“Hey, did I get a tan line today or is that just dirt?” or “Look at the dirt in my elbow pit” were comments you would hear around Abdeel this past 12 days. We had the awesome opportunity to help Felix and his ministry, Abdeel, by getting down and dirty. As I mentioned in my last blog, Felix recently purchased an old hotel where he will be housing his ministry in the future. Our group was called here at the perfect time to help jumpstart this place for ministry. Since we’ve been here, we’ve painted orange, orange, and more orange on the hotel and the chapel. We’ve scrubbed the floors and tiles where we dripped that same orange (oops!). We’ve painted the hallways and rooms a peach-ish color. Actually, we decided it looked like calamine lotion. We sat in the bottom of the pool and scraped out dirt for hours from neglect of the pool during the time the place was for sale. We’ve spent time with Felix, hung out with him, loved on him, and encouraged him. And he has done the same for us. We have been able to pour into each other. I think that is what the body of Christ is supposed to do, right?
As I look back to write about what we’ve done, it doesn’t seem like much, but we have accomplished a lot in our time here. It has occupied all six of us and some Guatemalans for 10 of the past 12 days. Felix says that we accomplished more than he ever thought we would. God deserves the glory for all this work. Almost each morning, we would pray that God would bless our work, that He would make us efficient, and double what we could finish in our own strength. I am thankful that God always shows up and blesses what we do in His name. We also prayed that we wouldn’t just be painting, but that we would know and acknowledge that we were building and empowering a ministry that will change lives forever. We keep saying, we can’t wait to see where God takes this place and these kids in the next year, five years, and ten years. It’s going to be something amazing!
front lobby with hammock and all – nice place to rest after a hard days work
our home for the week – not too shabby, huh?
the church at Felix’ place – I got to “spider-man” the screens to get the top of those walls – talk about a forearm workout!
In addition to the hard work and the satisfaction of helping Abdeel, we are also walking away with nice tans (actual tans, not dirt), and some impressive biceps and triceps.
