On Monday morning, I opened
my eyes, and saw red dots everywhere on my body. I had the chicken pox when I was little, so I
was confused. They itched, looking like
bad acne on my face. It was
embarrassing, uncomfortable, and perplexing.
In addition, there was several other little confusing or unplanned
hitches on Monday morning (like where we going–San Pablo, not San Pedro, it turns out). So on my boat
ride across the lake, I felt attacked by the devil. We only had 9 days of
ministry left before debrief. I would be
so easy to coast, just letting time pass along.
But I didn´t want that. God doesn´t want that of me. It would be like starting a marathon and
then quitting at mile 25 just because you´re tired. Right there in the boat crossing to San Pablo, I fought the devil,
quoting Scripture, singing quietly, praying and asking God to give me strength,
motivation, His armor to finish strong.
By the end, I had peace. I was still
physically uncomfortable from the bumps, but my attitude had changed. Upon disembarking, I gathered team Concrete,
praying fervently that God would strengthen us as a whole and give us serving
attitudes, allowing us to bless the pastor and his family.
Team Concrete we headed across the lake to San Pablo on Monday morning to work
alongside Pastor Efraim and his family. Pastor and his wife (Betty)
welcomed us with opened arms, cooking for us, letting us sleep in their house
on the couches. The kids and Betty speak
2 languages (their local dialect and Spanish).
Pastor also speaks 2 additional local tribal languages. But no English. We´re the only foreigners in town. So I´m back to using the tiny bit of Spanish
I know, along with the Spanish-English dictionary of course. They are very patient with me, and eager to
learn English words.
When we first arrived, the
pastor said we could help wash windows in the church building. Well, it´s day 3 and we haven´t touched the
windows yet. Window washing would be
fine. But right now, God has a different
plan. Instead the pastor took us to
visit families in the community, praying for the sick, needy, etc. A 15-year old unmarried girl due with her
first baby any day. 
A little 3-year old
girl with a severely burnt hand. A
family whose 18-year old girl was just admitted to the hospital for
cancer. A family of an 18-year old boy with
cancer who is coming home today, receiving no more medical treatments after a 5-year
battle against cancer. And many others.
And then there was the
family whose 18-year old boy committed suicide just 10 minutes after we left their
next-door-neighbor´s house on Monday night.
We heard about it early Tuesday morning.
The pastor immediately took us to the viewing.
There were at least 60 of us crammed into a house the size of a small
bedroom. The casket had a clear
window. We could see the boy, and the
rope he used was hanging above the casket.
People unashamedly wept, using their aprons and sleeves to wipe their
tears. I stood there praying for his
family and friends, that God would ease there pain. And even boldly prayed for his return to
life, as I felt God call me to do. He was buried later that day, with
practically the whole town stopping to pay respects. The boy was greatly
loved.
Oh, and by the way, on
Tuesday before we went on house visitations, I went to the clinic. Apparently my bed in Panajachael (where we spent 3 nights before San Pablo) had
flees. Yes that´s right. I had flee bites everywhere. No wonder I was uncomfortable! After a huge shot of medicine, and starting on and anti-itch cream, I´m doing a lot better. I was just glad it wasn´t catching for other
people or some weird disease that would send me home early or prevent me from
going to the Middle East next month.
My lessons this week: 1) Don´t quit the race of life early, fight in the Spirit at all times, even when you don´t feel like it, ask God, He will give you strength. 2) God is Sovereign, over cancer, pregnancies, suicides, flees…over everything. He works in the good and bad for His glory.
