Chocolatadas

A big thing here in Peru is to have what is called a "Chocolatada" for kids. It consists of hot chocolate and "Paneton" (like a fruit cake but much tastier) and games and music or whatever else. The hot chocolate is not your typical instant stuff from the states. It is condensed milk, water, and chocolate all cooked together in a HUGE pot over an outside fire.
My friend and fellow missionary Gary had the idea to do one for youth, since these are typically always for kids. Gary, myself, and our partners work at the same church here in Iquitos. (Each pair works at a different Nazarene church in the city to do "practicals" while we are studying). So we put together a program for the youth. We had a band with lots of upbeat music, some games, and some skits. It was a pretty great night, and at the same time definitely a learning experience for all of us. The Peruvian and American ways of doing things are VERY different... and it was our first event we put on as a group. But that is what we are here for... to learn! At the end a short sermon was given and we had about 10 or 12 youth out of the over 50 that came accept Christ. It was pretty awesome!
Today we had ANOTHER Chocolatada for the kids. We had over 70 children from the community come (our normal for Sundays is probably about 15-20). So that was amazing as well. It was a little crazy and hectic having so many kids stuffed into a small room, but it ended up going pretty ok.
And after all that... I need a NAP!

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