We had a very pleasant day today. Starting with our first solo venture on the transit system, getting from our borrowed apartment to the church. The service was an amazing time of worship – even though we did not have an interpreter to understand the words or songs, we felt the presence of the Spirit and were encouraged to meet up with old friends and were able to make a few new ones.
We met a young man who is actively working in the rural areas establishing house churches. It is difficult to find connections in the smaller communities because there are strong family ties that prevent anyone outside the community from having influence. We have found several such organizations actively engaged in similar work. There is a great need for workers and resources.
Barb and I met with the YFC director to discuss the last details of the Camping event and hear of the vision for several new and ongoing projects they are working on. Once again, exciting developments, wonderful stories of changed lives, but so much more to be done. Please pray for workers and resources to continue the work and expand into these new projects.
We also met with the Church leaders to debrief the retreat. there was some very good feed back, and discussion on a few challenges to be worked out for next year. The retreat is a very powerful tool to bring the different volunteers from several churches together so they are comfortable with each other and everyone is aware of the program, schedule and responsibilities. It is always surprising to discover that all the participants thought they knew what was going on at the start of the retreat, but soon realized that they had much to learn – and they did. The time together was very profitable and encouraging.
We are planning to leave for Camping tomorrow morning. it is a 4 to 5 hour drive to get to the camping area. Collecting all the participants early in the morning and then loading up and moving out will be a challenge, but we hope to be on site for a late lunch and jump right into the programming. It is unlikely that we will have WiFi available at the camping location, but I will bring the computer just in case.
Thank you for your continued prayers.
Grace and Peace,
Kim