SWAT team and more . . .

You know how you wake up in the morning and plan out your day? And then . . .

This was one of those days. I began English class with only two women. These ladies are very serious about their studies, so we had a great opportunity to really work. And then -- 45 minutes late -- everyone else showed up!I was thrilled to see all my friends. Just as I was beginning to teach body parts, a little pig-tailed "show-and-tell" crawled under the table. Perfecto! I scooped up this cutie pie and we all learned about arms, legs, fingers and toes. Did you know that to Spanish speakers these words all sound the same -- head, hair, hand? Claro que si!
My students practice greetings. Hello! How are you? Nice to meet you. My name is . . .
After class, we came home to find . . . another flood! We'd been suspicious earlier, but now our fears were confirmed. Lots of water -- in the hall closet?
The maintenance men came over with the wet vac and determined that our upstairs neighbors' air conditioner had frozen. That sent water gushing down inside the walls and out under our carpet. The house smells really moldy again. Yuck.
Andrei and his friend decided to bake a "truck" cake . They spent several hours in the hot kitchen baking the cake and icing it. Then away went the cake to be devoured by this family of five . . . our friends who've lived here six years and still don't have a dining room table!

After many days of work, Andrei finally completed his latest car. It's a Lincoln Air Cruiser. Yes, it flies (in your imagination). But the headlights and taillights really do come on! This is a real masterpiece.
Oh, yeah . . . about the SWAT team. This evening, Andrei was out walking Tessie when he saw police cars and a van pull up in front of a neighboring building in our complex. The police and a SWAT team leaped out, pulled guns, pointed them at the door and began shouting, "Come out of the house! Get down on the ground!"

Andrei hurried home, and we prayed for this family. Later, we ventured out again and spotted the law enforcement teams up on a balcony. As we were returning to our house, the van drove by with four SWAT team members sitting in the open back end. They wore black masks and black bullet-proof vests. It was one of the scariest things I've ever seen. Andrei and I are afraid we may have bad dreams tonight.

Please pray for English learners . . . no more floods . . . safety for us . . . and God's presence in the lives of our friends and neighbors.