Friday

On Friday Andrew took the team from Northern Ireland on a tour of several key sites in Proyecto MEFI. We have put much thought and prayer into the best way to show teams the ministry first hand. In the past we took them to see a couple of groups of kids which was always full of variables. We couldn't guarantee the number of kids who would turn up nor the attitude with which they would meet us.

Our new plan leads teams around several groups with key stories - one group that no longer exists because of suicide, death and hardship, another group that hardly exists because of the tireless and faithful visits and work of the Proyecto MEFI team encouraging the kids to see God's plan for their lives and seeing them leave the streets. They visit a couple of other groups where they hear details of who these kids are, where they come from etc. and what we do with them. The tour finishes off in the Drop-In Centre where they hear about the vision for the ministry.

All-in-all the information coupled with the visual impact of seeing these kids in situation (something we just can't adequately describe) give a much more accurate picture of the ministry and is much more effective in helping people to know how to pray.

Meanwhile I left Tabitha off with her Tias Margaret and Robin (fellow missionaries) who looked after her for the afternoon. I headed out to La Loma to give training in anticipation of the Holiday Bible Club. We had a really good session and the team tolerated my Spanish for 4 hours (though I tried to keep things as interactive as possible!). We looked at the importance of relationships in kids ministry and how to best achieve them. We talked about the value of kids ministry and its potential. We discussed aims for the Holiday Bible Club and how we would achieve those aims. Then we looked briefly at learning styles and took one of the lessons and looked at how it addressed the different learning styles and how we could further develop it for one.

Then we talked about the theme and timetable of the week and distributed responsibilities. Towards the end of the session (by which time everyone was getting very tired!) we reviewed the key points as we talked about how Mex-i-Kids could be improved. Thanks for you prayers. It was an intense experience for me and the first time I have taught such a long session in Spanish. I felt the group were very responsive and it was wonderful to see them put some of what they had learned into practice on Saturday.

Please continue to pray as we prepare for the Holiday Bible Club (VBS). It takes place from the 6th-10th August and we have several responsibilities during the week e.g. translation for the team from N.I who will be helping us, directing the adolescents, helping to co-ordinate the program and leading the music...and no doubt a few other things too! We're hoping for 150-200 kids and that Mex-i-Kids will be a great follow-up program. The teaching is based on the life of David and much work has been going into the whole experience.