Sunday, March 1, 2020

"Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands..." Psalm 90:17

“MY GOD is so big, so strong and so mighty there’s nothing my God cannot do”.  Our Journey kids have been learning this song in English with the movements and it is such a reminder to us how God has shown up in GREAT and MIGHTY ways this month!  It has been an Amazing month of new and fun activities, new faces, new friendships and multiple blessings.

 As most of you know this is an area where many foreigners come to escape the cold.  Some come for a week, others are here for up to 5 months.  With that, we have had record numbers here at the church; 55 - 70+ attending each week.  Every week we have welcomed new faces and have loved meeting and hearing a little bit of their stories, what brought them to the island or resort, and how they found the church.  Some faces we only get to meet and talk with one time; with others we have built special friendships over these weeks and months of their stay.  And with many, we have already had to say our, “see you again later” with hugs and memories we will treasure.  


 Because there are many that come here for the longer stay, we have started a weekly Women’s gathering and a biweekly Men’s group.  Each week approximately 10 women have gathered for coffee, a short devotional or craft, and have spent time laughing and encouraging each other. One week the ladies made prayer bracelets and another week they helped sew Bible bags for our kids’ that earned new Bibles.  




The Men meet down on the beach for coffee, fellowship and a short devotional.  It has been a good place to be seen by the community.  Last week two men were sitting at a nearby table and were listening as well.  At the close of the meeting they came over and said, “Thank you for what you are doing, it is a great thing.”  




The season for travelers is short lived and will be pretty much over by the beginning of April.  So, we are taking advantage of this time and loving the extra activities we get to do.  We had a movie night showing  “War Room”. We have shared many meals together and have had many coffee dates with people getting to know them and hear their hearts.  Many come with a heart to share Jesus and could possibly help us in the future.  


We had a special time of recognition for 13 of our kids on Sunday the 23rd.  Each week our kids are given points for attendance and points for memorizing Bible verses.  Every 3 months they get to spend their points in the Journey store.  But this month they all worked extra hard to earn their own Bibles.  The littlest ones received a VeggieTales Bible, others received Adventure Bibles, and the oldest received a Bible for Young leaders.  Most of the Bibles of course were in Spanish, but we have two young students that are fluent in 3 languages so they were given English.  It was a wonderful day to highlight them and the work God is doing in them!



Serving Together for the KINGDOM
Bruce & Janine