Noche de Vida....

....is a once-a-month youth night that happens the last Saturday of every month. We alternate between having it in Cofradia and Arrayanes. For January, we were in Cofradia, and it happened to be while His Place construction team was here. It was a great night. We started the evening with a slideshow from the Christmas soccor tournament. Then we played this new quiz game we've started called "Quien Quiere Quinientos?" ("Who Wants 500?"). It's sort of like "Who Wants to be a Millionaire?", but it's Bible trivia, and the most they can win is 500 pesos (about $50USD). That was fun. We choose the player (only one each month) through a rafle. The guy who got it didn't make it past the second question, but oh well! At least he gave it a shot! Then we moved on to worship and the message. Our speaker was one of our own youth--Martin. He is the oldest son of the pastor in Arrayanes, and the Lord has done so much in Martin's life over the last 2 years. He spent a year at a Bible school in Oaxaca, and has been here since the summer, and then he plans to return to school this fall to complete the second and final year of the program. His desire is to preach and share the gospel, espeically with youth and the indigenous population. Anyway, his message that night was about "Making Decisions", and it was a great message. Lots of kids came up for prayer during prayer time including the entire rap band that Martin and his brother Ruben have started.

Speaking of prayer time, I wanted to recount a little story. I was talking with Sandy and Mili after the evening was over and they related the following to me: Pola and I were the female youth leaders who were up front to pray with the girls. Mili and Sandy had both come up but were behind some of the other girls being prayed for. I was praying with some of the other girls, but when I looked up at the end of praying I saw Sandy and Mili both praying on their own each with one other girl: Mili with Ana and Sandy with Pati! I was so surprised to see this, that afterward I asked Sandy what happened because she went up to receive prayer and ended up offering it! She told me that she did get prayed for by Pola, and so did Pati. When prayer time started, she asked Pati if she wanted to go up, and Pati seemed nervous about it. She told Sandy that she wasn't ready to receive Christ and didn't want to go up alone, and Sandy assured her that she could still be prayed for. So, she said she wanted that and they went up and Pola prayed for them (they are the three all the way to the right in the pic..Sandy in the stripes with her hand on Pati's back). When they were done, Pati hugged Sandy and was crying. Sandy said she just felt in her gut that there was something more to pray for Pati, so she asked her if there was something else specific for which she wanted prayer. She shared about some problems at home in her family and also that she wanted prayer that her parents would keep letting her come to church. So, Sandy just started praying for her. She said she just kept praying and praying and was suprised at how easily the prayer came out of her. She was just so excited because she said that was the first time something like that had happened to her, where God used her in that kind of a way, and it was so cool to her!

A similar thing happened with Ana and Mili as well. They have formed a bit of a connection and talk pretty easily. Ana confides in Mili and seeks her advice on things. After being prayed for, Ana turned and hugged Mili who was behind her. Mili asked if something else was going on, and Ana shared with her. So, Mili started praying for her as well. She said the same thing happened in that the prayer just started rolling off her tongue and she wasn't even sure what she was saying, but that it was a really cool experience! It's just so neat to see how the Lord is working in these two girls. He obviously has something very special planned for them! What a glorious priveledge to watch it beginning to unfold!