We have had a great first week of ministry. Our team along with Casey from last years world race went out to a small town by the name of Santa Maria. We ended up staying with a lovely family there. Abram worked helped out at the local church in town and also many other churches in the region. We first arrived in Santa Maria and for that night we were to do a childrens service and then preach at the church service.
We rested some and got unpacked and then we went for a little tour of the village with Abram. It was a really neat village. It sat upon the side of a mountain. From the house that we were staying in we could see down into the valley below.
We got to church and played some games with the children as well taught them a lesson. We had planned on Morgan preaching and so I had not prepared for it at all. We went in for church and it was really neat. They don´t do the service in spanish, but instead their own language which is called choll. We went through half of the service and they invited us up to introduce ourselves. After we did that they decided to tell me that I would be preaching after the next song. I did not know what to do I had not prepared anything, so I ran back to my seat and began praying and flipping through my bible. I really felt like the Lord wanted me to talk to them about how we are all the body and just to encourage them to keep up the good work there. Amanda also got the chance to translate from English to Spanish and then Abram translated from Spanish to Choll. It was really interested having all these languages spoken.
The next day Samuel the local contac down in Palenque came and got us to take us to see another of our teams and then took us to this waterfall to swim and prepare for the day. Once again God just blew us away with his magnificent creation. We did another childrens service there and anight one as well, where Morgan preached.
The next day we got up early and went to a village way up in the mountains called San Juan. It was so beautiful up there, I really can`t began to explain how remarkable it is to see all these beautiful places. We went for a walk around the village and they took us down to this river. Over the river was this sweet suspension bridge with planks of wood thrown on top. It was kind of scary but really cool none the less. We crossed the bridge swaying the whole time and when we came across on the other side. We saw one of the most beautiful views of my life. The clouds were hovering over the top of the mountain and the green of all the grass and the trees was abolutely breathtaking. We went back into town and did another childrens service, which the whole town came to watch. We decided we would break the ice with a little father abraham along with all the actions. So I am sure that this community was trying to figure us out as we were running around in circles. Then I got to preach again. The next morning we got up and had another service and Casey preached at that one.
We went back to our village and did a couple more days of service there. Then on Saturday we rode out to this really small village even farther up in the mountains and shared with them one service in the morning that James did and then a childrens service and then I preached that evening. We slept in the church there and then went to a village on Sunday called Mango, this was by far the biggest church of them all. Morgan spoke in the morning and then we had some childrens ministry. After service Amanda Candice and I went to the local river for a swim and then Casey spoke at the night service. We also have the priviledge of singing a couple songs in English at all the services.
We are now off for a couple days to catch up on Blogs an then we will be back in Villages for another week or so.
