Day 3 - The Center "El Comunitario Cristiano"

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Karen told us they serve lunch after the 1pm message so we planned on being at the Center around 12:30pm for our first time there. That gave us all morning to enjoy the beach and water. I guess part of the luxury of being on any vacation is having the Mom and Dad's full-time attention for the kids - it's been extra wonderful - at least for Geoff and I. 😊 Mary's gotten her hair braided and combed more than she'd ever care for, but she's coming around! Pearl doesn't mind it as much. It's really been fun for me to braid both my daughters' hair in the mornings!

Remember how yesterday's blog ended with our prayer as a family to have more laughter. Well, I woke up early today and read from "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. June 17 read, "Learn to laugh at yourself more freely. Don't take yourself or your circumstances so seriously. Relax and know that I am God with you. When you desire My will above all else, life becomes much less threatening. Stop trying to monitor My responsibilities - things that are beyond your contro. Find freedom by accepting the boundaries of your domain. Laughter lightens your load and lifts your heart to heavenly places. Your laughter rises to heaven and blends with angelic melodies of praise." Proverbs 17:22 "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones." God keeps affirming our prayers and our hearts' desire to be fully his! Thank you, Jesus!

While playing in the shells, Benny found us again. I asked him where we can buy fresh flour tortillas. He said he could go get some for us right now. We decided to do business. I asked him to bring 2 dozen tortillas to us the next morning and the kids and I would look at his bracelets and animals. It was a fun business transaction! Although we haven't paid yet, Geoff's not looking forward to buying trinkets. 😊

We ate Cup O Noodles and sandwiches for an early lunch and wrote down some personal goals we'd like to see God do in each of our hearts. Then we read Colossians 1 and AGAIN God put our discussion into his words through verses 9-14! I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Maybe at home we just got too comfortable with regular life and forgot that God speaks to us constantly - often we're just too busy to hear him.

As soon as we got to the Center we had a tour. Sean took us outside to the Compost, Greenhouse and Gardens. They could have the whole San Rafael neighborhood farming with all the starter plants they have! The corn was ready to be harvested and the tomatoes and peppers were plentiful! So Cool! In an outside area off the Kitchen they have their second-hand store "La Segunda". Where they have volunteers organizing the clothing and items. Mark and Karen "sell" the items pretty inexpensively to neighbors. They learned to not just give things away from reading the book, "When Helping Hurts" by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert. They have more of a wholistic approach to missions work and it's been a blessing to their staff to learn these principles.

Inside the Center people started arriving for the messge and lunch. Geoff was impressed by a few of the local men who came early to read the Word together. Usually it's women gathering together. It was neat to see. Mark preached from 2 Timothy 1:3-14. Verses 6-7 "For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands. For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline." Eneida interpreted and prayed. We got to help serve lunch and clean up afterwards. Then the children gathered for their Bible reading and activities. It was wonderful to be with them! They have fullness of joy in their smiles and eyes and so immediately love others. They welcomed us with giggles and hugs and made us instantly feel like part of their family. "His Banner over me is Love."

We made it back to our condo after getting quite lost trying to find this one Ice Cream place Geoff and Jaedon had been to last year. Geoff was determined - and some of you must have been praying - because I stayed gracious and calm. 45 minutes later we were out of the scary places we were driving in and Geoff did it - there was "Michoacan". The ice cream and fruit drinks were well worth the risky driving! 😊 We had a simple dinner of hot dogs and chips and salsa. Watched a few episodes of Daffy Duck's "Duck Dodgers" and went to bed - done and doner!

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