So last week was a bit different as we have had to relocate our work as the building continues here at El Refugio. As the backyard is now a building site and the kids bathroom is now non-existent we can no longer have children here in the building, therefore, God, however, has provided an alternative in the form of a local church. The church "Cristo Rey" is about a 10 min walk from our house and has a very nice covered area in the courtyard where we are holding the small groups. It is great that the kids have this outside space where they can learn in what is more of a natural setting as in Loma Fresca they are nearly always outside during daylight hours. Then on Friday we are having our services in the actual church.
Although having this place is a real blessing, it is also a bit of a logistical nightmare as we have to keep moving our resources back and forth, and we are still cooking here in El Refugio so poor Esther is having to traipse back and forth with the lunches and snacks for the kids. Also as we cannot keep the church decorated for kids church Larissa is having to re decorate from scratch every week. I was with her until 5pm on Thursday, after youth, to help her get it finished within the working day.
Talking about the youth, our youth group is still going well, Rosa is now helping me on a weekly basis with the youth, as there isn't anyone else around who can, and we have also enlisted the help of one of the "Kings Kids" (a YWAM dance ministry) who is coming every week to teach the youth some dances which we hope they will present at kids church and possibly at the evangelism service in Loma Fresca itself, quite a challenge for self conscious teenagers! Also I have started a new competition with the youth called "mission possible" whereby each of the youth has a list of 20 challenges that they need to complete before the end of June. Some of these are relatively easy such as help give out the snack at youth 3 times, some more tricky such as produce a video highlighting an area of need in their community. So far the enthusiasm has been good, and many of the youth have already started requesting to do the simpler tasks. No one has asked to do any of the more challenging ones yet!
More than the challenges we have told the young people that they need to ask us if they want to do a challenge and they have to do it all on their own with minimal help from us (obviously I will need to help with the video but just provide guidance and equipment) through this we hope to encourage them to use their own initiative and ideas, some of the tasks are quite creative. Also, since each of the challenge cards need to be signed when the task is done, they need to keep the card safe and in good condition, hopefully teaching them to look after their own possessions, something many of them also find difficult. Many of the tasks are also service based, and therefore teaching them to serve others too.
I really hope that some will do the more difficult tasks as this will enable them to win the competition and be the youth who has completed the most tasks. They all have a very active sense of competition and so I think that come June I will have some requests for videos!
Other than that I am also hanging out with the English School on Tuesday nights and hope soon to be able to join them on Tuesday afternoons to help with their pronunciation. They are a great bunch, just 4 students, Diana and Elisabeth who I know well already as both have worked with us here at El Refugio, and 2 boys from other cities. Also I have been looking around at hotels and Apartments for when my mum and sister come to visit me in May
sorry no pictures today, will take some of the meetings at the church and post them with next weeks blog! I keep forgetting to take my camera!!
God Bless
Petra
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