I was pretty happy that the worship team at my church in Huánuco let me join them my final Sunday in town. At the Saturday afternoon practice, I get bombarded by a host of new songs (in Spanish of course). I take notes furiously and then head home to search for the songs on iTunes. If I buy and then listen to the new songs all Saturday night, and Sunday morning while getting ready for church, I'm usually roughly ready to sing them in front of church! Or at least to sing "La, la la" to the right tune. :)
After the singing, the pastors surprised me by asking me to share with the church about my move to Lima (where I'll return after I visit the States this fall). They thanked my friends and church in the States (Cedar Mill Bible Church) for their donations which helped us purchase monitors for my Huánuco church this year. I was really touched as Pastor Juan prayed over me with the congregation.After the service, the worship team had fun taking pictures with a friend's camera (mine is broken, hence the lack of blog entries lately!). But it was bittersweet, knowing it was my last ordinary Sunday in Huánuco for me. How wonderful to make such sweet connections with people that it means our departures will be at least a little bit bitter. I think my first prayer request when I moved to Huánuco 19 months ago was for friendships. Praise God for a lot of answers to that request.
