10:31 Student Ministries

T. T. L. I. F. (Thank the Lord it is Friday). Today we woke up early and headed down to breakfast. French toast and Eggs gave us the energy to tackle the day. Today we spilt into 3 groups for a half a day of slightly easier work. I decided that the group needed at least half the day to relax and recover from the slave labor, it made me fell better when I found out that the mission gave all the Guatemalan construction workers the day off because of how hard they worked the last two days. Pastor Alley was a little upset that we were not going to be doing the “hard” stuff today, but by 12:30 he was thanking me for an afternoon of rest (he finally slowed down ) The first group went to the baby rescue house. The entire Phelps family, including Jack, and Rita Linton got the opportunity to serve together holding and playing with babies (I am not sure if Jack changed any diapers I am sure he left that up to the ladies). The second group was asked to unload 3 full trailers of food that was donated to the mission. The Wood Family, Pastor Alley, Ed Maddox, Ben Fisher, Seth Parris, Rebekah Meredith, Steve Linton, and Govinda worked on unloading the trailers, it was a welcome step down in work intensity compared to the previous days. The last group consisting of Renee Marilla, Matt Combs and the rest of the youth were sent to the greenhouse to work. Natalie Cook, Jannah Cooter, Kaylee Bryant, Caleb Lee, Zach Pulliam, Renee Marilla, and Sarah Beth Marilla were put on rock and weed duty, clearing and leveling the ground that will be inside the greenhouse where the vegetables will be planted. Stephen Burrill and Samantha Chapman joined with the Guatemalan workers and put together the skeletal frame for the greenhouse, I have to admit it was VERY SCARY seeing Samantha using a hack saw (I stayed as far away as possible). Matt Combs, Chad “Grover” Hamel, Michael Ertel, and Michael Duncan, got a very special job. They were put in charge of Larry and Bertha. Who are Larry and Bertha you may ask? Well let me tell you. Larry is a young but very mature and very large stump. Bertha is a boulder sized rock that is keeping Larry from being released. The boys spent hours trying the destroy their marriage, but it was clear that they have a true covenant bond and that they have no intentions of ever being separated. We are not usually the type of people that try to break up good strong relationships, but in order to accomplish our mission we have to separate them. The only hope of reuniting for Larry and Bertha will be in the nearby ditch, but the Guatemalans control their destiny. Well, Larry and Bertha were too much for the boys, so the very brainy Matt Combs had a light bulb moment and remembered that Mr. Aubrey Wood made a living removing and separating these types of relationships, so we called him in to save the day. Aubrey showed up in his superhero costume (a blue Speedo over a pair of old jeans and a t-shirt with a big letter A on it) and quickly diagnosed the problem (just a little more information for those of you that are thinking stump removal is easy, all we have is 4 shovels, an iron rod, 3 picks and of course Aubrey’s super powers). Lunch time came and Larry and Bertha were given one last night together (I just found out that the mission is going to give us a chainsaw tomorrow, divorce papers have been served, Aubrey is drooling). After lunch the adults that did not have a chance to go to the garbage dump feeding center on Wednesday went to feed today. Steve Linton shared a testimony in devotions this evening about how it was great for him to see the dump because it gave him a proper perspective on his life and the abundance he has. The teens spent two hours after lunch in the pool cooling down and relaxing from their 3 straight days of hard work. After the refreshing time in the pool we headed up to the orphanage to hang out and do a beaded bracelet and necklace craft. The kids enjoyed it a lot although more beads were on the ground when we were finished then actually made it onto the “jewelry”. After the orphanage it was dinner time, steak and rice where the main course, and dessert consisted of a visit from the orphans who put on a short authentic Guatemalan dance performance for us. After dinner we returned for a time of team devotions, where we talked about the attribute of God’s infinity. If you want to truly try to understand how awesome God is, try to define infinity or eternity, I know I can’t do it. HE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN - - AND WILL ALWAYS BE, WOW (what does that even mean)! God is awesome. Tomorrow we will be studying God’s holiness in our devotional time which in my estimation is the essence of God, everything about Him is within his holiness. We will finish the greenhouse in the morning and dedicate it to the Lord in the afternoon. Please pray for our last 2 days, that we would be able to be effective in our evangelistic efforts and that we would finish strong. We love you all and miss you. (Michael really misses Yoo).
-Matt Combs and Michael Duncan

P.S. we have been having internet issues so we apologize for things being delayed.