Welcome Back Salemburg Baptist Church

Each morning their is multiple job duties to perform before the team was to head out to their project.  This year Salemburg brought along some great help and two new friends from Oklahoma.  We want to welcome Pastor Chris and Youth Pastor Travis.  Thank you John for bringing these two gentlemen along with your church family from Salemburg.  Everyone pitched in each and every day to get their responsibilities taken care of in a timely fashion.  Team leader John always brings a great group of folks willing to do whatever it takes to get the team ready to head out daily.  We are also very grateful for Senovia and Ana who come in early each morning to cook the fresh tortillas for the day and to clean up behind their North American friends after breakfast.  We are so blessed to have such an amazing staff here who help as well as make our lives easier.

Before this team headed out each morning someone shared from God's Word and a word for the day.  We started our day in HIS Word and prayer and ended our day in HIS Word and prayer.  Standing in our circle each morning observing the beauty of God's creation as everything is lush and green we are grateful for Mt. Horeb and to serve HIM here each and every day.  As we stand there each morning there is other activities going on all around us, Naun is cutting the grass with a majetta, Alexa is cutting the grass, Rudy is working on his corn field and Manuel is cutting grass as well.  It takes all of us to make this campus what it truly is, a gift from God.  Thank you God for all your many blessings.

give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18

Our Day of Rain

As we headed down the road to Cedeno, Choluteca the rain was coming and was not stopping.  Little did we know there was a tropical storm brewing on the North Coast and was not suppose to stop until Thursday.  This was Tuesday.  So we adventured out in the rain not knowing what was going to lay ahead for us.  We arrived after several different obstacles in the road.  The team shared they experienced these beautiful little obstacles daily as they traveled to Cedeno.  We arrived to the home of Cristina and Santos as the rain continued to come down.

The team geared up with their rain attire hoping not to get too wet.   We gathered in a circle to introduce the team to Cristiana and Santos.  Ms. Cristiana was sick with dinge.  So we were able to meet with Santos and other members of the church and community.  We were able to bring three young people from Pastor Pedro's church family to help this week as well.  After we introduced and prayed Mike took team leader  Pastor John and his wife Carol back to meet Cristiana.  Pastor John prayed over her life and health to get better before they started to work on her home.  As the day progressed Cristiana made her way to the edge of her existing home to watch the blocks going up on her home.  The team proceeded to unload the Kia getting ready hopefully for a drier day. 

For we live by faith, not by sight.
2 Corinthians 5:7

This was Katy's devotional their first night upon arriving to Mt. Horeb.  We did not know how powerful this verse was going to be for us on the first day of the project. We all prayed and had faith the Lord would bring on the sunshine and let the rain subside.  As the morning continued the rain ceased and God left them with a beautiful overcast day.  So Katy's word of the day I believe was faith and this team had faith in God He would provide all their needs down to stopping the rain not just the first day but the rest of the week.  The tropical storm subsided and headed up to the states and left us along here in Honduras so we could provide Ms. Cristina with a new home.

Preparing for the First Block

John, Kevin and Pastor Chris set the four cornerstones secured in place.  Pastor Carlos taught them how to do the first one and they went to it.  Everything with all the amazing help we had got the first block ready within the first hour.  Pastor Carlos' assistant Manuel who you will read about throughout this blog was busy at work asking could he bring the water from the well to put on the mescal boards and the mescal pile.  So Manuel recruited Jana and Ana to help haul buckets of water.  The three young men from the church of Pastor Pedro helped Santos mix the mescal.  I counted within the first hour of work 25 people busy at work helping each other as everything simply flowed beautifully.  There was no one in someone's else way.  Everyone found their place and took care of all details getting ready for the first block.  Pastor John shared in devotions that evening how amazingly everyone worked well together especially when we all did not know each other very well.  This is how big our God is and we need to allow our God to use us just like this in whatever we do.  Just be obedient and bold as Emily shared in her devotional that evening.  Be bold and serve the Lord.

