MANUAL LABOR? SIGN US UP

By -
Brashear, MO

Brashear Community Bible Church

When Pastor Shannon Perry mentioned an opportunity for us to help with a service project for a woman in his church we were excited to roll up our sleeves and work. Each week we speak to congregations about the story of how God brought us together and the ministry He has for us in Bolivia, but I never want to lose sight of the ministry that God has for us in each step along the way.

We arrived in Kirksville, MO on Friday evening October 2nd. We were really excited to stay with our good friends Chad and Kendra Stearman. Molly and I had chance to connect with the Stearmans and their little boy Chase at Camp Zion. Chad and Kendra will be taking over as the young adult directors at Camp Zion 2011.  Chad and Kendra have great hearts devoted to God, devoted to youth, and devoted to missions. They are also avid board gamers and enjoy Settlers of Catan. We had a lot of fun with them.

Saturday morning (October 3) we arrived at the house in Brashear where the work had already begun. A large bonfire was sending smoke high into the clear blue sky. We looked for Pastor Shannon for direction. Molly, Chad and I each got a pair of gloves and went to our assignments. Molly was sent to help weed the flowerbed and garden. I took my place on the demo crew for an old storage building near the house. We stripped off old shingles and tore apart the falling walls to take the pieces to the fire. It seemed like no time had passed when all that was left of the old building was the concrete slab that it set upon. Then Pastor Shannon called for lunch break. As we sat down with our sack lunches we looked around the yard to see just how much progress had been made in such a short time. It was amazing to see how as we all worked together we transformed the entire look of this property. Beyond just changing the look of the property I knew we had touched the heart of the owner and her family.

Following lunch we got back to work. Molly was put on weed eating duty and it didn’t take long before the whole work crew knew that the patch of weeds Molly was cutting down was filled with some wild garlic. The aroma filled the air and filled our nostrils. We all had a pretty good laugh.


Sunday was a real blessing to make some new connections as well as see some familiar faces from Camp Zion. Pastor Shannon introduced us with a video from the Camp Zion 2010 talent show. (Click for: Camp Zion Video)

We had a wonderful time fellowshipping at the carry-in dinner after the morning service and had a lot of fun Sunday evening play ultimate Frisbee and pass the parcel with the youth group. The highlight of my day was when Shannon let me ring the church bell.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Roadblocks (physical & spiritual)

By -
Image
 Have you ever felt like Satan was trying to get in the way of something great happening in your life? Perhaps a job opportunity doesn’t work out or a deal on a house falls through. Maybe you’ve continually given into the same temptation and wonder when God will just “free you from it”. It is in these times when Satan can try to manipulate our thoughts to doubt our own strength and even worse to doubt God’s power in our lives. I was recently reminded of just how important it is to take control of our minds in difficult situations.             Each year the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center (SCCLC) has a 3 day long Junior High Camp and week long High School Camp. Molly and I both counseled at Junior High Camp. It was an incredibly fun couple of days. The mosquitoes were out in full force. The showers were ice cold. The bed was rock hard with a paper thin mattress.  And I had forgotten about “camp cologne”. You know that interesting mix of sunscreen, bug spray, and Axe deodorant? But
Read more

A third culture...

By -
Image
The 2011-2012 school year has kicked off at the Santa Cruz Christian Learning Center (SCCLC). This school truly is a culture all it’s own. It is an educational institution for missionary kids from many different countries, Bolivians, and other students who desire a private education based off of an American curriculum and schedule. Some of you may know that Molly has her degree in Elementary Education and from 2007-2009 she served as the 4 th grade teacher at SCCLC. When we returned to Santa Cruz this past April we were feeling God directing us toward more ministry with our Spanish speaking churches and Molly knew that she wouldn’t be teaching full time. However, the key word in a missionary’s vocabulary is “flexibility”. As the school year was nearing the start, SCCLC still needed to fill many teaching positions. One of those positions was in the 4 th grade. A teacher was lined up, but she was still in the States raising her support. Molly saw a need and decided to help out. For
Read more

ON THE "FLIP" SIDE

By -
Image
This week I learned more about tortoises than I had anticipated. For instance, the plural of tortoise really is tortoises and not torti like I originally thought. There are some different answers floating around the web as to what the proper name is for a group of tortoises. A group of turtles is called a "bale" and some say this goes for tortoises as well. Other answers were a "herd" or "fleet". My personal favorite was, "a creep" or tortoises, named such for their slow movement. Listed below are some other interesting facts about these reptiles.  The key differences between Tortoises and Turtles Yellow Spotted South American Tortoise You may be wondering, "Why the sudden fascination with tortoises?", and I will tell you. This past week, Molly and I took a few days away from the city for our one year anniversary. It was a good time to get away and reflect on all of God's blessings over the past year. The place we stayed at ha
Read more