Another beautiful morning here in Yungar, the sun came up and again displayed God’s glory.
We began today with
devotions in Philippians. We talked
about Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, and were challenged in the way we pray
for each other. After a time of prayer
together, we broke for breakfast.
We left for the 15 minute
walk to the church, and arrived around 9:00 ready to get to work. Our objectives today – finish the painting in
the sanctuary, the front of the building, the bathrooms, and the entrance of
the building; finish the roof and clean up for the wedding day tomorrow.
By the time the kids had
arrived, most of the work was finished.
Some were left painting and working on the roof. However, enough of the roof was finished for
the kids to have their food and craft time in the classroom. Praise the Lord! While they were eating, Jordan brought some
of the books that her and her father had brought for the kids. They were English books, and it gave the team
the opportunity to look through them and teach the kids some English
words. It also allowed the kids to teach
the team some Spanish words. This was awesome
– very effective – and since Carl and Jordan brought the books to be left here,
they will be a blessing and a help with the kids learning English in the
future.
The team taught the story of
the “good Samaritan” by reading the story in Spanish and then doing a
drama. The kids seemed to really enjoy
it. Jeff took some time (with Ana’s
help) to challenge the kids and explain why Jesus told this story. He clearly presented the gospel, and with the
help of Richard (the AMG Missionary), I believe the kids understood what they
were sharing.
During Jeff’s part of the
program, some of the kids (one by one) were leaving to go to the “baño”. After a number of them left for the bathroom,
I decided to follow one… Only to find
that the whole group of kids that needed to go to the bathroom were outside
playing with some of our roofing/painting crews. I couldn’t help but laugh at them. These kids are just like kids back home. They had already sung, they had heard the
story, and as they saw others of their friends disappearing, they had to find
out what was going on. And what little
kid doesn’t like to play!
After the older kids (who
didn’t leave) broke from the devotional time, we had craft time for all of
them. The kids made “canastas”, little
baskets to hold some candy and pencils that the team gave them. They really enjoyed working with the kids.
As all of this was
happening, we could hear thunder in the distance, and, since we are so high up
in the mountains, we were able to see the rain all around us. We knew our time was short, but we still had
work to do. We had to clean up our mess
and help prepare the area for the outdoor wedding tomorrow. We created an assembly line – including the
children of the center – and moved a bunch of roofing material from the base of
the property to a room inside the building.
The team and children alike had a blast as we worked together to
accomplish the task.
We returned back to the
hotel and after taking time to rest, shower and clean up, we gathered to view
some of the pictures from the week so far.
Easton Baptist Church had provided me with a projector and this was the
first time I was able to use it for a trip.
What a blessing it was for us all to rehearse the great things that God
has done so far, and prepare for the rest of the trip.
After dinner we had our
evening wrap up. My favorite part of the
day! Hearing the teens wrestle with the
day, with the things that God is teaching them, with the hard things, the fun
times, the ways they were stretched, etc.
Some talked about their gifts and how God showed them they could be
used. Others talked about lessons God
taught them. I love knowing that God
will use these lessons and experiences to shape the future of these teens.
After a brief leaders
meeting we returned to our room only to find people in it – yeah, the kids were
having a party in our room because we have the snacks and water in our room.
For the next hour and a half kids stopped by the room to talk, get water, get
snacks, etc. I love interacting with
these kids. I am honored to be on
another Berean Bible trip. This group is
a blessing to me.
Thought for the day: As we were
reviewing the pictures, some of the pictures were of the large mountains and
beautiful views, while others of the pictures were close-ups of flowers with
the minute details and beauty of the petals and the various parts of the
flowers. We have some amazing pictures,
and although they cannot capture the full experience, they help remind us of
our God.
The thought today is in
reference to the verse in Psalms 8 where the psalmist talks about the “heavens,
the work of your fingers,” and the thought that if the heavens were the
detailed work of His fingers, what would the flowers be? I mean when you think about the “work of
your fingers” you think of the items of the greatest detail. For instance, you
might shape clay with your hands, but when it comes to the finer details of
completing the project, you change to your fingers and then to even more
delicate tools.
Our God gave us a beautiful
planet for His glory. He showed us his
creative abilities from the largest items we can view to the finest, smallest
things we can find. There is order,
beauty, creativity, design… in all of it.
It screams that there is a God and He is amazing.
God
help us take time to reflect on your glory in the creation around us, and
especially in the creation you value most – the humans around us. Help us to realize their value and worth
because of their Creator. Help us point
them to your glory as we share with them the work of creation and the work of
Jesus Christ on Calvary.
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