May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

Psalm 19:14

Oh NO

Well while everyone is working hard preparing for the first block to be laid Mr. Mike was struggling with the block saw.  He along with team member John and Manuel worked diligently on this piece of equipment for about two hours.  Mr. Mike could not have gotten the block saw fixed without the handy work of Manuel.  He put so much of his heart into helping Mr. Mike.  He wanted to make sure Mr. Mike had all the help he needed.  John was most definitely a huge help as well as he held the flashlight for Manuel to screw back the different screws into the block saw.  Or did Manuel hold the flashlight for John.  Any way Mr. Mike has some really good help.  Mrs. Carol came by one time to ask do we need to pray for the block saw.  I shared please pray for the block saw. It is very sick.  Finally Mr. Mike cranked it right up and everyone was filled with joy.  Not by sight but by faith and a lot of patience on Mr. Mike's part.

Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.

James 1:4

A Beautiful Culture

As we continue to do work in Honduras the love of Christ never seizes to amaze me.   As I shared earlier Pastor Pedro gave us three young men from his church family to volunteer all week.  These three young men worked along side Santos mixing the mescal all week.  They steadily kept the mescal coming to the team.  The team did not have to wait for their mescal.  The house was quickly becoming a home as these young men worked so hard.  Pastor Pedro wants to keep them busy doing for the Lord first and in the process help a family receive a home.  He wants to teach them how to give to others which is such a great example for all of us.  Give unto others as you would have them give unto you.  Because when you do for others you will be forever blessed more than they are.  What a beautiful testimony for Jesus Christ seeing young people giving back to others and their only pay was a hot lunch daily.  Mrs. Carol's cold water and Gatorade to drink as well.

Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Luke 6:31

Blessings of Prayers

Pastor Chris led the family and team into prayer over the first block of Santos and Cristina's new home.  He prayed a beautiful prayer of dedication for the work which would follow.  The prayer also included praying over this home being a home where others will be blessed as well with Ms. Cristina and Santos' love for others which we find out later will happen.  He prayed for God to spare the rain so we could build this home for two very special folks.  God answered so many of  Pastor Chris' prayers throughout this week.  We serve a mighty God.

For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome,

Deuteronomy 10:17a

Building a HOME

Pastor John and Pastor Carlos did a quick class on Block 101 for all the new friends on this team.  They paired up went off to work laying blocks and filling the joints.  Team member Katy shared it is not a beautiful home unless those joints are smoothed out.  This takes time and effort to do this extra task.  Team member Emily also shared, "Build this home as if you were going to live in it."  Exactly Emily, built this home with pride and the love of Jesus.  This is what each team member did this week.  They put their whole heart and soul into Ms. Cristina's home.  Twenty five people to be exact put a lot of tender loving care into this home.  At the end of the week those joints were looking mighty beautiful Katy.

Praise God the block saw got up and running with everyone rejoicing.  Pastor Chris and John worked together learning how to cut the blocks for the home.  Manuel was supervising the entire process.  He worked hard bringing Pastor Chris the needed blocks for cutting.  They had an excellent assembly line of blocks going into the project.  Kevin assisted in bringing the blocks along side of Manuel and then placing them where they need to go after cutting.  Manuel knock the nubs out of the blocks and stacked them neatly in a pile for later use on the home.  Once again unity was on this property.

Ana and Sarah's devotions was getting out of your comfort zone.  This week we experienced so many folks serving their Lord with a willing heart and doing things they thought they would never ever do.

'not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Philippians 2:4

By getting out of our comfort zones we will look outside of ourselves and look after the interest of others.  Serving HIM brings much more joy if we allow HIM to use us in whatever why HE sees fit. 

Our Very Own Hydration Specialist

Mrs. Carol, our very own hydration specialist , took care of everyone very well.  She realized early on the Hondurans needs were not getting met.  At this time she said I will keep everyone hydrated.  Every team seriously needs someone assigned to keep everyone hydrated.  If someone were to get dehydrated it would truly ruin their week or a better part of their week.  So thank you Mrs. Carol for going with a smile on your face meeting the physical needs of at least 25 people for four days if not more.  We are grateful you saw the need and stepped up to the plate and did this task for your hard working folks.  All they had to do was drink their water and keep on working unless they felt the urge to stop for a break.  This week the team really had some beautiful weather up until about the fourth day and Honduras heat came busting through. 

