Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Progress

It has been longer than I intended since my last update. I was planning on posting right after the team left but unfortunately my body would not cooperate. I spent most of last week in bed or asleep on the couch with the flu or something like it. I had body aches, chills when I was not roasting, a nasty cough and no energy. I wanted to do things but every time I stopped or sat down, I was sleeping in a few seconds. Needless to say, writing was out of the question.

Happily, I am fully recovered now and would like to update you on the team and the work that happened in early June. The team from Risen Life Church in Utah arrived on Friday evening and they began helping out immediately. There was an evangelism event that was Scheduled for Saturday morning and they went to the streets along with Church members and they blanketed much of the town. They went to the park and to neighborhoods handing out the Gospel of John booklets and looking for opportunities to share about Jesus. Even though they were limited in their abilities to communicate, they all had a great time and were excited to help.

On Monday we started the construction week. The team began the prep work for constructing the Church walls in Membrillal.  They cleaned the area, tied re bar for the beams and began to get the block work started. This is the first team that has done significant block work because it is one of the more difficult jobs. We took a break from work in Membriallal to go work in Zapote for two days. The plan was to work there Wednesday and Thursday and then go back to finish the block on Friday in Membrillal. They were going to build a house and two stoves, not a hard two days work but enough that they would know that they had been busy. They finished it all in one long, hot, tiring and dirty day.

Most of the team went back to work in Membrillal a day early. Rudy took 3 with him back to Zapote to finish tearing down the old, dilapidated house while the rest of us went to continue working on the Church walls. By the end of Thursday we were a full day ahead of schedule. The block was almost completely done up through the first 5 rows, where we were going to stop and pour columns and beams. On Friday, our bonus day we were able to pour them and the Church was starting to shape up. You could now see what it was going to look like.

Risen Life worked hard and I was once again impressed by their work ethic and determination to finish more than anyone though was possible. In their week of work we had 4 days of monsoon rains each afternoon. It poured so hard that the water was making rivers running down the streets. They kept working through it all. Tono told me to clean up because we were done so I started collecting tools and cleaning up the garbage in the rain. Two hours later they were finished with all the work that they wanted to accomplish. They were not going to let 2" if rain falling in a 3 hour period keep them from finishing. They worked hard and they never complained.

I was impressed by how hard the team worked but even more by their attitudes and their view of the work they were doing. They did not come to Guatemala to build buildings and stoves. They came to advance the Kingdom of God and were going to do that regardless of the tasks that entailed. Their work was primarily to honor and glorify Jesus. They did that in Guatemala and they will be doing that in Salt Lake now that they are home. They understand that the call is to be faithful to God's purposes and plans wherever you happen to find yourself at the moment. They made eternal progress this week that goes beyond the number of blocks set and the projects finished. I pray that they are blessed and that Risen Life reaps blessings for all of the sowing that they do.
Jarrod fitting block around a roof drain.

Greg working on the wall near the stage.