Friday and Saturday

Thank you all so much once again for praying for us and reading our blog. I have a tendency to tell long stories and so I have decided that I will just try bullet points today. There are many great stories to tell but if I tell them all on the blog, you won't get to hear them in person later. So for today, you'll get some bullet points and some pictures...

Friday we went door to door in both Pomona and Hope Creek to invite younger people to VBS and older people to church. We asked students not to take cameras but many of the images of the houses and people we visited are burned in our minds.

Friday evening we went to a Bible study at Pomona Christian Community Church with Pastor Wayne. We worshipped through song...acapella and by request, had time for people to share what God was teaching them, and then had the privilege of hearing the Word preached by Pastor Wayne. He spoke from Deut 8 and challenged us to think of two things when "bad" things happen. 1) Don't ask "Where is God?" but ask "Where is God in this?" 2) Remember that God brings trials and wilderness wanderings to humble us and to test us b/c he is more concerned with the condition of our hearts than with our comfort.

Saturday morning we did our VBS at Hope Creek in Miss Carmen's yard. To give you a taste of their hospitality...Miss Carmen will be hosting VBS in her yard through Thursday of next week and then she will get married on Friday...we're invited to her wedding! Imagine a bride hosting VBS at her house the week of her wedding in the U.S! We probably had about 50-60 kids at Hope Creek and our students did a great job so I'm guessing more will come next week.

Saturday afternoon brought us to Pomona for our 2nd VBS of the day. In Pomona the opening, closing, teaching time, and crafts are all indoors. We had a larger group (probably around 100) in Pomona. Praise God for shade and fans!

Praise God for drawing people to Himself as 2 girls stayed after to pray with people from our group to ask Jesus to be Savior and King of their lives. One is pictured here praying with Karen and Shelly.

After celebrating our hosts' 22nd wedding anniversary with a bbq chicken supper, we spent Saturday evening with the youth group at Pomona. They led us in song, we led them in song. They told us about life in Belize and we asked them to tell us what they thought life was like in America. When I asked if they got the impression from watching tv that Americans are self-centered, I got a resounding yes from the crowd. That is true and unfortunate and something for which we must repent. My hope is that this trip is taking a step in that direction as we come to terms with the idea that it's really not all about us.

Today: Our plan is to participate in the morning and evening worship services in Pomona and spend our afternoon finishing up some VBS planning. Our final 4 days of VBS will be Monday through Thursday.

Pray for: Chester's family as his sister did pass away shortly after I wrote the last blog. The funeral will be sometime this week and they are praising God that she was a believer and also that Chester's other 2 sisters from Los Angeles were able to make it here to be with her and even speak with her before she passed away. Pray also for continued team unity (which continues to be incredible), for perseverance, and for God's glory to be revealed and for our eyes to be open to it.

I'll blog again when I get the chance...I just looked at what I wrote and thought "so much for 'bullet points instead of stories' Jeremy...sorry! :) )