July 2005 report
Dear Friends,
HI from Durango. Lots happening here these days. Julian and I made
it safely back from Lajas last Thursday evening. We got a lot done on the
house. We staked out the layout for the extension, dug the trenches, and
hauled in rocks from about half an hour's drive away. Below are some of
the pics:
Julian and I had a great time together. I certainly never felt alone
with the walking question machine at my side all day long. The highlight
of the trip was Sunday night. Of a night time I had been telling Julian
some of his favourite Bible stories and on Sunday night, he requested
the story of the crucifixion. He is incredibly interested in the
specific details, and so I held none back when describing how Jesus was
beaten and whipped till such a point he would've nearly died just from
that alone. I then went on to describe the way he would've been nailed
to the cross. All this was very sad for Julian, and he got quite upset
that such a thing could happen and wanted to know why Jesus didn't run
and hide. I explained that Jesus knew ahead of time that it would
happen, in fact, that's why he came in the first place. It was no
accident... instead of running, he gave himself up. I went on to explain
as we have before with Julian that Jesus had to die, otherwise we could
never be forgiven nor cleaned from our sins. Without being forgiven, God
has no alternative but to allow us to end up in hell as no sinner can
ever be with Him in heaven. On hearing this, Julian told me he's been
trying pretty hard not to sin and felt that he'd gone a number of days
with doing any. I reminded him of a few occasions that may have slipped
his mind, and then asked him how many sins one would have to do to end
up in hell for eternity. He felt that perhaps a hundred or more would
warrant such a punishment. I told him actually, that only one sin was
required to deserve hell and that one sin was committed by the very
first humans God made, meaning we were born sinners. He felt that wasn't
fair and so I asked him if he'd done one sin, he said actually more than
one. I asked him where he felt he would end up if he died and he felt
heaven based on his efforts over the past few days. I asked as he had
done at least one sin, what did that make him, he said, "a sinner". He
asked, "Does that mean I'm going to hell?" I told that was indeed the sad
case. He asked, "What can I do?" I told there was absolutely nothing he
could do. Upon hearing this, in tears he told me he didn't want to go to
hell. I told him that doesn't have to be, that is why Jesus was punished
and died on the cross. He died in your place. To become a Christian and
to be saved, all we have to do is believe that Jesus died for our sins
and that his blood shed on the cross cleans us from all our sin. I asked
if he would like to believe in Jesus as his saviour and he readily
wanted to do that. We prayed together, and Julian asked Jesus to forgive
him and to save him. He was tickled pink as he was praying to understand
that all it took was to know and to believe. I couldn't believe it, our
first Christian in Lajas happens to be our own son. It reminded me that
while the job is incredibly difficult at times, the message is incredibly simple. It's not about methods, programs, points or approaches. Its about being willing to make the message about Jesus known. It's God who is in charge of the saving and He organizes the timing, the opening of the mind, the readiness of the heart. Cross-cultural missionary work has gotten terribly technical these days and it is easy to feel we are the key to someone getting saved. We are reminded that all we need to do is clearly tell the story of Jesus. The rest God does. The same for the ongoing work of discipling; our job simply is to continue to instruct a believer as to what God's Word teaches, teaching them to do the same. So all this digging and rock hauling is simply being done to give us a chance to do that.
We ended up making 5 trips in the truck hauling rock. We may have to
make a few more. We started to make the rock wall footings, but heavy
rains and lightning hampered the efforts, and I was glad, as I had no
idea on what I was doing. The rains filled our trenches to the brim, and
so I resolved to work on the existing house. I received great news from
Anne Marie on the Monday night via a phone call. Three friends from
Tasmania, on the spur of the moment, had decided they were going to fly
over and come help with the house. As they have had a lot more
experience at building than I have, I immediately decided to halt all
progress on the rock footings. I figured I am better off to work on
something I have a little more confidence doing, and save the footings
for the more experienced. Phil, Michael, and Vernon arrive tomorrow
night and we plan on heading out to Lajas Monday or Tuesday. We'll
spend close to 10 days out there, upon which we should get the footings
and walls done including framing in windows and doors. Right now I am
busy getting building materials and windows ready for the next trip.
Anne Marie is busy cooking up a storm in readiness.
Thanks to all who are praying and we would appreciate prayer for this
next trip for safety and progress.
For Jesus,
Andrew and Anne Marie
...
