UpLIFTing!

This week we welcomed a team of LIFT students from Camp-of-the-Woods in upstate New York.  LIFT stands for Leaders in Further Training, a semester-long program to disciple a new generation of Christian leaders (ages 19-26).  Check out their website for more about this great program: http://www.camp-of-the-woods.org/lift-discipleship/?view=mobile

The Social Work site is blessed to have Larissa and Laura working with us.  Both are enthusiastic, out-going and really interested in connecting in El Callejon.  They’ve already jumped in with both feet.  Sara, our Bethel Semester Student, has been with us for two weeks now.  She, too, is a great addition to the Site!

Sara (front left) leads an activity
for the teens - the LIFTers!

We started our week with a party – a Christmas Party for our Teens.  (It’s early, but we wrap up regular activities in November to focus on Weddings.)  Even though they don’t speak a lot of Spanish, as the teens arrived Laura and Larissa both began talking with them, doing their best to communicate.  It was so wonderful to see! 

It’s been a good year with our two teen groups, and we pray that as they end the year, they will continue to seek God in their lives.  We know it can be challenging for them, when so much of the world is telling them to live only for their own pleasure.  We’ll be praying for them, and invite you to do so, too!

Some of the girls got more into the growling than others...
but they are all simply adorable, don't you think?!

Today our Little Girls were treated to an awesome craft that Laura and Larissa came up with yesterday.  The Bible story was Daniel in the Lions’ Den, and so they made pie plate lion masks. 

It was great fun – and quite messy! – for the girls to paint with bright yellow, red and orange.  By the end, some of the girls were ‘wearing’ as much paint as their masks had, but thankfully, it was water-based!

In the afternoon, we shared a special time with the women.  We want to end the year focused not on the parties and gifts and extravagances of Christmas, but instead, on the true gift, Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. 

We began with a time of praise and worship.  The women love to sing, and it is a joy to hear them lift up praises to God.  Accompanied by Daisy on handheld drums, and the women’s claps and keeping time on the table, they sang song after song.  One of the kind of funny ones talks about Satan being a fireman but he cannot put out the fire of God. 

After singing, we watched a short ‘animated’ video from the Biblia iLumina showing Jesus and the disciples at the Last Supper.  It is in Spanish, and helps the women who cannot always read to understand the story better. 

Daisy then explained that we would be ending our year by sharing in the Lord’s Supper.  She explained the importance of it, how it symbolizes Jesus body and blood given for us on the cross.  Sara read Psalm 51, and Daisy invited the women to pray and confess their sins and then join in remembering Jesus’ sacrifice.

It was beautiful to be sitting in the Social Work site, sharing together in this simple Communion of crackers and grape juice.  Our prayer is that the women continue to grow in their understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice, increasing their desire to live lives obedient to His good and perfect will.

What a privilege to share together as sisters in Christ, across cultures, languages, experiences, and even ages.  We rejoice in God’s work this year, and look forward to the rest of our time with our ‘LIFTers’ as they are known.