Lent Outreach - EXTREME

For the last 7 weeks, we have been taking part in an extreme ministry opportunity. In La Paz, it is tradition to make an all night pilgrimage to a catholic church on Thursday nights during Lent. People gather in the streets and plazas near the church and mass is held every hour throughout the night. Thousands of young people participate in this religious tradition every week, but for only a few does it actually serve as a spiritual journey. Tons of kids are just out there to have fun, get some exercise, or party with their friends. So, we see this as an awesome opportunity to meet and chat with the young people of La Paz. A couple months ago, Omar and I were put in charge of organizing the events of this ministry. We came up with some sweet ideas and we were totally excited to carry out our plan. We organized a meeting with all of the YFC volunteers and staff as well as representatives from several churches in the city. We relayed our ideas and asked for their support. We got a decent response from everyone, but unfortunately, in Bolivian culture, it's much better to accept a request and never follow through with it than it is to refuse to help. So, due to a lack of volunteers and some opposition from the authorities, hardly any of our ideas came to pass. This was somewhat disappointing for me... but some good things definately happened. It was planned that we would have fun social events every week and then host one big event the last night with an Easter talk from Pedro. So, to spark interest and curiosity in the kids, we all wore homemade lime green t-shirts that say, "Estoy de Acuerdo con Pedro" - "I Agree with Pedro". Pretty sweet. Although most of what we planned never happened, we had a great time meeting kids. Thursday night was the last night of Lent and therefore the last night of our outreach. Instead of Pedro making a formal sermon... we opted for a more laid back approach. Randy and Jon brought their guitars and lead us in some sweet worship. We just played and sang in the plaza and in the street and let the kids come to us. It seemed like everyone really enjoyed the music! Also, between every few songs one of us or someone in the crowd would share what Easter means to us. It was pretty sweet. And a bunch of people came up to us and started some great conversations. Man, God is good. It's really good for me to get a lesson in letting God take control. He really can do greater things than I can even imagine.