Berean Bible Church - Mexico Trip - Day 5

For a group of 10 people, they are doing an amazing amount of work.  Although I must say, the group consists of more than just the 10 people from our team.  We are a work crew of 29 - including Janelle, (and her friend, Erin), Lazaro, Adolfo, Joel, Alejandro, Brian, Fernando, Jafet (Banni), Ezequel, Jose Carlos, Juan Carlos, Fer (Fernando), Wendy, Librada, Clarita, Yanet, and of course, Pastor Manuel and Ruth.  It truly is like one big family of people working together - each one doing their part.  Sounds a lot like Ephesians 4.  I am confident that this body is being built up together in love.  God is doing some amazing things here.

I guess I need to record some of the details. 

The morning began as every other so far - Mike is the first one up, and Alan isn't far behind - getting a pot of coffee ready.  Breakfast is around 8 and devotions are around 8:45.  Matt continues to do a great job of leading worship and getting us in the attitude of worship as we study God's word and get ready to worship as we work throughout the day.

By early morning the road crew finished the laying of the paving blocks and they finished the gravel around them, and the job was complete.  We were able to find out exactly how good the job was when the sand truck showed up shortly after it was completed and drove right up the paving stones to deliver a full load of sand.  There was very little movement, so it was a job well done.

During the same time the tiling crew was working and they were in overdrive.  Lazaro (the "supervisor" of the job) had decided to mix the concrete on the floor - so they could mix a lot more in a shorter period of time.  By the middle of the day, they were more than 3/4 of the way done.  It is a lot of mixing of thin set and concrete in a wheel barrow, so the team is taking turns having different people mix. 

On top of those two major jobs, there were countless more "smaller" but not any less important jobs to be done.  For instance, Heather had the privilege of giving Vicky a bath, Rachel painted the stairs to Janelle's house, Kaitlyn did various odd jobs like sharpening pencils, Laurie did a bunch of jobs to help with the preparation for the VBS and the fair that is coming up.  Erin helped with Vicky - keeping her occupied for most of the day.

Right before lunch a decision was made to lay some paving stones by the garage, so the team got to work digging up the path between the sidewalk and the garage.  This became a full afternoon job.  Not the digging of the path - no, that took only an hour or so - it was the placement of the stones that seemed to cause the difficulty.  By the end of the day, the stones were in place and the job was nearly complete.

After lunch a variety of other jobs were begun.  Mike began working on the planning for a few jobs - the raising of the bed in the small room (to be used as a medical examination room for the children), installing a place to hang the guitars in the storage room, designing and building a closet in the storage room, and a couple of other carpentry jobs.  While Alan, Heather, John and Matt worked together on the tiling, the rest of the ladies were working on the VBS and Fair needs.  From cutting designs in paper, drawing signs, making designs on cloth, etc.  They were busy all day prepping for the VBS that Ruth is expecting to have 500 people attend.  We are also expecting 2-300 people on Saturday for the "fair" that we will be putting on.  We are praying that God would use both events for His glory and that others would come to know Him as Savior as a result.

Vicky's family has yet to come get her, and she has become a huge part of the trip.  She is really feeling the pain of the surgery and is begging to take the cast off.  She has a ton of energy and she is very animated - for a deaf girl, she communicates very well.  She didn't eat much for lunch, and afterwards, Heather tried to rock her to sleep (she didn't sleep well last night), but she wouldn't have it.  We need to continue to pray for her recovery and for her future.

Alan and John seem to be doing very well - they are doing the work and seem to have no complaints.  We need to continue to pray for Alan as he is experiencing pain, but he is working through it.

Overall, it's been a very productive day.

The evening ended with some singing and a recap of the day.  We talked about the upcoming events - work tomorrow, work and sightseeing on Friday, and then work, sightseeing and the Fair on Saturday.  There is much left to do and the team is ready to get to it.

Thought for the day: I worked with Adolfo some today, and was amazed at his ability to understand what is needed and what is going on.  He is a 14 year old boy working like a man and keeping up with the rest of the crew.  Apart from the occasional noises he makes to let you know he wants or needs your attention, you would never know he is deaf.  He is alert, active, involved, and works very hard.

Another incident today highlighted my thought for the day, and it was about when Heather was giving Vicky a bath.  She said that she was told that Vicky was afraid to take a bath because her family makes her bathe in cold water.  They said, "why waste the hot water on a deaf kid?"

The thought??  In a culture where the deaf, the blind, the lame are considered equal with the dogs - useless and not really human, Iglesia Cristiano Dios Es Amor is shining the light of the gospel to the local area by caring for the outcasts from society.  James 1 tells us that "pure religion and undefiled is this, to visit the widow and the orphan in their distress".  What an amazing opportunity we have to be part of the "pure religion" of the people of this church.

Where would these kids be without this ministry?  Only God knows - and because of that, He planted this church and this ministry here to love them.  Oh, what a wonderful God we have!