The Aprons

On Saturday morning the ladies took Ms. Cristina an apron, bible and bag with some hand lotions.  Anna was able to give her the goodies and get a great big hug from Ms. Cristina.  She immediately put her new apron on and modeled it for all of us.  She came to church Sunday sporting her new apron and her hand lotion as well.

On Saturday morning as we went through the village of  Cedeno there was ladies with aprons.  I passed by the kitchen where all the good food was cooked each day and there was two of the ladies proudly wearing their aprons.  At lunch that day they were wearing their aprons as they served us lunch.  One lady came to VBS wearing her apron.  There was about four of the ladies who came to Ms. Cristina's home dedication wearing their new aprons.  These ladies were forever proud of their new aprons.  Thank you ladies of Salemburg for all your hard work and making about twenty ladies very happy.

And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.

Hebrews 13:16

VBS

Carol, Katy, Emily, Jana, Sarah and Anna came prepared to do another amazing job for these beautiful children of Honduras.  They had help from Ingrid the translator and Moses did an amazing job leading the children in music each day of VBS.  Thank you so much Moses for doing an outstanding job leading the children in music.  Carol each day did a bible story on the Creation, the plan of salvation and the Good Samaritan. On the last day of the Good Samaritan the team did a skit for the children.  Team member and one of our summer interns was the man who got injured.  Sarah portrayed the donkey as Justin was carried off stage riding on the donkey's back.  The children got a thrill out of this skit and learned a lot from it because it was a visual.

On the last day the team helped the children make a toy out of solo cups.  They punch a hole into the cup and tie a string through the cup.  They attached a bead to the string so you can toss the bead inside the cup.  This craft is always a big hit for the children.  As they left the church going home that day they were practicing putting the bead in their as they walked down the sandy path to their homes.  Thank you ladies for yet another great year with these children.  As always they started out with about fifty and ended up with one hundred.  What a great week in Cedeno with a great group of children and the ladies of the church who assisted the ladies.

After their craft the children went to the side yard of the church to do activities.  There was jump rope, bubbles and Katy did the hokey pokey with a group.  The children always love the bubbles and  jump rope.  Katy came up with a great plan with so many children.  Instead of rotating the children she rotated the activity.  The children stayed in place waiting for their next activity and this ran much smoother than moving the children from one station to the next.  What a great week of VBS.

Home Dedication

Team headed back from VBS to get ready to dedicate Ms. Cristina and Santos' home. Pastor John and his wife Carol helped Ms. Cristina to the front of her new home.  Pastor John and Carol go over last minute details before the dedication was to begin.  Everyone gathered around Ms. Cristina as Pastor John was preparing the beginning of a very special moment for Ms. Cristina and Santos.  She had been living like this for 25 years without a means of shutting her door or staying dry during rainy season.  We got word by Sunday evening she was sleeping in her new home which was a blessing because it has been raining continuously   this week.

Pastor John opened up with words of gratitude for letting his church family and the three friends from Oklahoma come and help her church and community build her a home.  After he thanked her and Santos he opened the dedication service up with prayer.  He then ask Pastor Chris to read scripture for the service. Pastor Chris chose Psalm 127:1.   Pastor John asked everyone then to gather around the house to share in the prayer of dedication. Pastor Chris led in the prayer of dedication over Ms. Cristina's and Santos' new home.  Afterwards Pastor John gave them their bibles and keys to their new home. 

Santos led his mother to the front door of their home for her to unlock her new home.  Manuel encouraged everyone to go in there with her.  So the neighbors and team members followed her into her new home.  She stood there and for the first time all week looked at all those people and thanked God for her new home and for their help in making her dream become a reality.  Actually Santos spoke the most on the last two days than he had the entire week.  What a beautiful ending to a perfect week with a lot of awesome folks, Hondurans and North Americans. 

Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it:

Psalm 127:1a

Lunch time Soccer Game

Each day after lunch the men of the Salemburg team and the Hondurans went to the field across from Ms. Cristina's house for an intense game of soccer.  Now mind you these guys have been mixing mescal and laying block all morning.  They somehow drummed up enough energy for a daily soccer game.  The teams were a mixture of North Americans and Hondurans.  As you can see Mike was passing through only to observe the sport and I actually got one kick in as I was heading to VBS.  This activity was totally separate from VBS.  This was going on while the ladies were doing VBS everyday except the last day.  The men got to participate in VBS.  Good memories and relationships were built this week for all of this team.  God is good.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
John 15:12

Spiritual Food

Throughout this blog I have been sharing devotionals each of these folks shared each morning and evening.  We started our day with a "Word of the Day" and a short scripture reading.  In the evening we gathered together to share in devotions and God moments.  There was several evenings we had some intense discussion about how North American Christians differ from Honduran Christians.  How we would like to be more like the Honduran Christian and how they live out Jesus in their daily lives at work, home and through their local church.  How while being here they have so much more than we do in by the way they live out their faith in Christ Jesus.  We need to take back what we learned here and live it out at home in our community, homes and local church. 

Three Beautiful Families

We want to welcome our new friends Jana and her father Kevin.  Jana has been wanting for years to do an international mission trip.  She brought many gifts and talents to her team.  Her compassion for others and her love for Jesus was evident in service here in Honduras.  Her devotional was well thought out and prepared for her journey this week.  Her sweet father, Kevin quietly stood back working hard but allowing his daughter to live out her dream and passion.  What a beautiful sight when a father and a daughter serve their Lord together and work side by side and separately as well.

Welcome back the Adams Family.  Pastor John, lovely and talented wife Carol, along with their most gifted and talented daughter Katy has made numerous trips to Honduras as a family.  They always come back serving their hearts out for Jesus and loving the elderly especially and the beautiful children.  Carol and Katy work very hard preparing a Women's Conference and VBS for three days each year and we give God all the praise and honor for such dedication to give these beautiful ladies and children their best.  It takes time to put something like Carol does together each and every year.  She includes the ladies of the church who make aprons for the women of Honduras.  Pastor :John pitches in and helps prepare for the VBS nightly and recruits the team members as well.  This particular week I noticed how Pastor John and Carol showed a lot of love and affection to our 84 year old Cristiana.  Katy shared how much they both love and adore the elderly.  What a wonderful blessing from God to build a home for such a sweet elderly young lady, Ms. Cristina.

Welcome back Sarah and Ana who have been numerous times to Honduras.  This year they came without Mom and Dad and did an outstanding job stepping up to the plate and serving their Lord. They worked very well together as sisters by family and sisters in Christ.  As long as they had their coconut daily they were content with life.  They worked hard along side their team wherever they were needed.  These two young ladies have a very strong faith and belief in their Lord and they exhibited it daily in Honduras.  We are grateful for young people who want to serve others and give their all for their Lord.  These young people are our future.  Thank you girls, you are always such a joy to have here and we enjoy working along side of both of you.

But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Joshua 24:15

Travis' Gift of Music

One of our new friends from Oklahoma, Travis had the gift of music.  Before devotions each evening he would pull out the ministry guitar and start playing very softly as the team gathered from washing the supper dishes.  He at this time ask for request and he pretty much knew all the request placed before him.  Sometimes on the porch during a game of corn hole he would be on the bench strumming the guitar as everyone chatted and chilled.  This was definitely a sweet blessing to hear God's music being strummed daily from the ministry guitar.  Thank you so much Travis for sharing your gift of music with each of us this week.

Praise the LORD. How good it is to sing praises to our God, how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
Psalm 147:1

Enjoying Pulperia de Mt. Horeb

It does our heart good to see teams come over to the pulperia porch to hang out and share about their day.  They come buy a soda and do a little shopping but more than that they sit and talk.  It makes me think of how years ago families would sit on their porches and visit with one another and share important bits of information from their lives.  There was not any cell phones or iPads to distract this time of fellowship like there is these days.  There was checker game being played one day, Anna and Sarah eating their traditional coconuts each day on the pulperia porch.  On Sunday afternoon Travis pulled out the guitar playing and everyone sitting there with him sang along with Travis.  We did our last devotion of the week on the porch of the pulperia and gift shop.  This was a very special place this week.  We enjoyed the sunset finally after many days of rain.  We were grateful to God for such precious moments like these this week.

so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

1 Thessalonians 2:8

Women Conference 2017

Carol comes each year especially for these sweet Honduran ladies.  She greets them as they enter the church with love and compassion.  She genuinely ask them their name one by one.  Carol enjoys this part of her week.  I believe Carol has been doing this ministry here for at least five to six years.  We thank you Carol for making this day so special for the ladies who sometimes are in the background and go unnoticed.

