Day 1: Serving the Kids at CAINTA
Our service to the Lord has officially begun. Kicking off our morning was our very own Matt Lilly, who gave us a devotional from Matthew 3:13-17. In this passage, Jesus asks John the Baptist to baptize him, but John had his reservations. It was a beautiful reminder that it's not by our own strength or doing that we are made worthy, but by Christ working through us that we are made capable. "There's no reason for 'Lord' and 'but' to be in the same sentence!"
A sea of children excitedly awaited our arrival. Today was the debut of our "Jonah and the Whale" performance, and the kids really enjoyed it. I'd consider it the practice run, and updates to the play are being made as we speak to bring the maximum impact. After we told the story, we delivered the gospel message simply and passed out school supplies to every kid in attendance. Our prayer today is that the seeds of the Lord find good soil in these children, so that the Kingdom of God would continue to expand.
After our work at the school, we visited Pastor Wilson's church just down the street and learned about the amazing ways God is using him to be a beacon in the community. The church sits in the basement of a government building, just large enough to fit 40 people. His prayer is to find a space capable of holding even more people. A space where he can display his church's name on the facade of the building and get closer to transforming lives for Christ in the community.
Dodging the spontaneous downpour, we explored the shacks of some of the local residents and partook in a sugar-coated banana treat that they prepared for us. In the concrete space that somehow was able to fit about 15 of us, there were electrical wires dangling from the ceiling, water pouring in through the gaps in the exterior walls, and a staircase that led to an upstairs that simply didn't exist yet. Despite these circumstances, the home was full of joy and peace, the kind you can only find within the Holy Spirit.
Pastor Wilson then took us to the mall for lunch, and after we said our goodbyes to him, we headed back to our Airbnb to prepare our socks by separating them out of their packs and into two bags: one for boys and one for girls. Our mission is to help provide these children with supplies they wouldn't have the resources to acquire otherwise, but most importantly, it's to serve the Lord in whatever way He calls us to. At the mall, Matt and I had the opportunity to pray for one of the employees, encouraging him to be a leader in Christ for his family and his community. You have to admire God's sense of humor sometimes. When you least expect it, He will call on you. The decision then: will you move toward the call or away? I've got to get back to tweaking our Jonah skit!
