Sunday

Sorry I missed the last two days. We were super busy. We went to Sunday church at Avivamiento, the largest church in South America. In our service alone, there were 20,000 people. Over the weekend, 70,000 people were in attendance. Needless to say, it was slightly overwhelming.
This church holds nothing back. There is a lot of yelling, jumping, and enthusiasm. We arrived for the last half hour of the first service and they sat us in the balcony so we got to ease into the environment. When the first service was over, they moved us to the very front. The service started with worship led by a couple of leaders and the 200+ choir. The music was nothing I had heard before and it had no English translation, so I only understood what I could attempt to translate. They had a short children's part with what sounded like kid songs and more dancing than before. Then the pastor entered to the Rocky theme song (we later found out he meant it to be to the glory of God). He then began the healing part of the service (yes, it's included in EACH service). The pastor went around praying for people as he felt led, slaying many in the spirit. Those healed were brought on stage to have it confirmed by a physician. They perform x-rays and blood tests on the spot in order to uphold the church's reputation. After the healing service, the head pastor's son came to lead a salvation prayer. In our discussion of the service afterwards, someone mentioned how significant the order was because the people saw firsthand the power of God, then were given the chance to accept Him.
The pastor returned again to give the message on 1 Samuel 16. We had a limited amount of translator headsets and a couple of Aviva workers sat to translate for us. I caught bits and pieces of the message but not a whole lot. The gist was heaven is open to those with a pure heart. At this point the pastor had an alter call having something to do with his message.
We were then called on stage along with smaller mission group from Argentina. The pastor laid hands in each of us as we were slain in the Spirit. After we literally picked ourselves off the ground, we pulled ourselves together, preparing to leave. However, the pastor came back through and spoke a prophetic word over most us. The service as a whole lasted almost 3 hours. It began pouring rain so we had a long wait for our bus. By the time we got out of 10:30am service, got our bus, and drove through Sunday traffic, we had lunch around 3 at a great burger place in the mall. We wandered around the mall, found a hackysack, and bought a delicious cup of Juan Valdez (Colombian Starbucks).
Then we returned to our housing area to await the arrival of our last three team members and Mickey D's for a late dinner. This ends Sunday.



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