Finales are supposed to be special, and my final home visit Thursday afternoon as we closed on our second church plant in four days in Cali, Colombia, didn't disappoint.
Maria Erenia has one of the busier homes in the barrio of Ciudad Cordoba in South Cali. She greeted us warmly at her front door and as I began explaining the purpose of our team of Americans and translators working with a local church on her street, there was a constant flow of traffic in and out her front door and an exchange of greetings.
I inquired about her family to my translator and heard Maria answer by saying "trece hijos."
Tres? 3?
Uh, no. Trece (tray say) hijos. That's 13.
Kate + 8 ... + a starting basketball team. Maria was as solid a mother as I met during our four days out in Cali and thanked us for bringing the message of hope to her area. I jokingly asked if there ever was ever a point where she or her husband thought of screaming "enough" but Maria said they never wavered on adding to the family photo album.
Trece. 2 soccer teams and 1 left to be referee.
Amazingly, nearly everyone we visited inside Maria's home today were nephews and nieces. On the left side of the photo are nephews Carlos and Didier, but in the other photo is the youngest of her 13 children, Cindy, who happens to be 13 ... and appears to be the Under-16 Mayor of her street.
If you're interested, Maria is a young 57 and her family includes eight boys and five girls: Leison (36), Valerio (35), James (34), Sandra (32), Gerardo (31), Tito (29), Lida (25), Asael (23), Nilson (21), Gina (19), Deysi (17), Kevin (15) and Cindy.
Sadly, Maria's husband died three years ago after getting electricuted during a lightning strike, but there was never a bit of sadness on her face during our time in her home.
Our church plant in Cuidad Corboda is a five-month old, three-story building (see photo) which began with the pastor's family and another couple meeting in their second-story home. When we arrived, they had 35 attendees during their latest church service.
If you read the Blog from Tuesday, I likened our Colombian trip to "Extreme Home, err, Church Makeover." After two days in the barrio, our team of 5 Americans/5 translators/5 church members working in groups of 3 saw 151 people accept Christ.
From 35 attendees ... to 151 new Christians looking for a church home.
O Praise Him.
Blessings,
Dave
No comments:
Post a Comment