crificing my marriage and my family, sleep, etc....something obviously not acceptable. I could go on, but it is enough to say...I, like all of us in one way or another, need God's direction and help.Sampedrana on Thursday was refreshing. We started by sending half the group on a quick tour of the town to see the Hill Climber coffee producing property and the school. Quick? Well, they were back after about 2 1/2 hours. The other half of the group went up to the mission house there to start putting together the bunk beds they had cut and cured on Tuesday and Wednesday. We did not have a lot of time...or electricity from the small generator, but almost three of the six bunk beds were finished by the time we had to head back to Teguc., which with such a long drive (lots of road construction...a policeman kept me waiting for quite some time while he was fishing for a bribe...some protestors blocking part of the main road with burning tires...plus the normal 45 minutes or more to go 10 miles up the mountain and the 1 1/2 hours to get from Teguc to where we turn to go that 45 minutes up
the mountain) meant the whole trip went by rapidly.Nicole plays the violin so very well, it was a unique pleasure to have her play for us while we built bunk beds...and an even rarer treat for the kids in the school to get to not only hear her but see her play for each of the three classrooms. This will likely be the only time any of them ever see a violin played, and by the time we got to the third classroom...the other two rooms emptied to come hear again. I can not imagine what an impact her sharing of the gifts God has given her had on those kids. Hope sometimes comes in words, in the spoken preaching of the Gospel, in seeing change in your community...in many things, but sometimes it comes from seeing and hearing something like that.
We have been taking groups to Sampedrana for eight years...yet the children there still seem so reserved, so shy...which did not surprise me too much as the adults there are generally reserved and shy as well...but hearing and seeing that still so many kids were shocked at seeing their picture on the digital camera screen was surprising. After standing in the road (we were waiting) watching the group's antics and the kids watching...I likened it to the zoo parading in front of you. The kids certainly were captivated by the whole thing.
We then had time for a quick soccer game. Another thing that adds to the burden on my heart is walking into situations like this one: Gender calls me over as the group was getting their team ready to face the soccer ministry kids. He asks for cleats again as what you see is what you get for their ability to play. A few kids had cleats, but several played in their bare feet, some flip flops, work boots, or croc-like shoes. Of course if we have cleats we distribute cleats, but we have not received any, so I can not send any. A simple enough answer....but there rests on my conscience for some reason a responsibility t like it is my fault. After all, I am the mission director, so if we fail/struggle...that falls on me, and of course any success is God working through us. I am not sure I can explain this well, but that is just one responsibility..."pile" on a few hundred other more of those....it is certainly more than I can handle, and only by the grace of God can anything be done...finding a balance in all this sometimes is difficult, and only possible when fully relying on Him! I guess I really add this to give Him even more glory...because left to my own devices I would have given up due to lack of hope, exhaustion, and depression a long time ago!
And with their long walk through the forest some of the group got the rare pleasure of....checking each other for ticks. Ah, nothing like that to brighten your day. Oscar commented that one group member who picked off three ticks would obviously make for a very good horse...because here we associate ticks most often with horses. I am not sure the group member appreciated the jump in logic.
We then had time for a quick soccer game. Another thing that adds to the burden on my heart is walking into situations like this one: Gender calls me over as the group was getting their team ready to face the soccer ministry kids. He asks for cleats again as what you see is what you get for their ability to play. A few kids had cleats, but several played in their bare feet, some flip flops, work boots, or croc-like shoes. Of course if we have cleats we distribute cleats, but we have not received any, so I can not send any. A simple enough answer....but there rests on my conscience for some reason a responsibility t like it is my fault. After all, I am the mission director, so if we fail/struggle...that falls on me, and of course any success is God working through us. I am not sure I can explain this well, but that is just one responsibility..."pile" on a few hundred other more of those....it is certainly more than I can handle, and only by the grace of God can anything be done...finding a balance in all this sometimes is difficult, and only possible when fully relying on Him! I guess I really add this to give Him even more glory...because left to my own devices I would have given up due to lack of hope, exhaustion, and depression a long time ago! 
And with their long walk through the forest some of the group got the rare pleasure of....checking each other for ticks. Ah, nothing like that to brighten your day. Oscar commented that one group member who picked off three ticks would obviously make for a very good horse...because here we associate ticks most often with horses. I am not sure the group member appreciated the jump in logic.
1 comment:
Hello! This is Julie Lauer, Becky's mom. Thanks for the updates. Our church here in Evansville, Indiana is praying for your efforts. God bless!!
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