March 24, Day 5 :: pastor Victor's church

This is Miku speaking for the team. Today I woke up at 7:10. When waking up, I wanted to go back to sleep. But, since breakfast is at 7:30, I had to get up and get ready for the day.  For breakfast, there was a wide variety of cereal, fruit, yogurt, and breakfast tacos.

After breakfast a couple of us went down to the field and played some soccer. At 8:15 the team gathered together and we did devotions and journaling. I read Proverbs 24 and Colossians 3. After devotions, we had free time until 9:30. Some of decided to play some more soccer and others just relaxed.

When the time came, we got into the vans and headed to ‘Lo Mejor del Trigo’ which is a church near the YWAM base (25 minute drive). There, we met the pastor Victor, and George, who gave us tasks to paint the inside walls and also chisel and level the ground out in the back. We started at 9:45, some of us inside and others outside. I was one of the youth that started outside. The weather was hot and sunny, but there was a gentle breeze that cooled us down. We were given the job to chisel the ground at the side so that we could make a path and level out the ground. As Ann, Jocelyn, Cam, Braedon, and I worked at leveling the dirt, Rudy, Tamara, Josh (YWAM leader) worked on chiseling (they rented a jack-hammer) the rocks until about 2 in the afternoon.

Inside everyone else finished the first coat of paint. As we began to feel hungry, Pablo, with his family who works at the YWAM base, and who lives close to the church brought some lunch for us to eat. We ate rice, salad, (spicy) macaroni salad, handmade corn tortillas, and last but not least chicken! After a hearty lunch, the people outside switched with some people inside and we continued our work.

Soon after 4:00, we finished painting the second coat inside, and leveled the dirt out back (where they are planning to build a house for caretakers of the church). Behind the church there was a lot of open space, and they want to build classrooms for children to learn and be taken care of. After seeing the work we did, Pastor Victor was very pleased and thanked us deeply. Before we left, we prayed for the pastor, the church, and the community. We then left the church and went back to the YWAM base. Some of us ran to the showers while others went for a delicious, cold, and caffeinated frappuccino from the cafe. At 5:30 it was dinner time and we were served Mexican soup, salad, rice, and chips.

Miku DeRuiter

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Following our dinner and session, we had our usual time around the fire pit and talked a little about our day.  Highs were centered on completing the work projects, hearing about how pastor Victor was so proud of us, and the chicken.  Lows centered around sun burns and body pain and having to wake up in the morning ... so again, our low points really are not that low - except for some who got some paint in their eyes. 

Prayer requests:

1. We start the house build tomorrow - and we're VERY VERY excited to meet the family, and start this next project!!!!

2. Some of us are experiencing fatique, days are long and packed quite full.  The toll is starting to show ... pray for continued strength and restorative rest.

3. For the family - that they would experience God's love and peace tomorrow as we meet them, and begin to work on their new home together.  Pray that we would be effective hands and feet of our God.

Thank you, and good night!

Adam.

*sorry - two sideways pics of the work in the back of the church.... a large hill, made flat.  For some reason, the pics just wouldn't cooperate, and in this blog site, you can't rotate pics.  annoying.  Tilt your head and enjoy!!! (at least they're the same way!)