Last week, Wilf went visiting in the mountains several times. Earlier in the week, he went with Nico and visited two different villages. They did some Bible teaching and spent the night in one of the churches. On Friday, they headed out again and this time Nate, Kris and little Nico went along. They drove to the bridge (pictured in an earlier post) and then hiked for an hour.
I was a bit concerned for them becuase shortly after they left, we had a major thunder storm in town. Thankfully, they didn't have a storm, but they did take shelter in this church building during a passing rain shower. This is actually the church building for the village they were visiting. They didn't have the service here though because it was too small to hold all the visitors who had come from a neighbouring village.
The service was held at this man's house. Not really in the house, but under his "porch" :)
They made a big event of the service and had a meal before and tamales after the three hour service! Nate is helping the Bible teacher for this town, Santos, keep the fire going for the tamales.

Behind Kris you can see the people sitting under the porch waiting for the service to begin. The service was supposed to begin at 4:00, but it didn't actually start until 7:00-after the neighbouring village brought in their sound system on a mule! Santos has a generator, so they were able to hook up some keyboards and enjoy some singing....for a long time and very loudly! The service went until 10:00, then they still had to eat tamales, and hike back to the truck by moonlight. I was thankful that there was a bright moon becuase earlier that week, Wilf had hiked for over an hour in the dark and rain. This made the bridge crossing quite dangerous.

Of course, at home here, I had thought they would be home by 10:00. When they didn't come in until after midnight I was quite concerned!!

All of the ladies who live in the mountians and the majority of ladies in town, wear this type of outfit that you see in these pictures. The skirt is a colourful, large piece of material that they wrap around their waist several times. The shirts are very lacy, with a lot of bead work on them.

Although the service was very long and they couldn't understand any of it (they didn't even know any of the songs because they were all sung differently than we are familiar with), Nate and Kris still enjoyed going along and are asking to go again-even for an overnight trip!

Wilf is heading out again early tomorrow morning. The kids can't go along this time because they will be visiting two villages that are even further away and the hiking is difficult. Please pray for him as he travels and for the Word as it goes forth. And pray for us at home here. He will be away over night again and the days are long without him.

"How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!""

Isaiah 52:7