Final Day

THIS WAS ACTUALLY WRITTEN ON TUESDAY BUT WE HAD NO INTERNET TO UPLOAD....

As I write this it is our last day on the work site. I am sitting in the "tree house" with Pastor Dori and her husband. She is cooking our morning snack while I write. She and I have grown close during these 2 weeks, even though we do not understand each others spoken language. Honestly, that has made little difference.

She is the Pastor of this small, country church where we have been working. She walks miles up and down the mountain, on the dirt roads we have been traversing, hosting bible studies for the people who live here. She preaches the word of God with fervor, and when she prays out loud, I can imagine God leaning forward on His throne to hear her more clearly and then sending His angels to answer her prayers... I perceive this, and know that it is true, even though I cannot understand what she is saying. The spirit of God surrounds this place like nowhere else I have been, and He is clearly working through this amazing woman.

As we close out our trip we will share communion with the folks in this community. We will serve the bread and the juice to each other. There will be no discussion, or debate, about the order of worship or the book of order. There will be no liturgical rules to follow either. We will simply share  and pray with each other, as one body of Christ, united in His love and grace.

The pictures below show the final results of our works, but more importantly, it shows the unity of the Body I have written about throughout this trip. I suspect you can see the love shared almost as much as we felt it on the Mountain, outside of Cali, Colombia.

Pastor Dori at her surprise birthday party.

Mike cleaning brick after Tony laid them.

Tony and Leanard finishing up one side of the wall.

Juan Pablo, our mascot.

Me mixing concrete.

Children at bible school.

Debbie with baby Samuel.

The bricks are done! At least on that side. :)

Mike and the local boys.

Tony and John determining the work for the final day.

The whole team and the locals who helped us.

Unity

THIS WAS ACTUALLY WRITTEN MONDAY BUT WE HAD NO INTERNET ACCESS TO UPLOAD....

When I first started writing today's blog, it was going to be factual, with an outline of what we have accomplished and how we have been spending our time. After typing the first paragraph, I reconsidered and deleted the details. In reality, that doesn't matter.  Yes, we have accomplished some great things. We did build an attractive and functional back wall for the sanctuary and made some other esthetic and functional improvements as planned, but, in the end, that is not what matters.

What I now know matters, really matters, is the unity of believers and the building of relationships based on the love of Christ. This is true of the team in and of itself, but even more so between the worshipers of Cali and our team. The strong connecting bond created by a common belief is strong, but the connecting bond created by the cross of Jesus is the ultimate in strength and unity.

Leaving the work site tomorrow for the final time will be extremely difficult for me. I feel at home here and I know I have been right where God has wanted me to be. He has taught me much in the past 2 weeks, about myself, about what matters and about how He would have me live my life.

In my first blog I wrote about the strong call I felt to come on this particular trip. I felt that I was being beckoned by God himself to "come away" with Him. He has indeed met me here and, when I return home, I must adjust my life so that I can be open to His leading day by day, minute by minute. I suspect that will be difficult, but I sincerely pray that I won’t lose grasp of this all important lesson.

Below I have pasted some pictures from yesterdays' worship service which was held in the the Mountain church. We returned to work today and made a mess again, but you will see how beautifully they cleaned up the site for the service. Enjoy!

The alter the parishioners erected in the middle of the construction site.

Tony and Pastor Dori serving communion.

Music for the service.

Tony preaching in front of the Wall.

Tony and I singing at the service with the Wall as the backdrop.

Banners on the Wall.

Me with one of the ladies in the community./

 

Worlds Collide

Worlds Collide

The youngest member of our team turned 19 today. Her name is Jessica Jones and she is on this trip with her parents, Jeff and Debbie. She is an amazing young woman with a great sense of humor. She loves the Lord and works hard, and we have all grown to love her like she is our own.

Unfortunately for her she is currently taking an online summer school class and has had two exams and several projects due during our time in Colombia. At her professor's request, I am serving as her proctor for the tests. Technology has made this possible, although it has added significant stress to Jessica's life :)

Today was the day she had to complete her final exam (yes, on her birthday). It had to be turned in by 5pm EST, which is 4pm here. This presented several challenges since our work schedule is 8:30am - 6:00pm, in the mountains far from the city where there is no wifi. We brainstormed several ideas as to how to make this work, and ended up borrowing a "hotspot" from one of the church members in the city.

This actually worked and she was able to take the exam this morning sitting in the "treehouse" which barely has running water. I then emailed the document back to the professor in South Carolina before the deadline.

The  juxtaposition of the hotspot in the treehouse has had me shaking my head all day. This world is so very small technologically, with information instantly disseminated around the world, yet we still live worlds apart from people like those we have grown to love here in Cali.

The homes most of us live in would be considered mansions here, and the thought of owning more than one vehicle would be laughable. We use our technology constantly to stay in touch and stay aware, yet there are millions of people around the globe who have not heard the gospel of Christ.

Jessica is fortunate to live in a time when technology made a simultaneous summer school class and an international mission trip possible. In fact, she doesn't remember a time when something like this wasn't possible, thanks to the internet and personal computing. I pray that her generation will use this technology, in ways we have not, to spread the good news of Jesus without apology, worldwide.

Why? Because Jesus is the one constant, predictable thing in this world. He is our savior and redeemer, healer and comforter. He was fully God and fully Man and chose to die so we could live. His resurrection power is in us and should drive us to share what we have in Him with all the world.

Can we leave our comfortable, safe world to spread His name? Not just worldwide, but around the corner? Are we truly doing all we can? The team has been asking this question since we arrived, and now I ask you. What else can you do in the name of Christ, answering the call to spread the good news?

Settling In

They say a picture is worth 1000 words. With that in mind, most of this blog post will simply be pictures, with captions that will hopefully give you a feel for how we have been spending our time. But first, I had a thought I wanted to share...

We have reached the point in our work here where the end is not quite in sight, but the work is actually getting harder. The adrenalin has worn off and it is now taking true determination and drive to push forward. It is a matter of will to continue with this difficult work, and there have been times when each of us has felt some frustration. But, push forward we will.

This is not so different than our lives as Christians. Sometimes our faith walk can take true determination and drive. Often times walking with Christ is matter of will. Step by step, day by day, Jesus is with us even when we may not "feel" like it. We know He is with us here, and I know He is with you as well... even when the "new" has worn off. Trust Him.... We are!

Enjoy the pics!

Stained glass Bob made for local church.

Jeff and Leonard during Siesta.... I was sleeping :)

Sleeping Pastor during Siesta... He hogs the hammock.

Isabel, our guide and translator, explaining the plan to Debbie.

Jessica, poor girl, preparing for a summer school exam during our break.

Jeff, Al, Ricardo and Roberta mixing concrete.

Leonard and Isabel on the truck heading up the mountain.

Ray and Tony on the bus.

Becky hanging on tight.

Mike, Ray, Tony and John building a concrete form.

Kids playing soccer after bible school.

Work area where we build the steel columns.

Leonard was blessed today with a new grand-babygirl back in SC. We had a birthday party for baby McKenzie.