Kids Events, New Small Groups, and an Inside Flood

This past Monday was our day off so we once again decided to make cookies. I have this goal that maybe sound really silly and possibly impossible, however it is sometimes fun to have goals like this, right? So here is my goal: To make 30,000 cookies in the year and a half I will be in Paraguay. I know that sounds like a lot however our current cookie count is 142 with only 29,858 more to go. Pretty good, right?

Tuesday we had a NEW CELL GROUP! It is exciting to see our schedule slowly filling up. I was a little nervous going into this group because our host had been involved in another group before but she wanted to host a group to reach her neighbors. I was nervous that they would feel like this group should be just like the other one – interactions, leadership, and function - and if it ended being different than there could be problems. However I had no reason to worry because the group went really well - when will I stop worrying and remember that God is in control. I am really excited about this group because I believe there is potential for this group to grow quickly. It is in a good spot with many friendly neighbors and I feel like we will have many people come.

Wednesday we met with Patricia again. This meeting was just a little different then any other that we have had with her. There is a lot going on here and I ask that you keep this family and group in prayer. There is a lot of tough issues going on here and all I know is that through a lot of prayer that we can see this group grow and lives changed.

Thursday we went out to Lambare, which is the neighborhood where Patricia lives. We just walked around and prayed. We also got to know the neighborhood a little more. It was looking to be a good day overall until we got home. It had been raining, not to bad, but off and on all day so when we got home we were all sitting around relaxing in our room. I got up to get something and when I opened the door it started raining hard and water started pouring into our room. We quickly called the boys to come rescue us so while they were outside trying to fix the problem we were inside frantically trying to pick up our stuff and keep the water out. After about an hour we almost had all the water out of our room and thought the problem was fixed when Round 2 came. By the time we were done we all ended up pretty wet! However, because we were all ready wet, Emily, Paty and I decided to go out and dance in the rain. It was a fun and refreshing way to end the day. The water problem is still not completely fixed and next time we get a lot of rain we may have the same problem so we are currently looking for a solution.

Friday was a pretty busy day. We had a Big Kid’s Event on Saturday so Friday was filled with our normal activities as well as getting ready for Saturday. Yoli and I spent the morning running around buying last minute things and making sure everything was ready for Saturday. In the afternoon I watched Landon and Isaiah Foster - the children of our current cluster support family. It was fun to do and energy is something that is not in short supply for these boys. We played legos and then they wanted to be spies so we ran around the church grounds pretending to be spies. Then later that night Yoli and I had our normal group. It was very encouraging this week as we saw some growth. We led the group with the entire family that lives there instead of just the one lady. After we had the opportunity to visit with her neighbor. We prayed with her and a friend and then shared a little devotional. We visited and talked with them for about and hour and were invited to come back whenever we have the chance and visit with here again. I am praying that our friendship with this woman will grow and she will start coming to the groups and I ask that you join me in prayer.

Saturday was an AWESOME day! We had our first big event in Paraguay! Since the kids are going back to school this week we were planning on doing an event to kick off the school year for them. We had a story, craft, movie, lunch and some water balloon games. There were 41 kids by the end of the day! We got to meet some of the parents from around the neighborhood and talk to them about the church. It turned out to be a great event with a great turnout.

Sunday we had our normal services but this time we had 80 people there! This was the first time I had seen so many people at church. We also had many of the kids from our event show up and some of them with their parents!

I have mentioned many prayers request for this week in my blog above so this week I am going to put my praises down at the bottom.
Praises:
1. We had 80 people at church!
2. We had 41 kids at our kid's event!
3. We had a new cell group!