A New Church in A-Bay!!!

Cody and I found out that a new church was being built in A-Bay. The Methodist Church was the one funding most of it. We have never attended a Methodist Church before in the states, but we have attended the one in Pottuvil and Komari before with Johnson and his family. We felt like this was a huge answer to our prayers, after so many issues with the church we supported before. And a lot of our "disciples" were excited to hear this, especially because they have all been in need of a church to attend since they had left the other church. Most of their relatives in other towns and villages attend the sister Methodist churches, and they are now excited to have one in their own village too. It was too expensive for most of our friends to travel to other villages to go to church, and so now they have a Bible teaching, good leadership based church. We took it on as our own and decided to financially  and physically do anything we could to help. 

A donor donated the funds for the concrete building and roof. We (including some of you) funded the paint, doors and windows.

(Of course I'm always taking the pictures, so you don't see me doing any labor; but that is just not true.)

So all of us, guys and girls (basically my Bible Study girls and Cody's Bible study guys) worked hard digging sand to fill in for the foundation to be poured. We cleaned and weeded the area around the building. 

The kids played in the holes, before we filled them in.

Cody and his Bible Study guys painted the church 

It matches the sky :) 

When Cody wasn't painting the church, he was at home painting the Church sign 

The day before the Church's Opening Sunday Service, all my "Ladies Tea Girls" got together and cut vegetables for an after service rice and curry lunch to be served for all the congregation and head pastors coming from Colombo, Ampara, Komari and Pottuvil. 

On the morning of the Church's first Opening Service,  all of us girls woke up at 5:00 and began cooking and decorating the church with flowers and frill.  

A few girls and I made lei's for the head pastors. 

 The church was packed inside and under a tarp outside with around 200 people. 

I taught my Sunday School kids a skit with a couple of songs and they got to perform them that morning at church. 

We really like the Pottuvil head pastor Joseph, who has taken on A-Bay also. He speaks good English, brings the word in a tangible way, has a great personality, loves on his sheep, and even gets the people laughing. The only thing that we don't like so far about Methodist churches, is that they make the pastors rotate churches every two years. They have a great one right now and we're sad to lose him and  praying the next one will be just as good. With coming from our home church HDC and the amount of time our pastors have dedicated to remaining there, really speaks a lot about what our church looks like, the congregation size and the loyalty it shows. Wish it could be the same here. 

 Our cute little church by the beach