Showing Posts From

Villa america

Church and World Cup

Church Sorry these are getting to y'all a few days behind. The internet is not strong or reliable, and long, exhausting days delayed our updates and uploads. Church Service For church we went to El Camino with all three of the pastors' families. There was a team from Chile there as well, so there was some overlap between groups. But it was so exciting as Pastor Darvin (from the team from Chile) kicked off the first youth Sunday!! He preached about Jesus healing the Paralytic (Mark 2:1-12).During the talk, there was a part where the story was acted out. It was a good illustration to help bring the story into the context of today and making the story real to those present. Discussion Groups After sharing the Bible story we all broke off into groups to discuss different questions:What parts of the story did you like? Why? What are your thoughts on what the paralytic’s friends did? Why do you think Jesus forgave first and healed second? What is getting in your way of believing in Jesus?Keilah was in a group with all local women and helping lead the discussion and translate. Many of the answers to the questions were about the love and forgiveness of Jesus. A lady who is a more prominent figure locally, was battling with questions of “Why do I want to claim to be a believer when I'm not perfect and I continue to do wrong?” which, if we are honest, is an understandable statement. A good response is that being a Christian doesn't make you perfect. It doesn't make life easy or simple. It gives us a hope in God - who is Perfect. It also shows us that we know we aren't good enough, and we need his help to become better. The pastors' wives helped explain this from their cultural perspective and it was a neat experience for Keilah to hear how the wives were explaining it. The men were also split into two groups, with one being those that speak Spanish and the other mostly the non-Spanish speakers. This was decided on the fly in order to facilitate the group discussion without needing as much back-and-forth translation. Steve was put in the group of Spanish speakers led by one of the Chileans and was able to help explain some of the questions that came up to those asking (including the drivers of the trucks). Later on some mentioned that they were disappointed to not be able to interact with some of the locals, but God was able to use that group with some of the pastors in a special way to lead a local student and he ended up making a commitment as mentioned below. After discussion circles, the kids came and showed/sang a song about what they had learned - The Wise Man builds his house upon a rock and the fool builds on sand. CommitmentsAt the end of the time, Pastor Eli asked if there were any that wanted to make a commitment. One of the young men that is also a student at the center went forward as well as two ladies of the community. Meal and World Cup Watch PartyAfter church, we all had a special meal, "Pachamanca", all together that Arnold and his family had cooked. Pachamanca is a traditional Peruvian meal cooked in the ground with hot coals and rocks using a pit dug into the ground. It was a good meal and special time to celebrate the inaugural Sunday for the El Camino youth focus. That meal led us into watching the final game for the World Cup! Go Spain! (Most people were rooting for Spain.) During that time we had fellowship, fun, and just a good time reconnecting with old friends there. Soon after the game ended, we loaded back up into the trucks and headed back to Isco for dinner and the night, as our hotel was located in Iscozacin (Isco), but our days with the schools and El Camino were located in Villa America, about 30-45 minutes apart. How You Can Partner with UsPray for the commitments made on this Sunday and that those commitments would take root in their lives. Pray for the follow-up and discipleship of those that made commitments. Pray for the monthly services at El Camino going forward and that more youth can be reached in the community.