My first note of this day is to inform you that our team has officially grown by two people. Seth Rikard and Sharon Heathorn have joined us for respectively two and one years. Also a volunteer from the USA for a sister organization called Cristo Vive, Mindy Wormwood is staying in my house and has worked with the OM ministries for the last three months
Much has changed since I last gave information about Santay Islands. The majority of these changes rest in the fact that I now speak communicatable Spanish. Let me share with you this weeks experience as it was a great one.
It all started with me bartering the taxis to get a $3.50 ride instead of $7, evidently that taxi thought that blonde hair does equal stupid. 30 minutes later five people pop out of the little yellow taxi buffeted by the smells of decaying fish guts, fresh fruits and fried meat. We meet with our little team there in the friendly neighborhood fish market and then attempt to gracefully step from canoe to canoe until we settle in the one that will take us across the river. Thankfully this week the waves on the river were not too high, at least until going home so I didn't get soaking wet.
We eat a quick lunch of sandwiches and juice in the local restraunt, which looks just about the same as the other houses in the island just with a bigger porch. Then the division, that is dividing out team into three groups as we now meet with the adults in three different divisions of the 36 houses, 12 in each group for those of you wondering. I have been working with the middle group of houses every week since last April and this time Seth joined me. I love these ladies but you can never be sure who is going to show up (including the lady of the house were we normally meet, Valeria). Last week we were giving a discipleship lesson on Who am I in Christ only to realize that none of the people attending were Christians. So it turned into more of a 'Who I am in Christ and Who You could be too' lesson. After this lesson I talked with one of the girls who attended and Paulina accepted Christ!! Praise be to the all powerful God! So this week I was not at all sure what we would run into with the topic of 'Spiritual Warfare'. Holding my breath we walked down the dried mud path past the puppies, chickens, ducks, goats and pigletts to Valeria's house and surprise of the month SHE WAS THERE! I was very happy as she is one of my favorite people on Santay. Isabel came about fourty-five minutes later to join us. And so we began into the deep topic of spiritual warfare. We talked about the devil and demons and God and angels. But when I was talking about how we have nothing to fear if God lives in us because He is more powerful than anything, Seth leaned over and said "Maybe we should also see if they are christians... like the last time" So I carefully asked them if they had ever decided to trust Jesus with their lives and both timidly shook their heads no. So we talked about what it meant to be saved and what exactly Christ did for us. After much discussion, I asked them if they wanted to make this decision. They both looked at each other and then shyly looked at the floor, no answer. Then Valeria spoke up quietly, "I would like to make this decision but I have no idea how to pray." It was the fear of praying outloud that was stopping them. So I thought for a minute and then asked them, "Do you remember when I first came here and how I couldn't speak and spanish so I just smiled all the time?" They both giggled and said yes. "And now look at my spanish, not so great grammaticly speaking but you at least understand me, right?" Again they giggled their agreement. "And what would have happened if I had never tried to speak spanish with you? Would I be able to speak now?" That made them think and when they said, "No you would not have learned anything" I could see that they understood that this was the same about them praying too. And so we prayed. Me first, then Valeria, then they repeated after me as they were still unsure of how to pray. It was sincere, they understood what we talked about and I could see it in their faces. There is not a church building on Santay or a pastor only us who come every Monday to teach them. I will be very excited to see how these two new believers grow in the coming years. They still have so much to learn as the children and youth on Santay have a good and rather complete knowledge of the Bible but the adults know very little. They didn't know the stories of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and the disciples. So starting next week we will begin on a new stretch of teachings over Bible stories. I am excited to see what God will do next week!
Then kissing my Bible study ladies and new sisters in Christ goodbye, I went off to teach my class of teenage girls. Paulina was there, the new believer from last week. And two other of my Loca chicas. Honestly, these girls who live on a secluded island in bamboo huts would fit in fine with any of the junior high or high school girls that I know back in the states. Well they also cook, clean and care for their siblings daily along with the permanent attachment of their hand to their cell phone. We left the island as always to multiple goodbye kisses, lots of 'chao's, and them running along the shore waving until we are out of sight. Another day, beautiful day. Thanks for sharing this day with me!
