As I drink my coffee and listen to the rain I'm going to let you in on what's going on in Gracias and the surrounding area.
Catulaca is a town about 45 minutes from Gracias. Shannon started a house church there a little over a year ago, and that is the main one I go to every Sunday night. The people there are beyond welcoming. My love grows every time I see them. This particular church has started growing; I see new people every Sunday. Some have only been once, but others keep coming.
As Shannon preaches through the book of Acts, I teach a Sunday school lesson. This is what it looks like for me to study the material.
There's my Bible, a Spanish Bible, and a worksheet that just happens to be in Spanish as well. The first time I taught a lesson I figured the kids would be able to do the worksheet on their own with little help so I didn't fill one out. Big mistake. Yeah, I should have known better...I know, I know. Lesson learned. This is what I took last Sunday. Worksheets completely filled out. In Spanish.
So, how class works is I tell them the story or one of the older girls reads it from the Bible. Then I ask them questions from the lesson. Last Sunday I took it a step further and asked them a life application question about the lesson. I would do this all the time in the States, but here the education level and critical thinking skills are different.
Then, they get to color picture about the lesson. Below is the picture I colored of Adam and Eve aka Eric and Ariel. Do they not look like they come straight out of the Little Mermaid?
When I color the pictures, I do it so they have something to look at while the story is being told/read. I don't want to use all the ink in the markers so I just outline the picture. One of the boys decided to do the same. Such a cute copy cat.
After coloring they do the worksheets I talked about earlier. And then...the end. Oh, I forgot there is candy involved and scripture memory and prayer. The class is a working progress, but it's going in the right direction.
There is also house church in La Puerta and Sanisera that I sometimes attend on Monday and Thursday respectively. There is not yet a children's ministry at those places. I see it happening in the future, though. Both towns are about 20 minutes from Gracias.
La Puerta is the same town the radio station is in. Actually, the lady's house we have church in is the secretary/accountant for the radio station. This church is just now starting back up after a time of business
Sanisera (which I think I'm spelling incorrectly) once had a decent sized church that had some disagreements and split. Or rather ceased to exist. Now they're trying to start it back up again. If you want something to pray about, this would be it.
AND I NOW BELONG TO A SMALL GROUP OF ENGLISH SPEAKING NORTH AMERICANS!! Can you tell I'm a little excited about this? Well, I am. We meet once a week to read through the Bible, pray, encourage, mentor, confess, and grow. Ah, the joy of having accountability partners once again. Seriously, it's joyful.
You are amazing! I would say more, but there is nothing else to say.
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