What a crazy sight we are…27 tents scattered across the church lawn, right in the city. We have one bathroom and one hose/shower to share for all of us- girls, watch out!
We have to fill our water supply (large barrels) first thing each morning before it’s all used up by the town, and this is what we use for laundry and for flushing (most toilets are flushed by just pouring water in and letting gravity do its job). We made paths with concrete blocks to help decrease the mud we’re tracking around. Not able to practice the best hygiene (don’t even have a sink), which is really hard for me especially as a nurse, but we do the best we can to keep clean. This is home for the next 17 days- which doesn’t sound like very long to pour in to ministry, until God reminded me that it only took Him 6 days to create the whole world! And He is the same God who is empowering us and moving through this city today!
Crazy roosters crowing back and forth, with no perception of time (they crow all night long!) and rain POURing down on a tin roof- this was night number one. I had decided to sleep “inside” the first night because I didn’t feel very well; needless to say I didn’t do a whole lot of sleeping. When the rain started to downpour, I was thinking how glad I was that I had decided to sleep inside. Then it hit me… I had never fully placed my rain flap on! Uh-oh! I just laughed to myself realizing that it was too late now to make much difference. I got up anyway and made a quick dash out to throw it completely on. Thankfully the section that had been covered had all my clothes directly under it so at least I wouldn’t be stuck wearing my pajamas all day; everything else was rather wet, but nothing damaged. I learned camping 101- always leave the rain flap on, especially if you’re not sleeping in it (even when there’s no sign of rain).
Please pray for good health and energy for all of us! We’ve been passing something around that is wiping people out, and it needs to be stopped. Unclean conditions and living in such close community means we tend to share EVERYTHING, the good and the ugly.
J
Earlier on in the night of the huge downpour, we had ended the day by worshipping the Lord. All I could do was cry. I’ve been praying for God to break me of myself completely, and that was exactly how I felt – so tired and weak, with a massive head cold, and just unable to function on my own. I thanked the Lord for helping me to see how helpless I am without His strength, and I repented for all the times I am self-focused. Our time of worship was a beautiful picture to me of the body of Christ, because when one is weak, another helps pick him up. Lynette and
Chad immediately came over to me to pray and anoint me with oil (James
5:14 + Isaiah 61:3). I then went outside to look up at the vast sky to just praise our God for He is so good and to intercede for the people of Pelenque. We are pouring ourselves out and He is filling us back up.
