I wish I
could keep you current on all our happenings, but I can’t keep up with it all. Sorry
they are a month late, but here are a few highlights.
I learned an easy way to make
activated charcoal by burning dry woodchips in an old metal barrel. You just
have to pay attention and smother the fire before your charcoal turns to ash.
You can use a plastic garbage bag filled with water, which nicely seals off the
barrel.
In
mentorship class we have homework to develop a visual that will motivate local
churches to more active evangelism. Josue and I were assigned the topic of
local church involvement in global missions. We came up with an initiative
called Operation Missionary Dispatch, and are quite excited about it. The idea
is for every local church to S.E.N.D. a missionary to a needy field,
(preferably to somewhere in the 10-40 window.) S.E.N.D. stands for Select, Subsidize and Educate Now
Disciples for Dispatch. We found
inspiration in the following quote:
“The home missionary work
will be farther advanced in every way when a more liberal, self-denying,
self-sacrificing spirit is manifested for the prosperity of foreign missions;
for the prosperity of the home work depends largely, under God, upon the reflex
influence of the evangelical work done in countries afar off. It is in working
actively to supply the necessities of the cause of God that we bring our souls
in touch with the Source of all power.” {6T 27.5}
You can watch our short promo video here.
Lyli is working on a project with
Tanzi, MOVE’s resident graphic designer, describing the difference between
being an entrepreneur and being simply an employee. And the third group is developing
a plan for church-school home-schools that would function similar to a charter
school where trained teachers check in periodically with home-schooling parents
to teach them tips, administer evaluations, and make sure things are on track.
This week
was English week-of- prayer and my English students lead song service, shared memory verses, and sang "Keep on the Sunny Side." Our guest speaker was Lisa, a church planting missionary
in Pederson, central California. The importance of mission… “We are in an
abusive relationship with sin.” Like the foster boy her friend is caring for,
satisfied with dog-food. The climax came Friday night with a powerful message
on the everlasting gospel of the three angels’ messages.
This
weekend I felt a strange sadness and discouragement. Part of my problem was
that I had to “batch” it while Lyli was gone to a mission congress at
Montemorelos University in northern Mexico. (There wasn’t room for both of us to
go in the four-seater mission plane.) But Sabbath morning I woke up late and
missed my personal time with the Lord, and that didn’t help things either. I
managed to make time to eat breakfast, however, and as I did so my conscience
felt pricked on my out-of-order priorities.
I taught the adult Sabbath school
lesson, and later, after lunch in the afternoon, I planned to prepare my Sunday
afternoon Bible study with Enrique (you may remember him from my last report) but
I was overcome by drowsiness, and lay down in the hammock. The next thing I knew,
my alarm was ringing, and I thought I heard someone calling. Sure enough, the
truck was leaving and the group was shouting my name.
The next morning I was dragging
again, and it was all I could do to make it to the 6:00 staff prayer meeting.
Afterward I was asked to drive the mission group to Chan Pine Ridge in the bus
for the morning church work-bee. I haven’t driven bus since my time at Leoni
Meadows summer camp, and never on public roads. I tried not to let the
passengers see how nervous I felt.
“God, keep us safe” I prayed as I
navigated the curves. I also prayed for
wisdom and direction for the afternoon Bible study, but for some reason I still
felt hollow.
At the church we installed real
toilets to replace the old squat pot, and another group started building wall
divisions for the Sabbath School classrooms. After digging a 40-ft section of
ditch, sifting sand, and mixing cement for the masons, I must have sweated out
my dumpy feelings, because I began to feel more positive. We returned to MOVE
for lunch, and then showered and headed back to Chan Pine Ridge for our
afternoon outreach activities. The Ambassador club (think informal Pathfinders)
did community service building speed bumps and cutting the grass, and I
organized the rest of the adults into groups for visitation. Rondi and Jirah,
two Filipino young people from the California group came with me. I found out
that Jirah has been Adventist for only two years, and Rondi since he was 14. I
prayed silently that God would give us an experience that would help their
faith grow and inspire them to continued missionary service.
Our first visit was with Mr.
Rogelio and his wife Luz. Mr Rogelio loves music. He was more than happy for us
to sing, and he got out his guitar right away, along with a stack of songs. Many
of them we know. I was the music stand as Mr. Rogelio strummed away
enthusiastically. Since I held the music, when I saw a song on the rapture, I
decided to skip it. But wouldn’t you know, after singing a couple more songs,
Mr. Rogelio asked took the stack and began to shuffle through it.
“I want to teach you a song” he
said.
“Which one are you looking for?”
“It’s called ‘The Rapture.’”
“Oh yeah, I saw that one in there.
I think it’s at the bottom of the pile.”
For some reason I felt like he
wanted to make a point with us on that topic and I began to pray as Rogelio
sang. As I listened to the lyrics, a plan began to formulate in my mind.
“Thanks for sharing that song! You
know, I appreciate that that song says that the rapture is the second coming of
Christ…” I started with a piece of the lyrics that I could agree with.
“But you know, the part that says ‘I
thank you Lord that I won’t pass through the tribulation’ made me think of a
passage in Revelation chapter seven where John describes those who will be
saved. Let’s see, we find it in verse fourteen. It says: ‘These are they that have come out of great
tribulation.’ If they came out of great
tribulation that means they were in it and they came through, doesn’t it?
Remember that Jesus said “I ask for these, not that you take them out of the
world, but that you keep them from evil.”
“But I am sure there is going to be
a tribulation after the rapture.” Rogelio insisted.
“That’s interesting, I have never
read about that in my Bible, but I would be interested to see it, where does it
say that?” He admitted he doesn’t know, so I asked him to find it for me and
show me next time we get together.
An impromptu Bible study ensued,
covering the second coming and first-resurrection and the millennium and the
second resurrection. I was sending up prayers between, and God blessed me with
agility and clarity and the Bible passages sprang to mind one after another.
Both Rogelio and Luz were very engaged and asked many questions. Rondi and
Jirah were also very attentive, and I was thankful that Rogelio’s English is quite
good so everyone could participate in the conversation. As the visit was coming
to a close, I could sense that Rogelio was wrestling with conviction.
“You know the problem here in
Belize, there are plenty of churches and Christians but there is no real love.”
“That is very sad, but it is just
another sign that we are living at the end of time. Christ prophesied that that
would be the condition of the world right before the second coming.” I quoted 1
Tim 3.
“Kody, but if I come to your church
do I have to give up meat? I love my meat for every meal. Why don’t you eat
meat?” I was surprised at Rogelio’s question because I have yet to invite him to
church, but he is obviously considering coming! We have discussed the diet
question before however, and so instead of repeating all my reasons for being
vegetarian, I focused on the root issue of surrender.
“You know, we all have things that
we love that we need to surrender to God. I don’t struggle with meat, but I
have a real sweet tooth, and God has convicted me that I need to control my
appetite for sugary desserts that harm my health. It is a small sacrifice
really when I remember how much Christ has sacrificed for me!”
At this point Jirah spoke up and
shared a wonderful testimony of her recent struggle to give up meat, and the
power of prayer in helping her to overcome. The hour was late, and we had to
excuse ourselves.
“Wow, God really led that conversation” Jirah
beamed with joy afterward as we speed-walked toward Enrique’s house. “I felt
God impressing me to share my personal struggle with meat” she enthused.
“I’m so glad you did!” I replied.
My hollow emptiness was more than
gone as I praised God in my heart for answering my prayers again in such
singular fashion, in spite of my weak and wayward self.
