The Recapse of the Mission Team

June 6, 2010

As I mentioned in the previous blog entry, we had a missions team here this past week -- a youth group from Georgia. Because I was quite involved in their schedule (some translating, leading the campout/cookout, and helping with controlling the erosion at the farm), I have found myself pretty exhausted this weekend. I have had way too many late nights. We were very blessed to have the team here though. The work we did with diverting some of the erosion which was soon to cave in the drive out at the farm came just in time because the very next day Tropical Storm Agatha entered the picture and we had lots of rain. It was also that next day that we were slated for camping out at the farm. We had a few hours of sunshine that Friday afternoon and so we put up tarps in case we could sleep outside as well as got the fire pit ready. About that time the heavens let loose and the rains came down. With much struggle we were able to get the fire started -- and without gasoline. I may have had a little too much pride involved as we were worked on the cooking fire because an uncle of two of the girls in the home was also on the farm that night and he helped get the fire laid. But the typical method of building a fire here is, throw a bunch of sticks (and large ones at that) on a pile, pour on gasoline, and throw the match on top while jumping back. He tried that once and it did not work so when he walked off for more gas, we re-arranged the sticks to make a "real fire." (I had enough classes in Outdoor Cooking, Education, etc... to value a fire built without the help of "explosives." The uncle was convinced that in the rain the gas was necessary and I said that it was not. In the end we started the fire without more gasoline, but we did use a lot of newspaper and dryer lint.

By the time we retired to our places to sleep that night (the girls in the chapel and the boys in a room in one of the little houses), we were soaked and tired. I had led a few teambuilding activities in the chapel and then shared my testimony with the group. That night as I lay in the hot chapel (there was no ventilation other than where air entered in the cracks around the windows -- open windows would have meant that rain, animals, and/or people could have entered with no problem), I struggled to fall asleep, but I realized that I could be thankful for having a dry place to sleep. I knew that many people in the town just below the farm were probably experiencing leaks and flooding that night from the storm. At one point when I looked out the window I saw an opposum climbing up a nearby tree. Had the windows been open, it probably would have joined us inside.

On Wednesday the team took care of all of the children during the day so that the childcare team could go and have a short retreat and rest. We went to a place at the beach where there were some beautiful pools. After a team activity and devotional, we had time to play or rest. I enjoyed hanging out with the other staff in a relaxed setting. Because the ocean was pretty dangerous that day, most of us stayed up by the pools.

Thursday I went with the team to a community almost at the border of Honduras where the mother of one of the boys lives. She use to live on the side of a garbage dump until La Casa de Mi Padre along with Habitat for Humanity built her a new home. From there we went with a pastor up to a community in the mountains where he is working to start a church. I went with the pastor and two of the youth to several houses, handing out food and inviting them to church. One woman that we met, Sophia, was very clearly saddened by life and struggling. We shared with her about Jesus and the peace that He offers but she was not ready to make any changes in her life or surrender to Him. I found it challenging to enter into random homes and start talking to the people there but I know that it is good for me to do. Sharing Jesus is much easier when you have built a relationship with someone though and there is a basis for which you can speak into their lives. Still it was a good experience and good exposure for the youth.

Besides all of the mission team events, there were other farewell parties, the family visit, and personal farewells for me this week. This morning I taught Sunday School for 19 two to four year-olds at church. I did it mostly in English since several of the children only speak English but I found myself forgetting and switching over to Spanish which complicated things for the other leader who was translating. As usual the children were running around the room a lot and even activities that called for their active participation were not enough to keep them in the right part of the room. It would help if we did not give them chocolate cookies the minute that they walked in the door. I think I will try to suggest that to the other leaders in two weeks when we teach again.

Since I need to leave in a few minutes, that is the recapse for the moment. Hopefully I can touch on some other things that God has been doing in a future post.