We had a productive day today. Our day started out a little shaky when our bus was considerably late to pick us up. One of the primary rules of mission work is "blessed are the flexible." The bus did come, which is a good thing and we headed up the mountain to our assignment for the day.
The children were already gathered when we arrived with smiles on their faces. Our ladies opened up with a puppet show for the kids and some songs. They did their best to sing some songs in Spanish, which was well received.
This is the first work of this kind that has been done at the church and as far as I can tell the first for this area. The older teenagers and the adults helping seemed to enjoy the day as much as the younger children.
We did a typical VBS rotation with crafts, games, and a Bible story for the day. It went well and we were very well received.
After lunch, we went out into the community to go house to house sharing the Gospel. It is not missions if the Gospel is not central to the work. When I take people out of the country, I want to get them out of their comfort zones and sharing their faith. So we divided up in groups with the assignment that each team member was to have the opportunity to share their faith. I went first then I said, "now it's your turn." Our team responded wonderfully. We have some who are seasoned mission workers and comfortable in sharing their faith, and we have others who are newer to it. But nobody hesitated. We saw three people trust Jesus as their Savior in the door to door work.
The people were very welcoming and invited us into their homes. The poverty is extreme here. Most of the homes have dirt floors, and ramshackle roofs and walls, and typically have no running water or sewer. If they have beds, they are made of wooden slats with some covers to pull over at night. We come to offer hope. We offer a hope that will outlast anything we could do for them materially. Pray for us as the week continues.
Now, I have a question for you. Look at the picture in this blog post. Look carefully, what do you see? Houses? Yes. Buildings? Yes. Mountains in the background? Yes.
Now, let me tell you what I see. I see are fields that are white unto harvest. But the laborers are few. I see houses that have people in them, most of whom do not have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
What are you going to do about it?
