A Me Hermano, Scotty
It’s
good to be home, a soft bed, air conditioning, refrigerated food, ice and a
loving family are just a few things we take for granted. We don’t realize how
blessed we are unless we’re willing to be obedient to God’s call in our life,
nor could we imagine how God will use us to enhance His Kingdom by what little
we do in answering that call to duty.
Four
men embarked on a logging trip to Nicaragua not knowing what the
trials and tribulations they would face, or the blessings they would receive.
They merely answered the call and trusted an almighty God. They arrived in
two hours behind schedule after an eight hour flight, to learn they had to be
on a plane in three short hours, enroute to Puerto Cabezas. They arrive in
Puerto Cabezas with little or no sleep and then loaded up a truck to travel
three and half hours to Kuyu Tingi. While in Puerto Cabezas they met and
fellowshipped with the team from Flordia, that
they were to replace, they learned of the hardships and the dangers that they
will be facing as well as the blessings God has bestowed on the Flordiateam. They
praised and honored God and then prayed for one another before they parted
company.
They
loaded up in a beat up four door diesel 4x4 Ford truck with no air
conditioning, and its 100 degrees in the shade. They traveled three hours North
East on a bumpy gravel road passing three armed check points where a toll must
be paid to continue on, before turning off onto a dirt path into the jungle
that was cut less than two weeks ago, to allow motorized transportation. They
arrive at the campsite setup by the previous team in a large open field of knee
high grass dotted with 80’ foot pine trees and absolutely no shade except for
the tents. The sawmill was in an excellent position and allowed for easy
loading of the logs, hand loading that is. The tractor could load a ramp that
led to the sawmill but from there the logs had to be rolled by manpower. They
have the use of two tractors, one old and in need of constant repair, the other
one was brand new, large and in prefect condition, a gift to God from a Miami
John Deere Dealership through the efforts of the Florida Team and shipped in
with them two weeks ago. It’s important for me to say now that no team goes forth
on its own merit; they are accompanied by the body of Christ. The funds, the
equipment, the food and the people are all given out of love for Jesus Christ.
No mission trip can be successful without the love of Jesus from the body of
believers; this is the backbone of Christian mission trips.
The
New Tractor Story; Thad the leader of
the Florida team approached the owner of the Miami John Deere Dealership and
asked him if he would or could consider donating a small farm tractor for their
mission trip to Nicaragua, that would become the property of Mission Bautista
for future projects. The cost would range from 8000 dollars to 20,000 dollars
depending on the attachments. The owner said he would check and see what he
could do and he would call. A short time later the owner called Thad up to the
dealership and showed him a 65,000 dollar industrial tractor with an air
conditioned cab, front end loader and other attachments. Thad was elated by the
generosity and told the owner that it
was much more than they expected, the owners reply was “ I’m not going to send
GOD junk “. The question came to my mind what do we offer God? I tell you this
story because I was assigned the task of operating this new piece of equipment.
It was my job to drag the logs in from the jungle to the sawmill. The first day
I made one load of two logs and flattened a tire on my return to the jungle, an
800 dollars tire. I then worked as a mill worker the rest of the day. The
second day with a brand new tire in place I hauled 6 logs and flattened the
same tire on my return to the jungle, back to the mill went I. The third day
with a new tube in the new tire I changed tactics and cut a path through the
jungle to the logs and then cut out an area to work that log out of the jungle,
success at last. I became a log hauling machine for my team. The team worked
along side of the Miskito Indians from the village of Kuyu Tingi
and as we worked together we learned and taught and expressed God’s love in
many ways. We learned the difficulties of living in such a hash environment, we
learned to love and trust each other and we learned the power of the Holy
Spirit working amongst us as we saw the miracles unfold before our eyes and we
learned to look upon the face of God which shows forth from others. There is no
greater experience than this and there is no greater blessing than being apart
of building the Kingdom of God.
When
we departed for the jungle, we were told that if we could produce 12,000 bf of
lumber that we could consider that we had had a good week, a four man team
couldn’t do any better than that and we shouldn’t expect more than that. In the end by the help of God we had cut over 16,000 bf of lumber. Tim Welch said it best before we got started, that
we serve a God that has no boundaries, He is the same God of Abraham, David and
Moses and we would trust God to do what he wanted to do with us. We devoted
ourselves to God’s work for that week whatever it might be. God used this team
to produce a relationship with the Miskito People of the Kuyu Tingi village, to
produce the lumber needed for five homes and a church which amounted to 16,000
bf of lumber and a stock pile of logs for the next team so that God’s work will
continue in that region for years to come.
To
all those in the body of Christ who helped with prayer, funds, equipment, and
food for this team and others we thank you, and to God be the praise, honor and
glory alone, thank you Jesus.
Bobby McBrayer
In Christ Love
