February

Hermana Lucha could really use your prayers. This past Sunday, on their way to church, they got in a motorcycle and motortaxi accident and were thrown from their taxi. If they hadn’t have landed in the grass like they did, they would have died. Instead, God protected them from receiving a single scratch. But Hermana Lucha and her grandkids were shook up from their experience.

We had an incredible turn out for VBS. 51 kids the first day, 25 on the second. The second day, it absolutely POURED down raining the whole hour before, the two hours of class, and an hour after. Being that these are all dirt roads, it becomes an absolute muddy mess. Typically, people do not leave their homes when it rains unless it’s a life or death emergency. We were completely shocked and thrilled with the turn out.
Ana and I were the only ones teaching, so it really was the perfect amount to show up. We did not have the 2010 VBS lessons, so we made up our own material. Our theme was obedience. We talked about Abraham the first day, and Sodom and Gomorra the second. We had songs, work sheets, and a special craft for each day. We had snacks and gave out little rewards to encourage good behavior. We decorated the walls. We did the same thing for all 3 of our locations, and on a budget of about $75. It was a BLAST! We officially begin Sunday School in Crosby on the 7th of March. VBS was a great way to invite the kids and get to know them a wee bit before hand.

Another praise

CROSBY

Hermana Lucha. Lucha means fight. She is a fighter. I would imagine she is about…55 years old minimum. I would say older, but her daughters are around my age…but she looks about 70. She has 2 darling grandchildren. Ana and I met her January 21^st. She is not very expressive so it’s difficult to gage if she’s annoyed by your presence, or is enjoying your company. We decided that with her, we were just going to give her the facts. The Gospel Truth from the get-go. God loves you so much, and has a special plan for your life. But there is a problem—sin. Sin has separated us from the wonderful love of God. Don’t worry, there is a solution! Jesus Christ came to this earth, died, and rose again for the forgiveness of our sins, that we may be reunited with God. All you have to do is accept Christ’s sacrifice, repent of your sins, and ask God to guide you for the rest of your days. Then you can spend the rest of your life and all eternity in the peace, love, and comfort that God offers as a gift. This does not mean life is going to magically get easy, but you will always have someone going through every difficulty with you, and providing you with the strength to move on. Would you like to accept that gift? She said yes that day. That’s not the surprising part, because that happens almost every time the gospel is shared. The part that knocks my socks off and makes me so happy and excited, is that for the past two Sunday’s she has come to church, bringing her grandchildren with her. PRAISE THE LORD!

The Search

Ana and I are still on the hunt for a 'local' to do our services in and work with the children. We thought that everything was going to be perfect when we found the pre-school where we had our "festival de ninos" but things didn't pan out the way we had hoped. We do have a lead however which we will be following today in hopes of brighter results. The 'president' of another neighborhood in the community is a prestigious engineer and thinks that what we're doing is fantastic....so we're hoping he can pull something out of the air for us:) We tried a local elementary school that was nearby, but understandably, the dean doesn't want to loan us the building because the teachers have left their materials in their classrooms and we can't garrauntee that the kids won't get into it. Please be praying that we are able to find something soon.
Also, be in prayer for the people that we are building relationships with in this zone. Specifically:
Victor Pareja (the engineer)
Carmelo Quispe Huaman
Celso Soto Ore
Margarita Pineda
Sandra, Geraldin, Fidel, and Betty