Honduras Good Works: Days 4 and 5,
July 21 and 22, 2012
“Build My Church:” Buildings and
Bible School
When God told the 12th and
13th century St. and Mystic, Francis to build His Church Francis had
a small misunderstanding and believed he was to rebuild the building of the
Church of San Damiano near Assisi in Italy.
Francis set out to accomplish this task which he did successfully. Francis later realized that God had, in fact,
called him to “build His Church,” to bring people into a true and honest and
life giving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. He spent the remainder of his life doing just
that. He formed an order later known as
the Franciscan Order and their purpose was to bring the people of Italy into
that relationship.
Our purpose in Zarzal was not unlike that
of Francis. We went with the intention
of “Building Christ’s Church.” Our first
task was to begin the building of the church building. We followed this task with a three day Bible
School for the children of Zarzal. Bible
school was scheduled from 1:00 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and
Monday. The theme of our time together
was “Campiones de la Fe,” taking our cue from the upcoming Olympic Games as
well as from the life of Jesus. Pat
Ritchie organized and coordinated the program, Kathy Doane led the physical
exercises and games and Tracey was our all around “do whatever needed to be
done guy. Elizabeth Miller and I told the
stories about Olympic champions as well as spiritual champions. We also led discussions and watched our own
heads spin around as we spent several hours each “speaking in tongues (Spanish).”
The 3 to 11 year olds really got into
everything and the teens of the community were a great help in leading the
activities and working with the children.
A couple of the teens even led a rousing game of “Simon Dice.” (Simon
Says). We took journeys with Jesus as
well as a journey with a young man named John as he participated in his first Olympics. We drew pictures depicting Jesus’ work of
salvation for us and for all of God’s people and we played lots and lots of
games.
After the first day, the 1:00 p.m.
start time became 9:30 a.m. So we took
turns playing games and creating activities with the children and working on
the building. I suspect St. Francis may
have had some of these same issues of budgeting his time. Day one and two brought us 24 children along
with several parents and day three 50 children had shown up before lunch time and
they were joined by a dozen teens who helped make things happen and keep things
calm.
What a blessing to teach, learn and
travel with God’s people in the world. When
God calls you to build The Church, be ready for whatever God sends your way!
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