POWER TRIP – Week Two … Day Two
After a short nights sleep (sometimes referred to as a nap!) the Team set out for a 6:45am breakfast at Luby’s Cafeteria ( how cool is it that a restaurant that does not even open for breakfast, would open their doors to serve the Power Team breakfast!). Worship time and devotions followed breakfast in the main dining room at Luby’s.
Pastor Dave Burkett encouraged and challenged us from 1 Samuel 30:1-8, where King David’s response to the destruction of Ziklag and the death or capture of the wives and children of David and his men, was to turn to God. David inquired of God to determine how to respond to the devastation at the hands of the Amalekites. Pastor Burkett challenged us to remember that in all we do on this Power Trip and in life, we can only be victorious through the strength of God and his Holy Spirit working in and through us … And certainly not in our own strength!
Today was our first wok day and first border crossing, into Matamoros, Mexico. Our
Team was scheduled to continue the construction of three 24’ x 12’ portable kitchen units, build church pews for use in local ministries, prepare lunch for our Team and the students at the Instituto Biblica Magdiel, and to conduct an outreach at Bagdad Beach ( a light day on 3-4 hours of sleep/nap time!).
Construction of the portable kitchen units had been started by the Week One Team earlier in the week. The units were being constructed on the grounds of the Instituto Biblica Magdiel, a local bible college that for the past seventy-six years has been training young men and women to be ministers of the gospel. The three kitchen units, when completed and outfitted with food preparation equipment, will be transported to local public schools. Once in place these kitchens will be used to prepare meals for local school children; alleviating a rampant problem of hunger among the school age children of Matamoros.
These units are in effect a pilot program conceived and developed through the collaboration of Mike Magee (a local missionary and long time local partner of Power Ministry) and leaders in the government of Matamoros. In fact the City of Matamoros will be providing the food that will be prepared in these kitchens! It is hoped that a total of forty such kitchens will be placed in public schools throughout the area. By the end of the day the three units were nearly completed, and that much closer to being ready to be outfitted with food preparation equipment!
At mid day we had the joy of eating lunch with the Bible College students; a sloppy joe lunch prepared by part of the Power Team.
Team members not involved in the kitchen unit construction or lunch preparation were busily engaged in constructing thirty-two church pews for use in local ministry settings.
After lunch work continued on the kitchen units and church pews, while a portion of the Team set out on the Bagdad Beach Outreach. Bagdad Beach is an impoverished area on the Gulf of Mexico, dependent on their fishing trade for survival. Unfortunately a severe red tide in the recent past has decimated the fishing opportunities, and their daily sustenance. The Power Team delivered rice and beans, toys for the children, and tools for the men. In addition eight of the benches constructed in the morning were delivered to a local mission, and provided additional seating for a service attended by the Power Team and the local community. In talking with several of the men who participated in the Bagdad Beach Outreach, the devastation and need in this community was overwhelming … Please pray for the ongoing physical and spiritual needs of people of Bagdad Beach.
Today was very productive, and by the strength of God working through seventy men much was accomplished … Praise God!
The day ended with a great dinner at Rudy’s Barbecue in Hildago, Texas and a check in at the Super 8 Hotel, where we will be staying through Monday morning. We are all looking forward to Sunday service at Alianza Christiana (The Dome Church) at 9:00 am, and hosting a community festival at the Rio Bravo Children’s Home on Sunday afternoon!
Thank you, Lord, for using our willingness to serve in your strength … to accomplish much on our first work day. Please continue to pray for our Team this week, so that we would continue to make ourselves available for God to work in and through us along the Texas-Mexico border.
Terry Hickey