Teaching Concepts and Building Churches

Over the last two weeks we have been working on the Las Uvas church trying to get it closed in. We are using a tarp like material that they use to make sacks. It's actually pretty simple to do but it has taken us a little while due to lack of time and materials but we are nearing completion. This church has been kind of an experiment of mine you might say. Some people may not understand this but on the mission field it can be so difficult trying to teach the people not to be dependent on American funds. I have seen a lot of examples of missionaries and mission organizations who have come and just given everything away. Clothes, food, houses, churches, all with good intentions but it destroys the work. It creates a crippling effect. The people start to think they can't do anything without the missionary and his money. So, we have been trying hard to avoid this problem and teach them from the get-go to work for what they get.

In the case of the Las Uvas church it has been like watching a baby learning to crawl then walk. Our first service was in an open yard next to a stone wall. We met like that once a week for several months. Later land was donated to us so we could build a church. Then our first church had a garage sale to raise money to buy a roof and wooden structure and the men helped to build it. For months now we have met under this tin roof for services. It was still hard to preach with the wind blowing my papers all over the place. It was tempting to raise money and build a nice block church but then again I felt like it would destroy everything we have tried to teach them. So our church just had another garage sale and raised enough money to buy materials to close in the church from the wind and rain. We should finish it sometime this week. Even though it's not completely finished it has already been a huge blessing. We are out of the sun and the wind isn't blowing my papers all over creation. haha. It's great. What is even more exciting is that all this has been done by our own people. We can truly say this is their church. It's been a fun project!