Hamburgers, plates full of cookies and a romantic evening in La Paz

 When we began preparing for our outreach we searched God what our focus should be on this trip. God spoke clearly: bringing joy and celebrate life! As we worked in the poorest part of La Paz we celebrated the life and joy that God wants to bring into this neighborhood.

Pounds of flour, eggs, milk and many gallons of the ingredients for a great girls night!

Friday afternoon around three o'clock everyone was ready. The recipes were translated into Spanish, the young women divided into teams of one of our team and one or two of them, a good deal of enthusiasm and anticipation made ​​for a great afternoon of baking and a girls night at the young women's home! Pancakes, cheesecake, brownies, muffins, pizza and cookies were all on the menu! We did not only enjoy the delicious food but it was really special to make these things with the girls as many of them have never had a chance to learn how to bake from family. It was all about team work, having fun together and of course at the end enjoying it all.
  

In the evening everything was set up beautifully for the girls night, we enjoyed all the great food together and the girls were so excited to be able to try it all out. It was an emotional night, the girls each gave a little speech of what our visit meant to them. They talked about how we gave them new hope for a different life, encouragement to change and a lot of the visible love of God. At the end of the evening one of our team, Cindy, gave her testimony and a little preaching about our identity in Christ. We could really see that this touched the girls and encouraged them even further we then were able to pray for each girls and staff member. It was a really special time. We also made notes of encouragement to each other, were each girl could write and encouragement to one another. This evening with the girls is a night we will not forget and we are also sure the girls will not soon forget it. They have won a place in our hearts.

Jackets, ties and gorgeous dresses - a magical evening in the couples house!

Celebrate life, celebrate love! In the couples house there is at the moment four couples, one with a baby and three couples of which the woman is pregnant. We wanted to bless them and thought of making for them a special at home date night! You must imagine that these couples have been living for a long time using hard drugs and most of them living under harsh conditions on the street. But this evening the couples had something magical. They were all given suits and beautiful dresses to wear. We did their makeup and hair in a beautiful up do. They were all so beautiful!

Stephanie making apple crumble for the couples

The cold dinning room had turned into a romantic restaurant like setting with a different table for each couple. With ccandlelight, roses and romantic music playing during the three course dinner which we prepared for them. We told them to just enjoy this evening with each other and have a good time. At the end of the evening, each one wrote to his loved one a love letter, we could really see them putting all their love into these letters. Celebrate life, celebrate love, this evening it was all there! Several couples said they have never had a more romantic night in their life, they had never had a chance to go out like this together. For them as they later tolds us this evening was a night to remember and a special time to relight the spark of love for each other.

Hamburger party with the guys

 

Playing games with the guys with a lot of action

The guys in our team had a hamburger party for the guys home. The guys made homemade burgers with all the topping together! They then really enjoyed eating together with the guys and playing some games together. They had a crazy good time together just bringing some life into the house. Later on Max gave his testimony which really inspired the guys. He encouraged them to keep going and not give up on their situation. The whole evening was an encouragement for the guys, cooking together, fun games and talking about God are things that encourage them to keep going!

 We can definitely say we had a very successful week!