Today we faced a big hurdle in ministry.  We had very high hopes for helping the needy.  But the rules put a monkey wrench in the gears of our well oiled machine.  When that happens what can you do?  Here’s what I did.

1. Pray.

2. Talk with people in the mission and dream.

3. Accept the frustration.

4. Keep thinking and dreaming.

5. Keep your head from giving up and stay the course.

6. Remember God is in it – Have FAITH.

7. Maybe God has a surprising detour – God is God and we are not!

8.  Be willing to go down that detour.

9. You will be back in your mission/dream eventually.

10. Stay positive and open to new avenues.

11.  God enters and prayers are answered.

12. Back on the road to mission and fulfilling God’s dream.

No details because of the sensitivity to this mission.  But God is in the process.  God is in the dream because he gave it to us. This is why I always say: KEEP LOOKING UP!

Friday Update:

We made it through the final day and left the Barron house transformed on the outside.  It is hard to remember how this house looked at the beginning of the week.  I am amazed at how well our group held up in the heat and humidity. Mario our Merge guide said as we finally drove away “well done, you did a great job”.   We have all learned a great deal this week and I think our eyes have been opened to many things through this experience.

This evening we were invited to a barbeque at the La Villa church.  Upon arrival we were invited into the sanctuary and asked to go in the center of a group of about thirty people in the front of the church.  They prayed for us as a group and then gave each one of us a plaque and also one for the members of Zion.  The Barron’s then each said thank you to all of us again.  As Mr. Barron spoke his wife began to cry and so did most of us.  Mr. Barron told us that his neighbors asked if he had won the lottery.

No, just his brothers and sisters in Christ serving together to the honor and glory of God.  We feel like we are the ones who won the lottery as we were overwhelmed by the love shown to us by the people of the La Villa Church.   Praise God for truly blessing us on this trip.

The pictures below are of the house exterior completed.  Then of the Barron’s with Karen, Sue and Ashley.  The last picture is of all of us with some of our new friends in front of the La Villa church.

They flew down to Texas hot
Where you and I are simply not
To answer a prayer for a family’s lot
And so the kingdom grows.

Tumblin’ tumbleweeds on flat land
Replacing windows to keep out the sand
Always staying in God’s cool hand
They receive more than they could give.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Thursday in La Villa

We started today with some clouds which really helped but they seemed to get fewer and fewer as the day went along.  Some in our group painted trim boards this morning and we have decided to tackle painting the entire outside of the house tomorrow.  Most of the siding is on and some of the windows have trim around them.  One of the fun conversations we had today was trying to determine the color that Mr. Barron would like his house painted.  Thankfully Sheryl from the church was helping us today. She is a former school principal and could help communicate to Karen and Diane the color of paint they should get for the project,  “a light blue like the color of the sky” was the final verdict.  Yes, Mr. Barron did seek the opinion of his wife on this decision.

My hero today was Ashley Regan who now goes by the nickname “Gabby”.  She boldly undertook the challenge of using the nail gun to nail the siding that Bob, Steve, Kristi and Adam have been installing.  Sue, Karen and Diane continue to do all those unglamorous jobs that are so important but never get mentioned.  Tomorrow they will have their work cut out for them with the painting.

I talked with Pastor Allen again today and asked him what was the greatest struggle he is facing as pastor of the La Villa church.   He thought for a bit and then said “you have to understand that over forty percent of my congregation is on welfare.  Many of them do not have any desire to improve their situation.  They are content to just live in poverty.  I have grandfathers, fathers and their sons who are all on welfare.  My people struggle to see the richness of what God can do if you just trust in Him.”

Dale Lusk, the head of Merge Ministries stopped and visited with us today. It was great to finally meet him in person and to hear his passion for the Lord and the work done by this organization.  We ended our day having dinner with Dale,his wife and four year old son Sawyer.

Mario and his wife Fobbie are with us every day as our Merge guides.  They live in Reynosa, Mexico and it has been great to learn from them as well.  They have two daughters and a yellow lab.  Like all of us they miss their family.

