"A Miracle!"

What a night!  We left home around 4:30 so we could make it to church by 6:00.  We were going to a new metro stop and wanted to make sure we had plenty of time.  Glad we did...can I just say, some of the underground tunnels are so - so confusing!  They're like a maze - and in this particular metro stop, there are no signs anywhere!  In the beginning of our first trip - the signs wouldn't have helped us anyway.  But  now we've figured out what many of the necessary signs mean - and they sure would have been helpful tonight!  More on this later....  :)

So we were on our way - or - trying to find our way - and we got a phone call.  It was our dear friend, Max!  He is a native to this country, and has a ministry in the southern part of the country.  We knew he would be in this city today and tomorrow, and were hoping to get a call.  It was so good to hear his voice!  He said 'well - what are you doing tonight?' and I said 'oh...well, we're going to church if you'd like to join us!'.  It seemed like it just wouldn't work out for us to meet up tonight.

He said 'what?!  where are you going?!  Hillsong?!'

'YES!  We ARE going to Hillsong!!'

Max said 'Oh my Lord...it's a miracle!  I will see you there!'

We were so glad that God totally worked that out.  So we set off for Hillsong!

We got there and met back up with the Pastor for the Saturday night services.  She remembered us from last week and we had a fun conversation with her and another of her english speaking friends.  We explained to them, like we explained to Katya last week, that children with Down syndrome have a bright future in America.  They seemed so excited and filled with hope.  We asked them about the tights...what is with the tights?!  They both laughed & laughed - they said "It's just a tradition!  Only little boys wear them, not big boys!!".  They said "Take the tights off in America, please!" :)

After enjoying some fellowship with them, Max and his team walked in.  They are from Holland, and are leaving the country tomorrow.  This same team was here this last summer, and they just could not wait until next summer to come back.  They see what God is doing in Max's ministry, and just want to be a part of it!  We were able to sit with them during the service...and let me tell you - if last week was powerful, this week was even more.  It was really so incredible - not only worshiping with people from this country, but also this amazing team of people from Holland.  One of the songs that we sang talked about the One God of every nation...wow.  It was absolutely surreal.

During the service, Max translated for Jake and I, and one other member of his team.  Toward the beginning of the service, we had communion.  I wasn't expecting this, and it sort of snuck up on me.  The preacher explained it really beautifully - that as we take this communion, we are not only becoming one with Christ, but one with each other.  As we take this communion, and partake together - we are binding ourselves together as the body of Christ.  I think about the body of Christ a lot in my own church family - but I've never really thought since we've been here about these people - Carter's people - being a part of the body of Christ.  The same body of Christ that we are a part of at home.  My words just don't do it justice.

On a side note...let me just say that Jake and I didn't realize it was real wine until after we took it.

Which means, yep - Rachel had a sip of wine tonight.  Sorry, Ganders - it was innocent!  And she said she thought it was disgusting...phew!

:)

The service wrapped up, and Rachel bought a few gifts from the gift shop.  We talked with Max for a bit, and he said he'd like to do dinner tomorrow!  Can't wait!  We also talked with Sophie, who translated for us last week.  We exchanged phone numbers, and we might try to meet up on Monday.

After church, we headed to Ashan - we were looking for an inexpensive suit case to bring back some souvenirs, but what we found were lots of cheap suit cases.  There's a huge difference :)  And we weren't going to risk all of our souvenirs getting damaged, all because we bought a hunk-of-junk suit case :)

We made it back to the metro...and this is where the story gets interesting.  Remember how I said some of the underground tunnels are super confusing?!  Well...we made it out - we just didn't know where we were when we came out.  We looked around, and saw the MTC building - 'Aha! We need to go straight, and then right - and we'll be right at the apartment!'.

'Okaaay...' Jake said :)

The conversation that followed, I think, was something like 'Jake - this whole trip, my directional skills have been right on! Tell me I'm amazing!'.  Rachel said 'You're amazing!' and at this point, I so agreed with her :)

I believe I also said something to the effect of 'Tell me I nailed it!'.  I don't know what I was thinking....not one of my finer moments, for sure.

About 2 minutes later - we realized it would have been quicker to go the opposite way.  It was not my fault - if there had been a side street, it would have led very close to our apartment!  Or if we had gone the other way getting out of the metro, it would have been much closer!

Okay - so apparently I didn't nail it.

Ugh!  Hate when that happens....

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So, we're back at the apartment, and Rachel skyped with her family - it was nice to 'meet' her grandparents!  Just like my Grannie, her grandma emails her every day!  Jake made us Ranger sandwiches, and then I skyped with my grandparents.  Really - isn't technology amazing?!

Tomorrow we'll go to visit Carter in the morning, and then hopefully meet up with Max for dinner!

One Thing I Know For Sure: The body of Christ...it's a beautiful thing!