Happy Birthday Iglesia Biblica de Mallasilla! Today, we celebrated our first year as a church- what a great opportunity to look back and rejoice in all that God has done and all He has brought us through! Scotty and I were unable to make it to the service, as it's still quite exhausting for me to be out for that long- plus the unknown of how Natalie will act for so many hours outside of the house. Breastfeeding in public is very normal here, with really no other options, and I haven't quite mastered that skill yet. All that to say, we just made it to the second part of the service, the anniversary celebration. We took a look back at how God joined a group of Christians already meeting here in Mallasilla with the team from our mother church in the home of a neighborhood family- the many neighbors who were invited and started attending- the new friendships that were formed- the Cuban doctors who received Christ (2 of whom are now back in Cuba, sharing their new hope with their families)- the first Baptism service- the miraculous raising of $185,000 and purchase of land for our future church site- the move to the nearby Christian school where we have room to grow and play- the small groups that were formed, etc... The church we came from sent one of their elders to preach, our pastors father-in-law, who is a pastor, came to speak and pray his blessings over us and all that God has for our future., and many friends and family members were also invited. Shortly after we arrived, us and the other missionary family that was pivotal in the start of the church were called up along with out pastor and his family to be prayed over. It was neat to bring Natalie up with us and realize that we are a family of 3 now and are introducing her into this blessed lifestyle of missionary service to the Lord. Our prayer is that her heart will be drawn toward the nations and sharing the love of Christ with them in however God has gifted her to do so. Although I was tired and a bit stressed from a tough morning, it was a breath of fresh air to be worshipping with our church again and be reminded that God is so much bigger than the little day to day frustrations, confusions, and trials that come my way with a newborn. Natalie was awesome and slept through everything.
All the kids from the neighborhood came by and stared intently at her in her car seat, asking me if she opens her eyes (maybe thinking about how puppies don't open their eyes for a few days??), what the seat belt was for, if she was a girl or boy... Many other friends who haven't had the chance to see her also came by to give their warm congratulations, stare at her asleep in her seat, and offer their comments about her size, weight, color, etc... According to Bolivians, she's enormous (a little over 8 pounds) and looks like me (not in the enormous sense). It will be fun to get back into life little by little as she gets a bit older and share her more with the great friends God has surrounded us with.
Happy Birthday Iglesia Biblica de Mallasilla! Today, we celebrated our first year as a church- what a great opportunity to look back and rejoice in all that God has done and all He has brought us through! Scotty and I were unable to make it to the service, as it's still quite exhausting for me to be out for that long- plus the unknown of how Natalie will act for so many hours outside of the house. Breastfeeding in public is very normal here, with really no other options, and I haven't quite mastered that skill yet. All that to say, we just made it to the second part of the service, the anniversary celebration. We took a look back at how God joined a group of Christians already meeting here in Mallasilla with the team from our mother church in the home of a neighborhood family- the many neighbors who were invited and started attending- the new friendships that were formed- the Cuban doctors who received Christ (2 of whom are now back in Cuba, sharing their new hope with their families)- the first Baptism service- the miraculous raising of $185,000 and purchase of land for our future church site- the move to the nearby Christian school where we have room to grow and play- the small groups that were formed, etc... The church we came from sent one of their elders to preach, our pastors father-in-law, who is a pastor, came to speak and pray his blessings over us and all that God has for our future., and many friends and family members were also invited. Shortly after we arrived, us and the other missionary family that was pivotal in the start of the church were called up along with out pastor and his family to be prayed over. It was neat to bring Natalie up with us and realize that we are a family of 3 now and are introducing her into this blessed lifestyle of missionary service to the Lord. Our prayer is that her heart will be drawn toward the nations and sharing the love of Christ with them in however God has gifted her to do so. Although I was tired and a bit stressed from a tough morning, it was a breath of fresh air to be worshipping with our church again and be reminded that God is so much bigger than the little day to day frustrations, confusions, and trials that come my way with a newborn. Natalie was awesome and slept through everything. 
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