Peru Day 3 Broken!

This day started out on the edge. I was EXTREMELY tired & had a difficult time getting out of bed. One of my eyes was irritated, red & watering.
As I went through my individual devotional on this morning God reminded me that He is THE promise keeper! I needed to be patient on seeing what it is that He brought me here to see. The revelation of this brought to memory a few scriptures,
Revelation 1:8 "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty."
&;
Philippians 1:6 "Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:"

Isaiah 54:1-3 Has been my promise, God will give me so much my house will be bursting!
Isa 54:1 "Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD."
Isa 54:2 "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;"
Isa 54:3 "For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited."

Philippians 4:13 Reminds me that the God who gave us Christ will use the power of Christ to give me the physical and emotional strength to carry out His work that He began!
Php 4:13 "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

I broke inside with the flooding back of all that God has said to this morning. On this trip up until this day I have felt like God was being silent.
NOT ANY MORE!
Today my service project was helping dig a hole for rubble, we like to make believe it's the "Swimming Pool!" Thanks Beth... Ha ha ha!
I worked with Dakota, Dawn, Anessa, Eli Beth, Fernando, Richard & Max the resident dog did his fair share of work too! As we dug God brought to my mind the
parable of the "Sower & the Seed"(Luke 8) The ground we

was soft & easy to move on the surface and as we got down about 3 or so feet it got hard and rocky, that made me think about the sinners heart & how some have to plant the seed, others water and it is God that gets the increase. First the ground must be broken & pliable for that seed to be planted!
I had a great time watching Eli & Max dig the hole, Eli used his laser pointer on where ever he wanted Max to dig and Max sure worked up a thirst diggin!!! Good times!
That was the morning, after lunch the VBS team prepared supplies and practiced our skit for the Lost & Found Puppy.
This second day of VBS was much more orderly than the first day, all praise to God! Experience is a great teacher! I was able to spend more time with the kids & little Nerida stole my heart!

As we colored with the children she ran to her Casa (home) & she with her friend Gabriela returned with gifts for me! That nearly broke my heart!!! Nerida gave me a bracelet of her own & Gabriella a sun jewelery charm. Nerida never left my side the whole time she was stuck to me like glue! I was LOVING IT!  The whole experience was terribly humbling for me because I know so many times I neglect to give of what I have when I can easily go out and replace my things. These girls live in villages where the floors of their hut type homes don't even have floors. You can get a small glimpse from these three photos of their living conditions.

These children don't have the resources that I do and they are giving me gifts that are more than likely very precious to them!  As we played together I asked Nerida if she had Jesus Christ in her heart and she told me YES! She asked me if I had children and wanted to know when I was coming back to see her! Without even considering asking the Lord if that would be something He desired for me to do, I immediately told her I would be back in 12 months! I want to keep my word, I pray I have not made a promise that I can not keep...(Proverbs 3:5-6)
I had continually asked this precious girl her name over and over, my darn mind just could not contain it, she asked if I had a pen so I gave her my Sharpie PERMANENT marker pen, not knowing what she was about to do....
She wrote her name on my arm, so I would not forget her! That was so incredible. Our time together was so short and the kids were mobbing all of the team as we tried to collect everything &  get on the bus, I hugged Nerida SO tight and absolutely broke into tears like I was leaving my heart behind, I buried my head into the back of the seat in front of me on the bus & wept all the way back to our hotel. I pray I never forget this first full experience of VBS. Thank you Lord for your kisses. I have no children of my own but has saw fit to bless me so richly in way just like this! Nerida's name remained on my arm for the entire trip and even for a week or so after I returned home, this just might make a great TAT some day!!! Oh yeah! Not on my arm of coarse.....!