We just wrapped up our Agape Christmas weekend where we hosted our biggest Christmas party EVER with over 500 children and about 200 adults in attendance. It was a beautiful weekend where the love of God was lived out and shown to children who normally receive very little and who NEED to feel God’s love in their lives desperately. THANK YOU to everyone who helped to make this weekend possible.
With the help of our faithful donors, we were able to bring children to our new ministry center for this event. Approximately 350 of the children were children who live and work in the inner city of Quito and receive nutrition in either the Genesis 7 nutrition center or one of our partner ministries. The remaining children were from the economically depressed neighborhood surrounding our ministry center. All of the children were excited to have the beautiful campus where they could run and play and enjoy the gorgeous sun shining day.
The day’s activities included a carnival, field games, crafts, coloring, a Christ-centered worship service which offered each child a chance to receive Christ and pray for their needs, a nutritious hot meal, and lots of great gifts. Their gifts included: either a doll or matchbox car, coloring book and crayons, pencil, bag of sweets, a framed photo of themselves, a long-sleeved shirt, new shoes and some of the girls received handmade dresses.
Preparing food for this big of a group over a 2-day period was a challenge in our small kitchen. We had the help of Narcissa, a sweet Christian lady who cooks for many of our visiting groups. To put in perspective, our grocery list included: 50 chickens, 400 pounds of potatoes, 3 crates of tomatoes, 30 heads of lettuce, 30 cucumbers, 100 avocados, 20 boxes of milk, 20 blocks of melting cheese, 35 gallons of cola and 700 tangerines!
Thankfully, all of the logistics came together beautifully and the day was without a hitch and FULL of smiles and laughter. It was a beautiful expression of the Father’s love for His children and we are blessed to have been used as a vessel to help make it happen. We pray that each of you have an equally blessed Christmas season.
Here you can watch a video recap of the day’s events:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzFD65wSHfg[/youtube]
Merry Christmas,
Bobby, Tamitha, Jordan, Jonathan & James