This is the Calera Chapel which sits about 5 miles outside of Balmorhea. It was originally built sometime in the late 1800s I believe and was an adobe structure. It has been plastered over in efforts to preserve and restore it. It is open all of the time to the public. It is so neat and I think it's the most beautiful chapel I've ever seen! I've been strongly encouraging my girls to have their weddings in it! It won't hold many people but how neat it would be! The view of the mountains around it definitely helps!

Well, we've been here 2 weeks now! We have pretty much settled into the house. In case you didn't know, we are living in the house that is a 5 step or 20 ft. walk from the house, depending on which door you go out. It is a one bedroom and the kids have taken that over. It is cozy in here but at least we have a decent place to live! We spend a good amount of time in the church now. It's a good place to be when the house gets a little tight! We made an office space and the church has a laptop and has just purchased a printer/copier.  Our brothers & sisters here at Believers in Christ have been amazing! We have felt so welcome and they have  made sure we have whatever we might need for the church. We started putting together pages in English & Spanish for the worship music because the brother who had been coming down from Pecos to do the worship was going to be leaving to evangelize...well...funny thing is, he & his wife have been here every Sunday and today he brought a friend of his who played the keyboard (normally we only have guitars). Oh, we had a great time in the Lord today! We had the windows & door open. I saw people driving by & stopping to listen. They sang me & Tom a song for our anniversary(27th). Today was a good day! More worship after the preaching and the Holy Spirit ministered to people.  There is excitement in the air in this church again! 

We met a lady, in her 50s I suppose, who lives on the next block. She suffered a stroke and is physically disabled and cannot speak words.  She goes to the Catholic church when someone picks her up. We invited her and she hobbled down the street for prayer/Bible study Thursday night and came to the meeting this morning. How awesome! She is very open to being prayed for. Oh, how we'd love to see God heal her! One of the ladies testified on Thursday night that she's gotten back in the Word again and 'havin' coffee with Jesus' in the mornings now. She's excited! The Lord is giving her better understanding of scripture, particularly ones shared on Sunday mornings.

We are getting to know a family who live about a mile out of town who have a ranch. A man lives there with his mother and has a plumbing business and they own property outside & in town. They have a double wide trailer, just outside of town & just a short walk from us, that they would like us to rent. He is re-doing the bathrooms & other things so it's not ready yet. We checked it out & it needs a good cleaning but it's a good size for us. Tom is going to be working for them for awhile doing cleanup on their properties so that will bring in some income. We also met 2 teachers from the school here in Balmorhea while out at the ranch.  I was told to go apply to sub. It's so much different here in Texas than Illinois. Way more laid back & not heavily regulated. You don't need a degree so...I will check that out & Tom's interested in doing that too. It will be a good way to get to know all the kids & get them into youth group & minister to them.  We have to be careful to not get too busy with working outside of the church. We have to remember why the Lord sent us down here & always be available to Him first & foremost. He has promised to provide! And he has in a few different ways just since we've arrived. We keep getting cucumbers & tomatoes from a neighbor, grown locally at the hydroponics place at Ft. Davis. We have a fresh egg supplier also!  Before we arrived here, Tom had received a call from Kat, the evangelist who has been leading worship. Kat said that the Lord told him to buy Tom a new pair of boots. Tom had, just days before that, been thinking that he needed a new pair because his were damaged in the toe part! Kat told a friend of his about it and that friend  insisted on buying them for Tom, who he doesn't even know! THEN when Kat shared the testimony at church, another brother stated that the Lord told him to buy Tom a pair of boots also. Well, we figured since Tom had just gotten the first pair that it was over...No...that man picked Tom up & took  him to Pecos & bought him another new pair of boots...very nice ones! Wow! 

The Lord is great & worthy to be praised!!

Love to you all!!