Weekend Ministry

I've discovered that the weekends around here are pretty crazy! Friday night there is a ministry called "El Refugio," which is a counseling ministry for women. About 20 ladies attended & Sarah taught a very helpful & applicable lesson about how to handle depression. Depression is a huge problem for our generation! Sarah gave the basics on what the signs of depression are, practical ways to handle depression, & also taught about our most important defense against depression: God's word. It all comes back to focusing on truth. As Isaiah 26:3 says--"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you,because he trusts in you." We also had a great time of fellowship & games. This was the first time since I arrived that I had enough courage to attempt conversation in Spanish. The Peruvian ladies had so much patience with me! I could understand a few sentences & converse a little bit, but I still have a LONG way to go! They kept telling me "Esta bien! Poco a poco! (It's ok, little by little.) One of the ladies after I looked particularly confused laughed & said "Tienes tiempo para apprender." Which basically means "you have time to learn." To which Mrs. Earnhart responded, "yup! And in that time you're going to get laughed at a lot!" Haha! I told them people back home make fun of me when I speak English, so I'm already used to it =)

 Saturdays are very busy around the Earnhart home! We started out bright & early going on visitation; this was an area down town that we went to & either invited people to church who had never been, or went to visit church members. This is considered to be more of an upper-class part of town.

 After visitation in Tacna, we went to Viñani...this is the place that broke my heart in 2009. Those thatched walls that you see in the background are actually homes. There are very few buildings with roofs; there is no running water; there is unbelievable poverty. We visited quite a few church members while we were there & tried to encourage one family in particular that is going through an extremely difficult time. Pray for the family of Ignacio if you could; pray that God would reveal attributes of Himself that Ignacio cannot ignore, & that as a result of seeing God for who He is, that Ignacio would in turn lead his family in a godly way.

 That afternoon we had a ladies activity which was a lot of fun! Some of the younger ladies made bracelets & then afterwards Abbey gave a lesson out of Romans 8; it was so cool because I had just read that passage Saturday morning during my devos! So that helped me follow along better when she was teaching in Spanish =)

 After the lesson, we all went to a nearby park & played volleyball. Those ladies have got some skill! it was a lot of fun, & they all had a great time laughing at me when I got really confused over some directions they gave me in Spanish. I think I'm going to get used to being laughed at -- haha! That's ok though; I don't mind =)

When we got home, we began getting ready for the young-adults activity that evening. We had over 20 young adults & we all had a great time playing games, fellowshipping, & then we had a short challenge from Pastor Cristian. I met a sweet young girl named Sheyda, who speaks English pretty well; so between her good English & my not-so-good Spanish, we were able to have a good conversation =) All in all, yesterday was great! Please pray for those who visited church this morning & responded to the message; pray that it would not be a one time thing but that that would continue to attend & to grow in their understanding of God's word.

Thanks for stopping by!! Hasta luego =)