Wonderful Sunday, even if it IS the last one in Nic for 2 1/2 months!
Woke up and had my cold oatmeal and some milk for breakfast. I have found that the bagged Eskimo milk from the grocery store is pretty good. The boxed, shelf-stable milk is not! I miss milk. :)
Headed to Iglesia Rosa de Sarón (Rose of Sharon Church). We were a little early and Danilo (van driver) doesn't think we should have to sit at the church waiting for it to start. (I told him it's okay, that our visiting Pastor would appreciate some time to talk to the local Pastor, but we still don't get there very early. oh well.) Anyway, Danilo took us to the park for about 10 minutes. We walked around to a few vendors and bought a few souvenirs. Then we headed to the church.
The church is located in the middle of the block of a small street with vendors on both sides. We parked at the end of the block and walked to the church. It's not the best smell to be in the middle of an open market selling produce, dairy and meat... The church was very welcoming, as always. We found our seats and prepared to have a wonderful service. It's always so hot in this church, so I brought my fold up hand fan. The music was wonderful and we stood for about an hour singing and dancing and sweating so much that the dirt from my sandals made little mud tracks when it mixed with the sweat falling from my face to the floor. You could feel the Holy Spirit throughout all the music. It was so amazing, as always. The dancers (with tambourines, scarves and ribbons on sticks) came out about half way through the music session. They made us hotter just watching them perform in their long sleeves, long pants and tunics. It's fun to watch them.
Hope, the 7 1/2 year old girl on the team, gave her testimony today. She was a little nervous and when she got on the stage, she said she couldn't do it. But we kept smiling at her and her mom kept encouraging her and she finally read her notes. She had a wonderful little testimony and you could tell that it was straight from a child's heart. She got a lot of amens and applause from the congregation.
Then Chet gave the message and it was very good. I love to hear him preach. There were a few salvations this morning. Then Pastor Panteleón asked if Chet would like to officiate a baptism. They pulled up the floor boards from the stage and underneath was the baptistry. Chet took off his shoes and emptied his pockets and stepped right in. It was awesome! He was drenched afterward and just enjoyed the memory as he air dried in the sun.
I always love the music and worship atmosphere at Rose of Sharon church. I was standing there with sweat actually pouring down my face, clapping and dancing a little to the music and had goosebumps on my arms from the Holy Spirit. it was so special. The Lord has been wrapping me up in His love at these churches. I love it!
I met a man at church, who volunteered to help translate what was going on at the end. His name is William and he is visiting his family here in León for the holidays. He lives in Maryland now (for 22 years) and is in the ministry there. He was dreading having to travel back and get into the fast-paced life of the states. It was a blessing to meet him.
I also talked to 2 girls who were asking if I had been at the 'project' at Monte Horeb (Sewer Ponds) last week. They remembered me from there. It was nice to visit with them a little bit.
After church, we went back to the park so everyone could finish their souvenir shopping. Then we stopped by a medical clinic to visit Christopher, Evelyn and their new baby boy (Leyvi Joel), who was born this morning. How special to get to see him and to give the proud parents big kisses! I took a couple of pics. Mary and I just stayed about 5 minutes because the team was waiting for us. We were so happy.
We made it home for lunch and enjoyed the wonderful pollo asado (grilled chicken), rice, beans and salad that Jasmina had made. We love her chicken! Then Mandy and I got the stuff ready for the Fiesta for tomorrow at Posoltega. It was soooo hot in the room where the stuff is, and it is a room that is open on 2 sides! whew!
Everyone spent the rest of the afternoon resting and doing whatever they felt like. I spent some time working on the computer. Hope came upstairs looking for something to do and she joined me in my room while I downloaded some of Mary's pictures. We had hamburgers and then got in the van and headed back to town. We stopped by the grocery store to buy more candy for tomorrow and then we headed to Todopoderoso church for service.
This is German's church and also Jeremy, one of our translators, is now a Pastor there. His father is the lead Pastor and Jeremy was 'anointed' (ordained) on New Year's Eve. It was wonderful to see his beautiful wife, Kelly, too. We get a wonderful welcome from this church, too. They asked us to sit up front (a place of honor in the churches here) and brought us bottled water. The music was wonderful and I was brought to tears on a few familiar songs. I get so overwhelmed by how close I feel to the Lord here in Nic. It's wonderful. Jeremy is the worship leader and he does a wonderful job. The band is good and the choir, who also do a little choreography, is so worshipful. ahhhh... German's wife and kids were there tonight, also. It might be the last time we see them on this trip. We say goodbye to them every time we see them, because we don't know if it will be the last time or not.
I was teary at one point between the music and the message tonight. Chet was talking about how much he loves coming to Nicaragua, how blessed he felt by the Pastor and the church, how much he enjoyed working with the translators, and how much he appreciated VOH. He asked Mary and I to stand up at one point and I had tears on my face at that moment (wouldn't you know it!). I was reminded that this was the same church that we celebrated our last Nic service when we left at the end of the summer. I cried like a baby that night because we were saying goodbye to all the translators, too. I'm just a big crybaby.
We made it home and I think everyone is asleep by now. I should be too. We are getting up a little earlier for the ministry work tomorrow. I'm looking forward to the work tomorrow. It will be great.
I'm not going to talk about how we only have one more day here. I'll deal with that tomorrow...
I love my Lord so much and I am sooooo blessed to be able to spend my life serving Him full time. I am overwhelmed and so happy.
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