Often times I can wonder and even worry, asking the Lord if I am living for Him. I compare myself to missionaries I have heard about, I think of hardcore prayer warriors that I've read about, etc. My number one hearts desire is to hear from the Lord "well done my good and faithful servant." Those words are what I long for, what I live for; to please my Lord. As I have examined myself, I come up short. The great thing is that my salvation doesn't depend on my works! If it were for that there would be no way I could make it into heaven. And so my desire to work for Him comes from a genuine desire to please Him and bring others to Him. This being said why do I miss that mark? As the Lord has been showing me lately this "problem" can be solved through simple, everyday obedience. The truth is I become very nervous when He asks me to do things out of the ordinary, to step out of my comfort zone, to start a simple conversation with someone. In this simple obedience however, I will please my Lord and possibly bring someone to Him with something so simple as a "buenos dias." In acting on that still small voice I bring pleasure to Him. Like Jesus said in John 8:29 I desire to "always do those things that please Him." It's amazing what a simple hello will do and in obedience I got to talk to a lady at the bus stop, a conversation started with that simple "buenos dias." On our bus trip to the center of town she went on to tell me about her son, his ambitions, and her hopes to have him serve the Lord. Lord willing we will see him at church soon!
At the end of the month of April we had the chance to do a VBS style kids' club during the kids' week off for "semana santa" or "holy week." It was held in the garage at the house where the female students stay. We had an average of 25 kids a day come from our neighborhood as well as the surrounding neighborhoods. We played games, sang kids songs, gave them snacks, did Bible lessons, and finished it all off with puppets. Overall it went great. I had the chance to lead one of the kids songs one day and also be king Solomon in one of the puppet shows. Part of the purpose of this "club de niños" was to get a weekly kids club going on Friday afternoons. Kids are so important and instrumental for the Lord as they are our future leaders in the church. Children's ministry was largely influential for me and I know it can and will have the same affect on any one of these kids.
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| Using my sweet balloon animal skills that I learned on the many Calvary Old bridge outreaches and VBS I attended. |
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| Chelley overseeing |
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| Annie with our Ruth puppet |
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| That's Bailey in the back, she organized the whole thing |
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| Darwin narrating the puppet show |
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| How could you say no to any of these kids? |
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| More puppets |
Last week we did our tri-monthly trip to Panama with the students. While we were there we dedicated an afternoon to practical ministry by doing garbage pick-up. There was a lot of garbage! A few of our students got asked about what we were doing and in turn got to share about the Lord and what we were doing in Central America. The hotel manager was also challenged by our efforts and is going to start a garbage pick-up program.
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| Our bus across the border |
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| At the local mall |
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| Going on a hunt for garbage! |
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| drugs on the street while picking up garbage. Don't worry mom I didn't touch them |
I'm still praying and thinking about the skatepark. Everyday I see a skateboarder I get anxious to start building. However, it's looking like we're going to start with portable ramps. The vision I've gotten is to start off with a fun-box, quarter pipe and maybe even a little climbing wall, and have a weekly schedule of spots we'll visit. We want to make flyers and have again, a consistent schedule that the kids can count on. As we hang out and talk to the skaters we will share with them as the Lord leads and see if from this we can start a youth group. I've also noticed quite a few bmx'rs in this town and as a result have had my eye on an abandoned dirt lot in our neighborhood. If the Lord permits I want to make a bunch of dirt jumps, open it up to the community, and again hang out there and share God's love with these kids.
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| Plans for the funbox, total cost: $90 |
Finally, last week I got to hang out and play soccer on a dirt soccer field with a bunch of kids from our neighborhood "villa ligia." They were younger kids from ages 7-12. A few of them played barefoot and had no problem doing so. Most were very good; they were definitely giving me a run for my money! These kids are out there everyday and I hope to join them as often as possible, build a relationship with them and continue to show them God's love. It's so great to see their response now that they know me as I pass by them in the neighborhood. I'm excited to see what the Lord does!
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| Dirt soccer field |
So I would ask of you as the reader to please pray for all these different things. Please pray for the kids club, that these little kids would fall in love with Christ and influence future generations. Please pray that the Lord would continue to show me how to reach the youth in this community through things like the skatepark/climbing wall/BMX jumps. Thank you so much for your prayers and support. I love you all and am continually praying for you.
