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The Italian Gringo

Greetings, Gringos! Well, it hasn´t been a boring week. On Saturday, I broke down and bought a laptop, and it is a huge success at both La Ola and Aunt Elvia´s Home. I did not know that when you buy two Windows 8 conmputers, they will control each other over the web, and my home desktop computer is now in Spanish. But it is a good teaching tool, and because I only let the kids use it if they are behaving, it is a good behavior tool.


Aunt Elvia´s Home sent away three of their five kids. The other two are doing well, although they have become somewhat clingy. The Christian cartoon I showed them went very well, and they love playing on my computer.


Bob Plinka, one of the directors of La Ola Orphanage, has suffered two heart attacks this week. He is in a hospital awaiting a triple bypass. A lot of folks have been praying for him, and we appreciate it. At times like this, some people see a chance to advance themselves politically, but that hasn´t happened. I am doing extra time at La Ola and enjoying it. Everybody is getting along well. Two of the kids got sick but are all right now, and they are all behaving well. Bob´s wife and son are carrying a heavy load (very well, I might add) and can use some extra prayer. La Ola is a very successful ministry, and with much of the leadership being away, it is good to see how the Lord continues to bless us.


We were also able to show two Christian cartoons at La Ola and teach a Bible lesson, and all three went surprisingly well. And we were blessed with 23 kids at the Neighborhood Bible Study on Saturday.


I hope to have a lot of good news when I write next week. See you then, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! I´ve been getting up at 5:30 to get to La Ola Orphanage in time to drive them to Vacation Bible School, and it is going well. The kids are behaving well and enjoying the week-long event. Bob Plinka, the co-director of La Ola is still in the hospital recovering from his heart attack. He is improving, and your prayers are appreciated. They keep changing what they plan to do, so more prayers are needed.

When there is a leadership vacuum like this, you´ll often see people try to advance themselves politically by seizing power, organizing opposition, etc. We´re having none of that. Everyone is working together smoothly. We have one child being tested by a private school this week, and they seem pleased with him. We have various American and Canadian volunteers doing a great job. The kids are getting swimming lessons, are enrolled in a health program, are going to the park every day, and of course, they are going onto Facebook. We´re having few discipline problems. In fact, when we took some of the kids to the Lucky Dog Animal Shelter, we were complimented on how much better-behaved they are than another group was.

We even managed to have a Christian film and an outing for the orphans at Aunt Elvia´s Home.

Many of our church people are off in an isolated area of Mexico having a week-long Vacation Bible School. Reports coming in are very good. Next week, we will be conducting our own Vacation Bible School, and I'll have to be away from La Ola all week. So with all that´s going on, we´re getting plenty of blessings and need plenty of prayer.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! We just brought in 30 Mexican kids on the church caravan for Vacation Bible School, and things are going great. I'm saying this all over the place: if you're lonely and bored, find a church where God is doing something and jump in.


Two of our kids are from Aunt Elvia's Home, and we are the high point of their lives. They are outside waiting for us every morning, and they help us round up kids on the route. Read Valter is doing a great job as a driver, and with all these kids, we certainly need him.


Bob Plinka, co-director of La Ola Orphanage, is in Tennessee for heart surgery. All prayers are appreciated. Everyone has been pulling together during the worker shortage there, and things continue to run smoothly.


I'm still getting the hang of operating my Mexican laptop. If nothing else, I'm learning more Spanish. I wish I had known that if you have two Windows 8 computers, they will link together through your Microsoft account. Now that both my computers speak Spanish and not English, that can be a problem.


On the other hand, I am now a geek writer on an Acer laptop forum. My free advice is well worth the price.


And we had 31 kids in the Neighborhood Bible Study last Saturday. Are things always this good? No. But if you do things God's way, over time, you'll be blessed with results.


See you next week,

Vicente
 
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Re: The Italian Gringo

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Greetings, Gringos! Now that the rainy season is here, temperaturas are pleasant and cool. Since the rain usually stops by 7 AM, we're having good weather.

We were blessed with 31 riders, including 6 adults, for the Vacation Bible School awards last Sunday. During the week, we had averaged 27 riders on the church caravan.

And I'm at La Ola Orphanage every day this week, driving the older girls to art class at the Lake Chapala Society. Everyone is impressed at how well-behaved our girls are.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/1077486_10200384599326330_29008170_o.jpg

Bob Plinka is doing much better now that he is in the US for surgery. He has to stay there to get Medicare coverage, but he's with family and Becky will be returning to La Ola on Monday.

