Week 31

Here are the pictures from the project Joel and the guys have been working on at the fishing lodge.

The fireplace should be done this week it's going to be pretty awesome:

They talked Myrtle into using her jello mold for making art on the fireplace: 

 I know it's been a lot of hard work but I know he's also having a blast :)

I want to talk about something here that's been on my mind lately. Week after week we post and share about the physical work we're doing here. I want to stress that this is not our only ministry. We've found that being hard working is definitely an asset when working with people (anywhere). It gets you instant respect which is important in discipleship, and it also gives you something in common with most people, especially here where people live so differently than we do. The work on the base itself is really not important. I mean lets be real, at this point we're fixing this place up and keeping it nice so it can sell. There are no more teams coming. It's been months since the youth group came out. Really it feels like we're house flippers. Which is part of the reason we're not staying. BUT we are using our situation for God's glory in any way we can. To have people come out here and see that Joel is working hard and not just sitting on the beach or watching tv all day (it's broken anyway lol) is a big deal and we know it's led to some of the friendships Joel has with some of the guys. Part of the reason we came here was because it was an opportunity to help out a mission, for Joel to do ministry and work at the same time (makes us feel like we're earning your support in a way), and to get our feet in the door for mission work. So in that way it has worked out really well. Unfortunately it being so remote has not worked out so well as far as ministry goes - it's hard to work with people when you're not around people ;)

Anyways, I just wanted to point that out. It's not all about our working around the base. Awesome things are happening in the short time we've been here, God is working through Joel in amazing ways. We just can't share every detail because these are real people with real internet lol. But it's something we'd love to share about in person. God works in ways we'll never even know and when we get to know it's even more amazing!  Even though our time here is short we pray every day that He uses us for His glory and never for ours.

So every week we want to post things that are going on so since we can't share personal details we share things about work we're getting done and stuff like that. We want to post SOMETHING lol, and to be accountable too. We are really here with no supervision which isn't always the best situation so we want to make sure everyone knows what we're up to. If you ever have questions please private message or email, we'd love to talk about it :)

Ok, I feel better :)

So back to the work part, this week Joel spent a lot of time at the fishing lodge working on the fireplace. It's pretty cool because he gets to teach his trade to Jay which will hopefully help him get more work like this. Plus they just like to hang out together. There's been a lot of different people out there working so it's led to opportunities for him to share about the Lord with other people as well.

He worked in the village this week too, the water pump was broken again, and he  helped weld up a luggage rack on the church van so Kenny could take the ladies to the women's retreat in Belmopan on Friday.

Sage and I have been here a lot, but it's probably a good thing because we've had some potty training 'issues' that make it hard to be in public lol. The wind and waves have calmed down and we actually had a nice cool day yesterday and a few cool nights (blankets!). Unfortunately the bugs are HORRIBLE. Some new mosquito hatched and they are EVIL. And as soon as the wind dies the sandflies come out, you just can't win lol.