One day of work to go.  We are tired, sun burned and thankful.  God is good!

Sorry no pictures today.

This just in from Andy Hopp, our agent to the South…

Wednesday in La Villa,

We are slowly adjusting to the heat and humidity here and today was a very productive day.  The Zion group got all the remaining windows in place and installed the new siding on one side.  Gerald and Ted put the doors in and we continued to reconstruct the back wall of the house.   At the end of the day Mario and I moved the stove back in position and hooked up the gas again so Linda could once again cook.  We then reconnected the electricity for the stove.  This involves a cord that goes out through a hole in the wall and then to an outlet which is outside above the side door.  It was good to see the house mostly closed up again.

While this is a work trip for us, it really is much more than work.  We had a great conversation during one of our morning water breaks with Pastor Allen about the immigration issue.  To be able to talk and learn from each other is really wonderful.  It is these kinds of conversations that will solve this problem and bring us closer together.

After supper at the La Villa restaurant we drove the short distance to the oldest Hispanic Covenant Church.  We were greeted by Andreas and his warm smile and welcoming hugs. To honor our group the praise team sang verses of their praise songs in English so we could sing along.  Pastor Allen invited me up to introduce our group and say a few words.  Then he invited any members of the La Villa church who wanted to speak to talk as well.  Mr. Barron, speaking in Spanish and being translated for us,  got up and thanked us publically for coming and praised God for answering his prayers and truly blessing him through having us come to work on his house.

Pastor Allen then gave a passionate Spirit filled  message based on Genesis 22: 1-17.  The really amazing part was he gave the message in Spanish and English, alternating back and forth between the two languages.  The most powerful part of the service came after the message.  He asked everyone to stand and then told his parishioners to pick out one of us each and come over and hold our hands and pray for us.   A wonderful elderly couple came up to me and the husband put his one  arm on my shoulder and one on his wife’s shoulder and then his wife held my hands as they prayed for me.  I felt overwhelmed by these peoples love for Christ and their Christian love for our group.  Praise God for the Evangelical Covenant Church of La Villa, Texas!

The first picture is of the back wall of the house which we worked on jacking up and rebuilding.  You might notice the rim joist is missing and the studs are not sitting on anything at this point.  The white plastic pipes are the shower water lines.  The second picture is of our new friend Renalpho trying to teach me the Spanish word for strawberry.  The last picture is Adam and Steve working on the window openings.  Notice the nice cactus plant that seems to always tangle our extension cords

Esta es una fresa

Hey Dad - you put the left handed screws on the right side of this window!

The latest report just in from the Mission team…

Pastor Steve:

We started our day a little apprehensive, not knowing how long we could last in the sun.   Today our site construction supervisor arrived from Oklahoma.  Gerald is his name and he has done work on the La Villa church and on another house here prior to this project.  He is a talker and jokester.  One of those people who can instantly put everyone at ease.  He is a good fit for our group and within an hour was getting as much as he was dishing out from the Zion bunch.

I noticed that Gerald called Mr. Barron – Lazarus.  I learned later that his Spanish name translated into English is Lazarus and that he was named that for a reason. When he was very tiny infant he died and was dead for 10 hours.  His mother was not a Christian at the time, but his father was a devoted Christ follower and he started to pray with the rest of his side of the family.  Ten hours later, at the funeral home.  Someone saw the tiny baby’s foot move and by the time the funeral director arrived the baby was crying, alive and well.  After that his mother was also a Christian. (John 11:14-15).

Our group worked on installing the new windows, which is a bit of a job because all the openings need to be changed to fit the size of the new windows.  We got 4 new windows in today.  We also worked on replacing the sills and rim joists on one corner of the house that had rotted away and sagged badly.  We raised the floor about 3” to 4” inches in that corner of the house which happens to be the kitchen and the bathroom.  We then had to raise the outside walls a similar amount and straighten the wall and plumb one of the corners.  As that corner sagged the wall had moved out of plumb about 3 inches as well.  We had two extra workers today, Andreas and Renalpho.  Renalpho, who is Dale Lusk’s father in law,  is trying to teach me Spanish as we work together.  Andreas is the La Villa pastors intern.  He is young and strong and speaks no English at all.  This meant that we pointed a lot and he smiled a lot.

