I felt like I didn't sleep much from 3:00 am on, but then I was asleep at 6:55 am when Laura shook me awake. Men's devotions started at 7:00, so I got ready quickly. I was a little late...but not the latest. Victor, Jose, and Sabino all arrived after me, which aligns with what we've been told about local custom.
Started a SOAP study of Galatians with the PRC and Boquillas men. Chuck asked the question of how Paul must have felt about the Galatian church backsliding from grace into works - a church that he had invested a lot of missionary energy into. I think he was alluding to the Boquillas church, which had to split from pastor Gabino due to legalism and control issues. We also had a good discussion of the struggle of wanting to please men instead of God.
I visited with David, Thomas, and Steve Aldrich while the women had devotions. Then we had breakfast followed by a team meeting. The first activity of the day was visitations, but we decided to do our family challenge instead. The local kids had the day off of school to celebrate the first day of spring, so it was an opportunity to do our family challenge at a time when we knew kids would be around.
First, we walked through town and passed out invitations to Vacation Bible School (VBS). The kids were happy to get an invitation and the parents seemed happy also. I also passed out invitations to the "Wild at Heart" men's meetings. After this, we found some boys in the town square and started up a game of charades. We had a blast! You could tell the boys really enjoyed it also. They were climbing over each other to get to the front and try to be the first one to guess correctly. They soaked in the adult attention and the opportunity to play with folks from out of town. I hope we get another chance to play with a different group of kids sometime this week.
Funny thing about the VBS and "Wild at Heart" invitations - both had to be adjusted. VBS was scheduled to start Tuesday night, but at the end of the church service yesterday Victor told everyone Monday. So we adjusted. And the men's meeting was moved to Tuesday and Wednesday, so we marked up the invitations with the new dates.
After the family challenge, Laura, Dan, Mark and I took a walk up to the pond. There are houses on the hill above the pond that are recently built. I am told that these houses share water from a single hose that comes from the well on top of the hill in Boquillas. Unbelievable.
We returned for "linner" and then spent the next hour preparing materials for the first day of VBS. The boys behaved well, I thought, and did a good job of learning the bible verses for the first day. There was worry when we first started that kids would not come because confirmation class was scheduled at the same time. Turned out that wasn't an issue, and I think we had 100+ kids across all of the age groups.
After VBS, we packed all of the supplies back into the truck and returned to Mamma Mago's house. There was no program scheduled tonight, so we just relaxed and played with the kids. We watched Scotty Stephens do his cup stacking routine, and we learned that he is a world record holder in cup stacking. It was unreal how fast he could do it, and he said that he was out of practice. We also enjoyed listening to mission stories from Steve Aldrich. Mark, Eric White, and Jonathan Stephens came over and seemed to enjoy listening also. I also think that Steve enjoyed sharing with these young me. He had shared earlier that this is what had initially made him want to do mission work - listening to the stories of missionaries who would stay with his parents on furlough when he was a kid.
Overall impressions so far:
Am I really doing anything here? I think that God may be teaching me to work for Him no matter what. The results may not be for me to know, or maybe there is no harvest at all. But His call is His call. This is hard to accept and I second guess myself. So I guess I need to be learning this.
The Boquillas kids are terrific. They really want to be around us. And they are respectful, with very few exceptions. I'd say that the people here, in general, kids and adults, are very respectful of our faith. The culture here is not one where people "want to put Darwin stickers on their cars". They listen. They are happy to talk. They are happy to receive an invitation. They send their kids to VBS. But then they don't engage with the local church here. It is a passive rejection, perhaps, instead of a more active "bumper sticker" type like back home. Lord God, please turn the hearts that You will turn. If Your will is not revival here, then help me to accept this. Thank you for sending us.
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