RETROFITTED UPDATE

MiniMOVE in Bolivia.

 Last July we helped Josue and Keren teach a two-week intensive course at our old school in Bolivia. I think it was Jeff who dubbed it mini-MOVE. When we arrived, all our ex-students came rushing out to give us the typical warm and dramatic welcome for returning teachers. The next day most of them left for their mid-year vacation along with most of the staff and school directors. Fifteen remained to take our classes. As the old hand in our group, I was chosen to deal with all the utility problems on campus, and I subsequently received a not-so-warm welcome from the water-system. I spent the first two days trouble-shooting and fixing leaks.

 The rest of my participation included a week-long seminar on music, classes on missions and evangelism, oratory, and an attempt to teach the mechanic elective. As a mere dilettante, I tried to keep the class simple. We concentrated on small engine maintenance and repair, and found no shortage of fodder to practice on. Additionally I planned to change the engine and transmission oil in the Tundra, but the new oil cost $50 that we didn’t have. I left Josue a message on his phone, asking how much money was available for mechanics class, and Dax, the store owner overheard me and asked me how much oil I needed.

“Six quarts of each” I replied.

“Take it!” he said. “That will be my contribution.”

God took care of our needs at every turn!

During our outreach activity to a nearby village, I was worried about how my mechanics students would perform after a measly two weeks of instruction from a rookie posing as a mechanics teacher!

“Lord, please give us skill. Help us be able to help someone!” I prayed.  Two villagers showed up with their failing generators. Praise God, my students were able to get both running in the exact amount of time we had! To me, that was a small miracle.  

“When are you coming to our village?” a visiting spectator asked. Again I see the potential for mechanic evangelists.

Fifteen students graduated from our two-week intensive and committed to an additional month of volunteer missionary service upon finishing their school year. I believe they are planning a trip to the Amazon.  

Back row from left: Angel, Willians, Roberto, Brayan, Freddy, Hansel, David
Front from left: Maria Quell, Sharon, Maria Jose, Esmeralda, Gabriela, Reiny, Rosa, Rosalia

Back in Mexico, Lyli and I spent 10 days with my in-laws and my nephew and nieces, Samuel, Ghiani, and Naomi. That was a mission project in itself! Lyli made them a daily schedule, and I took them jogging in the mornings and then helped them do chores and practice their instruments. On Sabbath we took them to play music to some shut-ins.  

I’m an unsatisfactory missionary

July 28, 2017: Today we are back on MOVE campus. Everywhere I look says WORK. More work than a body can process. The Dodge has a blown rear tire. The Admiral needs insurance and license renewed, but not before a repair job for the backup-lights and brakes. My watermelon plants have disappeared, and the spinach vine is clinging to life, some of which is detrimental to its own existence. My yard is a loud green snarl that’s downright scary, although underneath the bluster is just a cry for a little TLC. Our resident iguana that lives in the driveway culvert, however, seems to be enjoying the thicker levels of nature that accrued in our absence.

I find it an excellent metaphor for our ferocious, sin-infested jungle of a world. The harvest is passing and everywhere I look I see untended fields and that despicable dragon lording over them with a smug smile of satisfaction for our negligence. The harvest is passing, precious fruit is lost daily.

The large Chinese population here in Belize is virtually untouched with the gospel. The Mennonite communities may have their religion, but many are unhappy and unsatisfied and long for the joy and hope that only comes with the pure, unadulterated truth. According to our district pastor, 40% of male youth in Belize are in prison.

I have this burning sensation slowly gaining ground in my soul. Oh Lord, teach us to love people as you. May this accumulating sense of urgency translate into ceaseless action in the field of duty. May we stop waiting for opportunities to press themselves upon us, and learn to make them appear, and see them everywhere.

Tonight at supper in the cafeteria, Julliette was all that Keila, Keren and the rest of the girls could talk about as they recounted one conversation after another that they each have had with her over the last four days.  Juliette is a globetrotter from France, hitch-hiking her way through Belize. Somehow she met Keila somewhere on the road between here and Chetumal, they got to talking, and Keila brought her here where she stayed four days and absolutely devoured everything Biblical and spiritual. She wanted to know everything about everything: God, the Bible, the Sabbath, healthful cooking, and gardening.

In her own words, “I was tired of living the ‘normal’ life of go to school, work all week, dress up nice and go out to party with friends on the weekend and then do it all over again. It felt so pointless.” So she has been traveling, trying to find the meaning of life. Praise God, it seems like she found it here! She called her mom back in France: “Mom, I want to be a missionary!” she announced. Later she told Keila she wants to come back here and take the missionary training course.

        How many more are there out there like Juliette, disgusted with the emptiness of the world, looking for something worthy of investing their short life in? Must we wait for them to show up on our door and beg to know the truth? Lord, please teach me to be a real missionary.