Wednesday, July 20
Today we had pancakes, and fruit for breakfast. The singing at devo was led by Ty Steffy, beautiful as usual. The lesson was presented by Jack from Memphis. He read scripture from Rom. 8:31-39. This consist of the verse If God is for us who can be against us. Jack wanted us to realize that God is for us and wants us to follow Him. He sent His Son to die on the cross for us and He is pleading for us to follow Him so we can spend eternity with Him. Jack spoke on how God´s love will always be with us no matter what we do. He encouraged us to come to Jesus because God will be there for us when no one else is. Jack did a wonderful job this morning, and he is truely a man of God.
Before devo a group went back to Didasko to try to finish the play ground. After devo we split us into three more groups. A group of 10 went to Nuevo Oriental to build a house along with a group of 7 to paint. The remaining members were VBS members. Today The VBS crew went to Nuevo Oriental to distribute food before going to the Valley of Angels for VBS. We had the great honor of riding on Elroy. For those of you who didn´t know, we thought Elroy had died, but he went to the doctor and had major surgery. I am glad to announce that Elroy is alive and running as smooth as ever. Anyway, we were able to distributed about 100 boxes of food today. We had about 90 or so left over, so we gave it to one of the town officials. He will be handing the rest of them out to needy families. When we had finished distributing food, we loaded up the bus and made our way to the Valley of Angels. We arrived in the Valley right on time, 2:00 pm on the dot. We unloaded all the VBS supplies along with the carnival supplies and made our way to the town square where we had conducted VBS for the past two days. After unloading all the supplies we began singing. When we had sang three songs we did a skit called the Sin Box. Neil was the lucky one to get ¨stuck¨ in the sin box. He did a wonderful job along with the others in showing how sneaky sin is. Sin looks so good, but when you are in it only Jesus can save you. After that skit was finished we sang some more and had more skits. When all the skits were finished we handed out sandwiches for all the kids, and set up the carnival supplies. The kids loved the carnival. They were able to enjoy popcorn, cotton candy, games, and lot of prizes. After about an hour we had to load up the supplies and head up to the mission house.
We arrived back at the mission house at about 5:30 pm and were greeted by the Choluteca team. They made it back safe, praise God. It was almost time for supper when we got back, so we all washed up and made our way to the mess hall. Tonight we had noodles in some type of sauce (don’t ask me), Hawaiian ham with pineapples, carrots, and rolls. After dinner, we had time to catch up with the Choluteca team on all the progress they made; Jen Arnold will have that update. Then we headed to the chapel.
Devotional had a great deal of “popcorn” singing (in honor of Andy Polk). The lesson was given by Rich Guthrie of PA. He gave a powerful testimony and read Psalm 91. While in Iraq, he read this passage a great deal. He has found comfort knowing that God has kept him around through so many things. He knows God has a reason for him, just like He does for all of us.
“Where did you see Jesus?”
· In the people who walked as much as three hours to meet our group in Choluteca.
· In the kids at Didasko who were thanking the workers before they even started to build the playground.
· In the posts of one of the houses that was built. The wood had so many splinters and was so rough, it is hard to imagine what the cross must have been like for Jesus.
· In the kids at Didasko who remembered a crew member who returned to build a playground. They were so happy to see him.
· In Mark Herrera who took the time to sit and draw with a little girl amidst the chaos of the carnival around him.
· In Shane who gave his shirt to a little boy on the mountain when they were giving out food.
· In Devin taking care of everyone in Choluteca. He did so many thoughtful things behind the scenes to make everyone as comfortable as possible.
· In the way God has brought us all together to serve Him.
· In the people who stepped up and helped Brandy to do the blog while Jen was away.
· In our staff here at the mission house that takes so much time and care to prepare our meals.
· In the view at the overlook. Even with so much poverty, you can find a moment of peace to appreciate God’s creation.
· In the family units who were able to come down here together and do such awesome work for the Lord.
· In the children saying the prayers the past three days of VBS. They have been innocent and beautiful, asking God to watch over those with no homes and over the Americans who have come to teach the Bible.
· In Tyler Steffy who busted it all day with the construction crew and simply looked beat at dinner from giving so much of himself.
· In Jose, a little boy who helped hold a paint tray up for one of the TORCH members who was painting high on a house. He did his best to reach as far as he could.
Thank you for keeping up with the blog,
Dios te bendiga (God bless you),
JMA & Brandy B.
