Tuesday

Tuesday, May 18 2010

About midnight last night it began pouring rain and it was especially loud on our tin roofs. However, by 6a.m. it had lessened greatly! The water was a beautiful sea green – so peaceful. Kaitlin led devotion on Hebrews 3:4 which says, For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. She said that God is our builder and He desires to build us in His image building us to by “living temples.” Ellen read several quotes from the book, “In a pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day” by Mark Batterson. It is based on the story in the Bible in 2 Samuel 23 about Benaiah, a valiant warrior that killed a lion on a pit on a snowy day. Several key points discussed today were – “Think of every opportunity as God’s gift to you. What you do with it is your gift to God.” “Spiritual maturity is seeing and seizing God-ordained opportunities.” It was a great beginning to the day.
The rain continued through breakfast and until we arrived at the worksite. Lupe described the work for the day – one bag of cement mix, 7 buckets of gravel, 5 buckets of sand, and one bucket of water. (the buckets were 5 gallon buckets) Within minutes of his explanation – the rain stopped! God has continued to thrill us! We may not have seen the Red Sea part – but we have witnessed stormy skies disappear just when we need them to!!!
Once again we had our prayer chair – I think the entire team has enjoyed their time praying! Our prayer list continues to expand – praying for the school, the missionaries, each team member, fellow classmates doing missions in Dillon, the church, the 3 workers that are not saved, etc. It really is a special time. We have a journal with all the prayer concerns and praises listed – there is a Bible to read and meditate. It has been wonderful.
Allyson, Marian, Sara, Kaitlin & Ellen stayed on the job shoveling sand and rock all day! JB helped the workers hand crank the gas powered mixer and then the boys switched among the various lifting jobs – JB, Zeb, Daniel, Lawrence, Stephen, Gary, Dr. Brown, Anthony, Corbin, and Hunter rotated among shoveling, lifting big bags of concrete mix, lifting the buckets of sand and rock, hauling the wheelbarrows to the driveway, etc. There were very few breaks – and team epitomized TEAM UNITY! I was so incredibly proud of them. Although it was cloudy – it is very humid and still quite warm here. They far exceeded the expectations of the missionaries on completed work today. The driveway is 105 of Lawrence’s feet long and they thought it would take both days to complete – however, with the team pulling together – by lunch we were 51 (of Lawrence’s feet) complete. After a great meal prepared by Lupe’s wife of homemade tortilla wraps and – chicken or iguana – we are really not sure – and fresh watermelon – we continued. Zeb and JB began sifting the sand that we dug out yesterday using a giant screen about the size of a house window. By the time we had to quit – we were over 2/3 complete with the driveway. And praises to God – we had no more than completed the work and clean-up – when it began to rain again. God is so good – no doubt who controls the rain!
We headed to VBS – and much to our thrill – we found a convenience store – we had the best cold drinks and m&m’s – life’s simple pleasures!!!! It was raining when we first got there – but subsided when the children arrived. Marion opened VBS and Anthony prayed. The seniors then sang “Muerte Vencio” – or “Mighty to Save.” The children really wanted Zeb and JB to lead “My God is so Big.” The boys continued with the soccer games – they learned just how skilled little kids can be. Allyson brought beads and elastic to make bracelets – the kids had a ball. The ladies of the church made fried chicken, beans, potatoes, and homemade tortillas.
There were many humorous moments – all the singing while working, Daniel’s true identity revealed – RoboBrown, a comical wheelbarrow race between Corbin & Daniel, and Lawrence & Hunter – lets just say – that when Lawrence dumped Hunter in the mud – Corbin and Daniel crossed the finish line quickly. Sara was soaked by Zeb, when the clean-up occurred – she looked like she had taken a swim! Hunter and Lawrence’s rattail war, Anthony nailing Allyson in the head with a Frisbee, & Marion with a ball, the children running across the concrete after we finished, the dog running across the concrete after we smoothed out the mess from the children, peanut butter and jelly, peanut butter on bananas, the Frisbee tournament called points which Daniel won, Hunter throwing a child over the fence, Lawrence’s floatees outfit, JB sucking everyone’s leftover chicken bones, and the never ending singing of 99 bottles of Sprite on the wall with a minor (or major) fight in the back seat of the van! Gary, Zeb, Sara, and JB finding “real food” at the hotel, and the list goes on.
After much anticipated showers, we had a phenomenal team devotion – Zeb led us by reading out of Luke and discussing our need to serve. He did a great job. Dr. Brown followed with what turned into a 2 hour discussion. He began with an explanation of the different translations and before the night was over we had delved into:
Why good things happened to bad people
Election
Can you lose your salvation
Hosea
Purpose of witnessing, obedience, and on & on.
It was a great discussion among all of the students – but in the end – several had called it a night and Stephen, Anthony, Corbin, Hunter, Dr. Brown, and JB still had Bibles out and were really intense in their knowledge and beliefs – I really enjoyed!!!
Thank you for all of your prayers – and we love reading every morning your comments on the post or on Facebook – it is a real encouragement to the students to hear from home. Thank you also for all of the cards the teachers and students wrote – they are also a great gift from home.
The girls are all asleep – too much physical labor – the guys are on the balconies laughing, talking, and fellowshipping. God is so good! Love to you all!

10Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms. 11If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:10-11