I have not been real well about blogging these past couple of weeks (as you can see). I get to the computer and cannot find the words to express what has happened the past couple of weeks here in Cofradia. It's been great! Our camera was stolen while Alaska Airlines had lost my luggage on my way down, at first they promised a reimbursement, now they say there won't be. I'm very upset about that. Please pray that I will be able to communicate well and wisely with the director of the baggage center for the airlines. I have downloaded some pictures from other staff members onto the computer so I have a couple to show you.
I wrote last Tuesday just breifly about what the team was doing. Last week was a time to focus on our youth group...the one's involved. It was a great time. The youth from Texas made very good friends with our youth through games, movies, hanging out, and each night we had a small group time. As a youth pastor, I couldn't have asked for a better team. All of our youth were impacted last week and we even had some return to the fold, and others join. On Thursday night we had an "Oscar's Night" handing out 6 prizes to some of our youth who have been very faithful these past couple of years. It was a great evening and in front of everyone I had the privilage of encouraging all the youth that participated with us during the week. The Americans did an excellent job decorating the Arrayanes church for the evening from a red carpet entrance that went all the way to the street and into the church (about 20 yards), candles, christmas lights hanging from the ceiling, a VERY good dinner. Jay did a great job putting together a video of the events of the week, and Amber (a new staff intern) put together a slide show for a fill-in while we ate. It was definatley a night to remember and I can't wait to do it again next year, Lord willing!
...I'm having difficulties uploading pictures onto the blog. I'll try this afternoon.
...Also, I'll have a post about this week's events.
...We are eating in homes for lunch today (at least once a week we take a team into the homes of people in the village to have an authentic mexican meal) I need to go, it's getting close to that time.
On Thursday night, we had dinner at Pastor Goyo’s house with 10 students and four of us adults as Brad and Dave shared with the youth the importance of being a servant to others if we want to be a leader. Just as Jesus demonstrated service to his disciples on the Thursday before he died at the last supper, Brad and Dave re-enacted history as they washed our disciple’s feet. It was a little awkward for some of the students, but they were all willing to take of their shoes and sandals and allow Brad and Dave to wash their fungus filled feet….(just kidding!!!) most of them had clean feet. After the foot washing we ate dinner and talked for a while, then we had communion. It was a great start to a great three days.
Friday evening we had another meeting in our house. This time we had 12 students and 6 adults. Unfortunately, Pastor Brad hadn’t been feeling well all day, so he stayed in bed to rest. Meanwhile, Pastor Dave shared with the students about Spiritual Warfare. He touched on some important issues like knowing who your enemy is, how he comes at you, how to defeat him, and what we have for armor. This meeting started a little cold with minimal participation by the students. Dave decided to take a quick 5 minute break to hang out a bit, and after that, the students started to share. Not all of them, but more than before. They were more comfortable. I was excited about this time because Dave mentioned a few things that tied in perfectly with our “Love Waits” conference a couple of weeks ago. As the evening was coming to a close, we
decided to put on the movie, Island and focused on the point that many of the people were deceived into believing a lie that they thought was true, just as the enemy does in our own life. What a great night!