And now I'm a laptop guru, writing on a technical forum for Acer (without pay, of course). And here is advice from the guru: don't buy a computer with a Celeron chip. That's all for this week, Folks.

Adios
 
Greetings, Gringos! We hope that your weather is as cool and pleasant as ours.



It was a bad day last Saturday, when my car broke down while I was picking up kids. We only had 11 in the Neighborhood Bible Study, but we hope to do better this week.



But we've had a good week at La Ola Orphanage! I was there every weekday last week, and the kids were very well-behaved most of the time. Bob Plinka is still in the US, staying with family members, while the doctors figure out how to deal with his heart problems. His wife Becky is the director of La Ola, and she's back for a month while Bob's family takes care of him. Meanwhile, we're short-handed, so I'll be there every weekday for the next four weeks, starting this Monday. And Folks, I'm impressed. All of the La Ola workers worked well together while the boss was gone. There were no plots, rebellions, conspiracies, whatever, and things went smoothly under stress. Four-year-old Millie is turning out to be a computer genius, and twelve year old AnaKaren has got my laptop doing all kinds of potos with artistically-designed frames.



I can't say the same good things about the Bible college I graduated from. I'm writing on one of their forums, and the bitterness and lying are amazing. My college taught that soul-winning was the most important thing, when the Scriptures say that love is the most important thing. The most surprising part is that people are bitter at me for forgiving the college vice-president for all the many wrongs he did. God tells us that when a root of bitterness springs up, it troubles you, and then many are defiled.



A major mistake is to listen to bitter Christians as leaders. We have this problem in Mexico, I've seen it in various churches, and I see it in various forums.



On the other hand, Acer Computers has promoted me from their lowest bottom-level geek to the next-to-the-lowest level. I'm learning a lot about laptops while helping others, and it has opened a new area of service. "Service" is right--they don't pay me.



See you next week,

Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! We've had another good week and we hope that you have to. God blessed us with 35 kids and two neighborhood adults at last week's Neighborhood Bible Study, and that's the highest we've ever had. And we've had some blessings at La Ola Orphanage, as some of our kids have started school (Yeaaaa!!!!) and all of the rest return next week. One girl scored highest in her class in a test, one teen-ager is attending school for the first time (We've done a lot of tutoring and home schooling), and most of our kids are now enrolled in private schools. We have a lot to praise the Lord for.

I'm at La Ola five days a week now, as we are short-handed, but things should improve next week. And by the way, I like being here.

We had to drive to Guadalajara to pick up some supplies, and we made it there and back without getting lost. We had lunch at a nice restauarnt with paid parking, and then they wouldn't let us out of the parking lot. After driving around for a while, I started yelling for the police, and then they let us out. No, I don't know what was going on, but I got us out.

More trouble with missionaries. A former missionary who quit started getting on my Facebook wall and I had to unfriend her. Folks, most mission boards make their missionaries return after two years, and I'm seeing why. If you're failing in a ministry, you need to find someone who is succeeding and ask that person for advice. Down here, unsuccessful missionaries find people who is being blessed by God and attack them.

This morning, I got another unpaid promotion from Acer Computer, and I am now officially on the third level from the bottom on their forum. Do I recommend Acer Computers? No, I recommend that you find a computer you want, write down its entire model number, and then go research it on the internet.

My beloved Windows 8 is not doing well in the ratings, but the kids at La Ola like it better than XP. Incidentally, WIndows XP is a great operating system for older computers, and I was always happy with it. But today's more powerful computers need a more advanced system.

See you next week,

Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! I'm trapped at La Ola with a pouring rain and four kids, while the other twelve are in school. The ids are doing well, and we are looking forward to the return of one of our best missionaries later today. I'm working five days a week at the orphanage and I love it! I'm surprised that God opened a new ministry for me as a computer technical writer. My church thinks I'm a genius, and the information I'm gaining is very helpful as we rely increasingly on computers.

Five year old Chuy was very upset because he was being punished for five straight weeks for bad behavior. I got him a reprieve, took him to the park a few times, tired him out, and so far he has been good all week. Physial exercise does not cure bad behavior, but it lessens it.

