Dateline: November 30, 2004
As
the singing started in the auditorium of Ja Re Kawinak on the morning of
November 22, I looked over at Margie to see if her eyes were as filled with
tears of joy as mine were. They
were! You see we were listening to
the first ever choral group of Uspantecos singing in Uspanteco before a large
gathering of children at the Vacation Bible School 2004.
We had asked Miguel Hernandez, the literacy teacher at the
Uspanteco Center in Las Pacayas, to have his literacy students ready to sing
three songs at the opening of each of the 10 sessions of VBS.
And here they were---16 boys and girls, singing loud and clear in Uspanteco
praising the LORD.
The weeklong VBS was led by Rebeca de Franco, the director of
Cristo Para Todas Las Naciones, [Christ For All The Nations] which is a Lutheran
Hour Ministry here in Guatemala.
Cristobal Us Carrillo, our co-worker and manager of the
Uspanteco Center, simultaneously translated into Uspanteco the prayers and Bible
lessons that were presented in Spanish by Rebeca and the 3 volunteers who
accompanied her from Guatemala City.
The walls of the auditorium were covered with pages from a
national newspaper. This was to
emphasize the difference between the generally bad news that the world has to
offer in contrast with The Good News from God's Word.
After the Bible lesson was taught, 45 minutes was devoted to
crafts and coloring activities that highlighted each day's Bible lesson.
Then it was time to have some fun in singing a song with lots of actions or to
watch a video entitled: Red Boots for Christmas.
This Christmas story taught that the best gift of all is God's gift of
Jesus to us and as God gave His Son to us, it is better to give to others than
to receive gifts.
At the end of the VBS, all 351 children in attendance were given a copy of the
Red Boots for Christmas booklet.
We give praise to the LORD and thanks to: Rebeca, Becky, Rodolfo, and Kimberly.
To see how more songs are recorded in Uspanteco click
here. To see what happened in 2006 click here.
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
