by Pastor Patrick
Saturday, July 13, 2013
The team got an earlier start this morning since the plan was to spend the entire day at a place across town. Pastor Jorge came to pick us up around 9:30am and we met up with the church at a Catholic-owned retreat site. We began the morning with worship and Josh Liu taught from Luke 10:38-42 about the priorities of Martha and Mary. It was a nice time of worship together and another opportunity to instruct the church continuing on the theme of “First Love.”
After the morning worship time, lunch was served. Today, it was meat loaf with a side of rice. It’s been a lot of fun watching the locals try Tabasco sauce and Sriracha. Some of them have really taken to spicy food, but others have definitely been repulsed by the heat. Once lunch was over, we had an afternoon of free time and sports.
It was a real blessing being able to sit and chat during the free time with numerous people from the church. Still, it was heart breaking to hear of some who had fallen away from the faith to pursue the things of the world. Some parents also shared about difficulties and struggles they have been having with children who have been getting drunk or taking drugs. One mother in particular recently became a Christian and now is living with a family who doesn’t believe. Her husband refuses to listen to her especially when she shares the gospel, and her children don’t want to live at home. Instead they want to be with their friends taking drugs and drinking. It was so painful trying to encourage her to persevere in faith and prove to be a godly example of Christian character to her family.
Free time also meant we had time for soccer and volleyball. The men asked if I wanted to play soccer, but I tried to express how “unfortunate” it was and how “disappointed” I was that I didn’t wear the right clothes for sports. I watched them play for a little while and then headed up to play a few games of volleyball. The ladies in the adjacent field also had a game of soccer going, and it was pretty fun watching them all run around celebrating in an exaggerated way after every goal. After one goal, one of them even paraded around the entire field holding a water bottle as if it was a trophy.
After the free time, we met for the evening session. I preached to the adults about the responsibilities of parenting from Colossians 3:20, and especially about implementing loving and godly discipline with their children. I was overcome with emotion as the various parents came to mind who shared about the struggles they were having with their children. I just told the group that I would preach as long as was necessary because of the importance of the topic. Afterward, we even had a brief time of Q&A.
At the same time as the evening session, Josh Liu took the singles and youth to talk about “The Judgment of God” from Romans 2:1-5. Originally, Ryan and Stephanie McAdams were going to help with a split session between the guys and gals to provide testimony and instruction for the young adults, but Charis had become ill and so the family returned to the hotel. Instead, Roger Alcaraz shared with the guys about the consequences of the choices made in life and also about God-honoring repentance. Grace Alcaraz spoke to the ladies about modesty.
When the evening session ended, we had dinner together. Dinner consisted of pasta in tomato sauce with chunks of beef. They served this with bread. It was a very filling meal and super tasty. I resolved to exercise self-control and refuse seconds, and this became very difficult when I found out they were serving large chunks of steak along with the pasta for seconds. But with the Lord’s enabling, I was able to resist. Eugene Park and I had a great time conversing with two youth gals over dinner, one who was very new to the church. The new gal, Ana, mentioned that she had heard a lot about our team and how she was glad to finally meet us in person.
After dinner, we had more time to interact with the members of the church. It’s hard to believe that we only have one more full day with the church before heading off to Buenos Aires! Time really has passed by very quickly. Please pray for little Charis as she recovers from her illness. Please pray for the team that we would make good use of the time we have left with the church. And please pray that God would accomplish much good in the church through the teaching times and fellowship.