At the beginning of the summer the Lord gave me a word for my team that we would be part of laying a foundation. That, as both Adventures Youth and AIM’s work in Xenacoj were new, we would be building into something for future groups to stand upon. Just as a foundation is rarely seen on the horizon some of our work over the summer may go unseen, unrealized, but that it was still essential to God’s overall purposes.
As each team has come in we have seen them move ground in this community, and though they may not have always seen the direct results, just now we are beginning to see something raised up.
Earlier in the summer we had a team spend several days toiling on a wasted piece of ground. They worked hard to rake up trash and break down stumps with only the vision that that land could one day be used as a garden to help feed the community. They left without seeing that vision fulfilled.
However, this week another team came in. A garden is currently growing in that plot of land to provide tomatoes, peppers and more. This team broke down those gnarled stumps to provide firewood to sell and they cleared the last of the land. As a result, something is being raised up in Xenacoj.
Also, over the course of the summer we’ve been regularly visiting a school called El Fuerzo. El Fuerzo has given us its share of frustrations with random classes being closed or the principle deciding to close the whole school for a week at a time. Yet, we continue to go back to shouts of “gringos, gringos” and hugs and kisses believing that there is a purpose in our time there.
As a result, this past week during our Kids’ Adventures Camp there we saw over 100 children raise their hands to state that they wanted a closer relationship with Jesus. Something is being raised up in Xenacoj.
You see the Bible talks about this. Hebrews 11 speaks of person after person that followed God on faith even though many of them never saw the things they were promised. Abraham never saw his descendants as numerous as the sand on the sea shore, Noah never knew if God’s promise in a rainbow was kept. But they welcomed that which they could only see at a distance. They were people commended for their faith so that together, with us, they would be made perfect.
That’s what I have seen this summer, faith coupled with faith.
So, how about you? Are you willing to build a foundation even if that is all you see? Are you willing to toil now, knowing that as you do, God is building His kingdom through the works of your hands?
