Prayers, please!

I had a couple of people recently mention to me that they liked how I included prayer requests on one of my previous posts.

So now I'm calling all you praying' folks out there and asking for your help with prayers for the youth ministry in the Iglesia San Lucas (Saint Luke's church). As you may remember I have been helping with this ministry since January, and it has become very near and dear to my heart.

We have a group of leaders (there are about 10 of us), and we have been working to really grow this ministry and reach out to the students in the Colegio San Lucas (Saint Luke's School). As of recently, we have begun having our reunions on Saturday mornings. The students in the secondary grades have weekly tests on Saturday mornings (How awful, huh? Tests on SATURDAYS?!?!) Anyway, the students stay after their tests and we play games, sing praise songs, and have small group time with different themed talks.  It's a HUGE challenge because it is such a large group (50 - 100 students), but every week things go a little more smoothly and I think our group of leaders is finally getting the hang of it.  

So, please pray for:
- The group of leaders. For patience, wisdom, enthusiasm
- The students from the school. For good attitudes, excitement
- The continued growth and success of the ministry



And check out the slideshow of the pictures I took at our last reunion!

Semana Santa y Pascua

Holy Week and Easter!

Palm Sunday -  We moved the pews and chairs into the street in front of the church building and had our entire service outside.  It's a good thing, too, because there is no way all of the people that came to the service would have been able to fit inside of the tiny sanctuary.  A new experience for me was when we all got up out of our chairs in the middle of the service, palm branches in hand, and began walking around the neighborhood following the cross and singing praises.



Wednesday - Shortly after arriving at the school on Wednesday Kym and I found ourselves in the middle of an earthquake drill.  Although this has nothing to do with Holy Week I just had to share because it was so hilarious.  The kids evacuated the building and then began walking in circles in the courtyard.  The hilarious part is that they had pretend victims.  A kid from each grade had their face painted red and was carried away on a stretcher.  It was pretty interesting to see a different kind of disaster drill and the way they do things.  Then toward the end of the day a group of the high school students performed a Stations of the Cross for the rest of the school before dismissing for Easter break.




Thursday - Early early Thursday morning Nati and I boarded a bus headed for Juliaca.  (Remember the youth group from Juliaca had asked me to play the part of Mary, the mother of Jesus, in their Stations of the Cross?)  Kym didn't want me to be alone on the bus, so I asked Nati if she would like to go.  Her son is the priest of our church there so she agreed to be my travel buddy.  That night after arriving in Juliaca we went to the Maundy Thursday service.



Friday - Padre Luis and the youth picked me up from my hotel at 5:30 am!!!  We traveled out to Tariachi, the hacienda outside of the city limits of Juliaca, where there is a little chapel you may remember from a couple of blog posts ago.  Show time was set for 8 am, but since things here run on "Peru time" it was more like 9 am before we got started.  SO MANY PEOPLE CAME TO WATCH! It made me a little nervous - I mean I haven't had much acting experience ;)    The whole production was pretty incredible.  The youth group did a great job of putting it all together and coordinating the whole thing.



Saturday - Back in Arequipe I started off the day by going to a youth meeting for several hours that morning.  Then I went to Casa Hogar to hang out and do a small Bible lesson with the older girls.  Then I rushed home, packed an overnight back and went back to the church.  San Lucas had a Saturday evening candlelit service and afterward some of the youth put on a small skit using sheets, lights and shadows to tell the story of the crucifixion and resurrection.  After all of that, we (the leaders of the youth group) had a Vigilia (vigil) and spent the night at the church - Hence the overnight bag I packed.  A group of 10 of us stayed up until 4 am singing praise songs, having a Bible study, playing games, and praying for one another.




Easter Sunday - After just 2 hours of sleep we woke up at 6, ate breakfast together, and got ready for the Easter morning service.  A kind of funny story: After communion I was standing in the back trying to take some pictures when a woman asked me to hold her dog as she went up to the front.  The dog didn't like the woman leaving him and immediately began barking and whining.  There I was standing awkwardly in the back with the dog as everyone turned to see what the commotion was.  After the service Kym and I came back to the house.  Honestly, after the busy week full of skits and services, Easter was a little uneventful which allowed us a day to get some rest, relax, and rejoice in our risen King!