As the ladies arrived for their special day of many surprises some had to bring their children.  But as it is these little ones were not a hindrance but a blessing.  You did not know they were even with a circle full of ladies.  There was a  newborn who was ten days old. 

Carol introduced her self first of all in all Spanish.  Ingrid sat patiently and waiting for Carol to start speaking in English.  Carol did a phenomenal job introducing herself in Spanish.  This was a great start to a very special morning.

Carol shared how there is little time spent with the ladies around their construction project.  We are so similar in so many ways.  We all cook, clean and take care of our families.  We need to set aside time for ourselves and today we are going to treat all of you special with some activities relating to the bible verses I will share.  The first activity was Katie, Sarah, Anna , Emily and Jana gave out to each lady a bag and then a mirror for their first activity.  The bag was for the storage of their materials from today's bible study conference.  The first item given to these ladies as a mirror.  They immediately looked at themselves in the mirror as Carol shared not any two of us look alike.  We are uniquely made by God.  We are created by God and are fearfully and wonderfully made.  We each are very special to God. She shared you have an orange card with Psalm 139:13-14 written out on it let's read this together.

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Psalm 139:13-14

Carol continues to share how we are all created by God and we are special in His eyes.  We are fearfully and wonderfully made. God gave us all special gifts which is our responsibility to use these gifts to further His kingdom here on earth. She then ask them to look at their yellow card they received earlier.  Let's read this together:

For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10

God had a plan and a purpose for our lives.  We are responsible to answer His calling.  God knew before we came here today we would be here sharing in this special moment in your church. What is it God wants you to do for him.  You can teach Sunday School for the children, you can cook a meal for a sick friend, family or church member, or you can pray diligently for your family, friends, and church. If we all had the same gifts where would we be. It takes all of us to help our church run according to God's plan.

Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

1 Corinthians 12:27

Now as you look into your mirror know you were created in a special way and God has decided to use YOU to serve HIM.

This is one of my favorite times of the bible study.  Each lady is handed a tube of hand lotion.  They are asked to pair up and put a little lotion into their hands and gently apply lotion to their friends hands and arms.  As they are doing this Carol shares how hard they work with these hands.  They make tortillas, wash the laundry on the pilla and take care of all the needs of their families and their church families as well.  While building the home for Cristina  this week we noticed how you cooked a meal daily for the workers and the North Americans.  Everyone was served before you all served yourselves.  You always put others ahead of yourselves.  Carol shared sit back and enjoy this time of being treated special. She encouraged the ladies to take time to do this for themselves once in a while.  Treat each other special and take care of each other as sisters in Christ.  You all remind me of the Proverbs 31 woman.  You are a woman who fears the Lord and will be praised.  Each of you are important to your families.  Take the time now to enjoy your massage.

This is also a special time for the ladies.  The sweet ladies of Salemburg  Baptist Church made aprons for the Honduran ladies. This year Carol brought along Emily a new team member who for many years helped make the aprons.  This year she got to come and see the excitement on the ladies faces as they each picked out their own aprons. The ladies lay the aprons on one of the benches and allowed the ladies to come and pick out their choice of apron.  They tried them on and compared one with another.  They were your typical women trying to make a decision on which apron was just right for them.  They helped one another in selecting their aprons.  These ladies had a blessed time finding just the right apron for each of their friends.

