This is How A Heart Breaks:
There is a popular song out there by the artist Rob Thomas. It is called “This is how a heart breaks.” The song is not Christian, but the title is my point. Many people on the trip are experiencing this to one degree or another. God is softening our hearts and making us whole, pure, and resigned to do His work with a passion.
Last night, a missionary here for two months named Ronald led us in a time of worship that touched the hearts of each one of us, me personally. Proceeding this we reflected on what God was showing and speaking to each one of us. As people shared, you could see the fire, passion, heartbreak, and renewal within everyone.
We were supposed to hit the sheets when it was over, but my entire room of guys stayed up until 1:30 pouring our hearts out to each other as God led us. I have never experienced anything like it before, and know that others are feeling the same way. Do not expect us to come home the same, and certainly don’t expect us to lose our fire. God has and is knitting us so close together that we will keep each other accountable in brutal honesty.
Well, that was the spiritual side of things on my mind, so here’s the factual.
After 5 hours of sleep for my room, and roughly 8 or 9 for the others in the house, we woke up and ate the most amazing breakfast (as all meals are) and proceeded to head out to finish the house that we started yesterday. We got the roof on in about an hour and a half. Many had nothing to do because it only really took 4 people to do the job, so they ended up playing with the child of the woman who the house was for, named Andreas. We had brought a ball with us and all took turns playing soccer and catch with him.
The window was soon cut out and put together at about our waists height (head height for them) and we went to work on both the door and two beds. All was finished at about 1 o’ clock, and we presented Maria with her beautiful new home and a basket of food and cooking supplies as a housewarming gift.
Maria and her mother Michaela could not stop smiling. Before we left them we closed in prayer for blessing on them and that they would come to know God as their savior.
It is now 3:15 and in a short while we are going to head out to participate in a feeding program. -God bless you all, adios
~Jesse Daugherty
Pandas on Roller-skates:
Hello there, everybody! I’ve got nowhere to be right now, so I hope you don’t mind if I write a short novel.
For breakfast this morning I had scrambled eggs, potatoes, and dog meat (I’ll let you decide whether or not you think I’m kidding). Then my group (which we had named “Team Sesquipedalian,” which means people that use big words--but it later evolved into “Team Sasquatch Battalion” because Kyle could never remember how to pronounce it) headed out to this nifty hotel place where we loaded debris onto a pickup truck for a few hours. Abe and I then rode on the back of the truck, flying at nearly forty miles an hour with no seats or seat belts. Oh wait, my mother is reading this. What I meant to say was that we were safely belted in with iron bars and locked into position for the ride, which was about two miles per hour. Yeah.
Anyway, after lunch, we loaded more debris onto the truck, except we were much more exhausted and it wasn’t nearly as cool. Plus, Abe started making these sweet sound effects every time he lifted his shovel, which was our only source of entertainment for nearly half an hour. The female members of team Sasquatch Battalion wanted me to mention something about Rachel going into a fake seizure, but I really don’t understand it or want to be associated with it.
We later came back to the house, where we showered and enjoyed the lovely paint fumes, then headed off to the feeding program station place. We served dinner and played with the kids for a while, who enjoyed playing soccer and running away from me. They had a wonderful time running away from me, and I had a wonderful time chasing them. At least, I think they had a wonderful time running away from me. Maybe they were just scared of me. Hmm.
We then came home and had dinner. It was chicken pot pie without the pie part and corn on the cob without the corn. Just kidding about the corn part. But the chicken thing was lovely.
Then we had devotions, and they drafted me to do this. So I did. I hope you appreciate the effort. The biggest thing that God is showing me is the value of the human heart. No matter where you go in the world, the feelings on the human heart and reaching out to touch another life is far, far more important than any of the riches of this world. People, like the kids we spent time with today, just need to know that there’s somebody who cares for them and who will spend time with them. And the great thing is: you don’t have to fly around the world to do that. People everywhere need that.
Well, that’s my novel. If you’re looking for a sequel, then, well, I’ll come up with something witty to say about that later. Keep praying for us!
~ Stephen Devereaux
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