SPAIN TEAM 2009
Our first festival was Saturday night - the same day we arrived. Tired? YES Confused? YES Chaotic? YES
The good news is the God was not tired or confused and He is not a God of chaos. God spoke to hearts this first night and over 30 people prayed, at the festival, to accept Christ as their Lord and Savior. PRAISE THE LORD!
explaining the Gospel using the bead bracelets
We quickly got the hang of things and our typical day went something like this:
9 am - meet for devotions
10:30 am - drive to town where we are having that night's festival
11 am - hand out flyers to advertise upcoming festival
12:30 pm - drive back to SEFOVAN seminary http://worldlinkministries.org/ministry/spain/sefovan-graduation-2009.html
1 pm - eat lunch at seminary
2 pm - siesta (which to Porter kids translates 'swimming')
5 pm - meet in hotel lobby dressed in team shirt, jeans, boots, bandana, cowboy hat
6 pm - drive to town and start festival set-up
7 pm - festival begins (the truth is that as soon as we started setting up the crowds gathered - and the fun began immediately)
7-10 pm - hand out Gospel bead bracelets, paint faces, make balloon animals, play carnival games, line dance, chicken dance, listen to the Gospel presentation (in espanol), give out hot dogs --repeat as many times as possible --
10 pm - take down and clean up11 pm - eat dinner at local church
12 midnight - drive back to hotel
12:30 am - wash 4 little faces, clean 8 little feet, brush cute little teeth, put on clean PJs
1 am - SLEEP
Limbothis game didn't work too well - it got replaced with the AWESOME balloon making
the AWESOME balloon making
cactus roping
line dancing
dinner at local church
Here are quick reports about each night:
Festival #1:
Like I said we were exhausted, it was chaotic, but God showed up in a mighty way. We had 32 people pray at the festival to accept Christ.
Festival #2:
This festival was in a more affluent town. Manny prepared us ahead of time that often there is not a good turn out in places of higher economic wealth. We weren't expecting a big crowd and, quite frankly, we weren't expecting to see any souls saved. Again, God is bigger than us and He was evident throughout the night. We had a big, energetic, fun crowd - many many young kids hung out all night. We had a BLAST this night and witnessed 11 people pray to accept Christ.
Festival #3:
Both festival 3 and 4 were held in the same town. This area was a town of lower income and great need --- the people were awesome!! The festivals were in a small ampitheater setting that was really fun. Craig, John, Devon and Luke made balloons -- they were slammed the entire night -- I mean busy like you can't imagine busy. They ran out of the long twisting balloons, but kept up the pace with round balloons they made into baseballs and smiley faces. At festival #3 we had 32 people pray for their personal salvation and accept Christ.
Festival #4:
This was our last night - it was bitter sweet. We were so tired, and our feet had blisters and hurt, but God was being glorified and His work was being done and we were so blessed in the process. We had the routine down pretty well by the last festival. The only things that got a bit crazy were handing out our extra cowboys hats and bandanas (a bit crazy is a HUGE understatement -- it was down right insane) and the hot dog stand hit an all time high on the crazy meter. I decided it was probably best that I didn't understand Spanish, because I could just keep handing out hot dogs and Coca-Cola with a smile because I didn't have a clue what they were saying. Are you ready to read how many accepted Christ? Wait for it ..... wait for it .... 111. Honestly, that is not a typo, 111 people prayed to accept Christ as their personal Savior. We cried, we cheered, we had chill bumps and we praised the ONE TRUE GOD!!
It's not about the numbers, but it is about the numbers!! This whole trip would have been worth it for ONE person to have eternal life. We praise God for every single person that we will see in heaven some day. Can you imagine what an amazing day that will be?
We know that hundreds and probably thousands of seeds were planted and that God will reap the harvest in His time.
Please pray for those that are new believers, both those that prayed with someone at the festival and those that prayed privately that we don't know about. Pray that they will get connected with the local church (which, by the way, will actively pursue them). And, please pray for those that heard but did not make a decision --- pray for them to choose Christ!!
the AWESOME balloon making
cactus roping
line dancing
dinner at local church
Here are quick reports about each night:
Festival #1:
Like I said we were exhausted, it was chaotic, but God showed up in a mighty way. We had 32 people pray at the festival to accept Christ.
Festival #2:
This festival was in a more affluent town. Manny prepared us ahead of time that often there is not a good turn out in places of higher economic wealth. We weren't expecting a big crowd and, quite frankly, we weren't expecting to see any souls saved. Again, God is bigger than us and He was evident throughout the night. We had a big, energetic, fun crowd - many many young kids hung out all night. We had a BLAST this night and witnessed 11 people pray to accept Christ.
Festival #3:
Both festival 3 and 4 were held in the same town. This area was a town of lower income and great need --- the people were awesome!! The festivals were in a small ampitheater setting that was really fun. Craig, John, Devon and Luke made balloons -- they were slammed the entire night -- I mean busy like you can't imagine busy. They ran out of the long twisting balloons, but kept up the pace with round balloons they made into baseballs and smiley faces. At festival #3 we had 32 people pray for their personal salvation and accept Christ.
Festival #4:
This was our last night - it was bitter sweet. We were so tired, and our feet had blisters and hurt, but God was being glorified and His work was being done and we were so blessed in the process. We had the routine down pretty well by the last festival. The only things that got a bit crazy were handing out our extra cowboys hats and bandanas (a bit crazy is a HUGE understatement -- it was down right insane) and the hot dog stand hit an all time high on the crazy meter. I decided it was probably best that I didn't understand Spanish, because I could just keep handing out hot dogs and Coca-Cola with a smile because I didn't have a clue what they were saying. Are you ready to read how many accepted Christ? Wait for it ..... wait for it .... 111. Honestly, that is not a typo, 111 people prayed to accept Christ as their personal Savior. We cried, we cheered, we had chill bumps and we praised the ONE TRUE GOD!!
"I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:10
We could almost hear the rejoicing from heaven!!It's not about the numbers, but it is about the numbers!! This whole trip would have been worth it for ONE person to have eternal life. We praise God for every single person that we will see in heaven some day. Can you imagine what an amazing day that will be?
We know that hundreds and probably thousands of seeds were planted and that God will reap the harvest in His time.
Please pray for those that are new believers, both those that prayed with someone at the festival and those that prayed privately that we don't know about. Pray that they will get connected with the local church (which, by the way, will actively pursue them). And, please pray for those that heard but did not make a decision --- pray for them to choose Christ!!
