Over Valentine's Day weekend, we held a marriage conference with guest speakers Doug and Jan Taylor. They used to be part of our staff here, but in November moved their ministry to Mazatlan a couple of hours north of here. However, from time to time we invite them to come and be the guest speakers for weekend conferences, which is always a blessing and a half!
This time they spoke to married couples on Friday night (Feb 13), to the youth on Saturday morning about purity (Feb 14), and then to the church in general on Sunday about finding true rest under the yoke of Christ (Feb 15). In addition, on Valentine's Day the youth hosted a Date Night for the married couples. We decorated the new church sanctuary with lights and tulle, we rented tables with linen table cloths and candle centerpieces, made space for a dance floor, provided music for the background and a delicious spaghetti dinner complete with dessert, and some really fun couple games! And all of this took place under the open sky full of stars!!
(right) The centerpieces before setting the tables; (left) DESSERT!
(right) The atmosphere complete with waiters; (left) Doug and Jay Taylor dancing
(right) Steve & Gena demonstrating the first game -- unwrap and eat a snickers using only their mouths; (left) the finalists!
(Right) Pastor Horacio & Maria competing in the final round -- a bitesize snickers! (left) Pastor Luis & Mari competing as well!
(right) Listening while Jan and Doug speak; (left) The entrance
What an amazing evening. It was A TON of work...more than I would have thought. But it was SO WORTH IT! We invited over 40 couples to attend, and were overjoyed to see 25 of them arrive for a really special night. Our goal was to create a romantic, intimate environment for them to enjoy each other for an evening. We also provided child care so that they wouldn't have to be concerned about what their kids were getting into. And at the end of the evening, Doug and Jan shared about how important it is to make time to nurture their relationship apart from working and raising children together.
When the evening was over, almost every couple expressed how special the evening really was for them, and numerous of them told us that they had NEVER in their lives been on a real date together. Some of those couples have grown children now!!! Dave shared later that a couple of the men were talking to him about it while their wives picked up their kids, and they had tears in their eyes as they described how special the evening was. One man even said that when he first arrived he wanted to leave because he didn't believe he deserved something so special, but then he realized he doesn't deserve the grace of God so he should just stay and enjoy the experience!
WOW!! The Lord used something as simple as a date night to really minister to the hearts of the couples in the church in really profound ways! In fact, as a result of the whole weekend conference experience, TWO couples went to the magistrate and got married legally!!! This is a very big deal here. The most common thing to do in this area is simply to run off together as teenagers and just start living together as man and wife although there is nothing legal or even religiously approved in their relationship. They will have children and raise their families and go their entire lives without ever making their relationship legal, but they truly consider themselves married and live as such. This may be because they were too young to get married without parental consent and then later they didn't see the point after so long doing it that way; or perhaps they didn't have the money to pay for the legal ceremony. But whatever the reason, this is the common practice.
But not only did the Lord teach these couples even more about the depths of his love and lavish grace poured out on us, but He also convicted hearts to do what is right in His sight and get married legally!
God is sooooo cool! And that is all I have to say about that! Praise Him for how amazing He truly is!!!
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