Monday 24 February 2014

A week of birthdays

This week I´ve been to 3 different birthday parties - so here´s a quick round up of very different traditions. 


 First up: Swiss precision made penquins standing to attention!

Second: British made Strawberry cake. (I sort of invented it as I went along!)


And Finally: Guatemalan 15th Birthday party - complete with pink princess dress and tiara, a pig roast, about 150 people, lots of (naturally coloured??) cakes, one of which ended up in the face of the birthday girl (thanks to her younger brother!)


Latin Link International

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Quito, Ecuador as part of Latin Link´s International Assembly which are held every 4 years. It´s a key event for us as a community, as we have fellowship with members working in many different countries, and together set priorities for the future. 
 As we were in Ecuador, on the first night we were treated to some local music.
 Each morning, I really enjoyed our times of worship together, when we often sang in 4 different languages simultaneously. That sounds like it would be a shambles - but it actually wasn´t. It was just very special to be amongst a crowd of people - and hear the same worship song - sang in spanish to your left, english to your right, and german or portuguese behind you. It seemed like a taste of heaven. 
 We also had great times of corporate prayer together. Each day, we heard from members from a different region where we work, and prayed over the issues affecting them. There was a real sense of unity and being community - inspite of (or maybe because of) so many differences.