And then there were four...

On Sunday, our fourth and final student teacher moved into Oky's house. Kristen is from Ohio and is student teaching in Kindergarten at the Country Day School. She is so friendly and a great addition to our little family here. Oky has been talking about her since I moved in as if she was already here, so it's nice to finally put a face with a name. She doesn't speak Spanish but in just two days has already begun the learning process.




Also on Sunday I had the opportunity to attend an International Baptist Church. Bethany, a fellow housemate, has gone to this church a few times which she heard of from a friend. It was amazing! Sunday was actually the church's annual International Day celebration so they were doing some extra-special items during the service.

We were greeted getting our of our taxi by a man speaking Spanish. The next person I saw was a man dressed in a red, white, and blue flag print matching sweatsuit. The third person was dressed in authentic African garb. I felt a little out of place in my "average" clothes. It turns out that members of the congregation were encouraged to dress up in the way of their country. There were man and women in every sort of outfit I could have ever imagined! Some of my students were even there dressed in their traditional dress from their home country.

Over the past 3-4 years, there have been congregation members from over 75 countries! During the service, they celebrated the varied ethnicities by a flag presentation from all countries currently represented (that's what is in the picture above) as well as a scripture reading in 16 different languages from Revelation 7:9-10. These verses were perfect for this church. People from every nation and tribe all with the same purpose and the same God.

"After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands. And they were shouting with a mighty shout, “Salvation comes from our God who sits on the throne and from the Lamb!”

There are two church services: one at 8:30 and one at 11:00. In between is a Bible Study/Sunday School hour with classes in English and Spanish. The services are all held in English, but with lots of Spanish or other languages thrown in for songs or readings.

It was such an awesome time of worship and learning. I was blown away by how much it meant to me to be in a place where I felt welcome and accepted unconditionally. Just singing 'Amazing Grace' and 'It is Well' made me tear up and thank God for a place like this for us all to join together as one body. The Sunday School hour was also really powerful. We discussed Song of Solomon, which is a book frequently skipped over, but is so vital to our everyday life. We talked about the power of attraction and learning about what attributes are necessary to have in a spouse. (Geoff had them all, in case you're wondering...)


All in all, it was a fun weekend. I'm now in Week 2 of teaching and next week starts our spring break. Kristen and I will be traveling together so we're hoping to get all of those plans made this week. I'll be sure to keep you informed!

con amor,

Molly