to know and to be known by Him

I heard a great sermon the other day. Our pastor was preaching about 7 things that drive him as a person- like reasons to get up in the morning. And one of the things was to know God and be known by God. And he read a few different passages, but one of them was that passage in Matthew 7 where someone is standing before the Lord and talking about the great works he had done for the Lord. They had done great things, they had seen God's power move in their lives, but still God said to them, Depart from me, I never knew you. So the pastor made the point that being known by God is not shown by the things we do for God- it's the relationship we cultivate with him. We need to not only read God's word and talk to God, but we also need to listen to God.

Another one of the most important things he listed in the 7 points was about developing relationships. One of my biggest challenges in ministering here is developing relationships. I'm naturally a little shy and the language barrier can make it even more difficult. But I'm hoping to be able to continue working here long-term, so I know it's important to continue to work at building relationships. And I think I'm making some progress.

I had the opportunity a week ago to talk with one of my students about forgiveness. She had shared with me some frustrations about something that happened between her and a friend, and so then I asked her what the Bible said about forgiveness. I was happy to hear that she already knew what God's word says- that we should forgive because Christ forgave us, and that if we don't forgive, God can't forgive us. But sometimes even when we know what's right, it's hard to follow through. So I was able to give her some encouragement and check back with her in the following days, to encourage her to follow through with reconciliation. I was so thankful to have this opportunity to help one of my students with more than just classroom stuff. And I'm happy to say that she did follow through with making an attempt at reconciliation with her classmate.

Prayer requests:

The well is still not finished. The well truck arrived a few weeks ago but there's been setback after setback. Please pray for the completion of the well.

Willy Mota may be going for heart surgery soon.

I'm traveling this week to meet my brother and his wife in Antigua. Many of my roommates are traveling too, for vacation.

Next month I'm supposed to travel to another school in Zona Reina to do some teacher workshops. Pray that I'll know what to plan for the presentations, so it will be helpful to them.

Pray for continued financial support so I can finish the school year here. I also hope to be able to return next year, with the goal of staying long-term.

Biblical Festival

A couple of weeks ago our students participated in the Biblical Festival here in town. Students from public and private schools gathered together to sing songs, do skits, and hear lessons about the bible. The theme was honor and responsibility and our music teacher wrote lyrics with this theme and put them with the tune of a popular worship song, to present to the kids at the festival. Our kids helped lead the song and some of the older kids presented a mime drama that they have been working on. I was told that the participation this year was even better than the last, thanks to the enthusiasm of Miss Deborah and Yanira who helped lead singing. It was neat to see kids from many different schools gathering together to learn about God's word. The public schools here are much more open to this than they are in the states. For example, we have teachers from our school and church who go to the public schools every Friday afternoon to teach a bible class. It is a great opportunity to reach out to more students and teachers in the community.

Some of the kids from another local school, singing along with the theme song.
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Yani and Deborah with kids from our school, helping lead kids from several schools in the theme song for the biblical festival.
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Some of the older kids presented a mime that depicted freedom in Christ. One guy represented Christ and each of the other characters represented a kind of bondage- pain, fear, anger, etc. The mime was performed to a song called Siguenme (Follow Me). It was a very powerful drama.
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