This Christmas, the church celebrated the married couples of the congregation in Compuertas with a romantic couples’ dinner.  Each couple enjoyed a candle-lit private table, live romantic music from a local Christian musician, and an edited version of the movie “Courageous”-emphasizing the message of the need for family leaders committed to the Lord and to their spouse and children.  For dinner, pozole (a traditional pork-corn soup) was served, followed by coffee and cookies.   

          The evening was beautiful- and truly romantic! Though Paco and I came to serve along with the other school of ministry students, we were encouraged to take a table ourselves and be ministered to as a married couple as well (though we didn’t get out of clean-up! J) We know that the married couples of the congregation in Compuertas were as blessed as Paco and I with the reminder of the great gift and commitment that is marriage. 

 The church and school of ministry hosted a Christmas party for the whole village, as a way of showing Christ’s love to the community and a means to share the message of salvation with those who do not come to church.

  It was a blast!  Almost 200 people came and enjoyed the carnival games (cake walk, dart throw, ring toss, bobbing-for-lemons, hula-hoop challenge) and the food (lovingly prepared by families in the congregation).  To add to the fun, the church staff put on a show- including a wild hat dance, a Christian boogie for the whole audience, crowd-pleasing competition games, and even a beautiful participation from the children to the song “Light the Light of Jesus”, complete with candles.   

At the end of the program, Pastor Tom then shared the message of the gospel- to a crowd of many unbelievers.  We pray that the Holy Spirit convicted their hearts of their need for Jesus this Christmas season.

We thank God for his provision and multiplication of food for this big event, and every adult and child that He brought to the church this evening!

           Though baptisms are usually held during Easter week at the church in Boca del Rio, a few of the new Christian brothers of the church in Compuertas were so excited about and ready to publically profess their new-found faith that they urged the pastor to plan baptisms this month. 

 Practically the whole congregation from Compuertas drove out two hours away to Boca del Rio for the baptisms in the river.  It was exciting to see such a packed sanctuary for church service- with both the brothers from Boca and Compuertas together (almost 100 people!).  What an awesome time of worship and teaching among so much family in Christ! 

          Another sister and I led the children’s Bible class, teaching both the Compuertas and Boca children about the significance of baptism. 

          After service, the entire congregation walked out to the riverside, and prayed and cheered for six brothers who were baptized. One, Luis, is an ex-drug addict who just accepted the Lord a month earlier; another is Betty, a mom struggling to live with a verbally abusive and unfaithful husband who placed her trust and life in the Lord; another is Jesus, an ex-alcoholic who is excited to learn more about Christ as his life continues be transformed… and more! 

          The large church family celebrated with lunch together afterwards, which the Lord must have multiplied because I still don’t know how we fed that many people.  What a joyous occasion! 

           November 20 is “Revolution Day”, and the school children of all ages put on a parade through town in celebration.  So cute!

           I also enjoyed the “goat parade” through the village a week later- not something you see in a normal suburban area in the US, but a common sight here.  They have even come parading into the church yard to help us with weeding sometimes J. 

           Though the “church” in Compuertas is just an empty plot of land, it continues to progress slowly each week to look more like a church home!

           This last month, the school of ministry and the brothers of the church in Compuertas worked together to install a fence around the church property.  The men dug the holes for the posts, cut the wire mesh, and even installed the property door.  The women picked up the rocks and weeded the area. 

          Even if we still do not have a building, the whole church family is grateful to the Lord for the property, and each brother is very faithful to care and construct it as he is able.  We even put up an official church sign (made by Gil at the school of ministry), so it is now obviously a church site!