After another delicious breakfast at our hotel, our team split into two groups to serve in Leon and another community called Posaltega. Both places have churches that run feeding centers for the local kids in the community and are connected through a Pastor named Chepe that has served in both churches.
The group that stayed in Leon spent the morning doing a cleaning project at the local school that is right next to the church. They spent a couple hours picking up trash, cutting back some long grass, and sweeping all of the floors. Pastor Jose Luis at Verbo Leon would love to see a stronger connection develop between the church and school, so this was a great way to start building the relationship between the two of them. After cleaning the school, the group headed back to the church to help prepare lunch for the kids that come each day to be fed. The group was cutting melons, cleaning plates, and making rice to serve to the kids. It was inspirational to watch the Leon group not care about how hot the kitchen felt or how tight the space was, but instead do whatever it took to serve the kids that came that day. After eating their own lunch, the team transitioned to part two of the Noah vbs lesson they had started the previous day. Luke talked about how in the midst of all the rain that covered the Earth, God remembered Noah and the animals. God stopped the rain and provided for them so that they could carry God's vision into the world once again. After the brief lesson all of the kids participated in a rainbow craft (since God established the rainbow in the Noah story) so that each of them could take home a rainbow that will hopefully remind them that God wants to help us when we are willing to cry out to him in the midst of struggles in our life. Finally, the team finished their day at Leon by playing soccer with the kids and pouring out a lot of love and care to those kids.
The Posaltega team was greeted very warmly upon their arrival this morning. The pastor there was so grateful for our coming and encouraged us multiple times to make ourselves at home. We then split up in to three small groups to walk through the community there. Moving from house to house, students were encouraged to share how they met Jesus, as well as offer a bible to the individual they were addressing. It was humbling to hear the prayer requests of the people we met. Despite their poverty, their prayers were not for physical luxuries or conveniences, but rather for family, unity, health, and work. Afterwards we came back to the church and played with the kids for a little bit before lunch. We assisted in serving lunch, carrying the children's cups and bowls on trays from their tables to the kitchen and back. The team mentioned being inspired by the kitchen workers, who cooked food for all of those kids and then still prepared a meal for us following. After lunch the kids participated in a classroom activity practicing math, and then we had the chance to share about Noah and the ark. Much like the lesson we gave in Leon yesterday, we shared about how our choices have consequences and how God does desire what is best for us. We'll get to finish the story tomorrow! After the lesson, we handed out snacks to the kids while they went home for the day, and then we boarded the bus and made our way back to Leon to pick up the rest of our team there.
After both groups finished we all met back up for dinner and an evening porch time gathering where we had some great laughs and worshipful moments. Luke talked about the meaning of incarnational ministry and what it really means to see Jesus in the flesh. He used Matthew 25 to talk about the reality that when we serve "the least of these" in the world that we are actually serving Jesus and then he used Colossians 1:27 to talk about the mysterious truth that Jesus can live in us. Following the talk the groups split up into their small groups to continue to process the idea of encountering Jesus in the flesh and actually being Jesus to other people.
We will be splitting up between the two feeding centers again tomorrow so check back for another update tomorrow.