During the 1960's, a Lutheran pastor built a gigantic, beautiful church building in California. With the most beautiful church building in the world, the heavily debt-laden congregation succumbed to internal fighting, the church collapsed, and the lenders were stuck with a gigantic financial loss and a building that nobody wanted. Desperate for a buyer, the lenders approached a successful Baptist church that did not want, and could not afford, the building. With no other option, the lenders lowered the price to cut their loss, and the Baptists paid a ridiculously low price for the structure.

At the bank to sign some papers, the Baptist pastor was surprised to meet the Lutheran minister who had built the place. Bitter at what had happened, the Lutheran criticized Baptists, the Bible, his Lutheran congregation, and a few other groups. At no point did the Lutheran minister admit fault in saddling his people with a heavy debt on a building that was too big for them. He had not learned from his mistakes, and he was not willing to correct them.

And, perhaps to get himself another paying position, and perhaps because he needed money, the minister was writing a book on how to build a large church.

We can laugh at the thought of that minister being a teacher, and yet the internet has allowed many failed Christians to write Bible studies, blogs, etc., without changing the problems that destroyed their ministries. Be careful who you listen to, because "Evil communications corrupt good manners."

See you next week, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! The rainy season is drenching Mexico with much-needed water, and I hope I haven't caught something from standing in the rain at the bus stop. I boarded the bus in a heavy downpour, and arrived at a bright, sunny La Ola Orphanage soaking wet, which everybody thought was funny.


Our newest activity is taking the kids for a walk down a new muddy road after dinner. The little kids are burning up energy running through mud puddles, and their behavior has improved a lot as a result. Most of the kids are doing well in school, the food is good, and the place is kept clean. But we're short-handed with four of our valuable people missing. Even with the kids in school, I'm putting in a 35-hour week (and enjoying it). We're also being helped by Toni, a nursing student from Tennessee who is doing a great job with the little angels. But she goes back to school on Saturday, so more volunteers are needed.


Speaking of Saturday, we didn't reach our goal of forty kids at the Neighborhood Bible Study, but the 33 we did have is our second-highest attendance. We had extra help, so the lesson went better than usual. It's good to be working in two places where God is doing something. And what is He doing? He's working in people to do His will. Philippians 2:13 tells us "for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure."


One of the volunteers at La Ola has had a kidney stone for three months (I thought I was something when I had one for eight days). After prayer, he SEEMS to have recovered. It's good to be in a place where God literally does answer prayer.


See you next week,

Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! It's a miserable rainy day here in Mexico, and we just finished having a well-attended pool party for the kids. I'll probably be sick tomorrow, but that's life. The large group of children were very well-behaved, which is fortunate, because I was the one who would have had to throw them out.

We had a bad Saturday, with only twenty kids at the Neighborhood Bible Study, so we hope that you'll pray for us to do better this week However, the class itself went very well.

You have to be patient when things go wrong if you want to serve God. The Bible tells us "Be not weary in well-doing." One of our little angels broke the inside rear-view mirror on the new van, while fighting over the radio. But he is doing wel in school, and it´s just something you have to put up with. Some people look down on children's work, but I don't see them succeeding in any other Christian work.

We had two of the orphans at our house last Sunday.l They ate a good meal, followed by five scoops of ice cream, and then all day on Facebook. Now everybody wants to go to my house. I keep telling them that we are taking the cooks next week.

I've gotten two e-mail letters of commendation from Acer Computers for the job I'm doing on their website. If you have any questions about laptops, send me an e-mail and I'll try to help.

See you next week,
Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! We spent much of last week in the middle of two hurricanes, with a lot of much-needed rain being dumped on us. But on Saturday, the Lord gave us thirty kids for Neighborhood Bible Study, and the lessons went well.

Jesús taught that the greatest Christians were the humble ones. Why? One reason is that they will listen. Over 1/3 of a century ago, my Bible college was teaching that the students with big bus routes were spiritual giants. In tracking down some of them, I'm finding broken marriages, inability to hold jobs, Atheism, lying, immorality, loneliness, and bitterness. All of these problems could have been prevented or cured simply by attending a good church, where a good pastor could have given them good advice. But "spiritual giants" who have brought in hundreds of kids on a bus route can't take advice from a pastor of a small or médium-sized church. And besides, "spiritual giants" don't need help.

These people are attracted (when they do attend) to churches with strict man-made rules. Those churches teach that they are better than other Christians because of those rules, when the Bible plainly states that obeying man-made rules will not improve you but will only build your pride. The King James Only churches are especially attractive to people like that.

