Raymond Baptist - Guatemala Trip - Day 4

What an amazing day!!  From beginning to end, today has been wonderful.

I awoke this morning about 4:30 local time (6:30 at home) so I called my wife to see how she was doing - always a great start to the day.  After our conversation, I was able to get ready and prepare for the day.  Breakfast was at 6:30 and our devotions in James (1:3-18) immediately followed.  I love hearing the teens wrestle with God's word.

By 8:45 we were back at Verbana with an excited group ready to get to work.  From painting to working on installing a drop ceiling to the concrete crew, everyone jumped right in and got to work.  Things were going smoothly until the kids broke for recess - then all chaos broke loose.  Seriously, the team did what I have asked so many other teams to do - and they did it well.  "What is that?" You ask - they played with the kids and not a single camera came out.  They just loved on the kids, hugged the kids, rolled around on the grass with the kids, whatever helped them connect with the kids.  It was awesome to watch, AND, since no one else was taking pictures, I had the freedom to walk around and document the event.  I took dozens of pictures, and what was really cool was because no one else was taking pictures, the kids weren't looking for cameras, and they weren't posing for pictures.  I got lots of candid shots of team members and kids interacting.  It was fun to be a part of.

Eventually the children went back to class and the team went back to work.  We added 3 more tasks to our responsibilities today, moving the wood from the tree that was cut down, helping to move and set up their computer server (Mark and Zack), and moving the 3 truck loads of tile debris that was removed from the facility.  Moving the debris was awesome, because after we filled the truck, we were able to ride with the maintenance guys over to the cemetery where we unloaded the truck in a landfill (that was actually a sloping ravine about 100 yards long) at the back of the cemetery.  We had a great time rolling the tiles down the hill to see how far they would roll, and who's went the farthest.  It was a fun highlight.

However, much more fun was to be had as the afternoon was capped off with a soccer game with the maintenance guys.  The 12 of us and 10 of them played together from about 4 to 5:30.  Had someone (me) not kicked the soccer ball over the wall, the game probably would have continued. (I must say, I really wasn't disappointed with kicking the ball over - it was time to stop :-) )  Seriously, we had a wonderful time of relating with them on a casual level.  We ran into each other, we kicked the ball at each other, we scored on each other - it was a blast.

By 6:30, we were back at Thelma's, and the team was tired.  We showered and got ready for dinner.  We ate around 7:30, then we watched the pictures from the day and talked about what we had seen and learned today.  It was a wonderful day!

Tomorrow is scheduled to be more of the same - only God knows if that is the case - but I know the team is going to sleep well tonight, and we will see what God has in store for us tomorrow.

Thought for the day:  This afternoon, I spent some time talking with one of our AMG workers who is an amazing woman.  She has a real heart for what she is doing, and is very passionate about the work that God has called her to.  It is always wonderful to hear her share her enthusiasm.  But today her energy was not as bright as it usually is, and God gave me the opportunity to spend time talking with her and encouraging her.

Without going into any detail about our conversation, I was challenged to make sure that the people that I am responsible for know how important they are to me.  I need to make sure that I am listening to the things they are sharing with me, and I need to make sure they know how vital they are to my success.  From my wife and children, to the people I work with, to the team members I am responsible for, all of them need to know that they are listened to, loved, and are important.

Even the strongest, most dedicated, most self motivated people need to know that what they are doing is impacting others around them.  I think this is why God values thankfulness so much.  It is when we are thankful for what He has done, and for what others do, that we express to them how much they mean to us.

God help me share with others the value that you see in them, and the value that they have in my life.