Curveballs

Monday and Tuesday, 8 & 9 August 2011

A good mission trip has curveballs. The more curveballs, the greater the chance for the team to find opportunities to work together and to rely on God rather than themselves. The last two days have given us opportunities to find a way to win.

First, the team learned that one of the few members of the church they were going to work on, Capel Seion, had passed away suddenly at the age of 91. This was sad in itself. But it's impact upon the team was that they had to get all their work done in three days rather than five, so the funeral service would be unpolluted with construction debris. Curveball! Then, the team learned that because they were late in picking up the rental van, the car company rented it to someone else and the only van they had left could barely hold six passengers, let alone room for hauling lumber and other construction supplies. Curveball! Then the team moving the organ discovered the platform was rotten and had to rip out and rebuild it. Curveball! And illness struck: Franklin Wheeler got sick and stayed in the hotel for part of a day. Then Allen got sick and went to the hotel early one day. Then worst of all: Lonnie's daugter, still in Oklahoma, grew sick, perhaps as a result of a her recent mission trip to Africa. Triple Curveball!

And yet what everyone seems to be experiencing is a pleasant, spiritual vacation rich in budding new friendships and sweet experiences.

The pews came out within an hour. A wall sprang up in their place. Fresh paint healed the creeping leprosy of the walls which took decades to spread. The organ was moved. The ribs of the platform were laid bare and reconstructed. Mold was stopped in its tentative first steps. Brush from the Stone Age was hacked away from the outer church wall of stone. The Porous brick of the Baptistry was meticulously replaced with glossy white tile. Square holes in the floor where the old pews had been were patched with makeshift metal strips which did the job admirably. It was a frenzy of construction.

But strangely, it didn't feel frenzied. The yoke was easy and the burden was light. The strain seemed fun. Patrick artistically tiled in the dungeon of the Baptistry(complete with wooden cell bars) like Michaelangelo on the Sistine Chapel. Outside, Larry painted the entrance gate with equal calm that was almost prophetic. Donna Nancy ken and Alllen danced a strangely graceful version of Swan Lake, but this version involved long roller brushes and magnolia colored masonry paint on a neverending wall with gothic arched windows. This is hard work that felt like a Sunday School share time. Men got to know what each other does for a living. Women shared their salvation experiences. And the team genuinely loved one another, even without quite knowing one another.

We all prayed for Lonnie's daughter, some of the team laying hands upon him. We all knew he wanted to teleport home to be by her side as she suffered. Yet he maintained his Jedai calm. By the afternoon we received good news: her fever had gone and she was resting comfortably. It looked like she was in the clear. God answers prayer. He is a great God. He throws curveballs but He also makes the bats to help us knock the curveballs out of the park.

Long days. Hard working days. Fun and fulfilling days. Days deep with spiritual significance.