While in Zihuatanejo, we wanted to do a little ministry work with the local church. When we got married in Zihuat 5 years ago, we attended this little church and whenever we go back we always go visit them. The preacher is originally from America but has lived in Mexico for probably close to 25 years. He's married to a local woman and they have a 20 year old daughter, Dani. She's awesome and I had a ton of fun with her. They are the only non-denominational church anywhere in the area. The rest are all catholic. It's awesome because people from all sorts of church family backgrounds meet in this little church, regardless of their traditions. They put all that aside and just worship God together. Oh I just love them!!! Anyways, we did several outings but this one was our favorite! We drove about 45 minutes out of town up to the mountains, away from the tourists, where the locals live. This wasn't a terribly bad area and had nicer than average houses for the locals.
We went down this road:
by this house (which really isn't bad for the area...)
You can kind of see the city below in the background. We're up really high!
Close to the "church"...
And finally arrived at this pavilion that they use for a children's church. They started this work about 5 years ago with just a few kids. Now there's close to 40 kids and they've even helped some of the mother's to become saved!
Before the class the kids had fun playing...
which of course Mia got into as well.
Here class has begun and the kids are taking turns reading out of their Spanish Bibles.
So I have to mention this - but I don't have a photo for it... We were in the middle of the service, the kids were calmed down and behaving well, when suddenly we heard the most awful screaming sound! We all ran over to the house next to the pavilion to find a rooster attacking a chihuahua. Now, only in Mexico does church get interrupted for a rooster beating up a chihuahua! A little girl walloped the rooster with a stick and rescued the pup. The dog ended up being fine other than a few bloody places, and I couldn't help giggle at the whole situation.
Our youth group wrote letters and drew pictures about Bible stories to these kids before we left. So we brought them to this church service and Joel read them and described the pictures to all the kids. They were SO fascinated that kids in America would write them letters.
While all this is going on, there were several boys who were too shy to come into the pavilion. They sat on these huge pipes just up the hill from the pavilion and tried to act un-interested. But the fact that they come every week and sit JUST close enough where they can hear, added to the fact that they've been busted singing along at times, proves that they are wanting to be involved. In time maybe they'll grow more comfortable with the idea!
Ok so these two little girls, Clarissa and Glori, are totally reading the Bible. They're 4 and 5 years old. Holy Moly!!! They were reading out loud and it gave me goose bumps (which is incredible considering it's 100 degrees all the time)!!!
After the lesson and Joel's reading of the letters, the kids asked if they could write letters back to our youth group. These kids poured their hearts into these letters. They sat and worked on them for 45 minutes or so - without being told to! They just wanted to. Their words and drawings are priceless.
The kids wanted to hear the letters from our youth again and again, and here is Dani reading one to them.
Ok so this is disturbing. Fransisco, a guy who works closely with the church, told me to go look in the back of his rental car (they had been doing some ministry way out in the country that day). I walked over to see what all the fuss was about...
and saw 8 iguana's in the back of the car! Ew!!! So what happens is, super poor kids in the country catch iguanas and try to sell them to people driving by. I remember seeing their "Iguanas, $3" signs when Joel and I drove through years ago. Well, they tie the iguana's toenails together up above their heads so that they can't run off. It's terribly inhumane, but it's their only way to get a couple bucks out there. So Fransisco had an idea. He stopped at each child on his way back and bought an iguana from them - under one condition - he got to talk to their family about Jesus. So by purchasing these creatures, he got to share the gospel with like 19 people that day. Awesome! He even went back the next day (2 hours driving) to continue a Bible study with one super interested family. Good job Fransisco!!! Oh, and once he got back home he untied the iguanas and set them free. Poor guys!!!
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