This past week our church held a Vacation Bible School (Escuela Biblica) where we were able to focus on being Jesus' disciples. Every day included a devotion, songs, games, snacks, and a craft. Let's start by testing your Spanish...how much do you understand? (Try not to peek!) lunes: Jesús nos llama para ser sus discípulos martes: Somos sus discípulos porque Él nos salvó miércoles: Los primeros discípulos jueves: Sus discípulos tienen talentos distintos viernes: Jesús nos da la fuerza para ser sus discípulos Let's see how well you did! Monday: Jesus calls us to be His disciples Tuesday: We are His disciples because He saved us Wednesday: The first disciples Thursday: His disciples have different talents Friday: Jesus gives us the strength to be his disciples We sang some fun songs:
We did lots of teamwork activities/games: And of course snacks and crafts! We ended the week with a special outing Friday afternoon to a place out in the country with a pool, four-wheelers, kayaks, zip-line, and pretty much any other fun activity you can imagine! What a blessing it was to be able to share this time together, even if our group was on the small side. We were not discouraged because God promises us that wherever 2 or 3 are gathered in his name, there He is with us and will bless work done in His name! A few months ago at a presentation, the speaker said "Our service as Christians can be summed up like this: We need more people telling more people about Jesus." Boom. Amazingly concise and spot-on summary. I love it. So, today, I ask that you take some time to reflect on how you already are a disciple of Jesus. What talents has He given you to serve Him with? How can you use those talents to serve Him even more? Think of other people in your life...what talents and gifts do they have to serve? How can you encourage others to serve Him together with you? 1 Corintians 12 ~ God wants you today. Matthew 28:19 ~ He wants you for His work right now & He is always there with you. GO AND BE THE DISCIPLE HE HAS MADE YOU TO BE! P.S. All photo credits go to the artistic Mr. Jonathan W. Gross.
Keep watch because he is sure to have some amazing videos coming up soon!
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A lot of people have been asking: "How was your first Christmas in Chile?" The answer? Lovely. Relaxing. Delicious. Hot. Bittersweet. New. Different. Fun. December 24 I "got to" begin Christmas Eve Day by going to school...hooray? I was a bit less than thrilled, but some of the teachers put together a convivencia (little party) together for everyone and then we got to go home around noon. I then spent the afternoon getting my house ready for our party that evening and I even had time to squeeze in a nap! And I would also like to take this opportunity to debut my back patio set-up and decorations I have been working on...what do you think so far?! Later that afternoon I headed to church for our outdoor Christmas Eve Service/Pageant. We read the story of Jesus' birth and sang song after song remembering our Savior's coming to this world to save us! "Goooooo tell it in Linares! Over the hills and everywhere! Go tell it in Linares that Jesus Christ is born!" After the church service, a few fellow immigrants found their way to my house and we had a "Gringo Navidad"! Jon's sister and a friend have come to visit for a few weeks (and so lovingly brought down a few gifts from our families...thanks again, ladies!) We were very excited to have Pastor Tim & Ellen here in Linares to celebrate with us as well! We feasted on lots of meat, played a game, exchanged some gifts, listened to Christmas music, watched the dogs chase each other, and enjoyed some homemade cookies sent from the states! As my guests walked out the gate around 2am...some Chilean friends pulled up in a taxi and we stayed up chatting until about 4:30am...have I mentioned that there are a lot of night-owls in Chile? December 25 After a nice morning of sleeping in with NO alarm clock set (best gift ever!), we drove out to Lago Colbún with the visitors and ended the day eating homemade ice cream in the plaza of Panimávida. Did I mention that it got up to 90 degrees? Not bad, Christmas in Chile, not bad... (I think the dogs had the most fun though!) If you're looking to be warm next Christmas, now you know where to come!
One more week of school work for me and then it is time for Summer Vacation!!!! Bring on 2016! A word I hear used quite often while at school is “flojo” [pronounced flow-hoe]. If you already know Spanish then you are familiar with the term “perezoso”. For those who still don’t understand that, it means “lazy”. You may be saying to yourself: “Wow, Jenny sure is floja with her blogs these days.” And it may seem quite like that...but, why reinvent the wheel?
So, without further ado and in the spirit of being floja, I ask that you journey to Chelsea's blog to read about 6 specific ways that you can get involved! (Chelsea Dietsche teaches English classes on the church property as a form of outreach. She is starting classes again this coming week and has even had to create a waiting list...hooray for such a blessing! Please keep her and her students in your prayers this week.)
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