Salvation

Bob and I have been having discussions this week about Salvation - and how few people who claim to be Christians are actually saved. It's a timely discussion, as my friend Sarah is home in San Jose dying of the effects of breast cancer as I speak. She was a 25 year breast cancer survivor, but 2 1/2 years ago when it was rediscovered, it had metasticized on her liver. Last week when her kidneys failed, after a couple month struggle with various gastro-intestinal issues, and most of that time in the hospital, she decided her work on earth was finished, and she returned home for the final phase of her life on earth.

Paraguay is really a phenomenal place for this self-discovery with all the active work of Satan here. Asuncion and the surrounding cities we've experienced have some Christianity - a few percent, but the 500 other villages outside this area have no Christianity at all. The Alliance has an aggressive 30 year plan to change this, and it's really exciting to be a part of it this early in the plan. On our drive over to the San Lorenzo church, Bob shared some of the experiences he's had in Paraguay with Satan and demons and the absolute power of the blood of Christ. Revelation 12:11 says "They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; the do not love their lives so much as to shrink from death."

Continuing the discussion of another end, we finished a number of projects at the church this morning. Susan and I scraped fungus off a new board for a kick on a riser in the balcony, treated with a wood preservative, then I installed it.


We then patched a piece of carpet on this door and mounted the door handle.


Jenn hit a second coat of whitewash on this entry to a conference room that was painted yesterday.


Bob and Jenn hung curtain rods in the conference room.


Marcos joined us today, painting like superman - you can see the blur of his roller. As you saw yesterday, in Paraguay it's safer to walk under a ladder than stand on it.


Here's the finished shed.


Some of the team whitewashed this conference room on the other second floor.


We didn't paint this mural across the hall from today's whitewash job - it was already there.


Fran had cleanup duty today, helping Ana dry dishes for the ladies tea and put the dishes in the cabinet.



After I turned those two slabs of wood Bob and I bought yesterday into cabinet supports, Ana said it was missing something - a shelf. So then, in a country that levels, squares, fences and other precision woodworking tools are as scarce as Christianity, I had to cut datos freehand into the supports. I really felt God was guiding my hand - the dato cutting went very easy, and the result was very good.


Here's Ana smiling at the result. Bob and I tried to buy the shelf material today, but that's a different story.


While I was building the cabinet support (That Marcos later said was strong enough for him and his wife Lorena to dance on top of the cabinets), a second Ana was busy washing all the ladies dishes and glassware. She shared a very moving testimony during our break.


Early in the week, Bob began expressing doubt about us making it to the 4th floor addition the Church of the Foothills erected a couple months ago. Well, we didn't finish the whitewash job, but it was started.


I stepped on the ledge and shot this panorama looking out over San Lorenzo. Dead center is the Stock supermarket, our landmark if we get lost.


One of the things Bob has teams do is sign a note when they finish, then mortar the note into a wall of the church.


Here's our note.


Testing a wall to find a good location.


Mortaring it in place.


Here's today's crew.


If you didn't notice in the last picture, the fourth floor still needs a roof. This will likely become student apartments. Though our project money will help, Bob really wants the San Lorenzo church to help pay for this roof themselves.


Driving home, we usually drive by El Gato, on the left side of the road in the orange building. Most of us have had hamburgers or empanadas here with Bob.