FRIDAY JULY 25, 2008

Friday, July 25, 2008

In the Wed. and Thurs. devotions Chip continued in his series on “What the World Needs Most”. Wed. we discussed the need for love and we were challenged by the message in the song “Love them like Jesus” by Casting Crowns. Thurs. morning we looked at the world’s need for you and me-all of us believers to be the arms, hands and feet of Jesus. Fri. we were encouraged to cast away our worry, doubt and fear and to trust fully in Jesus and to consider what we to do if Jesus were to say to us, “I dare you to be a Christian”. All of the scriptures that we looked at encouraged us and gave us strength as we embarked on three days of ministry at three different locations.

Wed. thru Fri. the men traveled to Aqua Blanca to work on the final walls of the church that was begun there a few years ago. Together with leaders from other churches they worked beside each other to accomplish the work. Although the project was not completed they managed to take it further than it was and God provided safety as they worked in somewhat
challenging situations. While most of the men were working on construction, Sam was holding Karate classes for the children and Dale, Doug and Kent worked with several men on woodworking. On Friday there was one special visitor. While the women were prayer walking in the community on Fri. one elderly gentleman that they visited explained that he could no longer find work due to an injury a few months ago. They told him about the woodworking ministry at the church and the potential there for him to learn a trade that he could use and in just a little while he appeared at the church in his “Sunday best” to see what it was all about. Hopefully this has opened the door for the church to minister to this man in need.

While the men spent three days in Agua Blanca the women traveled Wed. and Thurs. to Santa Rosa and Sacramento, respectively and then joined the men in Agua Blanca on Fri. In each of these locations we conducted prayer walks, going with women and children from the churches to visit families in need physically and spiritually. We handed out prayer bracelets and cards explaining the plan of salvation. With the help of our faithful translators we offered prayer for special needs and were able to witness the salvation of several people in all three locations. Many of the people welcomed us willingly into their homes.

After prayer walking each day we worked with several ladies in the churches on learning to sew. In all of the locations the women caught on quickly and hopefully they will be able to continue learning as they practice and use the supply of material and other sewing items that we left for them. In Agua Blanca two ladies were able to complete valances for the 4 windows in the Feeding Center. It will brighten up the room and hopefully give them the desire to make more curtains for other rooms. During the week Julio, one of our translators and a member from Comunion, took some of us to the store to buy thread for the machines. While we were there, Pat bought the supplies for hair bows and the young girls and women at Agua Blanca where able to make bows. It was amazing to see how quickly they caught on without the use of words. Once one would watch Pat and learn the skill they would teach each other. This was such a popular thing that we determined that this might be a future project with all of the churches.

Carol continued teaching the ladies at all of these churches how to make salt scrubs and lotion bars. This was exciting for the ladies and hopefully will encourage the ladies in a project that they can continue in the future.

We also conducted Bible school in all of these locations offering games, songs, Bible stories and snacks for all of the children. We were also able to give out homemade dresses in some of the locations as well as baby items that we brought with us from home. One special treat was getting to see some young girls from one church participate in their first G.A. tea party. They all came dressed up in hats and party dresses and it was a very special and fun time.

Each evening we were busy at Comunion with our continued sewing and soap making with the ladies. The children enjoyed Karate with Sam Wilson while Dale was in his woodshop with some of the men.
Needless to say after our very busy days we all were glad to lay our heads down at night and thanked God each evening in our devotions for the mighty hand of God in all of the ways that we had witnessed his power.