It started with a request from Cassie Schott, who lives on the property and with Zion’s Gate Ministry permanently. Cassie visited Zion’s Gate on the world race. She was called by God back to it to live in Honduras and is in process of obtaining residency and lives there and is in the process of adopting a cute little girl named Genesis. “Could you build a book shelf for me?” So we got the wood and I build a book case. Then build large shelves for clothes. Cassie’s room looked great and organized and Genesis had room in Cassie’s bedroom. Then Tony’s wife, Nidia, found out that I could build. So I dove in head first. I started with her request of building a trunk for the boys because their clothes were just laying on the floor in piles. So we purchased the wood and I worked with the tools that were before me.
Tools: Mega challenge! See when you are working on a project at home if you cannot find tools it is your fault wherever you placed them last. In Honduras when there is 70 people any one of which might possibly use your tools at any moment if you are not guarding them! It is chaos. Deep breath and have patience. Sometimes it took me 10 minutes to find all of the tools and start and some days it was 45 minutes of searching before I found all the tools. Either way God gave me endurance and patience and I completed three trunks for the boys with two lids on top to separate the box in half. The boys bedroom looks wonderful.
Nidia also suggested a small box to sit on in their bathroom so you could dry your feet because the bathroom is tile and slippery when wet. I build a box with dividers to put stuff. A secret mission given by Tony was to install a shower curtain in the bathroom because Nidia would have to mop the floor every single time anyone would take a shower in their home. I-hooks were purchased with tacos and it took about an hour but it went up.
Half way through three trunks along came Fernando & William two of the boys on the property. Fernando is 12 and William is 8. Fernando came first. Tony came up to me with Fernando and kept pushing Fernando. “Ask him…ask him.” Fernando shied out. Tony asked, “Fernando wants to ask if he can help but he thinks you will yell at him and tell him he is too small and can’t help and to go away.” Awe I wouldn’t do that. But this is Honduras home to majority of children being fatherless. So I dove in. I showed him in my best Spanglish how to use the drill and the saw, “Only when an adult is around” had to say that many times. But he soon learned how to drill and put screws in and use the saw, once again only when I am here with you LOL.
Carter, one of my team mates, pointed out that me working with the boys, even though it took a lot longer, was like all of our relationships with God. God knows what He is doing and does it perfectly, but we come along and want to help. We have plastic fisher price hammer and saw and we think we are helping and doing majority of the work but God smiles and has patience with us and loves us and seeks us out to work with us even though God is doing 99% of the work. That my relationship with letting the boys help build the trunks was a beautiful analogy of our relationship with God.
I am glad I was there to have them help and love them through this simple work of some basic carpentry.