When you admit that you have a problem, you can get help. The problem is, you might find yourself near the bottom rung of your new church. But a successful Christian can grow faster than a failed Christian who only pretends to be all right.

See you next week, Vicente

PS. My Bible college still teaches the same baloney. And they don't tell the students about their former "spiritual giants" who have gone shipwreck.
 
Greetings, Gringos! The weather is sunny and pleasant, the security guard stomped on a giant scorpion at the school, we had 17 kids in the Neighborhood Bible Study, and things are going well. How are you folks doing?

"Idealism" is the doctrine that my beliefs are so important that I can lie, slander, censor, deceive, or anything else to spread my beliefs. Naziism, Communism, Islamism, and various other evil organizations practice idealism. And Ruckmanism, while non-violent, practices idealism.

Founded in the 1950's, Ruckmanism teaches that the King James Version IS the Word of God, and they practice deceit and censorship in order to keep their membership. This week, a noted Ruckmanite evangelist explained that in the Bible, "liberty" refers to the freedom to do what Christ wants you to do. Therefor, by censoring the many sexual scandals of their leaders, lying about the quality of their small, unaccredited colleges; hiding the many mistakes and wrong calls by their leaders, Ruckmanites have the right to issue man-made rules that their disciples must follow.

But whenever the Bible talks about liberty, it talks about being free from the Old Testament Law and from man-made rules. Liberty means the exact opposite of what the Ruckmanites teach. Jesus said that "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Censoring the truth (such as the Ruckmanites have replaced the Catholics as the #1 source of perverted clergy in the United States) does not give you liberty.

ANY religious organization that censors truth in order to "protect" its members cannot be trusted. If you realize that you have been misled, you need to get out. While most of you realize that right and wrong are not determined by majority vote, many people do not realize than majority vote is determined by geography. In a nation ruled by fear and terrorism, the majority will support the terrorists in Kenya who attacked a shopping mall.

When the Word of God is your authority, you have the freedom to say that s certain group is wrong, or evil, or just plain crazy. And then, while they issue all kinds of curses and condemnations of you, you have the liberty to get out.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! It was a warm day today, but we are hoping that the rainy season is over.

I taught a small Bible study today that went well, and I'm stressing more Bible at La Ola Orphanage. I'll be there five days this week and was there six days last week. We're all praying for Bob Plinke to get better and get back from the US.

Between my writing for Acer forums and taking an online computer course, I'm gaining a lot of simple knowledge about problem´-solving. Today I received another promotion from Acer. I am now an ACE, their third from the top level unpaid writer. Between writing, studying, and working at La Ola, I'm pretty busy and very happy.

Most of the La Ola kids are doing well in school. Five year old Chuy wasn't speaking two years ago, and now he has a part in a Columbus Day play. He will be King Ferdinand ("Rey Fernando") and we have been going over his line (he only has one) with him.

And the choice of the La Ola kids is overwhelming. With A variety of laptops, desktops, iPads, etc., their favorite is Windows 8.

Adios, Vicente
 
Greetings, Gringos! The birds are chirping, the lizards are leaping, and we're having pleasant weather here in the Gringo Zone.

We took the La Ola kids to a carnival last Friday. When we got into the haunted house, they pushed me up front for protection. I even rode the rides without throwing up. Incredibly, no one got lost, sick, or upset. Screaming in terror, yes, but none of the other things.
We could use some prayer. I've contacted a potential donor for a set of new computers for La Ola, and he contacted me back . It probably won't go through, so if it does, it will be an answer to prayer.

It surprises a lot of Christians to learn that the phrase "sovereignty of God" does not appear anywhere in Scripture. Suppose you hire someone to do a job, and then you pay him a fair price. Later, you give money to a poor person who does not work for you. Did you do wrong? Of course not, and that is how the Bible teaches the sovereignty of God. God shows mercy on whom He wills, but He never wrongs anyone. Spiritual gifts and leadership positions in the church are given by the Holy Spirit as He thinks fit, not according to what we deserve. We're grateful to the Lord for giving us the children at La Ola, but none of them earned their way in--it was God's mercy.

I was able to teach the mid-week Bible Study at our church yesterday, and I was able to show that we are not to fight over leadership positions, but rather to accept the gifts and callings that God gives each one of us.

And we had 24 folks at the Neighborhood Bible Study last Saturday! We meet in a small park, and the teachers are doing a wonderful job.

See you next week, Vicente
 
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