Getting ready...
It has been another crazy day, complete with rain and mud for the 13th straight day! There are always lots of details to work out just before a volunteer team arrives and this week is no exception. I am getting nervous about the construction project- the rain has been anything but friendly to our efforts! However, the guys that will benefit from the bridge waited to the last minute to get started so if we can't do it, maybe it will serve as a good lesson for them! Victor is going to check on things in the morning but I can tell by the rain outside my window that we probably won't be able to work on the edge of the river! While I am a little anxious because our plans aren't set which means the materials aren't bought and ready for them to get a quick start on Monday, I also know there isn't much I can do about it so in that sense, I am at peace. I am confident whatever we do we will look back and know it was the best, better than what we had planned.
Today, we gave almost 100 hygiene kits to the Civil Defense volunteers along with 2000 Hall's cough drops (they serve as candy here! Starting Thursday a large number of volunteers will be camping out in various places around the region to help keep people safe. My prayer for them is for their safety and as we continue to relate and share with them that they will glimpse a larger purpose to their lives, the abundant life God has prepared for them.
The team from Lexington leaves tomorrow and will travel almost all day and night, arriving here at 3:30am Saturday morning. Our ministry plans are coming together really well- they will be ministering in Navarrette, Guayacanal and The Hole and Los Santos, focusing on reaching teenagers. They will work in four teams, one doing construction (which is up in the air due to the rain) and one will be doing sports evangelism in the Hole, and the other two will be prayer walking, visiting with teenagers and sharing what it means to follow Christ. In the evenings, we will have special youth worship services. Please continue to pray for them as they travel and as they minister here among our folks.
I met a young man in Los Santos this afternoon- he knew me from the church even though I didn't know him. Something about our encounter has stayed with me- he was asking for assistance but not hte nroaml plea for money. He wanted me to walk with him to the little store and buy him some food for dinner which I did happily. But the encounter has stayed in my heart- partly that he knew me and our leaders as people of God and saw us as beacons of light (his own words) calling them to a different path, partly because I have been praying hard for the young people of that sector especially for the project this coming week, partly because of his earnestness. I reminded him that his purpose rests in knowing and serving God, and invited him to join us as he seeks God- pray with me for him, that he will remember this small act of kindness done in Jesus' name and seek him with his whole heart.
