Here are a few pics from our trip so far!

Sorry for the lack of of updates but we have been busy and at times had no access to the computer. The weather has been wonderful and let us accomplish a lot. The sun is very hot and when we return you will think we were in the islands instead of the Netherlands; we are very tan!  On Sunday we went to a local church for service and really enjoyed the message, we don’t speak dutch but each member of the team had an interpreter. After service we were invited for coffee and the people from the church welcomed us with open arms.  We went sight seeing in the afternoon and had a great time of  fellowship with the men in the program. It is amazing to see God working in the lives of these young men and how happy they are. Monday was a holiday here and we could not work, so we spent time with the workers and members of Teen Challenge. In the Netherlands it is a tradition that the Monday after Easter they light a large fire and invite friends over. A lot of people from local churches came over and we sang worship songs around the fire, it was great! Tuesday was back to work and we worked from early morning till after 6 pm. Every workday we have a lot of volunteers to help us and it is so much fun. I am blessed to have such a great group of people to work with. As I write this it is Wednesday after lunch and we are hoping to finish the whole job today as we are supposed to have rain for the next 2 days. The last thing I will leave you with is how wonderful the Dutch people are, they are so full of  love and joy. As we work we laugh sing and share, it is AWESOME. Thank you for your prayers.

We have been blessed with great weather again and are building so many relationships with all the people at Teen Challange. The people of the Netherlands are so warm and friendly and join in with us to work everyday. Work is progressing at a good pace and we should accomplish our goal by the end of our trip – God willing.

Day 1 was a travel day and the flight was great. The weather was a sunny 70 degrees. We got to see a little bit of Amsterdam and then drove to Teen Challange and meet some of the people at the center and got to bed. This morning we woke up and had breakfast and then had great fellowship with all the other people helping on the replacement of the roof on the center. It is amazing how God has given us a unity in a matter of moments and you would have thought we worked together for weeks. One of the young men participating in the teen challenge program was very shy we when arrived last night, but as he and I worked together he completely changed and by the end of the day we called him the boss of the project and he couldn’t stop smiling. I will update you tomorrow.

Sun—bright, unmistakable—sun peeked through the curtains the morning of our much-anticipated recreational day and our last partnering with the Father’s Love team. After a couple of overcast and unseasonably cool days, we felt blessed that gorgeous weather was cooperating with what promised to be a wonderful time ahead at the Rockin C Ranch.  After sleeping in a bit—we met in the lobby for our devotional and prayer at 9:30 AM, then headed out for breakfast.  Roger and Isabelle came to meet us and we were excited to be on our way.

Driving onto the property it looked like a regular working ranch.  We saw turkey, sheep, and heard about the longhorn, so named for the length of the horns, known as “racks.”  We got our first flash of our host’s humor when we learned  the names of the steer with the longest racks—Shadrach and Meschach (get it?). They haven’t yet found their Abednego. They took us through our paces with quizzes about chicken—how many eggs will a chicken lay in a year? how long does it take for an egg to hatch? and yes, why does the chicken cross the road?

A Christian camp, the owners love partnering with Father’s Love to provide scholarships for children to attend for the week.   Several kids had confided  in us that they’d never left Jacksonville, not even been up the road to Tyler, so I could only imagine how exciting it must be for them to attend sleep-away camp. Of course the kids have a wonderful time on the low ropes, high ropes, canoeing, riding horses, etc.  But they also assume all the tasks associated with running an actual ranch.  In the process they learn to get up early, work hard, and be disciplined and responsible.  With scholarships, the Father’s Love kids get to attend for just $50 rather than the normal $550 per week. But even at that nominal amount, Father’s Love frequently winds up assuming the cost for kids who want to attend.

