Tuesday teen girls dorm renovation project — DIY MIA

Not a whole lot of photographic evidence of the kitchen renovation in progress because it’s all hands on deck for this small but effective building crew led by the Skidmore ladies, Edwin Willhite and Russ Countess with the assistance of others. But when the sawdust settles and everything is in place, we promise a photo review worthy of  DIY Network. So stay tuned. And say a prayer that the sun stands still ala Joshua for this crew.

Tuesday — House-building crew raises the roof and lifts spirits

A house in three days? The roofs on with one day left. Then comes one of the many poignant moments of the trip when we hand over the keys to the family. Just a taste of what it’s going to be like in heaven when, Lord willing, we first spot that home that’s been prepared for us....

Tuesday Morning — Our routine is anything but routine

The schedule is the same on Tuesday as it was on Monday. Still, it’s anything but routine. Each day whether you’re here or at home is filled with countless little surprises — some of them good, some bad. Each day is also filled with countless little miracles if we only have eyes to see them. Sometimes I think the value of a mission trip and a change in culture and therefore a change in our perspective and point of view is that it helps us see things that surround us all the time and we don’t notice them because we’re too caught up in the life we’re living, too focused on what we think is important to notice what’s most important. Time away from home, away from what’s familiar, puts us off balance and in trying to regain that balance, we notice the world around us, we see our life more clearly.

Today was no except. Sure, we still had the same activities and crews to manage. There was a house to continue to build in Maneadero. There were food sets that still needed distributing. There were puppet shows and play time and skits and Bible classes, crafts and snacks, kitchen set up and clean up. There was still a kitchen that needed renovating. The list remained essentially the same. The people who took care of the list altered a bit and that means the activities and experience were all different because people are different.

Also there were numerous things that happened this week or in the week leading up to this one that have kept us off balance — illness, injury, painful circumstances at home that are beyond our control and beyond our ability to handle as we’re far away, missteps, a tumble down a hill, stepping on a nail, an accidental hot source incidence, getting in a fight with a saw and losing, but, praise God, not losing a finger, and there was also a malfunctioning stove. And in dealing or attempting to deal with it and the pain in all of these cases, we look a little more carefully at our life and the fleeting nature of comfort.

There’s the list of things to get done. And then there’s life. Our challenges are a call to worship. One impossible to ignore. And opportunity to worship in every situation because of what God has done for us. Lord knows.

Our Tuesday devotional for those who are taking the journey with us.

Praying before lunch.... Certain these prayers go straight to the Father’s ear.