This is part of a mural that was on the side of our house. When I first read it, I thought to myself that it is a great verse, seems applicable, but didn't quite get the whole meaning behind it.
After seeing this mural every day for a month, it got to me. I just had to look it up and see what the verse said in context (the Bereans would be proud!). So I grabbed my Bible and flipped it open to 1 Corinthians 3.
In this chapter, Paul is addressing how the people of the church in Corinth were arguing about whether those baptized by Paul or those baptized by Apollos were to lead the church. It includes the popular verse about planting and watering and God as the one who makes it grow.
This shed so much light on this verse.
And it seemed ever more appropriate for that mural.
El Shaddai Ministries was God's field, God's building.
It is a ministry immensely blessed by God and the grounds are filled with the presence of God. Teams come through this place all the time. And, like that verse says, we are all God's fellow workers.
We all come to work for the same purpose. And each of us will be rewarded for our own hard work (verse 8).
Verse 10 goes on to explain that Paul laid the foundation and now others are building on it. Just like Charmain laid the foundation here and we continue to help her build upon what is already here.
Our contact, Charmain
Each time a team comes through here, we are building on the work that the teams that have come before us have already done, both in the material and the spiritual.
My former squad [shout out to J squad!] had been at this exact ministry only a few months prior. It was so great to hear from a few of them on Facebook commenting about the ministry. It is so awesome to hear about and see for yourself all the work they had done during their time here. And to hear that a squad is coming after us in August, a Manistry Month is even more so encouraging.
The day we came, Charmain gave us a laundry list of sorts of all that needed to be done while we were there. And she left it up to us to figure out how and when it all got accomplished. It was a great month in that there was a ministry for everyone! With nearly fifty kids on the premise, you'd think I spent every waking minute playing with them, tutoring them, and hugging them.
But sadly, that's not what God called me to do this month. There were people on our team that ended up doing that, but not me….
I ended up being a part of the manual labor team that relocated an entire playground, a playscape and two swing sets. It took the ENTIRE month. And when we thought we were finished after removing all of the structures, I got a morning of playing with babies, but then it was back to replanting the structures in a different location on the grounds.
Here is a small overview of the Kingdom that was brought to El Shaddai this month:
Dig a septic tank for the new baby house that is under construction (6' x 6' x 10')
Lead the 15-minute Chapel service every night with all the kids.
Organize and host Girls- and Guys- nights
(for the girls, we had movie nights and girl talk. for the guys, they went hiking and cooked hot dogs over a camp fire)
the guys on their hike
Disassembling the playground
Digging out all 18 poles of the playground (each about 2.5 feet deep, some anchored in concrete).
[we had two bars, a pick ax, a crowbar, and a hatchet to dig holes. The guys digging the septic tank had all the shovels….]
(and I learned the hard way to keep your feet out of the way of the bar….. Pretty sure i broke my toe with it…)
Reassembling the playscape, digging the holes (again each about 2 feet deep) and pouring concrete into all 18 holes.
Chipping paint off the walls in the boys dorms, preparing for repainting.
Improving the existing fire pit for Guys Night by lining it with rocks and making rock seats to sit around it.
Replacing the faucet in our kitchen, repairing an existing leak and also rigging it so that the washing machine and the sink can both be used simultaneously. (Way to go Ed!)
Cooking for our family of 19.
It was a really small stove….
Rachel (our token nurse) helped run the clinic twice a week.
Every Sunday, we led worship and preached at the church.
We tutored the kids every day after school, helping them with their homework and study for upcoming tests.
A few of us helped a Peace Corps volunteer organize the library at the school.
We helped at the baby house, supervising the kids, playing with them, feeding them, and helping a few with their physical therapy.
Faith and Hope are twins that came to El Shaddai near death from malnutrition. Charmain was told that they would never walk. By the time we left, both were walking.
Brian is a three-year-old who has the development of a 5-month old. When we came, he could barely sit up. After doing physical therapy with him every day for a month, he has become much more flexible and is able to sit up leaning against someone.