We lasted until almost 3:00 in the afternoon which is really an achievement.  After cooling off and showering we all went for dinner at a small restaurant in La Villa which is owned and operated by members of the church.  Mario brought along his mother and nephew.  The meal was wonderful and afterwards we had to stop at Home Depot for more 2 x 4’s. Below are pictures of the restaurant in La Villa and Gerald with Steve R.

Here is another email from Andy…

Pastor Steve,

We drove about 30 minutes following Mario from Merge Ministries and turned into a subdivision like none I have ever seen.  It is hard to describe the run down condition of these homes and the worst of them all is the one we are here to work on. We are greeted with smiles and warmth, and with a dignity beyond description.  We meet the Barron’s.   Pastor Allen of the La Villa Covenant Church described the Barron’s with these words: “If you could only pick one couple in all the United States to help, you would pick this family”.  They cannot understand our English and we cannot understand their Spanish, but we are brothers and sisters in Christ.  After we finished our introductions I asked Pastor Allen if we could pray and I mentioned that we had a real struggle to get here.  He prayed for us and all the fatigue of all those long hours in the airport disappeared.  We became the body of Christ working together in service

I spent some time talking with the Barron’s using Pastor Allen as an interpreter.  We talked about our families and I asked how they came to own this house.  They bought it with the help of their daughter after the apartment they rented was destroyed in a fire.  They are very proud to be land owners.  We talked about the hurricane and how the authorities forced them to take shelter in a school.  The conditions in the house are simply really tough, the pictures do not do justice to how bad this home is damaged.  We will do what we can in a heat that is just stifling.  We are exactly where God has called us to be, of that I am certain.  What a privilege to be here.

We tore out every window in the house and tomorrow we will start putting in new windows.  The new windows are really just storm windows but this will be a amazing upgrade for this property.  Mr. Barron came out with a watermelon for us.  Wow! seedless and juicy from one the area farms.

Mario told us to remember in this culture “there is always tomorrow”.  So we end our first day and head back to the hotel to cool off.

Sunday after worship here’s what is happening with us:

Kathy and I are headed up to Cedar Campus for a week of volunteering.  We will be doing “housekeeping” duties while students from Inter Varsity chapters plan and pray about their mission on campuses across the Midwest.

Eric will be there with his MSOE chapter from Milwaukee.  We may see him during the evening worship and teaching session.

I doubt if I will be posting because Internet access will be limited.  So I’ll be back online after Memorial Day.

Maybe someone out there that reads this blog may know someone who can fill this need?  Just another good use of the blogosphere.  If so – send this post:  From Len Reedyk, (Member of Zion Covenant Church):

“Our Home Christian Ministries is looking for a person or a couple to manage a group home for special needs adults.  The home is right across the street from the park in Oostburg.  After 7 years the couple managing the home  has decided to move November 1, so we are urgently looking for someone to replace them.  

 The group home has a great three bedroom apartment attached for the manager and family to live in.  In addition to a good salary they have all living costs included – i.e.. housing, utilities, food, and use of a van.)  One of the homes has a single lady and the other has a married lady managing.  Her husband works as a police officer, and she stays home to care for her own kids and manage the home. We are looking for a Christian who will maintain the tradition of prayer at mealtime, letting the kids read the Bible after supper, and modeling regular church attendance.  Please keep us in your prayers and help us in our search.”  

If interested please call Len Reedyk at 920-459-8642.

This is an excellent ministry and service – please pray that God would lead someone to help the compassionate cause!

Pray for India and also our missionary Stephen Ernst who is there.  Read this blog post about what is happening in India and follw the links. LINK