Day 4 — Awesome Church Services

The first service this morning was at a church that Hal & Lisa have been ministering in since 1993. We have a great relationship with the pastor and his staff. This is the church of the youth group that traveled to the mountains with us yesterday. There were about 500 people in attendance, and they have awesome praise and worship. Their worship time here typically lasts about 45-60 minutes.

Lisa opened our time and greeted the people. The Kirk Family girls did their jump rope presentation first which was very well received. The people clapped even when they made a mistake, which wasn’t often. Then, Natalie Hoblitzell sang The Healer in Spanish, and they absolutely loved her. The pastor made a comment on how good of a singer she is. Not only that, but there was an anointing on her as Mike Lacy backed her up on the guitar.

After Natalie, our team performed the main drama we do which is called, Everything. There was an anointing on it as well. Hal followed the drama with his message titled, Are You a Friend of God. During his altar call, he had the team to come up and pray with him. You would have been proud at how quickly they jumped in and did this. Several team members even said they had never prayed for anyone before today.  They were pumped about it to say the least!

For lunch we had a special treat! Our contact’s mother, Carmen, made our meal which was served in a room at the church.  Ask anyone who was here; it is not an understatement to say that she is an excellent cook!  She even made Hal’s favorite slaw that he raves about every time he eats it. Trust us! We are not losing weight on this trip.

For the evening service, we traveled about a half an hour to Iglesia El Calvario. Once again their worship was great and very lively. They had young girls dancing in front with streamers during the praise and worship. Then, we did our dramas and songs again. Natalie sang 2 songs in Spanish, of which she received a hearty round of applause from the church. Randy Ellis brought the word on Gideon, and what a time of ministry we had at the end! The people came forward and knelt on the ground while our team laid hands on them. It went on for about an hour! The pastor was so blessed. He probably told us about 5 or 6 times how much he enjoyed it. They even served us a little snack.

When Randy and Renee’ debriefed the team, they kept giving testimony after testimony about what God had done through them today! It was awesome, and when we hear testimonies like these, we remember why we do these trips. Our bus driver even said that the Lord healed his back during the ministry time at the second church. Praise God!

We finished off the day with a quick stop at Taco Bell! Hey, we are south of the border, you know.

Tomorrow, we are ministering at an elementary school and an orphanage. Please continue the Psalm 91 prayers for us.

Hal