Jesus (Almost) Dropped the Lamb

I'll get to the bizarre blog title in a moment.

What we thought would happen today - maybe some school programs; maybe a visit to a prison; maybe a few other things but what really happened...another day of painting at the church.

And, the cool thing is, prayers were answered; people were touched.

Once again, team fence and team wall were back in their respective portions of the building. Bill, Randy, Jesse & Ivette continued to paint the fence (yes, it would be quicker to paint the wrought iron fence with spray paint; however, that is not what they were asked to do). And, they also completed painting the offices of one of the associate pastor's. They worked so hard, humbly, and doing whatever was asked of them...even though the task was tedious. I am proud of them (even if I am "officially" a part of team wall!)

Larry, Hector, Elaine, and myself (with some help from Brian Josue - a staff member who works with Gerritt & Tara) conquered the back wall. A graffiti covered wall now looks brand new. Diana continued to paint, up on a ladder, the lettering on the side wall (I joined her later in the afternoon) while Kely tackled the difficult task of drawing and then painting the school logo. We all applauded Kely's willingness to take on this difficult project.

Which is where we came up with the title for the blog. Near the end of the day, it began to rain. And when I say rain, I mean - thunder, lightening, and pouring rain. We had finished everything that we could do for the day except Kely was up on the ladder finishing the logo. The logo, FYI, is of Jesus holding a lamb because the school name is Good Shepherd. Just as she was putting the final touches on Jesus, a huge crackle of thunder and bolt of lightening almost startled Kely completely off of the ladder. She joked with us tonight that she was so frightened that the last few strokes were probably a little shaky; so much so that...well, you guessed it, Jesus (almost) dropped the lamb.

This team loves to crack jokes and laugh so, forgive us, if too much of our lame humor makes its way into this blog (it doesn't help that I'm a sucker for lame jokes). However, I would be remiss if I only told you of what we did (or how much fun we had doing it) and didn't mention what the Lord did today.

We've been praying - because Gerritt & Tara asked us to - that our willingness to serve would encourage those in the church to serve. The Pastor shared with us that he struggles in getting people to volunteer to serve the church in any way. So, our hosts told us, the fact that a group of "gringos" would travel from the US to do something as simple as paint...well, that might stir up others to serve. Today, we learned, that very prayer was answered. Two men from the church - inspired by the "mighty women of God" on the ladder - came around and began to help. Somehow what we did made the prospect of serving in some way achievable to them. So many people who passed by us as we worked commented on how good the building looked. Carmen Maria, a 76-year-old neighbor to the church whom Hector, Diana & Elaine prayed for yesterday, returned to chat with us.

We know that God is working and we're thrilled to be used in any way that pleases the Lord.

Tomorrow...our plans aren't finalized yet but it's definite that we will doing at least one school program (we hope to do a second) and we know we will be back at the church painting, putting the final touches on what we have done over the last few days. Keep praying. We need the Lord to continue to strengthen us and as Larry shared in team devotions tonight, to give us a tender, responsive heart to Him.

Love to everyone back home!
Pastor Arlena