Church

We went to the Iglesia Bautista (Baptist Church) that is about 10 minutes from our home today! I have never, in all my life, felt so welcomed and invited in a church. The people are wonderful. The sermon was about the importance of the family teaching the children God's word. He preached (from Timothy) about how so many people are concerned about their children's education, what activities the kids are involved in and how they are doing socially, but they aren't concerned about instilling God's Holy Word into their hearts. He said that most people in Peru say they can't afford a Bible, but yet they have a big screen television in their homes and only a "free" Gideon's Bible of the New Testament. OUCH! He said that it should NOT be that a child can name ALL of the characters from a television show (or many shows for that matter), but if you ask them "Who is Daniel?" "What did Moses do?" "Who was Joshua?" That the kids have no clue about these great "REAL PEOPLE" of faith. WOW! Obviously, he said A LOT more, but that stood out to me. His heart for children and the family was extremely evident. And NO ONE there thought it was odd that I choose to homeschool my children. That is definitely a first here in Peru.

His sermon encouraged me as a parent, as a Christian and was right on for our family. It is a very family oriented (at least so it seems) church. I had several people today tell me how blessed I am to have so many children and that children are a blessing from the Lord. WOW! That is rare to hear these days.

The kids left bouncing off the walls in excitement. They learned a lot and felt very comfortable there as well.

The church has 2 services and probably about 100-150 people in total with about 100 kids. It is the perfect size for us and we were the only gringos there (except one Australian who is married to a Peruvian). The pastor's wife even offered to give us a ride home if we would stay for the 2nd service for their special kid's activities. We couldn't stay today, but they made us feel just so special to even offer that.

There is a women's Bible Study that I am going to attend on Wednesday as well. I pray this is the church for us to get plugged into so that we can be fed so that we can continue to feed others!