Let the little children come to me...

This morning we had breakfast and then met for Bible study. As we met for Bible study Pastor Amy began by explaining that this city has at least 1 million people, yet these Assembly of God churches are poorly attended. There is a stronghold in the city keeping these people from getting saved and joining a church and the way to come against it is in unity and prayer. At that point we stopped to pray. The Holy Spirit began to move and there was prayer for those in this city and salvation, a declaration of us as warriors, for boldness over us as believers, and for God to draw people into the church. We left for the church, San Pedro Martyr, this morning excited and expecting.

We arrived at the church and Danny, a Pastor's son, hooked up a sound system and started calling all the kids in the neighborhood. There were praise songs in Spanish playing as well and before we knew it all these kids descended upon the church. We blew up inflatable balls and started hitting them around with the kids. There was also a rousing game of red light green light (verde, rojo) where Pastor Brian took a spill when he got caught up with one of the kids' feet.



After playing with them for awhile we invited them into the church for puppets and a Spanish sing-a-long. Pastor Amy preached about Noah and the Ark and each kid got a plastic animal and "paired up" to be involved in the message. The kids heard about being obedient to God and that by following God they won't be left out. We played with them some more before leaving.



For the evening service we headed back out to San Pedro Martyr. We had the children ready and waiting for us and we started by playing with them again before inviting them into church. We expected to have mostly adults in the evening, but it was mostly children. Danny led us in worship and then we had puppets that were part of a sing-a-long where Brianna and I (Jessalea) tried to coordinate the hand motions of "Waves of Mercy" to music. It is much more challenging to match movements with words when the song is in Spanish. We laughed a lot while the kids looked at us very confused. Pastor Brian then preached a salvation message on 1 John 1:5-1 John 2:2 where a couple of kids came to know the Lord. We played with them again before leaving. Several of us joined the kids in a Spanish version of 'hot potato' were we passed the ball around and then had an "it" person. Most of us couldn't keep up with the words of the song, but enjoyed the game and the kids laughed as we attempted to keep up.

Looking back on the events of the day I smile. The children heard the Word and joined us in singing praise and worship. As we spent time with the children it was evident by looking around that they have won our hearts. Compassion spilled over as the kids would run up and hug us and smile and laugh. They would ask over and over when we would be here again. I could see the team working feverishly to find out how to say things in Spanish in an effort to communicate with them even more. I was most amazed by the fact that the exchange of God's love, compassion, and grace knows no language barriers. The extension of mercy was present through actions with the children and ultimately reminds me of how Christ communicated His greatest act of love on the cross.

Tomorrow we will be back at San Pedro Martyr for more work with the children. Let's see what God will do...