January 10, 2026
Susan Hoover
Dear family and friends,
Greetings in the precious Name of Jesus, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever! I guess we could add last year, the year before last, and this year, Jesus is still the same. And we know that next year, if time continues, Jesus will still be the same. God says, "I am the LORD, I change not." How wonderful that we can always depend on Him. He knows the end from the beginning, and we can trust Him to always bring into our lives what is for our good. And if we are willing, we can always learn something from our experiences, no matter how difficult!
It is already the tenth day of this new year. How fleeting is time! Let us redeem the time, for the days are truly evil. So much evil and wickedness going on today, one wonders how long God will tolerate it. But then the longsuffering of God is salvation, as the apostle Paul says, or was it Peter. He is not willing that any should perish, but that all might come to repentance. So He is being merciful and giving humanity another opportunity to come to Him.
It looks like the last time I wrote was the day before Christmas. We went to church in the morning, but I don't really recall much of the rest of the day. On the 26th we had a church meeting in the morning too. Before the meeting began there was a group of youth up front, singing. A beautiful, worshipful way to begin the meeting! That day we had Antonio Ari, one of the residents from the Home, along with us to church. He is a German man from Brazil, about 72 years old, and uses a walker. He likes to be with German people, and he really enjoyed going with us to this service. Afterwards, we decided since we had no special Christmas plans, we would take Ari to a restaurant and have lunch together with him there. Needless to say, this was very much of a highlight for him and he enjoyed it thoroughly! These elderly people have so little variety to their days here, so something like this is really special for them. We have taken others along as well, and even though they are Spanish and can't understand German, they enjoy it anyway! They love the singing, and being with the people.
On the 30th of December, Jeff Jones from Manitoba, Canada, arrived to spend a few weeks with us. He is an old friend and we are enjoying his time with us here very much. He has done a lot to help us already since he came. He and Peter put up a washline for me, which I really appreciate. Next they plan to build some shelves to accommodate books and things in this small apartment. I'm looking forward to having that done. Jeff has also helped Peter free up space on his computer. Many other little tasks have been done. He asked me when he came what I still need in the line of appliances, and I said a toaster and a coffee maker. The next time we went shopping, he saw to it that I got those items. I am grateful!
One day Jeff had the opportunity to go along to help with prison ministry, to a place about four hours away from here. He was picked up here at about 3:30 a.m. and got home again around supper time. He had much to tell! They distributed food to the prisoners, and also there were a large group of prisoners who had responded to Gospel preaching and wanted to be baptized. There were many Mennonites there from various places to help with it all. It sounded like he had quite an interesting day!
New Year came in with many loud explosions of fireworks here in the neighbourhood. The colours are so pretty. They only lasted a few minutes. Since they woke us up, we watched out our window and then went back to sleep when it was all over.
January 2, Henry and Trudy Friesen invited us out for supper with them to a restaurant -- we and Jeff, and the Knelsens, Ben and Justina. It was a warm evening, a lovely drive, and the moon was nearly full, shining brightly down upon the landscape. It was a very special evening, good friends, good conversation, and good food! It was nearly 10:00 when we came home.
January 5 was my birthday. For 66 years, the Lord has been merciful to me. Every morning, His mercies are new! Peter and Jeff decided my birthday merited another restaurant meal, so we went to a buffet style place with lots of good food! In the afternoon we went to Lactolanda and had ice cream cones, and best of all, in the evening, Julian and Emily came over with a beautifully decorated cake for me. I felt I had plenty of things to make my day special, including many text messages as well.
January 6 we had a church service, (Epiphany, or 3 Kings Day). And in the evening we had a number of visitors. Peter and Sara Heinrichs were here for supper, along with Ben and Justina Knelsen. After supper the Johann Harder family came to visit. Johann and Susanna, with five children. So we had a houseful! Actually the Heinrichs left right before the Harders came, but even so, our small house was quite full. But we enjoyed them all!
Monday evening Peter and I were sitting out on our porch, enjoying the evening and the sunset, when a lady came by, with three children, and stopped to visit. She is a neighbour from just down the road. We had a pleasant time getting acquainted. Her name is Antonia and the children she had with her are Mariana, Antonela, and Porfirio. She said she has six children. She and an older son happen to be the trash collectors for this street. Also that same evening, Norma and her little boy, who live at the Home (not as a patient) were also here to visit that same evening.
So, there are many opportunities here as well as anywhere else! May God help us to let our lights shine.
Tonight we plan to attend a service in Pastoreo, with an Evangelical group. We had attended their meeting once before, and appreciated it. And so we wanted to go there with Jeff while he was here. They have their meetings on Saturday evening, so we will go tonight.
And so, with that I will close. "Thy word is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my path." Thank the Lord for that enlightenment! Let us follow that light.
Blessed be the name of the Lord!
Susan for the Hoovers