July 30, 2008

I'm so sorry for the delay in up-dating my blog! I didn't get to it last week and then again missed the opportunity this week. I decided I should go ahead and give you a brief up-date of what's going on and fill you in on a couple of up-coming things so that you could be praying specifically for those things.

Today, I finished working with other SAM missionaries in hosting a Vacation Bible School for the English speaking community. I was in charge of teaching 1st - 2nd grades, however, due to the lack of available teachers in order to offer a class for the Pre K and Kinder grades...I also had a few students from those grade-levels who really wanted to participate. By the end of the week I had about 20 students. In short we talked about the truths God has given us. The first day was spent talking about the truth of God's Word. We discussed basic facts about the Bible as well as how we can know it is true. The next two days we talked about the truth of God's Son, Jesus. We not only talked about who Jesus is and why we can believe in Him, but we also talked about what He did for us and provided an opportunity for all to accept Him into their lives. The fourth day was then used to talk about the Spirit of Truth. The fifth and final day was used to talk about the importance of sharing these truths with others. After that we had a closing ceremony as well as games and snacks for the families. It was a lot of fun and a real blessing, however, it has left me pretty tired.



Over the next week I need to finish getting my classroom painted and setup so that I'll be ready for the start of the new school year. There are meetings for the teachers on Aug. 7 and 8, then the first day of classes is Aug. 11. I will be teaching only part-time at the school...half days every day. Please pray for teachers and students alike as we work to get back into the swing of things!

I just got word that my friend Avelina has her day off tomorrow. I have been feeling God prompting me toward beginning a Bible study with her. Her days off are pretty sporadic so she isn't able to make it to church very often. I think it could be a great encouragement to her and a wonderful experience for both of us. I plan to go see her tomorrow so that I can talk about it with her. I have a Bible Study book entitled "Vive lo que Crees" (Live What you Believe) that I would like for us to do together. Please pray for our initial meeting tomorrow as well as diligence to follow through with subsequent meetings.

Thank you as always for your prayers...even when I get distracted and fail to keep you up-dated! Your prayers and encouragement mean so much to me!

July 14, 2008

Greetings from sunny Santa Cruz! I apologize for not up-dating my blog last week. On Monday I drove up to the mountains for the day. The trip didn't exactly go as planned, but I still enjoyed the day. It meant, however, that I was pretty busy on Monday...then I had a meeting and some other running around to do on Tuesday...by the time Wednesday rolled around I was completely exhausted...then the closer I got to the end of the week, the better it sounded to just wait and write an up-date today...so here I am!

I have a couple of ministry highlights from this week that I would like to share with you.

On Saturday afternoons from 4:00 to 5:00...my church has what they call an "hora feliz" (happy hour) for the children of the neighborhood. We play games or make a craft, present a Bible story and verse, sing songs, and have a snack...basically Vacation Bible School only on Saturday afternoons! The kids love it and we have anywhere from about 20 to 40 kids. All those who want to help with this are divided into groups so that each group is in charge about once per month. This past Saturday it was my groups turn. We have begun studying the Life of Jesus with them and the lesson presented by my group was called "Los Magos Adoren a Cristo" (The Wisemen Adore - or Worship - Christ). It was a lot of. I'm looking forward to the ways in which God can use me further in that ministry both with the children as well as with the other adults in my group.

Also, after the Sunday morning service I sat down to talk to one of the girls from the youth group, Eva. She hadn't made it to the youth activities on Saturday night so I told her that we missed her and made a couple of small talk type comments, which is usually all there is time for on Sunday morning. Within minutes she began to open up to me and share about some difficulties she is having at home. It takes her an hour to get to church since youth group doesn't end until between 9 and 9:30, she arrives pretty late at her house. That is a concern for her parents, understandably, but they also don't want her spending the night with some of the other girls in the youth group and then going home on Sunday afternoon. They are believers, but according to her, have lost a lot of the faith they once had as they aren't going to church or walking with the Lord on a regular basis. She is also studying in one of the universities and is often there taking classes...which I gathered was a topic of disagreement with her parents as well. I won't go into any more details, but she could certainly use your prayers...both she and her parents. Eva and I haven't had many opportunities to talk before so I was especially thankful that she felt comfortable to open up and talk to me, even amidst her tears. I also appreciated the opportunity to pray with her and look forward to the ways in which God will continue to use me in her life. The girls from the youth group will be coming to have a sleep-over at my house on Friday night and I am really praying that her parents will allow her to come. I think it would be a wonderful opportunity for us to reach out to her.

There is a team here this week from a church near Atlanta. A couple of the days they are working out at the Learning Center, mainly helping to get my classroom ready! It's been exciting and I'm really appreciating their ministry here! I spent Saturday with them at the school and will be there with them again this Thursday. The rest of their week is spent working in a place called Posa Verde, it is one of the camps where the Aeyore (an Indigenous group of people) live.

The rest of my week is spent doing quite a bit of visitation, which I love! Tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to visit a friend from church. Her son was born a week after my nephew, you may remember me talking about her. I plan to go hang out with her and her kids for a little while. I also have some English tutoring planned for the afternoon. On Wednesday, I have breakfast with one friend and lunch with another! Crazy I know! In between visitations I'll be working on my classes and helping to take care of a little girl from church. Her grandfather had surgery this morning on his back so her parents have been busy helping her grandparents at that hospital. She spent the better part of the day with me today and plans to go visiting with me tomorrow afternoon. Thank you so much for your continued prayers for my ministry here. It is exciting to see how God is working!