We are the church, together.

Today we had the opportunity to go to Moises' church an hear him preach. I think for most of the group this was (and will be) the highlight of the trip.

We got to sleep in (which some of us took advantage of and others-like Terri-still got up at the crack of dawn) and have a leisurely breakfast before heading to the Emmanuel Presbyterian Church for worship. Moises preached on Jeremiah 1:4-10--following God's call. At the end of the service we were lucky to hear the youth group presenting on a trip they had recently taken to 2 villages on the border with Mexico. It was wonderful to hear their enthusiasm and learn about the work they did. Then, we had a delicious lunch prepared for us by the women of the church. We have all been remarking on how great the food has been so far. After lunch we had a meeting to learn about the different programs of the church, share about our church and present them with the $5,000 for John Calvin Seminary. For those of you who haven't heard yet, the $2,000 we has raised for the Seminary more than doubled in the last week! We received many generous donations after our send-off at church on Sunday. They were so grateful and wanted us to express their gratitude for your generous donations. God will bless those dollars more than you can even imagine. This church is doing more than I can even begin to explain right now. By the time this meeting wrapped up, it was 6pm! We headed back to the hotel, ate a delicious dinner, sorted school supplies an shared devotion time.

Each day I will share thoughts from 5 of the group members so that you will get more than just my thoughts. So, here are some thoughts from today: Merlin said that the work starts tomorrow but today was the best. For him, taking communion with the church in Spanish was an incredible experience. Larry loved singing How Great Thou Art in Spanish and Phil loved listening to Lysle (the worship leader) sing. Debbie and Peggy both felt the communion was an amazing experience as well and Debbie added that ending our day by singing the Doxology in both English and Spanish at the same time was moving. We really learned today that we may speak a different language and live in a different country but we worship the same God.