Port Antonio-Saturday

Our first show Saturday was at Muirton Boys' Home, which is a home consisting of 26 boys from ages 11 to 18. Some are orphans and some have mental disabilities. While the equipment was being set up we played outside with some of the boys - soccer, frisbee, and taking pictures. We performed in their dining room, and the boys really got into it. Afterward we went to talk to them and I wasn't really sure who to talk to, so I went to the closest guy and we had a really good conversation. His name was Romar and he was 16 years old. I started by asking him about the show and if he had any questions. Then I moved into sharing the Gospel, and he realized that he already was saved, because he had given his life to Christ when he was eleven, he just wasn't baptized. I made sure he knew that baptism doesn't save, and he was very relieved. I encouraged him to read his Bible and get involved with church. I feel confident that he is a child of God. After that, we talked a little bit about him, and he asked me what I was good at. I told him that I was an artist, and his whole face lit up. He ran to his room to get a picture that he had drawn of a superhero, and it was actually very good. He also plays saxophone at school and when he is older he wants to be a musician or an artist. I felt encouraged because I knew that that one thing that we had in common really helped him and me to connect, and it couldn't have been that way for almost anyone else on the team.

Our next show was in a public square, right in front of the post office. Karen had an opportunity right up front to share the Gospel with a boy who had been sitting there since 8:30 just passing the time, and he was saved. Before the show, Nicki attracted a crowd by making balloon sculptures for people. He used to work for a magician. It's been really cool to see how God uses every silly skill we have. Our show went really well, and God kept it from raining really hard. During the Everything skit, though, Amy fell and hurt her knee. She hasn't been able to walk around too much. Karen, who is a nurse, thinks she either strained it or lightly tore something (I can't remember the name of the ligament). But after the show I had an opportunity to talk with a woman named Carmen and her friend Marcia, both of whom accepted Christ and made plans to be accountability partners. Carmen was Methodist, and we had an awesome conversation about how a person can be 100% sure of salvation apart from works. Many of us had good conversations that show, and there were at least 12 or 14 who made decisions. We always say "made decisions" because we don't know what is really in their hearts, but they at least claimed to be saved and understood it - the rest is up to God.

Our night show was also amazing. For many of the first-timers, it was also their first real taste of strong spiritual warfare, which we had plenty of. We were outside of a bar on a mud curb, and our show brought a ton of people to gather. We had major technical difficulties and couldn't even finish the show, but we had a ton of good conversations. Since we had to cut it short, we interns had to pack up while the team went out into the crowd. Before that though, right in the middle of the Gospel presentation, a drunken man rode by on his bicycle shouting anti-Christian things. Then, just as he passed, his bike swerved on perhaps the toe of an angel and he fell flat on his face. The Gospel presentation was momentarily interrupted by the hysteria of the crowd, but it ended well. God will not be mocked.

Later, after we arrived back at the hotel, we met in an upstairs lounge for an assessment of each other's highs and lows. Doing that is really encouraging and brings the group together as a team. We also had the "morning devotional" that we never got to do in the morning.