Wednesday/June 25, 2003
We continue to meet at 7:00 AM for our team devotionals and sharing assignments. Every devotion, without planning, continues to weave together. We look forward to being together; this is what the family of God should feel like.
Aurelia has been so faithful with early morning kitchen duty. Mary Claire is swelling from bug bites - the down side to all this beauty is definitely the bugs!
For the most part we are continuing our service work assignments. I believe several of us will go through withdrawal from fresh fruit in the mornings, especially the pineapple, but it just tastes so much better here than at home.
Melvin continues to work on the Bronco. We need to remember that bringing a mechanic on a team is tremendously appreciated. It seems that often people who have no clue try to fix things and end up complicating the problem. It is frustrating to find parts and many will arrive after Melvin leaves - we must focus on "doing what we can do" and not worrying about what we cannot do.
Jeb has begun a gutter project on the dining hall - and we are also starting to cut rebar for window for the security of a "Ronald McDonald" type house which has been burglarized several times. Nearly all the windows are covered with bars in towns and in the rural areas.
Perseverance is the key word for many of our projects. The varnish for the blocks is not drying because the person who sold it to us forgot to mention it needed an "activator". Peggy continues attending to the process - and eventually applies it properly enough to start a drying process.
The food still tastes good; they waste nothing. Any leftovers are served again or refashioned into another dish. We take turns helping in the kitchen - communication is very interesting, but the spirit and camaraderie between the team and with the locals is fantastic. Eating mangos with your teeth is very messy - ask Ginny - but maybe preferable to trying to peel and chop them!
Donna and I continue the spring cleaning and reorganization of the store. We've gone so long now that I'm afraid we may be taking ownership. After moving an Indian made object at least 15 times, Donna disturbed an ant nest - angry ants attacked her. Thank God she only received a couple of bites. With quick reaction and medical attention it seems like all is okay. When the store was opened this evening, Donna and I felt proud of our hard work, but realized we had over organized and made things harder (that can be fixed!).
Several of the men went to the local prison to sing and give their testimony. Jeb got to play his guitar - the prisoners asked if he had a "tape", so they obviously liked it! Alvis is doing a great job of translating (if you are thinking of coming - do work on your conversational Spanish - every little bit helps.). The group from last year is amazed at how much Bandy has improved in her Spanish - she seems to be ripe for God. (I have no doubt He has super-naturally facilitated her Spanish as a gift!)
Mark and Eric had to stay outside the prison, the men from the other team joined with us and there were too many to go in. As usual, the Pittman men were very gracious and allowed others to go in their place. They prayed through the whole services - three prisoners met Jesus for the first time and three re-dedicated their lives - Yeah!!
We are getting a bit crazy at sharing time. Tonight we sat on our porch and watch it rain - again. Robin, RG, and Charles, all student missionaries, joined us for our sharing time. The laughter is so freeing and it is contagious! You must ask Bandy about her shower serenade! We made up several Costa Rican verses to "You can't roller skate in a buffalo herd" - don't ask! The friendships we are making are beautiful! What a gift to carry home.
Marion compliments the flexibility of our team; our willingness to do whatever task needs to be done and to join in with the other team.
Let me attempt to describe Marion and his wife, Mary, for you. Marion will be 85 in November. He has long flowing white hair and beard. He walks occasionally with a cane. He has been at the farm, the Central Rural Methodist Camp, for decades. His countenance personifies peace, his wit is quick and sharp, he shows the patience of Job, and he never gets in a hurry! His love for this land and people is obvious. When he talks and prays you just want to soak it up - his love for Jesus is even more obvious. His wife, Mary, is probably in her sixties. She is so gracious and ready to start yet one more project - KAIROS is the current embryo. Her smile is ever present - and though she must be exhausted, she never seems exasperated. They will host over 50 mission teams this summer - How is that for a definition of hospitality? To plan for and then organize each group visit would be a tremendous undertaking. The both of them are now volunteers - Marion is forgoing his retirement pay in order for the local pastor to be paid. All this seems inadequate to capture the essence of this couple. Pray for them and support them. Pray specifically that God will send them a Joshua; they need a couple to train now to carry on this operation, this vision!
Some of our group is CRAZY! They stay up talking and playing games until the wee hours of the morning. Of course, the group tends to be the younger ones - we older folks are going to bed at a decent hour. You really should see Neal's "Lyle Lovett" impression - he has transcended into the younger group?!
