It was up at 7 am today for me. The breakfast crew got up a lot earlier- around 5 am, to have breakfast ready by 6. I could have used more sleep, but as the day progressed, I felt better. You can’t help but get motivated with the work that POWER does on the border!
Pat spoke today about fearless obedience. His scriptures were Hebrews 11: 4, 7 & 8 and James 2:14-26. James states that faith without works is dead. God always fulfills His’ promises.
It was back in the vans (and pickup trucks) at 7:45 am to head across the border to Acuna. I was immediately impressed with how clean Acuna is compared to Reynosa. Our crew spent the morning at a elementary school, putting finishing touches on a cafeteria building. We were able to do the project because Jose, one of our missionary partners, has connections with the school authorities. The schools can only be part of a government sponsored lunch program if they have a separate building where food can be served. Thus POWER steps in to build it. We installed insulation in the walls and attic, spread caulking on joints in the siding, and installed trim boards.
At noon, we piled into the van, and drove to a church in another part of Acuna for lunch. Pastor Oscar bought a night club and converted it into a church. He spoke of his vision to have a revival in Acuna in April. He, along with other local pastors, are planning an event for 12,000 people. In July, they are also planning on a Christian concert, hoping for 20,000 in attendance! The Mayor of Acuna sees all the good that they are doing, and is going to help out both financially and providing facilities.
In the mad dash to switch vans after lunch, I left my sweatshirt and some papers with my flight information in the morning van. When I realized what had happened, I was sweating bullets for a few hours, but the van crew did their job at the end of the day, and I got both the sweatshirt & my papers back. The afternoon crew that I moved to went to a house that POWER is building for a local pastor. Again, we were putting finishing touches on it, including drywall, more caulking, and painting the siding. I was going to help with the painting, but noticed that there was a lot of spots that still needed caulking, so I grabbed a caulking gun and was able to complete all the rest of it. We got about half of the drywall installed, and most of the siding painted.
We packed up our tools, cleaned up, and left for the International Bridge a little after 5 pm. It was only a 10 minute drive to the bridge, but about an hour wait to get through the border check point. However, once we got to the checkpoint, we sailed through.
Our POWER cooking crew prepared another delicious meal, and we heard from Allen, the founder of Faith Missions. Everybody was encouraged to buy items from the POWER store, which is fully stocked at Faith Missions. I bought a couple of shirts for my wife. I had brought money for Magdiel Bible College students, but we had not had our usual auction for them. Doug (& Pat) challenged us to out give week two POWER group at the store. Almost everybody helped out.
I might even get a full night’s sleep tonight!
-Doug