There are a lot of things in life that get us distracted. And some are more easily distracted...squirrel. No matter where we are, Satan has something he is trying to distract us with. At home it may be our jobs, our technology, or our school work. Even here in Honduras he throws in distractions like fatigue, complaints, and not getting along with certain people on the trip. These distractions are trying to get us off our game. Satan is using them to keep us from doing our work for the Lord. Then when one person starts getting distracted and complaining to other people, it just brings them down as well. I know from experience how easily distracted I am. If you've read enough of these blogs you probably already have an idea about how my mind jumps from one thing to the next. I feel like distractions creep in much easier than they used to, especially with technology and social media. It's so easy to just sit on your computer and scroll through your Facebook newsfeed for hours. As a Facebook-aholic, I can claim to have done this more times than I can count. But what good comes out of staring at a computer screen? Facebook can be a great tool to keep in touch with people near and far, but are you using it to grow God's kingdom? Those hours you spend on there could be better used in study of God's word. Trust me, I'm preaching to the choir on this one. I regret so many nights that I stayed up late on Facebook just looking at pictures or talking to people I'd probably see the next day, but I'd claim to be too tired to open my Bible and read before going to sleep. How often do we let distractions keep us from a better relationship with God?
Here on this trip, one of the things you have to realize is that in order for us to do the most and best work we can do, we have to show respect. Respect those people we may not get along with and learn to work with them because you are both striving for a common goal. Respect the fact that everyone is tired from a long day's work and may be a little cranky. Giving everyone a smile and word of encouragement can go a long way. Don't let life's distractions keep you from missing the good stuff. Brett read this scripture tonight to go with his devo on distractions:
"Whatever you do, do your work heartily, as for the Lord rather than men."
Colossians 3:23
Today was our first big day. We had three projects going on at once. The primary ones were the medical clinic and construction. The clinic got right to work as soon as we pulled up to the school. Here in Agua Agria, they closed the school down for the 3 days we are going to be here so that we can use the buildings to do the clinic and clothing distribution in. First, we had to unload all the medical supplies on the buses, put them in the two classrooms and organize them. We had one room for the doctors and nurses to see patients, and another room for the pharmacy. There was a great group of around 20 people working in the medical clinic. They were amazing and worked hard the entire day. I mean they had to because somehow in less than 7 hours they saw over 300 patients!! Our count was 301 according to Mrs. Sarah Hinson, but according to Terry, there were people who came in who were not on the list so our number is supposedly closer to 400. Either way, it was a huge number of people who were able to get some much needed medical treatment today. As for the construction crew, we had two crews working on the two houses. One lucky smaller crew led by Tyler Gist got to hike up the hill, which is not just a hill, it's more like a climb up a mountain. They were able to get 3 sides and the floor of the house for one of the preacher's done. I'm thinking they would have finished today if they had not run into some problems along the way. But Terry was happy because he was afraid the construction would be done early and be left with nothing to do tomorrow. The second house and classroom came along great today. They are over 2/3 done, only lacking a few sides, part of a floor and a roof, I think...This was a different project since we're not building a typical TORCH house. It's about 3 times the size of what we normally build since there is a classroom attached to one end. We're thankful to have Tricky Pat in charge of this project and I'm excited to see the final project tomorrow! Hope to post pictures for you all to see as well.
VBS and the women's class were our smaller projects for the day. Mrs. Diane Adams led a women's Bible class for about 15 women this morning. I heard that it went very well for her and also for her interpreter Hannah Phillips. Hannah was also a big part of our VBS as she was interpreting for our narrator of our skit. This morning we weren't sure the best way of going about VBS since all the kids are in line for the clinic with their parents. Only so many are let inside the gates of the school at a time, and we had to wait for Hannah to be available before we could start. So the first few hours in the village was spent playing with the kids while they waited. They were fascinated with the bubbles I blowed for them, and I heard the boys threw a football around for almost 2 hours. Around 11:30 we had a good size group of somewhere between 50 and 60 kids gathered so we sang songs with them and did our first VBS skit about Paul that we did in Costa Rica. They all seemed to love the drama and involvement of the songs. We are hoping that tomorrow goes even better!
Our plans for tomorrow are pretty much identical today. The medical clinic is supposedly seeing about 400 patients tomorrow...but those are just the amount on the list. The construction crews will be finishing up their projects if all goes well. The VBS will be performing another skit and have some games planned for the kids to play during our down time before and after. And Mrs. Diane Adams will be having another class for the women of the church in the morning. Please continue to pray for our efforts here in this community. Our time here is short and with only 2 days left we hope to reach as many people as we can, not only physically, but spiritually. Please pray that our efforts to meet their physical needs will exemplify Christ's love for them and it will encourage them to seek God in their life.
La jefa,
Leah
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