Today was a day of mostly business.
It started last night when I received the email regarding Fr Carlos being sick and not being able to do his talks and then agreeing to do one for him.
After reviewing the talk it was evident that it would be best if a local priest gave this talk regardless of their Alpha experience.
So after talking with Edu and Fr Juan and exchanging some email with Karen Tigar (Alpha RM from Argentina), it was agreed that Fr Juan would do the talk.
Karen quickly was able to find the Spanish Script and email it to me which I was able to send to Fr Juan. It´s really amazing what technology allows us to do!!
I reviewed the script with Fr Juan at our meeting with him this afternoon and we´re all set to go. Thanks for all your prayers regarding this talk, it all worked out as it should.
You can continue to pray for Fr Carlos so he will be healthy enough for Santiago and pray for Fr Juan as he prepares to do this talk.
We had a terrific prayer time together as a group last night with some fantastic sharing and after some more prayer this morning the ladies headed out to shop while Dave worked on the powerpoint presentations and Dennis worked on his talks.
We were picked up at the hotel at 1 PM by Edu and his friend and driven to St. Ignatius Church where we met Fr Juan, Fr James (from Scotland or as he is known now in Arica Fr. Santiago), Patricia, Gloria(the cook) and several other youth. They provided a wonderful meal for us and their hospitality was second to none.
During and after the meal we discussed Alpha and many details about the training event. It was very exciting sharing our experience with them to help them prepare for their Alpha course. One issue for the training event that they were struggling with was regarding the lunch for both days. They don´t have enough money to provide lunch and the attendees would have to leave the venue to get food. We didn't think that was the best situation because it´s at lunch that we can network with the folks and get to meet them.
All five of us looked at each other and it was as if we where all thinking the same thing. "We´ll donate the money to provide the lunches". So we made the offer to Edu and Fr Juan.
To me it looked like Edu was processing what he just heard and he was trying to express something and then his face went blank and simply said "Thank you".
They will put a donation basket out for the lunches and we suggested they then use that money for their first Alpha course. I think they could hardly believe it because Edu asked again if they should give the donation basket money back to us. I believe they are truly grateful. What a blessing it is to be able to provide seed money to another church to be able to start an Alpha program. It´s only because of the hard work of the whole team and the grace of God that makes this possible.
What an awesome privilege to be able to work with these wonderful people and we haven´t even met the complete local team yet. That will happen tomorrow evening starting at 5PM and will continue until we have reviewed everything with them. Please keep this meeting in your prayers so every detail can be discussed and looked after.
Tomorrow morning Fr Juan will take us up the valley further into the interior to see more of the country side. Looking forward to another God filled day and the surprises God has for us.
God bless and take care.
Love
Dennis
