Moses Skit, more teaching, and a few weddings

Friday was a pretty emotional day in the barrio. They finally managed to get me to shed a few tears. And just think; I was just talking about how we were not a crying team.

We entered the barrio late in the morning (around 10am), so we used the morning to have Glen do his devotion and his testimony. Glen had some pretty amazing things happen in his life. It is always a blessing when someone is willing to be as transparent as him when talking about their faith.

Anyway, we arrived at the barrio and got put to work setting up the sala for the wedding. As we were doing these preparations, I learned Kristin and I had to do another teaching (not on the schedule, but I´ve learned that´s okay). Kristin, Loys and I headed out. Glen followed because he wanted to see how we´ve been teaching. Shortly after him was Danell and Mitch. Seems we are developing a fan club. We were supposed to teach 8 women, but as usual, God had other plans. 15 women showed up, then 16... I'm actually not sure what the final number was.



Trouble was, we only had enough materials for 14 women to do the craft. Once again, God found a way. The women just shared what they had, and Mitch made more crosses out of the scrap materials we had left over.

This time, I also noticed that some of the women could not write. Part of the project was to write their sins on the terra cotta pots and the break the pots. What do you do if you cannot write? Simple enough: you hand your pot to your friend who can and confess your sins to that person. Amazing.

Prior to our lesson, the women put on a skit for us. They retold the story of Moses and how he killed the Egyptian soldier to rescue one of the workers. It was really cool to see them being so creative with Bible stories.


The funniest part was when Moses returned as a shepherd. The woman put shaving cream on her face to indicate a beard and was carrying a staff with her. As she walked toward the group, several dogs were walking with her. She had to keep pushing them around with the stick to get them out of her way. However, it looked like she was herding sheep and that this was all part of the skit. When Loys brought it up to her, everyone laughed.

The teaching went well again. I´m getting pretty used to this now! Again, the people who watched us teach said we did very well. It makes me happy to know that God is smiling right now. Afterward, we headed back to the sala. After helping out a little more, it was finally time to deliver the backpacks to Anabel and Henry. We stopped at Anabel´s house first. Annita took us there. When we got there, Ánabel´s mom Natalina was still getting things in order. She eventually let us in and we had to wait for Anabel to return from school. As I looked around the home I saw that Anabel´s family had chickens, ducks, an outhouse away from the house (keep those smells centralized) and a reasonably good adobe house. Of course, only a dirt floor and limited furniture.

Anabel shows up and we go inside to give her all the gifts. I sit her on my lap with Esaiah next to me. Natalina is standing to my right in the corner. With everything I pull out of the bag, Anabel gives me a kiss on the cheek and thanks me. Occassionally, she would get off my leg and kiss Eresmo (Esaiah) as well.


As I continued to pull the gifts out, Anna told me that Natalina was about to burst into tears. When we completed showing everything, I gave Anabel a big hug. After that, Natalina walked over to me, crying and thanking me over and over again. As she hugged me so tightly, the tears started to flow. She was so incredibly appreciative; it´s impossible not to absolutely love these people.

After Anabel´s, we went to Henry´s house to give him Debra´s gift. For this occassion, I recorded a video of it so Debra could see and hear the emotions. I didn´t know Henry´s smile could get any bigger than it already was. He was so happy. When he received all his gifts, he sang a song to all of us that was so sweet. Later that night, he sang it again in front of everyone that showed up for church.

I¨m leaving out a bunch, but it´s because I´ve only got so much time and so much more to talk about. After leaving Henry´s, we returned to the sala and continued our preparations for the wedding. I can´t wait to get the pictures posted onto my flickr account. They turned that sala into a beautiful room, perfect for the wedding. The wedding started at 3:30pm, and we packed the room. It was so nice to see all the couples from the barrio dressed so nicely in their best clothes. One couple even wore formal clothes. The husband wore a suit and the wife wore a formal purple dress with a black shawl. Muy Sexy!

We partied with everyone until 6:30pm, and then we had church. We did more singing and dancing. Danell got a picture of Esaiah and I singing Spanish praise and worship, swaying arm in arm. She said it was one of her favorite pictures. After church, we continued to play with the kids.

We didn´t leave the barrio until around 8:45pm. It was a long day, but it was full of fun. A few of us sat in the restaurant the hostal to have some dessert (I had a hot chocolate), but then I was the first to excuse myself and get to bed. I was pretty tired.

Today is our last day in the barrio. Anabel is going to draw me a picture, and Natalina is making something special for my wife. I am very curious to see what it is. Which reminds me; I bought a scarf for my wife a few days ago. It was made by Carmin. From what Mike tells me, Livonia got to know Carmen pretty well. I took a picture of her and her soon to be husband. Apparently, my wife knows both of them.