Thursday we built a house in the La Tigra rain forest just north of Teguc. The site was right off of the road and it was a great site. We put up the house in a little over 3 hours. A group was also breaking down big bags of food into smaller bags for individual families in La Tigra. As they were heading into the rainforest they drove by our work site and we had finished about 15 minutes earlier. So we loaded up on their bus and went and gave out bags of food. La Tigra is a very mountainous area with lots of steep hikes. Thursday we were able to build a house and feed about 200 families so it was an awesome day. The only bad part was we had a person get injured. I was standing on the roof holding a piece of tin roofing and waiting for the lady, Katie Wells, to finish nailing in a piece so I could put the next one down. As she finished nailing she stood up and took a step back so I could put the next piece down and as she stepped back she missed the roof rafter and fell. She was able to catch herself with her arms as she fell down but on her way down her wrist hit the piece of tin I was holding and sliced it open. She was bleeding pretty bad and had to go have 12 stitches in her wrist. She is ok now but it definitely hurt her although it hasn't slowed her down much.
Friday we had two groups building houses out near the dump. The group I was with went to a place I hadn't been before and the view from the front of the house we built was incredible. You could see 4 rows of mountains off in the distance, it was a great place. The build took just over 4 hours which is still a pretty quick build. We had one more injury, the fiance of Katie Wells (the lady whose wrist I accidentally sliced open) named Jared. Another intern, Rachel, was on the roof and dropped her hammer and it nailed (no pun intended) Jared on the top of his head. It bled for a while but he didn't need stitches or anything. Those two have had a couple of rough days.
Today we built two more houses and the group I was with was back over near the dump. The build took a little less than 4 hours. We had to drop the first team off at their site and by the time we made it to ours it was 11:30 but we were able to finish by 3:30. It was another steep climb to the site but the build went very smoothly with no one getting hurt this time.
A few of us have built three houses the last three days and I definitely won't deny that I'm tired. I have muscles hurting that I didn't know I had. As tired as I am now though, I'd have to say that Thursday was one of my roughest days yet. I was still feeling pretty bad with a sinus headache, I was tired that evening after building and going up and down the mountains giving out food. To say the least I was exhausted physically and mentally. 1 Peter 5:8 says, Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Thursday night I was that someone. Mentally I was ready to check-out. I started having thoughts about how great it would be to sleep in my own bed and have time to just do nothing, to be back home. I started thinking about how stupid I've been to think that I could actually be a full time missionary when a few weeks of this wears me out physically and mentally with all the hunger and misery and pain that you see and the needs we strive to meet. Physically I can't do it, emotionally I can't do it. Why did I ever think I could? All these thoughts and doubts about what am I doing here, I can't make a difference kept running through my mind even as I was building a house and passing out food. It's so much, you can never do enough. That night at devo our speaker talked about knowing your weaknesses and understanding that we are doing great things for God and that Satan hates it and is going to use our weakest moments to tear us down. Talk about the right devo at the right time. Satan loves to attack at a persons weakest moments. For me it's when I'm tired, worn out physically and/or mentally. Those are the times he is after me. I prayed that night that if God didn't want me here then to take my desire to be here away, to lead me away from this mission field and to something else that He wants for me. But that if He does have a plan for me here then to strengthen me emotionally and spiritually to continue this work and increase my desire to be here to the point that I can't stand to be anywhere but here serving Him. I took some nyquil (Anyone that knows me well knows that stuff knocks me out quickly) and went to bed. Satan placed doubts in my mind but the last two days have been amazing. I started thinking about how great it'll be to go home but my mindset literally changed overnight. I'm now past the halfway point of my trip and I am dreading the day I have to leave. My passion right now for this place and the work here is as strong as ever even though my body is weak and tired. I hate to think that just a few days ago I was thinking it would be good to go home. One thing that always irritates me is when people do something bad and say, "well the devil made me do it". Satan doesn't make us do anything just like God doesn't make us do anything, well except for maybe Jonah. A strong argument can be made that God made/strongly persuaded Jonah to go to Ninevah. But anyways, Satan gives us a choice just like God does. God doesn't make us obey Him, He doesn't make us live our lives according to scripture but He gives us the choice to do it or not do it. Satan doesn't make us sin but he gives us plenty of opportunities to. He waits for our weakest moments and gives us a temptation that he thinks we can't ignore or deny. He feeds us thoughts that we can either give into and listen to or let them go in one ear and out the other. He didn't make Jesus turn stones to bread but he tried to tempt Him into it. Satan tries to get us to do anything that goes against God's will but we always have a choice to or not to give in. Thursday I started giving serious thoughts to the doubts Satan was feeding me. I could have shut down for the rest of the trip, given in and let Satan dwindle my desire to be here away. But over the last two days I've chosen to let God work through me and He has strengthened my passion for the works here. He has built me up emotionally and started drawing me back towards Him. My point is that in all things we have a choice. Spiritual warfare is ongoing and will continue until Christ returns. Satan has lost but he isn't going down without trying to take a few of us with him. Our choices are our own, they aren't Satan's, they aren't God's, they are yours and mine. The only question is who are you going to follow? The temptations of Satan to stray you from God or the truth that is God and His love and desire to save you from evil and show you through His word how to live life to the fullest. The choice is yours and yours alone.
We also lost an incredible woman today to cancer. The desire and passion I saw in Claudia Pinkston to serve the people of Honduras and to try to make a difference in the world not only here but in every aspect of her life should inspire anyone that knew her and saw her in action. We lost a great lady today but heaven gained a great soul.
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