Jesus the Shepherd..........

We are having an amazing week!  The message last night was about Jesus being the shepherd and our need for him as sheep wandering in the wilderness.  The message was powerful, and it was obvious that God's spirit was present.  There is a palpable spiritual warfare in Juan Tomas, and the struggle was felt last night at the invitation.  No one came forward, but you could sense the battle.  These kids, even more so than Americans, are extremely peer dependent, and very concerned of what other people think of them. If they feel they will be ridiculed for making a move or showing emotion, they will not move. Please pray that God's spirit will break through that and will have a mighty moving in this village even tonight in the service.  We will be doing a drama that points straight to the cross and the need for salvation, before David's message.  Please pray specifically that the powers and principalities of darkness will be bound tonight (Wednesday) so that God's word can penetrate hearts.  Our service will start around 7 pm.
One interesting note is that we are getting a side effect that we did not anticipate.  Several of the Dominican leaders (already professing Christians) have been greatly moved, so much so that they take the microphone and give added exhortation to the campers after the messages.  Our prayer for them is that God will stir them to evangelism and revival, to keep the fires burning here and be the discipleship team that we need to follow up with the campers.
We had a special history lesson in music class, and presentation of colors, in honor of American independence, and more importantly, the REASON that the US has been blessed due to the founding on God's principles. We are serving an all-American picnic meal tonight, with hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, slaw, watermelon & of course, Sweet Tea!  That will be an adventure.
Our character quality today was Orderliness, taught by Levi & Lindsey.  They have the dubious honor of being the only ones to teach a class this week that resulted in a stampede.  Obviously there are a few more things they need to learn about Dominican teens!  You can ask them about that later.  Thankfully no permanent injuries.
Off to cook hamburgers..............
For the team,
Debbie