Good morning. Buenos dias! It is Wednesday morning. We survived the first day of our projects in
Acuna. I was so wiped out that I could not do my reporting until the morning after. Getting old is
tough. It was a good day though. We started out with breakfast at Faith Mission. Clay Ramirez gave
us an inspiring message about worship from Mark 12:28-31. Worship is not a mechanical function. It is
the position of our hearts. We need to totally surrender to God.
After a few brief comments by Marty, Dave & Bob, we were off to Mexico. Our group went to Victoria School,
where we are building a 24’x 48′ dining hall. We built 19 wood trusses from a stockpile of pre-cut lumber set
out for us. We must have been on the critical path, as the work was non stop. The school was going on around us,
with kids stopping by to watch our work. School staff put up a red ribbon around our work zone, and had coffee
and donuts for us. There were about 6 more trusses to be built, but it was time to head off for lunch at
Pat’s church.
After lunch I was in a group that went with Pat on a joy tour. I was happy to not be pounding nails, but soon
I was impressed by the large number of people that started congregating around our group. We did not have any
trouble knocking on doors and getting more families to come and see what was going on. There ended up being a
crowd of about 200. Pat fired up his boom box, and we sang (or hummed) and clapped to the Spanish lyrics. Several
of us gave testimonies, and Pat followed that up with a sermon. I couldn’t understand many of the words, but the
crowd stuck around, then we prayed over several of them who accepted Jesus. We passed out the rice and beans that
we had picked up at a market on the way over there, along with toys, gloves, blankets, pillows, and clothes. I got
the privilege to go into one of the nearby houses to pray with a family for a 34 years old man who had been
unconsciousness for a week. We struggled with the language, but worked through it. It started getting cold,
but the warmth of the people was real, and we hung around in the street, praying with another family of
3 teenagers with a single mom. Then a young girl helped Bob & Rob lead another women to accept
Christ. She spoke very good English. She has been attending a private school across the border in Del
Rio, and got up at 5 am every morning to board a van that took her and others to the school.
We ended the day in Mexico at a restaurant, which was the first time in my 3 years that we had done that. The
school principal joined us, along with her boss, the school superintendent. They expressed their
profound appreciation for our efforts. She said that she had already noticed an improvement in the
school children’s attitude, as they watched us do our work for them. Building the dining room is the
first step that will allow the city government to provide daily meals at the school for the children,
which is a big deal. They have 370 elementary age kids at the school. We had no problem getting back
across the border after dinner, as we had missed the rush of early in the afternoon.
That is all for now.