Our guides wasted no time in giving us city slickers an opportunity to prove our metal with the High Ropes Challenge.  Tanicqua, who’d met us at the ranch, was first up. Dude! Gotta say, she represented.  She scampered up the tree, lightly supported her body with overhead wires as she walked a tight rope and performed other feats (all with a harness, of course) that would have put you in mind of Jane as in “Me, Tarzan.” Exhilarated, going down the zip-line she stopped just short of a back flip.   We all followed, granted, with a bit less flair—some electing to complete the entire course, others opting for the zip-line only. Not only was it great fun, but also was a wonderful exercise in conquering the fear of heights (more accurately, fear of falling) for some of us.

With a bit of swagger, we were ready to move on to the next challenge—horseback riding.  I say “challenge” because this was something new to virtually the entire BrickThink Team.  The training we received was without much ado.  “You put your foot in the stirrup, and swing your leg over to get on the horse; you pull the reigns to the right when you want to go right, and toward your belly when you want the horse to stop. Don’t let tree limbs hit you in the face.”  There were a few more instructions of that ilk on horse-riding basics. Before we knew it, we’d been matched with a horse that was temperamentally suited to each of us and we were on our way.  From this vantage point we got to appreciate the beauty—the hills, lakes—tall trees, and sheer expanse—of the property.  We rode for an hour, convinced that no seasoned cowhand had anything much on us. We conveniently forgot, of course, that the horses had been specifically trained to give us a gentle, uneventful ride.

Sho ‘nuff, and as the Rockin C Ranch staff promised, we’d worked up an appetite. With mouth-watering aromas wafting through the air we knew that they’d fired up the barbeque.   We had burgers (fresh from the ranch) hotdogs and baked beans. To say that they were a cut above anything we’d had back home is an understatement!

As the day turned to evening we reflected on our week in Jacksonville, Texas.  Roger reminded us of his promise that by the final day we would each know what God had in mind for us—the work He was performing in our hearts and spirits—in choosing us for the trip.  As we listened to each person share, it was like watching, and hearing the puzzle pieces click into place. We could see, perhaps not everything God had in mind, but a clear glimpse into the good work He’d performed in each of us. It’s not everyday that you get to see His hand in your life so clearly and to know the lengths He’ll go and the details He’ll orchestrate to help us grow in His ways and His love.

Starting our day with prayer and devotions as usual, we had no idea that it was going to be all about miracles.

As our week is winding to a close we are all incredibly motivated to pull the projects we started at the beginning of the week across the finish line. Although painting Alfredo’s house from top to bottom seemed quite impossible when the project began, its completion was within sight.

Tom, a team member who was first assigned to the project on Monday, relates that he’d initially made fun of the house in his mind. It was so ramshackle that he laughed at the little house and thought of gluing it together with paint.  But God dealt with him, asking what was so funny? He then made it clear that this was His temple with the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within the family who lived there.  The Lord’s gentle correction completely shifted Tom’s view of his divine appointment.  He became committed to making that house a beacon of hope in the community. One of the finishing touches was adding a light to the porch, probably the only house on the block that had one. With the color choice—and the light on the porch,  it has truly become the beacon he envisioned.

This was such special home we learned from Juan who’d supervised most of our team’s work on the home that this family had been touched by a miracle.  He’d asked us to be sure that we stopped by that evening to hear their testimony.  When we arrived the whole family was dressed up in their Sunday-go-to-meeting finery.  Though they spoke little English and we spoke less Spanish they were able to convey the full power of the miracle that I’d alluded to in a previous post.

Our Miracle Girl

Their precious little girl had suffered from debilitating eczema from when she was nine months old.  Not only was the crusty skin disfiguring, but she scratched until she bled.  She begged her mother to help her but medical remedies failed.  The only thing her mom could do was to pray.  For six solid weeks they anointed their precious child with oil and prayed–prayed without ceasing.  Less than a month ago her mother tells us, on a Saturday, she went to her daughter’s bed and was horrified to find it covered with dead skin.  But God spoke to her and told her that her child had been healed.  She touched her daughter’s soft, perfect skin and confirmed for herself His promise.  Aren’t you blessed seeing the joy and gratitude in the family’s face?  But look at the girl!

