O.K. this past Sunday night we experienced our first public ministry in Peru. Christian was the main speaker at the couple's night at church. It was very interesting and didn't go at all like we planned but I believe it was a good ice breaker.
Christian spoke in English and I was his translator - that part went more or less well. After talking with the pastor on Saturday night we realized how careful we needed to be to NOT talk about marriage from a cultural stand point. The self-help tips in the U.S. are not going to be realitive to anybody here. Christian printed out 8 pages of scriptures on marriage - all in Spanish to hand out at the dinner. He simply pesented from scripture what marriage is and what it is not.
This fairly simply chat got off on the wrong foot when, while explaining that in God's eyes marriage is forever and how other than infedelity there is no way out of marrige, it ended up sounding like he was telling everyone how to get OUT of their marriages . . . the pastor quickly helped clear that up.
Actually, we weren't very unclear - we just han't gotten to the scripture about God hating divorce and apparently there were several men in the room who might be looking for an out because they have other women on the side. (a practice not at all uncommon here). However by the end I believe Christian had done a great job presenting the scripture and sending them home with much to read and study. The Holy Spirit can speak, correct, encourage, and convict from here.
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