Sunday morning we went to a local church where John was to preach. He did a very good job preaching out of John 17. Since it was the first Sunday of the month, we also participated in the Lord's Supper. They had real wine.
Sunday morning
Sunday evening
On Sunday evening we went to a church located on a hill high above the city. This church really impressed us as a truly New Testament church. We were a little late, so they had started worshiping already when we got there. The service probably started at about 7:30. There was a lot of singing, Bible reading, and then they introduced us visitors. We had to go to the front and each said a few words. They prayed for us and gave us the greeting of peace by waving their hands. John spoke on John 21, "Follow Me." We had couple of more songs, the offering, where each person went to the front to deposit it on a large basket. Then they announced that we were having the second part of the service which was the Lord's Supper (first Sunday of the month). They said that all who were baptized could participate, but those who weren't were free to leave. It was past nine o'clock in the evening by then. The pastor was away at a conference, so the president of the elders presided with the other elders and deacons. The head elder read from 1 Cor. 11 and explained about confessing our sins. We then had a time of prayer. Most people got on their knees and prayed in low voices. The head elder also gave an opportunity for anybody who was out of fellowship with a brother to make amends before taking the Lord's Supper. Then the head elder announced that a woman was very ill and that they were going to take an offering at the end for her. Then it was time to restore a member to fellowship after being disciplined. The man stood and the congregation agreed. There was also the dedication of a member to become co-pastor. After all that, we then had the Lord's Supper, love offering, more singing, they sent all of you greetings, they prayed for us,and were dismissed. It was ten o'clock. After the service they had a local corn-based drink and bunuelos, but without sugar. This was the church of one of the Christ for the City staff, so she invited us to walk to her home that was near by. The house was even higher than the church and had a beautiful view from a terrace. We arrived back at the hotel at eleven o'clock.
Sunday evening
Quechua worshipers
Today one of the local staff came to get us at the hotel at nine, and we walked to the Travel Agent to pay for our tickets to the town of Tarija, near the border with Argentina. We will leave tomorrow morning. We then went to the headquarters of Christ for the City to meet all the staff and missionaries. They all introduced themselves and talked about their ministries. We had a typical lunch of llama meat, local corn, boiled potatoes and hard boiled eggs, very interesting. It was quite filling. We went back to the office to figure out what we were going to do. At the same time, Rosario had some private therapy sessions. I got to talk to one woman, who is a dentist and a believer, while she was waiting for her turn. She had attended my talk at the tea. As I said before, there are a lot of hurting families, even in the church.
Tonight we are going to see a local festival, and we will have supper with some of the staff. Tomorrow morning we fly to Tarija. We will spend the night there and fly back on Wednesday evening. Then we will have more ministry at other churches. That is all from now...until next time...
No comments:
Post a Comment