La Falda with Cristian

La Falda (The Skirt), Córdoba, hosted this year's annual Assemblies of God conference. While they had planned to welcome 3 thousand people, over 5 thousand came. Perhaps the chaos of preparing for so many people led them to misspell my name. Again.

I'm not bitter.

The city certainly enjoyed the extra money, but with this year's dry season, it was a little tough to enjoy a warm shower.

Again. I'm not bitter.

Seriously though, it was a fantastic time! I really enjoy seeing grand communities of faith come together to worship God by learning more about him, and being convicted of doing more for his name. The headline speaker was Dante Gebel, an Argentine pastor who heads a church in Florida.

I thank God for the ability to understand Spanish at a higher level now, because it helped me appreciate the messages, as well as spend 4 full days without a native English speaker close by. What used to bring me headaches from all the concentration has now just made me a little tired.

Truly, I valued the time with all of Cristian's family. Every meal we shared together, several mid-afternoon mates as well, where we would laugh and talk about life or what we were learning. With Cristian, we had some important heart to hearts which continued to confirm the Lord moving in our relationship. Sometimes we would end the charlas in silence because we were just so overwhelmed by how good this has been!

The city is in the middle of the hills of Córdoba, so our walks to and from the conference center sometimes left us gasping. At one time, while walking back with Cris' brother Alejandro, Ale farted big time! Earlier that day, I had taught Ale how in English we use -ly for all the Spanish words that end in -mente.

So he said, in the moment, "That was very fartly of me!"

We died laughing!!

Ale, Cristian and me

What I found most inspiring about the conference was the dedication to prayer. Every morning, there was an open invitation to the participants to 45 minutes of prayer before the main meeting. To be honest, we sometimes went just so we could get a better seat. But when I stopped to focus and pray, and listen to what the main speaker was praying, I was so convicted of my need to lay all my requests before Him, and stop relying on my own power.

Not that I have power, but I often convince myself that I do. I think you know what that's like.

Any way, there are some of the highlights to the week in La Falda!