We were able to share in five different schools during the week. Some of the schools were quite small, while others were large. Four of the five were public K-11 schools, while one was a public vocational school.
The 30 people on the team were divided in to 8 groups. The value lesson for the week was "Forgiveness." There were close to 600 professions of faith across the five schools.
Tuesday was a special day in the school, Canton Las Tunas. This rural Aguilares schooll has only 190 students; half of them come in the morning and half in the afternoon. Guillermo, Manuel, Hayden and I visited the school the previous week to see if we could schedule a visit. The director was very excited to have us and invited all of the students and their parents to come during the morning. It's always a special privilege to be able to share with the student's parents. At the conclusion of the classes, we were able to distribute a gift bag full of clothes, school supplies and hygiene items. The kids and the parents were so excited to receive the gift bags.
A team of 13 from First Baptist Church, Gulf Shores, Alabama, arrived on Friday afternoon and attended the Friday night service. They spent Saturday morning visiting the volcano and having lunch at La Pampa halfway down the mountain.
The team from Passage Community Church, in Missouri, was supposed to arrive in time to join the Gulf Shores group for orientation at 3:30, but their flight was delayed and when it did arrive, all of their luggage didn't. So, after a short orientation with Gulf Shores, we boarded the bus, went to the church to pick up the translators and then drove to a neighborhood on the outskirts of Lourdes. By the time we arrived, the park was full of people and the clowns were already at work. The youth of Lourdes performed a new drama before Pastor Lloyd shared the gospel.
This morning all three of the teams (Alabama, Missouri and Louisiana) were together at the 11:30 a.m. worship.
