Yesterday we went into the Barrios in the morning and had our usual women's bible study and youth group in the afternoon, as well as a football match for the boys. And then today has been a relatively typical Sunday with Church in the morning at our centre and another afternoon service at Casa Mateo.
However, on Friday evening Jenn organised a 'commissioning' service for us as we head back home – to "send" us back to our workplaces and families and so on, as they can be as much the mission field as the rest of the world. We built a bonfire with the wood that we had gathered whilst gardening and we roasted hot dogs followed by marshmellows. We also shared this time with our contact group from this month.
Following that we had a time of worship (I chose a few older hymns which felt fitting around an open fire) before we shared words with each other as we had been given someone to pray for – Jenn had even made each of us a bracelet with the word on that was given to them.
After this it started to rain so we went inside to carry on. We shared a time of communion where each had a piece of bread that we broke into pieces, giving pieces to others and telling them about how we had seen God at work in them or changing them during the year (or month), before taking some grape juice as a personal time to thank God.
Following this we had a time of prayer where one of us would wash the feet of another, writing words on their feet of things they are walking in to whilst everyone else gathered and prayed for them. The person who had their feet washed then washed the next person's and so on.
It was a moving time and a really nice way to encourage each other in the faith prior to our completion. This month we have also had paper up with each of ours and the people we live with's names so that we can all write encouraging things to each other.
