Imagine an Easter Sunday without any mention of the
Resurrection in Church. Imagine no baskets
full of plastic grass and chocolate bunnies and colored eggs. That apparently is Easter Sunday in Villa El Salvador. At least from my perspective. Way back in early March in Guatemala
there were preparations being made for Holy Week. I guess I just expected that same kind of
fervor and pageantry throughout Central and South America.
Back home we joke a lot about the Easter Sunday crowds that
attend church services . . . but it is nice to get to see all those
people. And who doesn’t enjoy seeing the
kids all dressed up in frilly, colorful dresses and manly little suits with
bowties.
It seemed like just another day here. About half of us went to an English service
at one church where Jon preached. That
crew had a late lunch with our missionary contact Rebecca Cooley. Our other half spent the morning in an
outdoor market meeting people and inviting them to a 3:00 pm church service in the one month old church that
was recently planted there.
The morning was actually one of my favorite days so
far. Our “guide” was a sweet little 15
year old girl named Milagros (which in English is Miracles). Through our translator I spent a lot of time
talking with her. She was really inquisitive
too. Amanda spent some time talking with
her and came to the conclusion that Milagros has probably never been out of her
neighborhood. I am surprised when I meet
someone at home that hasn’t traveled out of the State or something…but Milagros
has never seen downtown Lima or
maybe even the Pacific Ocean that’s just a few miles
away.
Our time in Lima
is winding down. It takes some effort
actually to stay focused. It’s easy to
start thinking ahead to Buenos Aires
and to Africa.
You can pray for us in that respect.
We want to finish well. It looks
like we might begin building the church at Lomo de Corvina as early as
tomorrow. We will start bringing closure
to our relationships with people and cell groups and the church later this week. We will visit two churches (new to us) this
week and this coming Sunday.
Me and Milagros
An Easter Surprise? A Carving in a tree at a Church Members Home.
Tigger (aka Amanda) at Children’s Festival in a Park
Getting ready for another School Assembly
