Every year the Bible churches in this region come together for a special Easter service at Camp Koinonia. It’s actually just some representatives from the various churches as many of the churches still want to have their own services. After all, Easter is an important service for any church, and for most, if not all, it is an important outreach service as well. It’s understandable why some churches choose not to come, or at least not in large numbers.
So, we never know just how many folks will come and join in, but our house church plant decided (well…Tim and I decided!) that we were going to participate in lieu of a regular Sunday service in our home. That was a good idea since Tim was signed up to lead the music for the Easter service at the camp!
The service starts promptly at the appointed time. This year it was 10 a.m. We arrived at about 10:10 a.m. There were a handful of people there already, including Tim. I don’t believe the speaker was there yet. Over the next hour the folks gradually showed up and we started promptly at around 11 a.m. (You do get used to that down here, but trust me, it still tweaks most of us gringos! Haha.)
Oh well. Of course, when we see some of the very old vehicles that arrive and the odd assortment of vehicles, we realize that one can’t really expect people to arrive on-time knowing that some of the cars chugging up the mountain are in the 20 to 30 year old category. Not to mention I noticed at least one taxi and an entire metro bus from the city of Querétaro! I have no idea who rode in these conveyances, but I wondered if the bus was full or just came with the driver.
Eventually, I guess we had at least 200 people. One youth fell off (or jumped off) the back of the amphitheater and had to be taken to a local medical clinic for X-rays. I guess the clinic was closed or they couldn’t get the technician/doctor in there. So they came back guessing at a broken bone in his hand and a sore leg. Well…they didn’t have to guess at the sore leg. He was hobbling. That happened right as the speaker was beginning his sermon. The kid may have actually been trying to escape the message (seriously), which he did since he ended up leaving in a teammate’s van to find a clinic. If he really was trying to skip the sermon, it probably wasn’t worth it! (something about reaping what we sow?)
As part of the service we enjoyed communion together. It wasn’t the best of organizing. I did get the cracker. I never did see the grape juice. Oh well…I was thankful for the blood anyway. Again, just go with the flow!
Afterward, everyone broke out their picnics and we and several others from San Juan and another town or two shared what we brought. I noticed one of our other teammates’ kids came around and ate a few of our chicken salad sandwiches. (I won’t embarrass anyone by mentioning his name…he’s the cute little red head boy in the first picture below!) Apparently, he didn’t like what they brought! We got a kick out of him. For a little guy of barely 6 years, he packed it away pretty well! I’m not sure I kept up with him when it came to chowing down little sandwiches!
We didn’t stay too long after the meal. Chatted with some friends we don’t see often and I took some pics. We were ready to come home and get an Easter Day nap and to get the house cleaned up and organized for our first round of annual achievement testing with 7 MKs coming tomorrow morning. I think we’re about ready now.
One thought about Easter that crossed my mind today (since supposedly that is the point of this post): We should always be amazed at the power of God. His power as seen in Creation is beyond comprehension. To have merely spoken everything into existence…and what a marvelous Creation it is! Immense. Infinite? Intricate. Incredibly beautiful. Yet, I believe that while the power of God in Creation is incomprehensible, the power of the resurrection is even more so. For God to become man, to die…for the God-man to DIE…for my sin, in order to pay the penalty, the price, for all that I owe (and of the sins of millions more) and to STILL raise Him from the dead. That is incomprehensible power. My sin is great enough to keep even the God-man dead forever. But He isn’t dead. He is alive. He did go all the way to death for me, for my sin, and He did rise again to new life so that I could share in that life too. INCOMPREHENSIBLE POWER!!! Praise God that He is merciful, gracious, loving, forgiving, and powerful!
Christ IS risen!
Dayton is in the picture…where?!?
Knowing Your ABCDs 
Thanks for sharing your Easter with us. We, at PBC, had an amazing service at the high school so we could all worship together. Everyone invited – – – and I saw lots of strange faces. The place was full and the message was clear and powerful. Great day of celebration with some accepting Jesus as their Savior. jd
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