The Largest attendance Ever! Convention 2006

5000 people came and left the church property in Chenalho within the last three days. It is an event that has to be experienced because there is no way to really describe what takes place within those two days of services. Of course it has taken months of preparation and no one works harder than the people here of this congregation. Pastor Alejandro of Chenalho is an excellent organizer. His people have the enormous task of feeding the multitude! Most of them do not sleep from Wednesday morning until they go to bed on Saturday night. 5 bulls arrived on Thursday and all 5 were prepared for the many meals that were cooked and served throughout the convention.

Of course the most important part of all of this is to gather in the Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What an Easter celebration we have had! People from all over the mountains speaking various dialects attended wearing their beautiful hand woven clothing of their tribe. Also in attendance were groups from various states in the country of Mexico who of course speak Spanish. Services are biligual in Spanish and Tzotzil.

Musician from Torre Fuerte did what they do best and the music was marvelous. The opening service began with a processional led by Pastor Carlos in full Tzotzil official attire. Russell was given clothing representing the Tzotzils of Mitontic and the other head pastors and professors of their training sessions were dressed in the various tribal clothing. What a special time!

The most beautiful of all was the presence of the Lord and the ability to worship openly in a part of the world where this did not exist 30 years ago. Most of these believers are fairly recent converts. The river baptism is always a part of the convention with 133 being baptized in the cool mountain water. Pastor Carlos preached 2 powerful messages. Those who are answering the call to ministry were blessed and sent out with special prayer.

We thank you for your prayers. They were answered! It was cool all week prior to the convention and Thursday it rained all day and even into the night. But God sent picture perfect weather for the next two days. The little bit of cloud cover during the Friday night service only helped to break the heat from the warm day.

We pray your family is enjoying a wonderful day of celebrating our risen Lord!