Carol proceeded to share as they settled back in their seats these aprons are a symbol of the Armor of God.  What is the purpose of this apron?  They shared to keep us clean while cooking or cleaning and to store items in.  Carol shared looked at this apron when you are wearing it as the Breastplate of Righteousness.  Righteousness is being right with God.  It is having a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ.  It is living according to God's will for our lives. God has given us Jesus to show us how to live a godly life.  We need to read the bible daily, pray continuously but it all begins with our salvation.  Each day we spend trying to grow in Christ Jesus. We try our best to live godly lives to glorify God in our actions.  Please wear your apron and be strong in the Lord and share your love for Christ with others you come in contact with.

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power.
Ephesians 6:10

Lastly the ladies were able to make a craft to keep their five different bible verses on.  This was a task which took everyone's help to complete.  Emily, Jana, Sarah, Katy and Anna helped Carol with this tedious task.  Everyone walked a way with their hand made craft to keep each of their bible verses on at home to remind them of this vey special day of being treated so special in so many ways.

Carol pulls the ladies back together to thank them for having them and read one last verse together as a group.  Carol closed in prayer with her 26 new friends in Christ.  God blessed this time for each and every lady as they thanked and hugged the North American ladies. 

"'"The LORD bless you and keep you;
the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace."'

Numbers 6:24-26

Blessed

We always come to bless the Hondurans instead they in turn bless us.  All week the team ate in the community which was provided solely by the Hondurans.  They as a church family had been putting their monies back to provide lunch each day for the team.  But on the last day they took their generosity to another level.  They prepared the team a huge pot of seafood soup.  The soup consists of shrimp, fish, crabs and different types of vegetables.  This is a huge delicacy for the Hondurans and to be able to feed 20 plus people this meal was a huge sacrifice for them.  Everyone ate to their abundance was overflowing.  We were all humbled by such acts of kindness being demonstrated.  We all took away how we as well need to give others our very best as Jesus would do. 

You must present as the LORD's portion the best and holiest part of everything given to you.'

Numbers 18:29

Worship Service

We traveled one more time to this little piece of heaven where we all saw Jesus all week long.  Everywhere we turned Jesus was busy at work.  So today we gathered together to give the Lord all the praise and honor for this amazing week serving HIM.  We arrived being greeted by none other than our sweet friend Manuel.  We greeted our friends as they entered the church and prepared for worship.  We were especially blessed to have Pastor Carlos and his lovely wife Suyamada worshiping with us.  As the service started one of the members opened it up with prayer.  We proceeded in singing praises unto the Lord.  The scripture was read by one of the ladies of the church out of Matthew 6:1-20.  The intern pastor came forward and welcomed everyone and thanked the North Americans for sharing and giving Ms. Cristina a home.  The group went forward and sang "Open My Eyes To My Heart Lord".  They sang the chorus in Spanish with the huge help of their bus driver Moses.  Thank you God for Moses.  Pastor John shared his testimony with us.  He shared he thought he knew Jesus but in reality he did not know him.  One evening a pastor was preaching and pointing to the congregation on how you must read your bible to know who Jesus is.  Pastor John as a young man thought the pastor was talking to him.  So he rededicated his life to the Lord and started reading the Word and learning what it was like to be a Christian. He referenced Joshua 1:8-9.

Interim Pastor introduced the team to the church family.  After this time Pastor Chris was asked to come forward to bring the message God had prepared in his heart.  He shared with us how ten years ago or even a month ago he would not have thought he would be standing before them preaching God's Word. God has brought all of us out of our comfort zone to come here and work along side of each of you.  We were brought here out of our faith in our Lord to serve. 

Pastor Chris chose Matthew 14:22 where Jesus walked on the water. Peter saw a glimpse of who Jesus was.  Jesus invited Peter to come to HIM on the water.  Would you walk out on the water if Jesus told you to?  It would be hard to believe this could even happen.  So you know this was hard for Peter to believe and he saw it happening.  Peter went out on faith to meet Jesus on the water. When we follow Jesus through faith there is not anything we cannot do.  No matter the obstacle or the storm we are placed in our faith in our Lord sees us through.  Also out of verse 31 Jesus immediately reached out to grab Peter's hand when his faith failed him.  Why do we like Peter doubt our faith in Christ?  Why do we think the storm is bigger than our God?  In verse 33 Peter says "Truly you are the Son of God".  Most important question to you today is "Who is Jesus to you?" In Matthew 16 Jesus ask who to the people say I am. "Who do you say I am Peter?"  The song we sang earlier "Open the Eyes to Our Heart Lord"  is perfect for us here today.  We need to open our heart to our Lord and step out in faith so we can truly see who Jesus is in our lives.  Who do you say Jesus is?

