Just a Normal Weekend...

Here are just a few pictures of some of the activities that were going on this past weekend:

We had a "conectate," or "group link" event at Horizonte Church. This is a breakfast event where people who are not involved in a community group can get involved. We also had a few groups multiply to make new groups! Jean Paul and I are now in a community group for young married couples. I think it will be great, our good friends Ricardo and Ana, and Justin and Lluvia are in the group, along with another couple who we kind of know, and two couples who are new to Horizonte. I know that it will be a good opportunity to grow in our faith along with the other 5 couples!

Here, we are playing some games at conectate to get started:

Sunday evenings are our college group meetings for the college kids at Horizonte. I led the discussion this week, the topic was about evangelism, and how we can branch out to our non-Christian friends; how we can introduce them to Christ's love by creating atmospheres that are relevant to college students.

Here's our ice-breaker game:

And, Julian and Whitney and their girls - a family who used to work here at Horizonte and now live in Atlanta - are here for a week to visit!

Here's me, Sandy (I live with Sandy and her husband Luis), and L to R Talya, Micaiah, and Haniel. Talya and Micaiah are Whitney's daughters, and Haniel is Sandy's.

Whitney, Sandy, and the girls:

Kata

Kata is an older lady who goes to Horizonte church. She walks from her home quite a long ways to be able to catch a bus that drops her off about half a mile from the church. She had been living in a Coke stand (it's like a metal booth like you'd see at a fair where they serve elephant ears or something; here they're used as taco stands) WAY outside the city for a long time. She recently came and said excitedly to another woman at church that a relative had given her a place to live a little (but not much!) closer to the city, if she would be in charge of his land for a while. She accepted. Now Kata lives on a large piece of land with corrugated metal strapped together to make a shelter to live in. It's really cold here this week (drops down to about 45 degrees) and for a place that has no indoor heat, it's really difficult at nights. I'M cold at night because there's no heat in my house, and I live in two story, middle class house with a bed and good blankets and everything! I can't imagine what it's like for Kata. I asked her today if she is cold at night recently and she said that she is. Rebecca and I are going to find a nice warm blanket to bring her.

But the really amazing thing about Kata what happened just a few weeks ago...
Kata never went to school. Ever. There's a lot of poorer people who went through 6th grade and no further, but she never went to ANY school. So, as you can imagine, Kata can't read. She has been part of a womens' small group here at Horizonte for about a year now. It must be frustrating to be handed a group lesson and only be able to hear what the other ladies are saying about it because she can't read for herself. But a while ago, with her Bible in front of her on her lap trying to follow along, she actually understood what she was reading! She looked at the words and was able to read them silently in her head and understand! She couldn't read for all her life and then just one day she could read the Bible! And, from what I understand from her saying is that the Bible is the only book she's been able to read! She wanted sooooo badly to be able to understand the Bible for herself, and God opened her eyes and mind to be able to do just that!

Yaneth

Ok, here's the pictures I had promised from Yaneth's house... Yaneth is the young mom with cancer from Iglesia Horizonte who we (the college group) helped paint their house.

Yaneth (in the wheel chair), her mom "Mama Tere" behind her, her husband Javier, and son Emilio.

The outside of the house before:

And after! Yep, we just said "no" to pink panther pink, and put on a nice green instead... good choice Yaneth!

Brisa rolling on some fresh white paint on the inside of the house, with Jimena, Yaneth's little daughter watching. Jimena actually helped a lot with painting inside! And she's only 7!

As demonstrated by Jean Paul and Dany, it was all hard tiring work, with no time for fun and games... heehee!


Marly, Brisa, and I get in on the fun...

Mmmm, chilaquile day! Chilaquiles = fresh tortilla chips dropped into boiling salsa until they get soggy. I LOVE Chilaquiles, and I made these ones... from scratch! No canned salsa in my house, this was cooked tomatoes, tomatillos, onions, jalapeños, and epazote!

(In the picture from left to right - Dora (Yaneth's sister), Dora's daughter, Mama Tere, Emilio hiding in there, Dora's son, Yaneth, Jimena, Jana, Dany, me, Marly, and Elise.)

Jean Paul trying out the paint for the outside of the house:

Even Jana's dad Pepe (a roofer by profession) got in on the painting action, with JP looking down from the roof:

You THINK I'm standing on a ladder, but I'm really standing on the decorative metal bars that protect the window, holding on with my right hand leaning over to reach all that I can... having only one small ladder available meant lots of climbing window bars and leaning over the roof!

Dany finishes off the outside-back of the house...

Tuesday through friday we worked on the house. It was really rather tiring, but WELL worth the blessing we received, and I hope that Yaneth and family recieved too!