God is Good!

God is good!!!

So this past week was a wonderful, God-filled, blessed, and very stretching for both Tim and I.

So, a quick summary to get you up to speed. This past week, a mission team of 40 high school seniors from Florida came to our church. They were split into 4 teams who rotated between the different mission sites our church has in the villages surronding the capital city of Merida. Tim and I were in charge of "facilitating" the groups when they went to Hocoba.
So Wednesday we ride in a 15 passanger van with a group of the seniors to Hocoba. We get there and the leader pulls me aside and tells me to decide what we should do and tell everyone where to go and what to do. They had come with nothing planned - and we were told they woudl have it planned and we'd just be there to help in anyway we could. So, we split into 3 groups, a group stayed in the main square and 2 groups went door to door telling people to come to the center to hang out and for music and to tell them about Jesus.
I lead one of the groups going door to door - seeing as I was one of the only 2 translaters. The 4 of us set out walking through the village streets. We never ended up knocking on any doors, when people saw 4 white gringos walking by they would come outside to see, or ask us where we were going and what we were doing. We talked to so many families inviting them to come hang out with us and sing. Also, we prayed for 4 families.

Then, we walked up to a house with 6 kids playing outside and started talking to them and offering them candy (sounds sketchy right) then a mom came out really quick and I thought, "oh man, she's going to yell at us for talking to her kids," but instead she turned around and yelled back at her neighbor's house "come see the gringos talking spanish"! lol So this lady and her neighbor came out and ended up talking to us for about 20 mins. We told her why we were there, and that we are Christians and that our main goal here is to tell people about Christ. The women we were talking to said they didnt' know anything about Jesus, but wanted to hear. I shared the Gospel with them and asked if they were interested in what I was saying or had any questions. They said they didn't know what questions to ask but wanted to know more. So we stayed and I talked to them more about Jesus and salvation. We ended up praying with the two comen and 5 of the 6 kids. They all accepted Christ for the first time. It was so wonderful to see God working through us to teach these people about him.

Later one of the girls with us was saying how amazing it is that those people went from not knowing anything about Jesus to believing and being saved after only 20 mins. But that is the difference between the message we bring and any other religion. The holy spirit was working in their hearts and showing those women that what we were saying is the truth, even if it is new or they dont understand everything about it.

Wednesday night while the group of seniors were loading the vans to leave, their leader called me over to a group of 6 teenagers to translate. She ended up sharing the Gospel with them and all 6 of them accepted Christ!

It was such a wonderful and stretching day going door-to-door for hours in the Mayan village of Hocoba. God used me to lead the high schoolers, and really used my Spanish to be the translator. It was a wonderful experience.
We went back on Thursday with the Sports group. Again we devided in groups and went around the town sharing about Jesus and inviting kids to come play with us in the central field. Word spread fast and more than 40 kids were playing soccer, football, basketball and frisbee with all of the Florida kids from 330pm to 730pm. (Here's a picture of some of them) It was a blast playing with the kids. And again it was an amazing experience being able to share my faith with so many people when we were going door-to-door in small groups.

My group came to a house with a grandma and her 3 small grandkids. We told her we were here to invite her kids to play and to talk about Jesus. She said "just a minute" and went inside. She came back with 2 chairs and sat down just wanting to talk to us. Again we were able to share the Gospel and she gave her life to Jesus for the first time and was saved. It was so awesome, when I was praying for her she was crying and just so overwhelmed with joy and emotion. That night before we left to go back to Merida I brought Tim with me to introduce him to her and to say goodbye. We went back to see her when we went on Friday too.

Friday was another great day in Hocoba. The last group did dramas and had songs to teach the kids. Again I took a group going door-to-door and met alot of wonderful people. About 40 adults and kids came to watch the dramas. Afterwards Angelica talked to a group of teenagers guys 6 of whom committed their lives to Christ for the first time.
In 3 days in Hocoba, as a group we saw more than 30 people committ their lives to Christ and accept the free gift of salvation. It was such an amazing, inspiring and God filled time.

The kids were so sad to see us go on Friday - a big group of them sat watching us get on the bus and kept waving... here are some of the kids saying goodbye to us:

Then Saturday morning, Tim and I got to church around 10am to help set up for the big activity Saturday afternoon. We helped organize the mission team to set up the food, make goodie bags, set up for the music and go out door-to-door and invited people to the picnic with free food, clowns, music, and dramas. I was the leader/translator for one of the groups going out inviting. Tim stayed at church helping set up everything. The event from 1230-530 was a huge sucess. There were about 300 people who came for the event! It was so much fun and perfect windy cool weather (86 degrees).

That night Tim and I went home tired from the busy week, but so excited and revived! It was so nice to do something different than our normal school schedule! And it was so amazing to see how God really used both of us for his glory. Tim did a great job translating and communicating with the people in Hocoba as he stayed in the center playing music the first day and playing sports with the kids the other day.

God is Good!