Nueva Vida

This past fall Sarah joined the Spanish National Honor Society, and one of her membership requirements is that she complete ten hours of service within the local Hispanic community per semester.  Because she has volunteered in our church's children's ministry for several years we thought it would be a good fit to find a Hispanic church community where she could help out with childcare needs during their services.  I did a Google search, and the first church that came up was Nueva Vida, which is affiliated with New Life Christian Church on Goosecreek Road.  I emailed the pastor and he immediately got back in touch with me and invited us to come to one of their services so that he could meet Sarah and introduce her to the kids in their community.  This has been such a perfect fit!  The first Sunday of every month the children meet for "children's church" during the adult lesson, so the past two months we have gone, and she has helped out with the kiddos while I've gotten to enjoy some great sermons (thank God for the headphones they give me so I can hear the translator!).  The worship service at Nueva Vida is much different from what I'm used to at Southeast...much more intimate and expressive, with a full hour of singing, prayer and communion, followed by another hour of teaching and prayer.  And while I don't understand the words during the worship hour, I find myself just using that time to pray and meditate on my own, which has been lovely.  The kids are such cuties, and Sarah has enjoyed meeting them all, and finds it interesting that most of them speak English as their first language.  I've loved seeing a glimpse of another culture and have been blessed by how warm and welcoming they all are.  So glad we've been put a bit out of our comfort zone and are getting to make new friends in the process.

At the end of the service Pastor Ramirez and his wife Shani 
prayed for anyone who came forward with requests.
I love how open and authentic the entire community is.