It’s the last day of work and we are raring to go. Breakfast was great but it was still dark! Overcast this morning.
Following breakfast, we loaded up into the vans for a trip to Border Missions for devotions. Clay spoke to us from Hebrews 11:8-10. He spoke about fearless obedience. Abraham left his homeland without even knowing where he was going. Sometimes that’s difficult because we can’t see where we’re going but we are to obey. “The obedience of God is to be comfortably uncomfortable.”
While we were there we met Jay Howell, Travis Kaywood and his Mike who are going to begin bringing beans and rice to the border and beyond. Louie has been bringing beans down here since 1976. What faithfulness by God and by Louie!
Assignments were given with many men going to Rufugio to work on Saturday’s projects. Lord, we ask you to give us strength equal to our tasks. We also may have many encounters with children today. We pray for great connections.
Work began on the orphanage. By lunchtime two walls were completed. We went into the cafeteria at Refugio to have lunch. We ate tamales, quesadillas, salad and many other good things. We sat with lots of children and interacted with the joyful children. Rufugio is a great place for the kids. They were very happy to sit with us and we with them. We also saw the architect vision for the building we are working on. It’s looks beautiful.
Work continued on all the projects after lunch. At Calejo they were able to get two walls up and sided. And two other walls up but not sided. The men also distributed candy and small toys to the children. Most of the families were from Haiti with hundreds more (thousands?) waiting outside the gates. Calejo only allows families in. They vet the applicants and then invite them in based upon availability. Today they were inviting 10 families in.
We then went back to the Retreat Center to prepare for the Border Patrol dinner tonight. Our crossing took around 15 minutes. Yeah!
We had a very nice dinner with Customs, Border Patrol and Air Marshalls. Brian spoke to the agents to encourage them and then Eloy interviewed two agents and shared about peer support as four agents have committed suicide this year. Please pray for these agents. We also gave away bibles and books to the agents. Joshua Muse spoke to the men a message of Jesus. He also spoke about finding encouragement in God. It was a wonderful evening spending time with the families talking over dinner. The only snafu was the gate to let our guests out wouldn’t open automatically. Eventually it got figured out. Whew!
The evening ended with van cleaning and late night prayer.
Tomorrow is debriefing and a long ride to the airport. Father, please strengthen the van crew and hear the prayers of your saints. And thank for all the strength and protection during this week. And for keeping us well.
David Collier