Church at the river!
I am growing more and more excited for this weekend when we will celebrate our “culto unido” at the river. Before I share what really excites me, let me share some of the details… we have two buses rented to transport the group which will be around 150+ people! We are working out the bus routes to have the least confusion as possible… I bought 125 pounds of rice today (by buying in large quantity I got a really good deal), We will use 50+ pounds for lunch on Sunday and the rest I gave away to people in need… I made arrangements today to buy 90 pounds of chicken Saturday. I have to go down early in the morning and watch them weigh the live chickens and then go back later to pick it up after they “prepare” them. I was able to save quite a bit of money by buying it this way. Keep Sol and the ladies in Los Santos in your thoughts- they will be working Saturday night and early Sunday morning (5am) cooking all this food!
We had our bible studies (4) last night and tonight- it always encourages me to see people gather to look at God’s word and consider how to apply it to their lives. We celebated Hector’s birthday which was fun… we celebrated with him last night in Villa de Yaque where he lives and then tonight I made sure he was at Las Charcas where his family lives so we could celebrate with his family. I made a cake and it was so much fun. Amazingly enough, when I got there I called his daughter aside to tell her I had brought a cake and she was surprised to learn it was her dad’s birthday! Wow! But it was fun, and we gave our goodie bags to the kids which added to the celebration.
I was really touched with the participation of Alfa- she sang a song tonight that she had written herself after the last bible study we did together. It really touched me and encouraged me to realize that as we study the Word, her life is being transformed!
From Las Charcas we went on to Guayacanal where we found our group waiting for us and had another good time talking about God’s word, how to apply it and celebrating how we are being transformed as we draw close to God.
Okay, now for church at the river. I am being convicted that “church” is loving fellowship in Jesus’ name, focused on God’s word and its application in our lives and our world. This weekend, all these little churches will be together to enjoy fellowship with their families and family of faith. We will have a time of worship with each group bringing some sort of participation and sharing how God is transforming them. Jesus said that the world would know we are His by our love for one another. I find myself loving these folks more and more each day and look forward to being able to spend the Lord’s day with them enjoying God’s creation and worshipping together. Please pray for the non-believing family members who will be present and for all the other people who will be at the river, that their lives will be impacted by this group of little churches gathered together to worship and fellowship in Christ’s name!