Speaking of miracles, here’s another one that Juan recounted.  We’d just helped him load a hundred chairs on his flatbed that he was taking down to Mexico for a church service as part of his mission’s trip.  He was leaving in the afternoon for the arduous nin-hour drive, but took the time to relate how he had come to missions work.

As a young boy his family had been so poor living in Mexico that they’d made their home in half of a train boxcar.  When missionaries came they made a huge difference in the family’s life, both in terms of survival and spirit.  At 45 years of age Juan says “they taught me so much that stays carved on my heart until today, although I was just 10 years old then.” The missionaries would stay for several weeks and then return home to raise more money.  But one day they went back to the states, never to return.

Fast forward, several years ago Roger blessed Juan with a trip to New York where the plan was to introduce him to Pastor David Wilkerson.  But somehow their wires got crossed and Pastor David was en route elsewhere.  Sharing his testimony at a Teen Challenge meeting in Brooklyn, Juan’s wife frantically waved him to her side.  A young woman audience listening to the story asked him to restate his full name, and hometown, and to relate again the surname of the missionaries.   What God had put in place was a reunion of Juan missionary workers’ daughter!   Not only had she heard the story from her parents, but also blessed Juan with a photo album of pictures featuring Juan and his brother, Omar. For all those years it had been on his heart to thank the missionaries for all that they had done in his life.  Through their daughter he finally got his opportunitiy.

As has been the case throughout the week, Hugh rolled with Brett to pick up the children in the afternoon. Today it was time for the 10 to 12 year old girls. Similar to the experience with the boys on Tuesday, the girls were ecstatic when picked up and even more so when they arrived at Father’s Love. The team played volleyball and basketball with the girls, and some even whirled around  the hoola-hoop and jumped rope. Then it was time for chapel.

Szilveszter, Enshil, Hugh, Deborah and Tom were asked to share with the girls. We each shared a piece of our hearts with the girls as we allowed the Holy Spirit to speak through us. As Enshil shared, it seemed as though each girl could identify with the story of her childhood experience and from where we stood at the front of the group, we could see it in their eyes, hear it in the many “sniffles” and from the sound of golden silence, that the Holy Spirit was moving deeply in the hearts of these young girls. Derik, was quietly sitting at the back of the room observing the scene when Ms. Melissa asked if he wanted to share anything. After saying no and shaking his head a couple times, he said “you know what, yeah I’ll share something”. The story he shared about the heart of a father, brought tears not only to our eyes, but also to those of many of the girls as he encouraged them. By then it was clear that the common theme of the afternoon was about the Father’s love for us, and that He’s the one who brings healing even after many years, to broken relationships with our family.

To close out the afternoon, Ms. Melissa asked each girl to hug at least five others, and this turned out to be an overwhelming outpouring of love with hugs and tears of joy among the team and the girls. Enshil has never been hugged by so many 10 to 12 year old girls in all her life!!!! Even Godfridah and Lisa joined the party at the end. Thanks be to God for his loving kindness and tender mercies. This really touched the hearts of everyone.

We all drove along with Brett and Tanicqua on the round-trip home after the meeting. For some of us, it was our first opportunity to see beyond the curtains of the neighborhoods where the girls lived. Some of the girls openly expressed how much they enjoyed the evening; it was such a blessing to hear!!

We were sad as we saw Melissa and Brett off since they won’t be able to join us at Rockin’ C  Ranch tomorrow;  they will be taking a group of teenagers to a conference in Dallas. Since we won’t get the chance to share with them again for a while, Derik suggested that we all have dinner together, just to savor the moment. We went back to our now favorite Mexican restaurant and enjoyed quesadillas and fajitas. Tanicqua and Isabel also joined us. In the midst of the many lighthearted moments, Melissa and Brett expressed how much they and the Father’s Love team have been refreshed by our presence, like a cup of cold water, and how they thank God for answered prayers.

By the end of the day we were truly overwhelmed by God’s continuous demonstration of what He will do in our lives and how much He loves us.

Tomorrow’s going to be a day of recreation and you’ll learn all about it in tomorrow’s post!