Ministry in La Serana and Coquimbo

As promised, here is an account of our activities.



On Wednesday, John went to jail. It was a very modern facility. The inmates did not wear uniforms. John said that it looked more like a hotel that a jail. The group separated into men and women to go to the different areas of the jail. The Chaplain is a woman who attend our friends' church here in Coquimbo. Everybody greets each other with hand shake and kiss; so the chaplain entered and kissed all the guards. John said that Chaplains do not kiss guards in the States. I did not go with John. We understood that he would be home around two for lunch. We waited all day fro him, but he did not come. He had only taken his passport with him, no money or jewelry. I had to speak at two events that afternoon, so Helen and I left on a taxi, but Helvecia stayed home all afternoon waiting for John. He is going to have to blog about that day because it was very different, but fun.



I went to the first church to speak at their regular ladies' Bible study at 3:00 pm. I spoke on Priscilla and Aquilas. They scheduled me to speak first so that I could make to my next appointment, which was a tea at another church at 4:30. Here I repeated the same talk on marriage. Again, the tea was very well presented. I sat at a table with a businesswoman who was very impressed. She said that she had never been invited to a church. (A few of the guest from the other tea went to church on Sunday at the other church. We hope that this church will have the same results.)

Thursday morning (yesterday) we went for a tour of the Elqui Valley. It was beautiful. We visited the little toen in the mountains where Nobel Prize winner Gabriela Mistral lived. We rented a van, so it was only our group. We quoted poems all the way up (I could keep up because I was a Spanish Literature major) and told jokes all the way down. This is really a very fun group. Last night I spoke at a Bible institure about how to design a Sunday School lesson. For you teachers out there, I used Madeline Hunter's 5 step lesson plan, adapted for Sunday School.

This morning we had a team devotional. It was very moving. The one full time couple in our team (20 years in Costa Rica) prayed and annoited the two young couples here. I just can't describe how closed we all felt to each other and the Lord.

I have more to say, but they are coming for us soon. We are going to ministry to children at a high riske area.

Until next time, still from the beach ( a lot colder beach)....