Lunch with PL and a Blessing

I tried to post this several days ago but had some sort of technical issues and had to rewrite it!

I had my first "Lunch with Pastor Lori" for this school year. I met with a 4th grader, Jayden, and had a great time chatting and meeting some of her friends. I LOVE going to schools! Kids are so funny...sometimes you discover a whole different side of them when away from the walls of the church. Jayden is a sweet girl, tender hearted and loves Jesus. She blessed me so much when she said, "I couldn't hardly wait for you to get here!" Of course, you get the others kids curiosity stirred up when you arrive. They ask if I'm the mom, the grandma, why I'm there, if I'm staying all day, etc. When they find out I'm a pastor, they usually look at me as though they have never seen a pastor outside a church building before. That's sad if true!

I'm doing a lunch a week and to take away the pressure of deciding who I should meet with, we have a new element in Building 2-52. At the end of second service, I draw a name from our new lunch box and whomever is drawn had a date with me. I got a metal Looney Tunes lunch box (thanks to my friend Debbie!) and anyone who wants a date has their name added to the mix. I then call parents so they can in turn call the school and give the okay and let them know what day I'm coming.

I was incredibly blessed to meet the pastors of the Hispanic Assembly of God church here in Union City! Pastor Villa and his wife were sharing their passion and vision for Asambleas de Dios Juan 3:16 with me and I was in awe of their determination and sacrifice. They moved here 8 years ago from New York to plant this church. They face many hurdles, mainly with language barriers. The children of their congregation are bilingual but not many adults are so the Villas end up doing most of the work and teaching of the church. They tell the children they are raising them up to be the church! I'll be praying for them and hope the Lord allows me an opportunity to help in some way. Sure wish I knew how to speak Spanish!