking they would make up the difference.  With a spirit like that I knew that God was going to bless this effort.  On Wednesday night of the past week, another gentleman came up to me and handed a check and said he too would not be present the day of the collection.  Then he said if we were short in the amount collected, he would dig a little deeper.  The day of the collection some of the children’s classes took up money.  The 2-3 year old class collected fifty dollars.  What a valuable lesson they are learning.  The first grade class also did the same thing.  Some parents came to me and said that they were teaching their son about giving and he wanted to give me some money from his allowance.  This eight year old came to me with his billfold open and emptied it completely.  He had been saving for some time! 

I hope one day that Mario will be able to travel to the states and get to stand before the congregation and tell you of the work he has done since the transplant.  Your impact in Latin America will be seen in the life of this young evangelist.  Maybe we can all begin to understand that God is good all the time!
Prayer Thought:  Thank you for generous caring hearts