Jan 28,29,30

Friday, January 30, 2009

Whew. Today we had another EuroFish meeting, and it was a bit smaller, but still plenty smelly even with less fishy smelling smocks in the room.

Tonight we were in Porvenir 2. The barrio is just a few minutes down the road from the Proanos house. It was certainly the biggest meeting we've had since I've been here. There were at the very least 300 people. And they were crazy! It was primarily kids, and they were quite fascinated with Mark and me. We spent our time telling them how to say 40 zillion different things in English, Mark let them play phone games, and they asked me things about gangs in the U.S., a subject I'm not quite well studied on being from Roswell, GA. One guy I talked with was an Ecuadorian non-practicing Messianic Jew. I'm not kidding. He was quite the philosopher too, and I got a little tired of listening after a bit. He must've sensed it, cuz he went back to his house and brought me a huge mango, which I felt I needed to eat in front of him...those things are unbelievably messy...I think I still need to floss too...it was a very kind gesture. Another guy approached me during David's message, and had been drinking a little. And then he shot me a predicament I'd have a tough time tackling even in English...he and his partner of 9 years can't have children, and he's wondering why God won't answer him, or if He ever will. A couple folks from the local church were coming up every so often, and they both contributed their 2 cents, saying that if he repented and had faith, God was likely to grant his prayers. I tried to say in the most gentle way that I completely disagreed, that I sympathized as much as I could, and that I would pray for the situation. I don't know how much he will remember from our talk given his buzz, but he seemed mostly in his right mind. His name, aptly, is Christian.

The believers from the church were so kind. They all helped us set up and take down, fed us dinner before hand, and had us over to their house for dessert after the meeting. I love the way that the local believers, especially over the last 2 nights, have been so outwardly loving and generous, and interestingly enough, they've been 2 of the poorest areas we've been in.

Thursday, January 29, 2009

You always wait to get answers to prayer...it's something completely different to get to be an answer to someone's prayer.

Which we were, tonight, in Pacoche. We had a campaign in the tiny little village just of the Ruta del Sol. The pastors there at the little Mennonite church had been praying for some time for there to be some breathe of life in the city, as they are beginning their 8th year there in Pacoche with very little growth or signs of life. And just when they were getting discouraged, David made contact with them to do a meeting.

The whole town came out, and that's not really saying a whole lot...probably 100, maybe less. All the same, very cool. What darkness too! The movie was as clear as could be. The response was good to the preaching. There were also many ginormous moths. One fixed itself on David's shirt for the majority of his message, and it was about the size of his hand. They all were pretty nuts for the black light. Before the meeting, the pastor and his wife fed David, Mark and I some delish chicken and rice. It was a really special time with them altogether, for the outright joy and encouragement they felt tonight, and how it seemed very similar to the friendship we had with the 'Hermanos' of Pesillo some 6 years ago when I was here, the ones that faithfully followed, assisted us in whatever ways possible, and rode bicycles for miles just to participate in God's work.

Earlier, we had another meeting in Eurofish. Another 120 people heard the message of the gospel, and the Lord seems to have granted us favor with the Manager of the plant...she's seemed pretty stoked about our stuff.

We woke up this morning without water. Apparently the tank went dry, which it does a good bit around here, especially when it doesn't rain, which it has been unusually dry...great for meetings, but not for showers, dishes, toilets, etc.

Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Not much to speak of today in terms of "ministry", as my stomach started feeling bad right before David left for the meeting at EuroFish, so I stayed back and chatted online for a bit. The meeting apparently went really well, and we have 4 more there. The busyness actually starts tomorrow with the multiple meeting days.

Had a nice time discussing the OAC brochure with Monica, trying to give ideas and such. As my stomach started feeling better, I went down and shot some hoops with Anita, and Mark came down too when he and David got back. We then headed to Pacoche to announce tomorrow night's campaign.

The evening was delightfully chill. The girls were in crummy moods, so they hit the sack early. That left Monica to keep working on the brochure till all hours of the morning, Mark to go and read and play guitar, and David and I sitting in the kitchen chatting after our hot dogs and fried potatoes.

He continues to develop. He seems to get older and younger simultaneously, every visit, every chat, every meeting. His heart intensifies, and his message gets simpler. His experience grows, but he talks a lot these days about how he knows so little about how to be a parent, or the right way to do ministry. In a lot of ways, his youth/maturity split reminds me a lot of Art VanderVeen as he seems to grow wiser and also more wide-eyed and humble as he moves on in his life.