Friday, March 23, 2012

Woodland Hills Team

Yesterday was one of the best days for the team so far! We started out the morning with a breakfast of eggs, yogurt, fresh pineapple and Mexican sweet breads. Then we had a time of worship and prayer followed by a testimony/devotional from team member Scott.
We leaded to Esperanza to work for the morning and split up into two teams. One team was pulling weeds in the “Garden of Hope” and the other was stuffing envelopes with newsletters to be sent out. It was a beautiful day out, though quite windy” Mid day we actually felt the aftershock from what we later learned was a 7.4 earthquake near Mexico City, we took it as an opportunity to pray for any victims and families affected.
After a good days work we broke for lunch and ate with the kids, it´s always such a fun experience to sit with them, joke, talk, laugh and enjoy a meal with them. Following lunch was our craft time with the kids, where we made “papalotes” or kites. Each kid got to decorate their kite and it was so fun to watch them get excited over stickers and markers (things most kids take for granted) many of the kids wrote “I love Jesus” and “Jesus is with me” on their kites, their strong faith is so admirable and inspiring! It was way too windy to fly them but the kids wanted to try anyway. They caught air and got tangled, but the kids were so happy and exclaimed “they flew!”
Next we had what we thought was a normal prayer and worship session with the staff; we were invited to sit in on their weekly meeting. We got to worship with a guitar and bongo drum outside in the dining tent. Very stripped down and simple, yet so powerful worship. We were then invited to stand for a time of prayer and what happened next took us all by surprise. The music intensified and the staff laid hands on us all and prayed. None of us had ever felt the Holy Spirit more than in that moment, His presence was overwhelming. These people barely knew us, yet each took time to pray with us individually, with a few staff members laying hands on each one of us for a length of time then rotating. To hear their confident and earnest prayers for us in English and Spanish was more beautiful than can be described. We all wept with gratitude and were overcome with emotion. Those prayers blessed us all beyond measure and the faith and servant hood of the Esperanza Viva staff is incredible. We were all so thankful for such a beautiful ending to another amazing day here in Puebla :)





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