Tranquilo Bobby, Tranquilo

Thursday night of this week we had an official Church meeting in which all of the members came to put their ideas together for future projects. The main topic of the night was fundraising for the continuing of the construction of the new Church building. Members put their heads together and have planned a number of fundraising activities including food sales, appliance & electronic sales, donation activities, and a raffle for a motorcycle (the most common form of transportation around here), washing machine, and fan (much needed in this country). Also, last week we sent in the appropriate paperwork for Mile Deep International to receive tax-exempt status. We will return from our initial trip here in April and upon arrival will begin setting up a Mile Deep International corporate bank account so that any who want to continue supporting this ministry can make a donation which they can write-off in their federal and state taxes. Another issue talked about in the meeting was that of the youth programs we have helped establish. The adults expressed interest in the youth and many volunteered to continue teaching the Sunday School curriculum that we are writing and to continue discussion with the youth concerning their questions deposited in the question box.

During this week’s Saturday night youth service we had our first discussion/message about the questions deposited in the question box by the youth. There was a definite difference in the attitude of the youth. Almost everyone in attendance engaged in the topics with much interest and the night was filled with laughter, serious moments, sincere advice from adults, and good questions from the youth. Now that we can address the topics that are important to the youth, hopefully there will be many more Saturday nights with the youth that are like this.

This Sunday in between the two church services, there was a baptism service. Two young people from Casa de Dios Puerta del Cielo were baptized along with one teenager and two adults from Centro Cristiano. It was a powerful service with good time of talking and snacking afterward.

This coming Wednesday we leave to set up for the Easter-week youth camp that takes place from Thursday to Sunday. We have been given the responsibility of working with the older youth, late teens to early twenties, and we will be conducting a discussion about renovation our faith. We have heard many stories about these camps (including the pranks committed by these young ones!) and we’re sure that we will have plenty to tell when we come back! Pray for our safety. PLEASE.