First Meeting!

Today was our first "reunion semanal" (weekly meeting) of Vida Estudiantil at ULA. It was a very odd (as opposed to what will usually occur) meeting because the school was closed today. The school was closed because tonight is the inaugural festival (parade, or something along those lines) of the university games between the universities in Venezuela (which we will be attending, perhaps I'll have more stories about those later....). Due to the school closure, we couldn't get a room on campus in which to have our weekly meeting - so we had it in the office (which is just across the street from campus). We did a mad scramble yesterday evening (because no plans had been finalized until then) to invite as many people as we could and email and text as many people as we had numbers for to tell them to come.

Our mad dash efforts, and God's providence (of course!) brought a ton of new people to the meeting (and of course, many "old" students as well). We ran out of chairs and a majority of people had to sit along the wall/edge of the balcony.











At the meeting, we had some get-to-know-you fun game type activities. 2 great emcees, Andrea and Jatniel, and one brave student (he's also on the servant team) Jesús who gave part of his testimony, for the message. He did a great job. I was impressed and really appreciated getting to hear part of his story.

For a big finale we did some acoustic worship. Keren and Llanira led us in a few "alabanzas" (Spanish worship). I didn't know the words, but I had fun clapping along and enjoying the joyful atmosphere that these students create in their praise of the Lord.

All in all the meeting went great! We always provide lunch after the meeting (we have a great friend named Sonia who works at the church CENFOL and she helps us out by making a huge amount of food). People stayed, ate, and chatted until we finally left at 3:30 (the meeting started ast 12!). Anyway, it was encouraging and fun - praise the Lord!

A side note: 1 of the 3 delinquent supporters is no longer delinquent, keep praying about the other ones, it's really important! I can't do God's work here without you all and your support. Thank you everyone!