“TEAM 22 VICTORY HIGHWAY”

June-July 2013

Part 2

By: Michael J Miller Jr.

Monday finally came and the team started installing the steel roofing sheets on the roof. As you can see in the top right photo it is a long line of classrooms. This was only four of the eight classrooms that needed the roofing to be installed. We had the trusses made out of steel so the roof would be safe from termites and would be able to withstand hurricane winds. We always look for the best and strongest way to repair or build our classrooms. We want nothing but the best for the children in Honduras. It was amazing in how fast the team installed the roofing for these 4 classrooms. It only took 6 hours to have all the sheets screwed down and cap on. While the team was installing the roofing the children were not attending classes for various reasons. First it was the week of the student and also the Director of the school with our advice as well was to close the school for safety. The piles of old roofing, wooden trusses, and paneled ceilings were lying around. Not to mention all the very sharp steel that was on the job site. Are we making shade for the children or are we showing something else to them? Jonah 4:5-11 “Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. (This happens a lot with people in the world today. They sit down and wait to see what will come about with cities in the world. Not reaching out or reaching up to do something.) Then the Lord God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. When the sun rose, God  provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.”  But God said to Jonah, Do you have the right to be angry about the vine? I do he said, I am angry enough to die. But the Lord said, you have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand to their left and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?”

Even though the team members faced scorching sun and felt the power from the heat they didn’t complain because they knew in their hearts that this City known as Tegucigalpa needs ministering to. However many focus on the vine that God provides instead of focusing on the one who made it grow and made it wither away. God wants our attention on Him and not on the menial things in life. I look at the top photo and I see Nineveh. I see and hear the talk that goes on in small communities as this.  There wondering, in why they suffer, why they are poor, why can’t all the people be blessed with the same, and is God really watching. All our teams focus on the Redeemer and not the plants. We can’t focus on the poverty but place our focus on the will of God and the relationships that He places in front of us. In the second photo Colleen is taking the time to know he sponsored child and trying to understand. In the last two photos is the team serving Chinese food to our 100 plus children that participate in our Saturday youth program. God wanted Jonah to serve the people in Nineveh and to help them grow into a relationship with God but he was focused on his own personal needs and not the needs of others. Being broken bread and poured out wine means ignoring yourself and your needs and going forward in faith in knowing our God has enough for all our needs.