Yesterday we spent the day working on things for this weekend which is a Church retreat. I have to give a talk to about 70 young people in Spanish! Yikes. Anyway we were working on things and I thought ´well this isn´t going to be a very interesting day´. In the evening Pastor Sergio went to the next town, Cuenca, to have a meeting. I was left here and uploaded some photos. Then this guy came in off the balcony (there seems to be another back way into the apartment if you climb up from a side building and come onto the balcony!) and told me his name was Javier and that we were going to a cell group together. I said okay as I had no choice.
Then we drove a little bit through town and went up into a small dingy apartment. There were sofas and 5 or 6 people sitting around. In the Sierra in Ecuador (the mountain region) people are more formal and it´s normal to greet with a handshake (or a little kiss for women) even if you only meet for a few seconds in the street. So we all greeted each other. Then Javier told me that he wanted me to give the talk! Thankfully we were working from a section of a book for new believers. We had photocopied sheets. I was still in shock and kind of hoped he was joking and I hadn´t picked up the humour. But no, I WAS giving the talk.
So we began to work our way through the sheet. It asked ´who are our spiritual enemies´ and we looked up verses listed. I realised that these people were mostly newcomers. In fact one man was visiting for the first time. His name was Angel. We moved on to ´how to combat our spiritual enemies´ and then ´how to deal with sin´. It was really good to discuss these things together and to be able to help some of these really new believers (not sure if they all even were). I have been asking God and asking you to pray that I could be of use here and I felt last night that I was. Thank God.
This morning we have a woman of 75 years in traditional dress with us for breakfast. She would be indigenous (not mixed). I want to take a picture with her but it might be a bit rude. We´ll see.
Hasta pronto.
Wesley
Come back, Welly! We miss you! Sounds like this is turning into a great trip! I LOVE the pictures and the day-to-day up-dates. Makes me wish I could be there, too! Glad the nosebleeds have stopped. That must have been annoying. Would have loved to see the expression on your face when you found out you were doing the Bible study!! You must be more careful what you pray for! Our Angel was very happy to hear that there is someone in Ecuador with her name!
ReplyDeleteThe music group is practicing in our house tonight....the faithful few. It should be very "interesting" on Sunday with you and Eamon both gone. I think we are in the "big room" this week. By the way, I love the background for your blog. Very good taste, but then, I wouldn't have expected anything less from you! Cathy
Welly, you're a dude!
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