Four In Four

I'll start our weekend post with photos from our Bible study in Muyurco on Thursday afternoon.  We have been in four different villages over the past four days.  Muyurco kicked that off.  It is just a little over an hour drive from our house to where we park our car.  We then take about a 10 minute hike to the house where we meet.  It was hot, dry, and sunny when we arrived and no dark clouds in the sky.  Well, just as we began our service the clouds rolled in and by the time David started teaching it was una gran tormenta (a great storm!).  Part of the roof where we meet is tin and the other part is thatch.  The thatch part leaked water and the tin was so loud no one could hear a thing.  It was very hard for David to continue to teach and at one point he just stopped to let the storm pass.  The house has sticks for walls so the rain was blowing in on everyone.  We were all wet and cold.  I don't think it bothered anyone but me though, ha.  The locals are used to it.

David trying to teach over the sound of the rain

at one point the boys moved over by the doorway to watch the rain come down

                                        

a little video off the boys in Muyurco

Someone recently left us a sack of Spanish devotional books.  We were glad to have them and passed them out before our Bible study began.  We had books for adults and youth.  They were all very excited to get them.  It gave us an opportunity to share with them about having a daily devotional time and challenge them to do it.   The adult books were the Spanish version of our Baptist Open Windows that the churches give out in the States.

two of the young girls browsing through the books

These three were looking at one of the youth books.  They were more of a comic strip style with a lot of pictures so even the young ones liked looking at them even thought they can't read yet.

The locals were terribly afraid that the creek would rise and that we couldn't get our car out so when it slacked off some David hiked back and moved our car to higher ground.  We park along the creek bed and have to cross it twice in our car to get to where we park.  We cross it twice again on our hike.  That meant when we left to go home we had to "hike" through that creek four times to get back to the car.  It was definitely an adventurous day and one we'll be laughing about for many years to come.

me with two of our Bible study girls crossing the creek

On Friday afternoon we were invited to a birthday party for a sweet little missionary kid that we know.  She had a Frozen party and included a Spiderman theme for the boys that were there.  It was a lot of fun and my boys had a blast playing with all the kids there.

the party crew (minus Ben)

my boys with the birthday girl

On Saturday morning we headed up the mountain to make some visits.  Our first stop was Churischan.

me and Cruz on the trail in Churischan

While we visited the boys spent their time climbing trees.  That is their favorite thing to do when in the villages.

my little monkey

The family in Churischan that we are working with.  We were happy to hear that they had been listening to the Proclaimer all week long.   They talked about some of the stories they had heard and asked a few questions as well.  It was good to know that it is being used.

Another thing the boys did while we visited was pick a bunch of leaves.  They piled them up into a "nest".  They then picked some green coffee beans and placed them in the center.  They told me it was their chicken nest and that the mama chicken was sitting on it to help the "eggs" hatch.  Here they are waiting for the chickens to come out of the eggs.  They have such great imaginations!

Afterwards we traveled on to the village of Lagunetas and visited there.  I didn't take any photos while there.  We returned to town just in time for lunch and a long afternoon nap.

The only other photo I took the whole weekend was of David and Ben on Saturday afternoon walking back home after a long playtime in the construction dirt pile.  Ben is pulling his wagon filled with his dump truck and tools and David is carrying his bicycle.  My boys would stay all day in the dirt if I let them. 

You'll notice Ben is only wearing shorts.  He prefers to dress that way most days- no shirt and no shoes.   Most days I just let him.

David had a great service/ Bible study time on Sunday morning in Nearar and that wrapped up our weekend plans.   We are thankful for the villages that we are getting to work in and for the way we are seeing God work in the lives of those who are following Him.

 Sometimes just going week after week after week and just teaching a different Bible story doesn't seem like we are accomplishing much but I was reminded recently in a devotion that I read of the importance of spreading God's Word.  It read-
The gospel of Jesus Christ didn't spread from the Holy Land to the rest of the world in the form of an album tour, a simulcast, or cable news.  The good news of what Christ did for us made it around the world with the help of regular people and a spoken word.  

Pray for us as we weekly go and tell what God has done in our lives and what he wants to do in the lives of those we come in contact with.  What a privilege we have to help spread the gospel and tell the good news of Jesus Christ!