Our word today is: Family
Reading: Romans 8:14-17 and Ephesians 3:14-21
Romans 8: 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father" 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Ephesians 3: 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. 16 I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, 17 so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, 18 may have power, together with all the Lord's holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, 19 and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. 20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
This morning we had breakfast at 7:30, eggs and rolls with jam and butter. We had our morning debrief and Katie told us a fable.
(This isn't word for word but I am going to do my best)
There was a brother and sister from a tribe who were set out to give a message to the Chief into another tribe. They were told to do 3 things, not to stop until they were there, to pick up as many rocks as they could, to ask the first person they see to take them to the Chief and they were told that when they arrived that they would be happy and sad at the same time. They thought about the last one, "how can I be happy and sad at the same time." but they went on their way.
It was a very long journey and every time they saw a rock they would pick it up. Until their back packs and pockets were full, it became night time and they were getting so tired; but they knew they had to keep going, so they thought, lets just take a few rocks out so that it doesn't slow us down, Then a few rocks became a few more, and then a few more. Then they saw someone and remembered that the first person they saw, they were supposed to ask them, to take them to the Chief, and so they did. The Chief, said: "We are so happy you are here, we have been waiting for you. Did you bring the rocks?" The brother and sister, said yes, and when they emptied out the rocks that they had left, they saw that they were beautiful jewels. The Chief and his tribe were so thankful and the brother and sister realized that they were happy and sad at the same time. They were happy to bless this tribe with these jewels and sad that they didn't bring more.
The point of the fable: pick up as many rocks as you can.
This story really stuck with me (even though I am sure I didn't say it right) a lot of times I think I get into my own life, needs, wants, and I am too lazy or selfish to go out of my way, to do something for someone else that could bring such a blessing. But if you put your own wants or troubles aside, sometimes the outcome brings you more joy.
There was a need today for the team to do some more weeding. This was not the same weeding we did a few days ago, this was taking trees out. It was really hard work. One of those days where you had to choose joy. But we did it and I can't even tell you how much better it really looked after we were done. The pile was taller than me and very wide. I know someone has a picture of the before and after, and again once I get those pictures I will post them.
We also went to Elim today. Which is the Garbage Dump Ministry. The leaders of this ministry are Brent (who picked us up our first night in Trujillo) and his wife Stephany.
brent and stephany frederick
When we arrived, we walked into a building that looked like our cabin we were sleeping in. Inside it had 3 rooms: a room for the babies/toddlers, a classroom for the older kids and a community area. Some of our group stayed in that building and played with the children, the other half went around to the houses with Stephany's mom. She was going around reminding everyone about the program that they were going to do on Saturday. Saturday is the ministry's big day and they usually have a program going on. (we were supposed to be here last saturday but since we had that extra travel day we could not make it) these are a few pictures of our time here:
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| (this is stephany's mom) |
I had never seen a living situation like this. It is heartbreaking, but like all of the ministries, you can tell that they are making a huge difference. These children are loved. Before I left to go on this mission trip, I read this article from another missionary who went to the garbage dump. It is a great article, he puts his experience into great words:
http://sammamishreview.com/2011/08/23/a-night-with-garbage-miners-in-northern-peru
That night we had horse meat and rice for dinner and then had our debrief and worship songs.
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