We've all heard Wednesday referred to as "hump-day" as we get past the middle of the week and look toward the weekend. Well, I'm taking some liberty and calling this "hump-week" for us. We've had three teams come to serve in June and four left in June and July. And while we're not necessarily looking forward to the end of the summer teams, we're kind of at the half-way point, which seems like a good time to let you know what's been happening so far.
With our first week and first team, a group of amazing women from Stoney Creek Community Church, we also welcomed (or didn't welcome) hurricane season - the first week of June. We had 6 straight days of rain. For some, this may not seem significant, but for us it means flooded streets, schools closed, businesses closed, houses leaking, and ministry partners suffering. The team was awesome and didn't let the rain hinder their work. Thanks Stoney Creek!
While the first team was working in the rain, I was working with a realtor and our partner, pastor Sergio, to finalize details to purchase land in Tres Reyes, for the community center we plan to build there. We have now made a down-payment on the land, have $50,000 committed, but still need $40,000 more by July 15 to purchase the land. It is an amazing piece of property - .75 acres and exactly what we need.
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| Land in Tres Reyes |
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| Horizon College Group |
As most of you know, our primary ministry is to orphans and impoverished families. That is where we spend the bulk of our time - in the trenches so to speak - living and serving with our ministry partners. BUT, an incredibly important part of our ministry is hosting teams to help us do the work. And during weeks 2 and 3 we had a team of college students and then a team of high school students from Horizon Church, led by Amy Rudge, come down to serve with us. Horizon is very involved in our ministry and a great partner. In the first week, we had 5 college students commit their lives to Christ! In the second week we saw 6 high school students get baptized as a public display of dedicating their lives to Christ.
We also saw the miraculous and relentless pursuit of God to soften one student's heart as she made a first-time commitment to Jesus Christ!!
So we can't wait to see what God will do in and through the remaining 4 teams coming down to serve: Trinity Baptist, Apex, Kentwood Community Church, and Journey. Please pray with us that God will have HIS way in these teams and in the lives of our ministry partners. Thank you for all your support!
