Last night I had a killer migraine, a stomach ache, and a neck ache. I sent Tony off to the pharmacy to get me some drugs, only to look out the window and see half the neighborhood pile into our van: the kids from next door, their friend, Yoli and her husband who just happenned to be walking by carrying a huge bottle (more like a small barrel) of water on their shoulders, plus all three of my kids and Tony. Nine people in a 5-seater van (we're missing a row of seats). I bet that was interesting. But who needs seatbelts, anyway. I guess the trip to the pharmacy was a neighborhood affair. Never boring around here. And all this after Tony spent all day demolishing a building, brick by painful brick, with a pick and hammer. Literally.
Now there's a man. Back off, ladies, he's mine. |
It's a great story, the brick story. God provides yet again.
bricks |
more bricks |
Someone from church who works in construction let us know about a farm that was sold and subdivided to be developed. The brick barn is being taken down and all the bricks gotten rid of.
the brick barn |
The only catch is, we need to take the bricks down ourselves. One by one. Using a hammer and chisel. No bulldozer available 'round these here parts.
So, Tony and Ceferino and Dani and his brother Kevin are now spending their days pounding bricks.
Ceferino getting the bricks for his new house |
Kevin working hard. Kevin is 13 and a pastor's son. |
We didn't let our MK go just yet. He's can be a bit spacey, and these brick walls have been known to just topple over. Construction sites down here are not what you would call up to code. Not even close. You need to be quick and on your toes.
Ceferino, Tony, Kevin |
It's pain-staking work, but they are having a good time. Marcela is happy, too. It does her good to be able to get out of the slums and spend a day in what used to be a fruit plantation, surrounded by green and quiet, compared to the brown dirt and trash she is used to seeing.
fresh-picked grapes from the farm! |
But God is not bound; His ways are not our ways. God is still God, and He has not left us, nor will he forsake us. HE is our provider, leading and guiding. And blessing. We know it, we feel it, we see it. We ask and pray for God to speed up the registration process with our car and to give Tony a job, but I think that, in the wait, he is doing other things. Being here is not about us. It's about who He wants to reach. In the meantime He is doing many things, like, perhaps, changing us.
2 comments:
Chris, How come every picture of Tony I see he has no shirt. Is that Latin American Missionary dress code? We are praying he finds work (that pays). We are continually amazed at how God provides for you guys. And from that first photo it looks like Tony has been provided with not too few tacos. ;)
Christian, you're just jealous because Tony wears a size "Large". He can't help it if he's hot... I mean it's hot down here.
lol
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