Please keep my mom in your prayers. The doctors said they need to go back to a stronger & more "traditional" dose of chemo as the experimental treatment was not giving the desired effects. As of right now, she is not in remission from the leukemia anymore. The carcinoma seems to be under control still, but she will have more tests done this week to be sure. She is still in fairly good spirits, although she was not too happy about the news. Thank you so much for your prayers.
We will be traveling to the US for the next 3 weeks and will be on the road quite a bit, so I am sure we will have a great time even though it will be a bit tiring.
Thanks!
Anna

Well, I figure what happened today was worth posting about! Have you ever stared in the face of someone who just broke in the house you walked in? Well, it happened to me today! Thank God I am safe and they didn't hurt me nor take much but it was something I will never forget!
I have been taking care of some friends' pets while they are off the island. I go every day 2 times a day to let the dogs out and back in at night. I go midmorning and after dinner. By myself even at night many times. Know better now! Joel is coming with me from now on :)
This morning I took Copper with me (our dog) and as soon as I came in our friends' house, I noticed that their dogs were barking like CRAZY. They have a pretty good relationship with Copper so I wasn't sure why there were so agitated. I looked on their shiny white floor and I saw mudprints ALL over it. Poor naive me, I thought, wow their gardener must be here ( I know he comes to take care of the yard) and he is MESSY! I thought, I better go tell him I am here... so he won't be surprised....so I go out in the backyard and their backyard ends with a patio overlooking a little creek. I lean on the patio rail and I see 3 kids running away. THEN (DOHHHHHH) I realized something was WRONG! I run back in the house, lock the door behind me and grab the cell to call Joel (he was at our home across town). I hear a noise but was so focused at looking at the MESS they left I thought it was Copper. I hear it again. One of them hasn't had a chance to run and he is STILL in the house. Locked up. With ME! He is a young kid, 17 or so, a little rough looking but other than that, looks like just a regular kid. He starts talking to me and for a spilt second my brain can't even recognize the language he is using, even though I have been hearing it for almost a year now. I have 2 thoughts: is this really happening to me and he can really hurt me if he wants. The thoughts are in and out and my mind remains calm, clear and rational. It was like a movie, and I felt like I was watching it. But I wasn't in there. We look at each other in the eyes and he wants my phone. So, I give it to him. THen he grabs a desk lamp and hods it up like he is ready to strike if I do anything "suspicious" We keep looking at each other and I realize he is not going to hurt me. I see fear in his eyes. I think mine just showed disbelief. He wants me to unlock the door to the backyard so he can also run. I grab the keys and obey. He runs outside and turns around and warns me not to call anyone. I literally stretched my hand out to him and kindly ask for my phone back. I was thinking it was a HUGE nuisance to lose my phone like that. My voice is low, clear and steady. No trembling no cracking. Me puedes dar el telefono? Can you give me my phone? He sternly repeats that I am not to call anyone and I say, ok, and think to myself (you are lying!) but he wanted to hear my answer because he told it to me again after I didn't answer the first time) and HANDS me my phone back. After he had touched it all over. Don't get why he didn't think better, but he probably was panicked. He throws the desk lamp down and runs. So I locked the door behind me and left, went back home to get Joel. When we came back to their house, we get a good look at the "damage" they looked in every drawer, made a TOTAL mess. mudprints ALL over the house...but nothing seemed to be missing. BTW, in their hurry to run away, they left me the backpack with what they had actually taken, so I grab it and we still have it. although, the desk lamp he threw to the ground was not there anymore. I am not sure about this, but all I can figure is that he came back for the backpack and the phone? Since he touched it, I guess, but I had already left. So now we call the police and they won't even come out to the house until our friends come back. We can't clean up anything or tidy things up. GRRR that's messed up. That caused me more nerves than the first event. Oh yeah, also because I had to call 5-6 times to actually speak to someone (I was getting the run around) and the information I got, I went to get it myself from a policeman whom I stopped shortly after. We would still be there waiting. Very disappointing. Of course, I am very thankful to our good God who kept me safe and allowed that nothing bad happened more than it had already. PLease, pray for our friends, I know you do not know their names, but still, they have had a rough month and this is just on top of it.
Ahhhh, I feel better now. I think. Am I still in shock? I have displayed little to no emotion about this and that's so not like me.
We'll see how the next few days go. Please pray for us that we can be safe.
Love,
Anna

Luis Gonzalez was baptized last Tuesday night. Tol has been studying with him for about a year (or so) and Luis has been to almost every service here since we arrived so we were all hoping and praying it would be soon :) He is about our age and we are so glad to be able to have a new Brother in Christ. We pray that we can be a good support and help and that he will stay strong. His grandmother Carmen is the only faithful Christian in his family and I know she has got to be very happy!

My mom went back in for her 3rd round of chemo yesterday. The PET scan results she had 2 weeks ago did not find any more carcinoma cells and the leukemia has been under control so far. The doctors are very happy to see how well she has responded to the cures so far, but I know it must be thanks to all the prayers she is receiving from brethren in the world. The doctors are now considering doing a stem cell transplant (I think from her own but I am not sure) at the end of all the cures but I think she still has to have radiation for the carcinoma before they can do that. So...still lots of hospital time. She has been amazingly strong and calm through all this and I admire that immensely.

We have happily settled down in our little apartment and feel more and more at home here. We just love it :)
Getting to know Guillermo, Leticia and Wilkins has been an added bonus. Please, keep them in your prayers. We are studying with all of them and we hope so much that they can become Christians soon too.

I do miss the snow I hear lots of you are enjoying these days :)

Take care,
Anna

We arrived safely on Monday of this week and are just trying to figure our how to get settled down here. Puerto Rico is gorgeous and I am so happy to be here. We look forward to working with the churches here and pray that it will bring good fruits.
We have found our home, a very cute apartment, and are now looking for the car and getting all of our other things taken care of, with the help of the brethren here and especially of Tol. Please keep us in your prayers!
Come see us!

~Anna