Manuel

This week would not have been the same without our own site construction, encourager, hard worker and friend Manuel.  Manuel set the example of who Jesus Christ is in everything he did.  He worked hard for his friend Cristina and he son, Santos.  Manuel helped Mike and Pastor Carlos do the foundation for them.  There was not a task out there he did not want to try or did not do in completion.  The first day he helped unload the truck.  As I stood back and watched this young man I remembered him from years passed hanging around projects.  He sold candy throughout Cedeno as a child.  But seven years later and at the age of 15 or so he has developed into a very strong godly young man.  Manuel has simple way about him which never slowed him down.  If you taught him a task he would go out and get it done.  Each evening the team would come back to Mt. Horeb sharing Manuel did this and Manuel did that.  Everyone was in awe of the genuine of our sweet friend Manuel. He kept everyone in tip top shape as they worked each and every day.  He helped Pastor Chris and John cut and move the blocks.  The first day of VBS he wanted to go but Pastor Carlos said he had to work on the house.  He was a young man now and not a child anymore.  Well Manuel did not argue but went straight back to work.  On the last day Mike, Pastor Carlos, Manuel and I went to assess a house for the fall.  Manuel shared with the family he would be there to help build their home was well.  We joked with him and told him he was the boss of the team. He was Pastor Carlos' assistant.  Pastor Carlos was so patient with him where there was any instructions.  Pastor Carlos always did it with a smile but firmness to Manuel.  Manuel loves Pastor Carlos and Mr. Mike.  Anytime Mike was on the project you would hear Mike's name hollered across the job site.  Manuel was always available to help Mike whenever needed.  On the last day of VBS I ask Manuel are you a young adult today or a child.  He laughed and said I am a child and went to VBS.  He always brought a smile to whoever he was with.  He was just special like that.

But on the home dedication is what took Mike and I over the edge.  We try very hard not to get too emotionally involved but sometimes it is near to impossible. Today was one of those times.  We already knew something the team did not know and we were planning on sharing during devotions that evening.  After Pastor John got through sharing at the home dedication, he asked Pastor Carlos to share a few words.  Thank you Pastor John for allowing this to take place or otherwise we would not have known how Ms. Cristina got her home.

Pastor Carlos starts as if telling a story.  I love when he does this.  He was in Cedeno one day visiting his friends and neighbors as well as his family.  He was walking down one of the roads of Cedeno when he came across Manuel.  He told Pastor Carlos to please come with me I need for you to do something for me please.  Pastor Carlos followed Manuel until they came upon Ms. Cristina's plastic home made with sticks.  Manuel said please build my friend a home. She needs a home.  Please get Mr. Mike to help you build her a home.  Well obviously Pastor Carlos said he would talk to Mr. Mike and see what could be done for Ms. Cristina, Manuel's friend.  Pastor Carlos shared at the home dedication God will use any one who has the heart if we would only listen.  This day God used our friend Manuel to see to it Ms. Cristina got a home.  Well that is not all of the story.  Manuel came up to Mike wanting plastic because Ms. Cristina was going to give him what was left of her old house so he would have a home.  Manuel was kicked out of his home sometime this year by his mother and the church family has been taking care of him.  He has been staying with different ones in the church. This young man did not have a place he called home but yet he went to Pastor Carlos to tell him his friend Cristina needed a home.  This folks is Jesus. Manuel lives out his simple life daily as Jesus would.  He is an usher in his church and a greeter as well.  He helps with the children at church.  The children love him as he loves the children.  As we loaded the bus to leave worship on Sunday morning he came and looked in the front seat at Katy with the saddest face.  Quickly I said see you later Manuel we love you!!!!

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves,
not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.
Philippians 2:3-4