Thank You Jesus...

“Oh, how great is Your goodness, which You have laid up for those who fear You,  which You have prepared for those who trust in You in the presence of the sons of men!’ (Psalm 31:19). This week long missions trip has been one of the most blessed ones I’ve been apart of.  God has orchestrated so many things to come together in His perfect timing...we’ve have stood in awe of His amazement.  Saints, I pray that this story encourages you all.  I pray that God would use a “backhoe and bucket”  to strengthen your faith as much as He has strengthen ours.

Our goal this week was to complete the septic tank system for the orphanage.  Chris Pengra (from Utah) started designing and working on the system back in October with a team from Puyallup WA.  We weren’t able to finish it, so Chris brought back a wonderful father/son duo from his church (Bill and Tim) to help complete the project.  One of the most important items needed to finish the septic tank system, is a back hoe.  Lots of holes and trenches need to be dug.  We have hired Tony (from Bachiniva) and his machine in the past, however, he was out of town, working in the states for 3 weeks.  Pastor Luis said “no hay problema”  I’ll call some Mennonites and see what might come of it.  God showed His faithfulness by allowing us to use a tractor from Pastor Jacob and his church...for FREE!

Bill (a modern day Paul Bunyon with an amazing beard) noticed that the machine was a “CAT” (catepillar) instead of a John Deer machine, which is what he is used to driving.  Apparently each machine has its own controls...special for that particular brand.  So, one who is used to driving John Deer machines all his life, would have great difficulty with the CAT machine and controls.  Bill climbed in to check things out and wouldn’t you know, right there in a CAT machine were John Deer controls....something that rarely happens...especially in Mexico.  Bill kept saying, “I can’t believe that this has the right controls.”  God knew EXACTLY what we needed!

After digging for an hour...work was suddenly stopped.  Unfortunately the teeth (on the bucket of the back hoe) were completely worn down to the point you couldn’t dig anymore.  That was a big problem.  Plus, the bucket itself was too big...we needed an 18 inch bucket.  We thought maybe Tony might have an extra bucket or at least know where to get some new teeth.  Not knowing if he was back in town or not, we went to his house bright and early one morning.  Tony just happened to be home, along with his backhoe.  Bill immediately noticed the size of the bucket on it, new teeth and everything, and thought, that would be perfect...if it fits.  It was an older model and he wasn’t sure it would work.  We thought we’d give it a try anyways and Tony graciously let us borrow it, for FREE.  Praying and asking the Lord to make it fit, God answered our prayers. It fit perfectly.  Everything came together just when we needed it and Bill started flying with that machine.  Over the course of the next 3 days, all of the trenches and leach fields (some 800 feet long) were dug, all the pipe was laid and hooked up, the tanks were dropped into the holes, and then, everything was covered and buried nicely.  Our prayer and desire for this missions trip was again answered in a timeframe that STILL amazes us.

As a team, we’ve been studying through the book of Philippians.  Last night we spent 2 hours, reading, praying, rejoicing and talking about how God is mindful of everything.  What might seem like a coincidence to someone, or “no big deal” to another, means so much to the Lord.  He has been mindful of the very things we needed this week before we even came down here.  I’d even say, before the foundations of the earth were formed.  That’s how amazing the Lord is.  And who are we? that He would desire to use us, empower us, let us be apart of the glorious works that He does on a daily basis.  We went to bed last night, encouraged, refreshed, and ready for a NEW DAY and all that God wants to do in our lives!

Constructing the water tower...

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love” (Ephesians 1:3-4).