Something out of the ordinary and a great Sunday morning worship

Instead of having a regular family festival on Saturday evening, Pastor Rodolfo explained that we were going to walk along with the people on their pilgrimage to the Catholic church in Cartago, Costa Rica.  Here is a bit of information about the pilgrimage.  

In August the Basilica of our Lady of the Angeles is the object of extensive pilgrimage and visitation by about 2.5 million believers throughout Costa Rica and other surrounding countries, many of whom join in the celebrated 22-kilometer walk to the basilica during the Romería. Though many people start the pilgrimage from locations all over Costa Rica, some, as a demonstration of their piety, choose to crawl the 22 kilometers on their hands and knees.  (Click here to read more about it.)

We joined in with the walkers at a point inside the city and walked (and prayed) for a distance of about a mile and a half.  We then turned around a walked back to the park where we started.  While we were going against the flow, we passed out tracts called, "The Words of the Virgin Mary," to all who would take them.  It was definitely a bit intimidating to be going the other direction.  

I probably write a post about Sunday morning worship almost every time there are gringos around for a campaign.  I think it's because it is so impactful to worship together.  Sunday morning at IBVN San Jose was no different.  

Depending upon who is leading the music, occasionally we sing the worship songs in both Spanish and English.  However, this time it was a bit different.  Instead of changing the slides from Spanish to English for each verse/chorus, where they were able to they put the Spanish words and the English words for each line of the song.  As a result, the gringos were singing the English words while the rest were singing the Spanish words.  It was very cool!

Pastor Chris Sprires from First Baptist Church, Murrells Inlet, South Carolina, gave the message, with Vladimir translating.