Friday, October 5 - Final Day of Brigade, Part Two

 Ben was assigned to Concrete on Monday but he was also assigned a second time for Friday, which he was very happy about.  I think that truly, he was relieved that he did not get assigned to Evangelism on any of the days, which for many was nerve-wracking and anxiety provoking, especially for those of us who didn't have a lot of experience sharing our faith.  

On the first day, many of us had the opportunity to walk to the home that was receiving the concrete floor during our lunch break.  I was very eager to get to walk through the neighborhood and get a close look at how most of the Honduran people live.  On our walk there, I spotted this sign that was posted letting the people know about the Brigade.   

We walked along narrow pathways between buildings where people live ...

This is the entry way to the 2-room house that was receiving the concrete floor ...

It was a very narrow and cluttered entry, likely because the family had to remove everything from inside the house.   

This is some of the family members; the woman is the middle of three generations living in or having lived in the home.  This area that they are in is basically their kitchen with the sinks behind them and the cooking area is in front of them (what would appear left in this photo).  

The "kitchen" is completely outdoors and mostly open, with only a partial covering over the cooking area.

The photo below shows multiple team members who worked on the concrete floor in this home, as well as our team leader, and seven members of the family who lives in the home.  The woman in the center of the photo in pink scrubs, holding the shovel, is Susan.  She was not one of the members of the concrete team, however, she was the primary reason that it was possible to put in concrete floors in three homes.  

Here is a photo of the mounded sand, rock and concrete that is gathered together before sticking the shovel in the center and adding water (as was described in an earlier post).

Rick, one of our team members who was with Ben on concrete on both Monday and Friday, again, wanted to take the opportunity to share the Gospel with the parents in the home, Mr. and Mrs. Zapata.  The parents were not believers and  Rick spent the time with them and he carefully explained the TRUTH about Jesus.  The way that he tells the story is so amazing and I wish that I could share it with you the way he shared it with the rest of us!  The details are not as clear to me, though.  I can tell you that what several of us did not realize is that two of Mr. and Mrs. Zapata's daughters were workers at the church where we were having Brigade.  

The daughters, Susan and Sharon, were already believers and had been praying for their parents and their family for quite some time.  It was a beautiful miracle to witness the revelation that Mr. and Mrs. Zapata had conceded and accepted Jesus as their LORD and Savior that day.  The announcement was made at the end of Brigade and their was great joy amongst everyone there!  We all prayed for and over the Zapatas and it was a great honor for Rick to be at their side through that special moment.  

Then an extremely emotional moment occurred ... and, of course, I had to capture it as best I could.  One of the daughters who was a church worker that had been praying for her parents to come to a knowledge of the TRUTH came over to her parents and collapsed into their arms in heavy sobs.  She was so overwhelmed with JOY and RELIEF and AMAZEMENT and before 15 seconds passed by, many of us were also in tears!    

Three generations of Zapatas have lived in this 2-room house and as was told by the parents, they had lived there with a dirt floor for 35 years!  Their home now had a cement floor ~ but the BEST truth about that is that before Friday, October 5, 2012, they had always lived on a dirt floor destined to sink into the murky pit of hell, but on that day, they went from dirt floors to cement floors with an escalator up to the golden streets of heaven.  What an amazing exchange and transformation for them, both physically and spiritually! 

And one more really beautiful, unexpected segment of the day was ... well, remember how I said that Ben was relieved to have made it through the week serving the LORD not in Evangelism?  Well, lo and behold, ... we found out later ... that Ben ended up sharing the Gospel with several of the family members, using the Gospel bracelets that we made and also giving his own to one of the children.  With Rick to translate, Ben explained the Gospel of Jesus to several of the Zapata family members, older and younger children alike. Ben didn't have enough bracelets and so at lunch time, he collected more bracelets from the stock and in the afternoon he made sure all who were without a bracelet had one.  

He said that as they left that day, more and more relatives were showing up!  No one had realized but it was later discovered that the houses on the "block" surrounding the house that received the cement floor were all filled with Zapatas, relatives to the Zapatas we are speaking about in this post!  The last thing that Ben saw as they were leaving the house, having completed the cement floors that day, was the few family members that Ben shared the bracelets and Gospel story with, sharing the same with other members of the family who had not been present when Ben originally shared.  

When sharing this story with others, Ben got really choked up and began to cry ... (so bittersweet for a mom) ... because he had actually witnessed the impact telling one or two or even four can make ... and we are confident that ALL of the Zapatas, and there were many, heard the TRUTH about Jesus.  The ripple effect was evident and Ben, and all of us, were so grateful to actually get to see it as it was happening!

 God bless the Zapata family with all its members and may their new Faith reach out to those in their family, their village and their community ~ for the Glory of God, AMEN!