So, things are for the most part going like we had planned for the week. We have started VBS, had community storying, taught English lessons and storied with Sophia.
VBS went really well. We started yesterday. We had probably 30-40 kids. We had games, crafts, a Bible story, snacks and music. The kids were great. They really paid attention to the story of Joseph forgiving his brothers and easily answered lots of questions about it. They made cute pictures of Joseph´s coat (La túnica de José) complete with colorful yarn glued on. They had fun playing ¨Gringo, Grande, Gringo¨ and they did very well following Kelsey and I in ´Padre Abraham,´ Yo Tengo Gozo,´ and ´Soy Soldado de Jesus.´ It was a lot of fun and they seemed to really enjoy it. Hopefully we are impacting them.
We had another English lesson last night. Given our crazy schedule, we were not able to prepare as much as usual, but he enjoyed learning all the names of the things in our ¨classroom.¨ We invited him to our community storying time instead of having Alison tell hers back to back in the lesson and then for the town. He said he would come, but never showed up. So we will have to continue with the next story on Friday.
After the lesson I went over to the storying session. Alison told the story in English, her dad (Dave) translated, Jeremy helped everyone repeat it and Jonathan and I sat there and made efforts to get the young girls to be quiet. There were around 8-15 people there at different times. It was mostly kids and they would get very talkative and distracting. Jeremy S. took some of them out from the beginning to play in the plaza so they wouldn´t disturb the storying like last night, but others stayed. A lot of the boys were very attentive and did most of the repeating of the story. The girls, on the other hand, liked to giggle and talk and play jacks and come in and out. It was harder to communicate with the adults who were there and we are worried some might not come back because of the kids. There is one guy, a construction working in his 20s who was very interested and attentive. Toward the end he was asking lots of questions and talking with Jeremy L. about man and sin and lots of stuff. We are praying he really grasps onto the next stories. He wants to memorize and tell the story on Friday night. Pray he does it and speaks confidently. There was also an older man there who listened and could tell about the story. The couple who owns this internet cabina showed up after the last telling of the story, but they heard the discussion. Pray they come back and are able to come for the storying part.Today we are doing VBS and the community storying. Pray for Molly as she tells the story of Zacchaeus at VBS today and for Jeremy L. as he tells the story of the 10 Commandments at community storying.
Also, the more general thing we are praying for is for God to show us who to invest most in these last 2 weeks. When we are gone we want someone to continue telling stories and continue the work here. We have this young man at the community storying and the police officers and other people we are storying with. Please pray for God to show us who can step up and keep seeking him once we leave.
In other immediate news: There is a fiesta going on today. After our worship time this morning we heard music going on outside. It is the most ¨legit¨ fiesta we have seen so far. There are leaders from all the surrounding communities and everyone is in the plaza. The elders are all wearing red poncho things and there is a circle of women in navy ponchos. Then lots of women around the fountain with their brightly colored packs. There were two bands playing and lots of beer being passed around. Pray this doesn´t interfere with our ministry in the next few days, or that God somehow accomplishes his will through it.
Lunchtime! Thanks for your interest and prayers! We have definitely felt the prayers of everyone lately after our slew of sickness.
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