Day 3, Monday, June 7: Awoke at 5:45 a.m., showered, watched Marty terminate a 4 inch scorpion crawling toward his luggage, ate a delicious pancake breakfast, then phoned Delores at home, cell, and work…all to no avail. After breakfast I finally reached her at work. It was good to hear her voice. We loaded the 50 pound food sacks (to feed a family of 4 for a month) into the vehicles and headed down the mountain to work at Namasique. We took a brief detour to see the office area of the ranch and drop off Chuck for his cyber-mission. Cameron and his dog "Squirrel" were wonderful guides and one of them liked to be petted a lot.
For the work at Namasique, we were divided into three teams. Some stayed at the church property to help with construction of the well, community center, public bath house, and leveling the area.
Others went out for food delivery and evangelism. When the visit was with Christians, it was for encouragement: greeting, photos, candy and stuffed animals to the children, scripture, song, prayer, etc. The children weren’t the only ones who loved having their pictures taken and then seeing them in the digital camera view finders. When the family wasn’t already Christians, a Bible study was attempted on the spot. Each evangelism team had a local member who knew the situation of those we were to visit and a translator. I had taken nearly 30 caps to give away in addition to several shirts. My wife had sent about 20 tops. These all made their way into the appreciative hands of children or adults.
We returned to the work site for lunch and some of the men took a turn with the shovels.
The highlight of today was the baptism of a young mother in the river that afternoon. This wasn’t a result of our efforts – it was already set up when we met the lady at one of the houses – we just had the joy of witnessing it.
After all day in the hot, humid conditions, even though I was not doing an real manual labor, I admit to feeling exhausted. We were back at Mission Lazarus by 5:30 p.m. The air conditioned ride had me revived and feeling better. The constant amazement with the traffic and driving habits had us all realizing that speed limit and other warning signs were merely SUGGESTIONS! Supper included chicken, fries, green beans (with bacon), and some incredible homemade chips and dip. I topped that off with an ice cream cone (one per night). The gift shop was opened for us. I found a “golf” shirt and cap that I liked both with the ML logo. Those would prove to be my only non-edible purchases on the entire trip. Following our sharing time, I was in bed by 9:15 p.m.
For the work at Namasique, we were divided into three teams. Some stayed at the church property to help with construction of the well, community center, public bath house, and leveling the area.
Others went out for food delivery and evangelism. When the visit was with Christians, it was for encouragement: greeting, photos, candy and stuffed animals to the children, scripture, song, prayer, etc. The children weren’t the only ones who loved having their pictures taken and then seeing them in the digital camera view finders. When the family wasn’t already Christians, a Bible study was attempted on the spot. Each evangelism team had a local member who knew the situation of those we were to visit and a translator. I had taken nearly 30 caps to give away in addition to several shirts. My wife had sent about 20 tops. These all made their way into the appreciative hands of children or adults.
We returned to the work site for lunch and some of the men took a turn with the shovels.
The highlight of today was the baptism of a young mother in the river that afternoon. This wasn’t a result of our efforts – it was already set up when we met the lady at one of the houses – we just had the joy of witnessing it.
After all day in the hot, humid conditions, even though I was not doing an real manual labor, I admit to feeling exhausted. We were back at Mission Lazarus by 5:30 p.m. The air conditioned ride had me revived and feeling better. The constant amazement with the traffic and driving habits had us all realizing that speed limit and other warning signs were merely SUGGESTIONS! Supper included chicken, fries, green beans (with bacon), and some incredible homemade chips and dip. I topped that off with an ice cream cone (one per night). The gift shop was opened for us. I found a “golf” shirt and cap that I liked both with the ML logo. Those would prove to be my only non-edible purchases on the entire trip. Following our sharing time, I was in bed by 9:15 p.m.
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