Almost time for bed. It’s been a good day of worship. We split into 3 groups (2 for the team from AR and 1 for the Wood family) and went to 3 churches this morning. Then we came home and had a yummy lunch of meatloaf (Sherry taught the cooks), mashed potatoes (they still don’t understand that North Americans eat A LOT and we ran out of spuds), salad and bread. Pretty good.
Mike held orientation at 1pm and we showed the team how to do the drama for the Fiestas. Everyone always thinks that it’s silly, but even thought it won’t work in the states (NAs think they are too sophisticated for this) the cheesy overacting works great down here.
The ladies on the team worked with me a little bit to get some drawstring bags done and filled with candy for the women at the conference tomorrow. Carla, one of the ladies, said that her grandmother gave her a sewing machine, intending to teach her to sew, but Carla was never really interested and her machine is like new. She is donating it to our sewing ministry. She will take it to Fayetteville when she picks up her kids from her mom and her mom will get it to FBC Rogers for me. I’ll get it down here. It will only cost us the $40 extra baggage fee on the flight. Woohoo! We can use all the machines that we can get! Anyway, Carla helped me pin some straps for a couple of aprons today. She said that she is learning to sew whether she wants to or not. Haha..
The group split into 3 groups again this evening and went to 3 more churches. I stayed back to help Sherry with the meals and to finish sewing for tomorrow. I’ve got everything done and my room cleaned up from the sewing mess for now. It feels good.
I got to go the little church in Telica that we are going to help from now on. We will start a Women’s Bible study group there and help start Sunday School classes. Pastor Sergio will help out as Pastor until God sends one. A lady Pastor has been leading worship until now, but she feels convicted that a man should be in that role. She is a Chemistry teacher at one of the schools. Her name is Fanny (not sure of spelling). My grandmother’s name was Fanny, too. We had a great time worshiping there and one of the teenage boys sang a beautiful song. He has a good voice and you could tell his heart was in the worship. I enjoyed it very much. One of the students on our team gave his testimony and one of the adults gave the message. It was very good. The church asked if we would pray over them and we obliged. They had cooked food for us to join them, but we explained that we had to pick up the rest of our group and come back to the Mission House. How wonderful of them to want to share with us!
Before the service, TL and his wife Carla and I got the chance to meet Raymon. He’s an older gentleman and the church meets in the front part of his house. His daughter is the lady ‘Pastor’. German was our translator and he was tied up with our speakers and the Pastors. So I tried to interpret with my limited Spanish. We did pretty good. We had about a 15 minute conversation about religion, Catholicism (TL and his wife are former Catholics), the need for trained leaders in the church, etc. Raymon and I agreed that even though my Spanish abilities were limited, God made the communication work. I told him that the heart of Voice of Hope Ministry is to train Pastors and leaders and make good foundations for the churches. He was so pleased that we are going to start working with them. I can’t wait to start the Women’s Bible study and also to see those beautiful, attentive kids in Sunday School. I felt that this place is already a part of my heart and a part of our Voice of Hope family.
My time will be even more full once we begin the Women’s Bible studies in the 2 new locations. That will make 4 afternoons a week for Bible study and 1 afternoon for Sewing classes. I plan on continuing my Spanish classes 4 mornings a week until summer. I will be one busy girl! But God will give me the strength to make it happen. It’s all in His strength and His timing. I’m glad to be a part of it.
I’ve been really bad about time management and haven’t gotten to do my exercise walking in quite a long time. Walking to class 4 mornings a week is only about 1 mile there and 1 mile back. And it’s not a good exercise walk. I don’t want to be too stinky when I get there and when I walk home at noon, it’s too hot to push too hard. I haven’t been very good about my arm exercises with weights either. Back in Rogers, I would do the arm stuff while watching the nightly news. I don’t have TV here and don’t have a regular pattern before bedtime. I need to figure something out. I’m backsliding very quickly and I don’t like that!!! I’m busy a lot, but that doesn’t count like a good workout. And sitting at the sewing machine these long hours is taking its toll on my backside. Ha I’ll have to alternate sewing with working out. I’ll figure it out somehow.
I’m ready for a good night’s sleep in my cleaned up and uncluttered (for now) room tonight. This week will be fun with the team. It’s so peaceful here at the new place. You can feel God’s presence and calming spirit.
Well, time to go to bed now. I can still hear Buster outside barking at the team as they relax under the rancho. He’s such a funny dog. Alberto said that he doesn’t cry anymore at nighttime. He’s gotten used to sleeping in Alberto’s little house. They are buds. Even though Buster still barks at Alberto when he’s walking around the grounds. This dog thinks he’s the boss of everyone. He’s a blessing.
So many blessings around here. I’m thankful.
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