La Primera Dia

I know you were all so worried that we wouldn't make it through the church service, but we did. It was amazing what God did in the eight testimonies of our team members. Pam, Steve, Shawn, Cindy, Paul, Ive and Don spoke about why they come here to Culiacan. Emmanuel is in between pastors at the moment so our team provided the sermon. Almost all of our team members got very emotional when talking about how God works in such great ways and the relationships we have with these people. Yes, even the big, tough (adorable) men cried. At that time, I, Emily, turned to Nicole and Lucia and said "I love our team." Those testimonies really made me realize what the ministry has grown to and the impact it makes on any person involved.

A woman named Carol at Emmanuel had said to Carol Buckhout that the congregation is really discouraged at this time with no pastor and they need confirmation that they can make a difference. When Carol Buckhout asked  if our service had helped with that at all, Carol said that without a doubt it inspired the congregation.

After lunch at the church, we had a meeting with the women of Emmanuel about the crafts for VBS this week. The men played Cribbage. We then stopped at Walmart and went to the Templo Bautista Sion to celebrate the aniversary of the church. Many of our team members expressed how awesome it was to see people from multiple different churches all worshiping together and in one church. There were poeple from North Haven, Sion, Emmanuel, the church from Renato Vega, and few other ones that we didn't know.

We arrived at Papas Locas as the team from Worthington was finishing their meal. The new members on our team enjoyed the meal and almost everyone, as always, overate. We tried a new drink called Sorbada made with wheat and vanilla. It tastes like chocolate and caramel. It is delicious!

While at Papas Locas, Ulises told us that he, Lalo, Julio, Abram and some other men from  Emmanuel were going to play a game of futbol at a field a block down on the church rec team. We stopped by and watched the game for about 45 minutes. When we left, the score was 3-2, us.

When we got back to the hotel, we discussed the day during our daily rooftop meeting along with cathing up with some of the Worthington team. We had some major prayer requests and very good reportings of the days.

Prayer requests:

A women at Emmanuel told Cindy that her 10 year-old nephew was diagnosed with brain cancer last summer. He is not confined to his bed, not being able to speak. The woman said he has much faith and believes he will be healed. This father, however is not a christian and is compeletely devistated. She asked that we come to see her son and give the family encouragement and pray for a miracle.

After our morning service at Emmanuel, a women came in off of the streets asking for help and money for her "medicine" we were informed that she is addicted to drugs. Egla, from Puenta de Vida, he this women on her mind all day and requests that we pray for her, as she is imprisoned with this addiction.

Nicole Renee and Emily June