Day 4 - Murals & Morals

Let's start with the moral -- "Man (or woman) who sits in chair too close to steps, goes over the side in a heap." No injuries have been reported other than aching stomachs from laughter -- from the victim AND those who watched the event take place. Those on the scene decribed an unnamed Missions Director settling in for dinner only to see her chair catch the side of a nearby step followed by a slow motion movement to the floor with the chair on top of her! Witnesses said that half way down the victim shouted "IIIIIIImmmmmm OOOOOO KKKKKK!!!!" After the incident, the Director's only response was "I am soooo glad I did not have a skirt on."
Enough of this! Today's activities included:

1. Mural painting in the Rotunda area of the community. Patrick is doing a great job create a colorful mural that the residents love. Several of the teen guys have faithfully been helping.

2. Children's ministry day 2. The ladies were able to share more on the Armor of God and the kids got to make sun catchers!! They also created a song in Spanish about the pieces of the Armor -- to the tune of "Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes."
3. Repairs at the church building. These included working on a leak in the roof, fixing the front gate and painting the entire roof of the building -- this meant lots of time in the hot sun on a tin roof by Tim and Josh who are now "redder" than they were yesterday, but the roof is almost finished! This will help with rusting that happens when tin is left too long to the elements.

4. Work on Carmen's house. The house sits on the edge of a steep cliff and is very unsafe. The men are evaluating what can be done to increase the safety to some extent. They are also constructing 2 new walls that will help with the living situation to some extent. This house cannot be replaced with a "Yellow House" due to the location and new locations are scarce at this time.
5. Brand new small group. Tim & Patrick attended the very first meeting of a new group led by Randall, one of the young leaders here. They were able to pray for one young man who was struggling with terrifying dreams at night.
6. Dona Francisca invited the guys who brought her wood yesterday for coffee and empanadas! The food received rave reviews and the rest of us decided we should have helped deliver wood!!
7. Marriage Small Group. Josh & Cindy Boggs went to a small group in a nearby community where couples gather together each week. They used some of their Marriage Basics material from New Life to share. There were 9 couples (including our engaged couple Tim & Krista). The group shared openly abou issues they were addressing in their marriages (not dissimilar to the US) and then they prayed together in a deep way for one another.
8. Church leadership training also took place in the evening (till nearly 10pm). Pastor Brian and the leaders of La Vina Anonos shared together the challenge of character in leaders, Scriptures stringent requirements and practical ways to deal with church and personal issues that must constantly be addressed by leaders. There was also an opportunity for prophetic words for each leader -- this was an amazing time as God spoke secifially to each person.

Now on to tomorrow!!