A Change of Thought

This morning kicked off our classes for the men and women. Thad Butts, who is a principal at the Alabama Gulf Coast Christian Academy, prepared an excellent lesson for the men's class and I heard great things about it. Linda Moran, a professor at Freed-Hardeman, has done a fantastic job with her preparations for the women's class. From what I heard, she has weeks worth of material packed into a few days, but I know the women are enjoying their discussions and small groups. I know lots of knowledge is being shared through these classes and I hope there continues to be a good turn out for them.

We have a big announcement for today...IT WAS ABBY'S BIRTHDAY!!! We were all excited to celebrate the very special 16th birthday of Abigail, who is a girl from the Old Hickory congregation. She has been a great member of our team so far and I have enjoyed getting to know her. I'm so glad she decided to come on the trip despite the fact that she spent her birthday in another country. I, for one, think that is an awesome way to spend your birthday and I hope she appreciated how special it was. We were even able to get a cake for her!! (See picture below)

Our lesson tonight was brought to us by our brother Videl. He spoke concerning our mind and how nowadays so many minds think only evil. But through the gospel, you can change your mind and how you think, and why it is so important to have our mind on good things so that we can act on those good thoughts. He explained that our hope to change our minds is found in Christ, His sacrifice and resurrection. The gospel is the power of God to change our thoughts.

We had the great pleasure of having our first VBS performance this afternoon. Our audience was about 100 elementary and middle school students and their teachers. We began by singing songs with them which were led by Jennifer and Karla. Then we performed two skits which were both interactive and very funny. All those involved did a marvelous job and were very animated. We are very grateful Pablo, who is playing the part of himself, Paul. Pablo was one of our last minute additions to the trip, and is actually the brother of Diego, one of our primary translators. He did an excellent job acting out the part of Saul persecuting Christians, and then on the road to Damascus. After the skits, the children were split into two groups, the older kids and the younger ones. In these groups we had one station with an activity and one with a Bible story. The children seemed to love having us there and I hope they get a thirst for more knowledge about the gospel.

From what I have heard about the Bible studies which took place today, they went quite well. I know of at least 2 that they have scheduled another Bible study for tomorrow. This is very encouraging and we hope that through our door knocking we can reach more souls who need to be saved. 

Tomorrow is another full day of VBS in the morning and afternoon, classes at the church in the morning, door knocking in the afternoon, and the gospel meeting with the children's class at night. Keep us all in your prayers and we hope that all is well back home in the States.

In Christian love,

Leah

GO VOLS!