Howdy folks

I'm back with another one. Be sure and let me know if you ever get tired of the incessant bombardment of newsletters and I'll take you off the mailing list. The trouble is, I just can't keep up with God! He keeps pouring out the blessings faster than I can chug! My cup is running over and all down the front of my shirt and I'm soaking wet! Pretty much saturated. And I just have to share the love. You know, that's really a great analogy for this place, because it takes a negative aspect of life here and gives it a positive connotation. I'm always wet here, whether its from the rain or the humidity or the creek or more often from my own persperation. I've almost forgotten what it feels like to stay dry. But now I can think of it as a good thing right? Like an innundation of God's blessings. While I'm on the subject of wetness, the weather over the last couple of weeks has been incredible! We're smack in the middle of rainy season. Guess what that means? That means WETNESS. It rains every day. Hard. Once in awhile it even rains all day long, which makes it kind of hard to get much work done, especially when cement is involved. So guess what God did? He shut off the water to our shower and cranked on the blessings. That's right. I'm pretty sure we're in a shower of blessings. The sun is shining, and an occasional rainbow pinstripes the sky just to remind us Who turned off the faucet. Of course every now and then the faucet drips. But we can work with that! Keeps our mud (cement mortar) from drying out! Enrique's house is up with the roof on now, and we have a good start on the cafeteria. We wouldn't have gotten nearly so much done if God hadn't held back the rain. David also got back from Santa Cruz safely with our Toyota Landcruiser. I tell you what, that made for a nice ride to town today! God just keeps blessing and looking out for us.

The mission troup from Laurelbrook and Heritage academies (Tenn) arrived here the 26th of Jan right in the middle of a moster rainstorm. It was a miracle they were even able to land since they flew with Amazonas, an airline that doesn't usually land here during such foul weather. The runway is just dirt and the small wheels on their planes easily get stuck in the slop. But they made it, and that saved us a three hour trip to Riberalta where we would have had to pick them up if they didn't land here. So we crammed them all in the back of the truck, all 28 of them, and headed for the school. There was so much flooding from the downpour that the road was totally washed out at one point. Or I should say it was washing out. Jeff just gunned it and we took a good bounce through the torrent. I think at least half of us in the back were airborn for a split second. But the jolt was well worth getting through without getting stuck! We got to the school around 6 pm. It was interesting to observe the various reaction as the kids checked out accomodations...thatched dwellings and clapboard latrines.

But the next day, Friday, was downright wild. I went to town to help make window and door frames for the duplex (staff housing). We actually ended up making the boards for the frames from derounded logs. Jeff, Enrique, Ruan and I were exausted after wrestling the massive hulks through the planer and the undersized tablesaw, which had to take each piece twice for a doublecut due to the thickness of our logs. It was a beast of a job. But the real excitement came on the trip back out to the school. We were hauling along at a decent clip when we lost steering and a bit a hard left into the jungle before Enrique could get us stopped. The ball joint on the steering column had come completely off. Besides that, the front of the truck was buried past the axle in the mud. But praise the Lord no one was hurt! God was surely looking out for us because we had just crossed the bridge where such an accident could easily have resulted in fatalities. Just beyond our crash site the bank drops away much more steeply and if we had gone off there we probably would have rolled. As it was it was a miracle that no one was hurt as we took quite a slam when we left the road. We attempted to back out, but the rig was hopelessly stuck, so we flagged down a passing truck and I caught a ride to the school driveway and then ran the remaining mile to get help. Armed with shovels, lights, a jack, and some 4x4 blocks we rushed to the rescue. It was already almost sundown. "What a way to start the Sabbath" I thought. "But we have an ox in the ditch that needs pulled out." (Leaving a truck full of supplies on the side of the road is not a smart thing to do, not to mention the people who needed to get home) After almost 2 hours of painstakingly raising the truck inches at a time we finally got it high enough to get it off its belly and up on the 4x4's. Then we gathered in a circle for prayer. "Lord, thank you for this beautiful night where we've been sitting here looking at the stars" Jeff's opening sentence made me grin since we'd actually been under the truck digging. But maybe it was for the benefit of the lady passengers who had been patiently waiting for us. "And now it's Your Sabbath and we have an ox that needs pulle dout of the ditch" Jeff continued, repeating my earlier thoughts. "We just pray for Your help and that we can get it out on the 1st try so we can get back. Thank You and praise You, amen."

Sure enough, with a little extra persuasion from 4 of us pushing on the front, (and who knows maybe even an angel nudging it with his pinkie) we got 'er back on the road on the 1st attempt. It took another hour to limp the 6 or 8 remaining kilometers to the school because the jimmy rigged steering column kept coming apart. Also the night was black as tar mixed with molasses (such sticky substances naturally slow you down) and the big truck has no lights right now and had to rely on the jeep to show the way. So we got into the school at about 10:15 famished and exhausted, but praising God for food and beds and keeping us alive to enjoy both.

And there's more... Part of the scaffolding fell the other day along with the three guys standing on it. Apparently they exceeded the weight capacity for the one nail holding up their board. But they had a nice flight down complete with safe landing, so we praise the Lord for that. As well as that neither Ruan or Tara were bitten by the poisonous snake that was lurking in their house behind their laundry bin. The locals say you have an hour or two to live if you get bitten by that particular variety and can't get treatment in time. It is so incredible to see how God looks out for us! And I know I haven't seen anything yet! But what is even more amazing to me is the faith and peace that God gives. He can bring someone to the point that even if they were bitten by the poisonous snake, they would believe that God could still save them and yet be at peace and trust God through whatever result. Complete and perfect trust in God is a beautiful thing. So is hearing God's voice He speaks to you. ms. Susie woke up in the middle of the night a couple weeks ago with the distinct impresision to check on Honako (one of the students from LBA). She did and found her blood sugar had dropped dangerously low. A few nights later, the same girl went into antiphilactic shock. Praise the Lord we had several epenephrine pins out here. One would have been insuffecient as Fawna accidentally stuck herself with the first one!

And then there have been all the little blessings. Way too many to tell about. But best of all are the spiritual blessings and seeing God at work changing attitudes and lives as we labor for Him. Seeing kids come in complaining about everything and then two weeks later not wanting to leave. In fact, two of them are planning to come back as student missionaries next year!

David Gates stopped by the school last week and shared some experiences with the group for evening worship. It is powerful to hear what God has done with that man's life. It was a real inspiration. His stories helped me remember that God is still the same God as the One portrayed in the stories of the Bible. He is able and willing to do exceedingly abundantly ABOVE ALL that we can ask or even think! God works in the superlative like that. 'Cause He is superlative. He astounds me. We can't begin to imagine what He can do with a completely surrendered life. If we would just throw ourselves and everything we posess into God's work, what miracles might we see? I think our most fantastic dreams and imaginings would be as simple nothings in comparison. What would keep us from surpassing even the giants from Heb chapter eleven, who through faith subdued entire kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, sis kabobbed that roaring lion the devil, quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens, and even received their dead raised to life again. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance at the expense of God’s honor. Others were mocked and scourged and imprisoned. They were stoned, sawn asunder, tempted, slain of the sword. They wandered about in animal skins, homeless, destitute, afflicted, and tormented…Yet God’s strength and grace and power were always sufficient. He has no limits. He dwells in the realm beyond infinity, beyond time, beyond space, beyond eternity, beyond all the forces of evil. And He offers to let us join Him there. Wild huh? I love it!
Makes me wonder what we're waiting for. Just give it all. You can't out-give God, I promise you that! I know, 'cause I'm still soakin' wet. :)