Report from Aaron Mead

Hi, everyone!

I'm writing on Monday afternoon (Happy Valentine's Day) at the work site in Esperanza. We've got areas framed for pouring concrete and have started the bucket brigade to do it. It has been a very full day. We'll all be sore and tired by the end, but very happy. The neighborhood kids have amassed and are playing happily with some of us and posing for photos. The Dominican congregation members are very hard-working and gracious people.

The Scripture readings we were assigned for today lend a good perspective on the building project we have just begun. It is a perspective of humility because we will never build as well as God has built (Psalm139:13-16, John 1:3-4), and because we must be willing to take advice and correction (Proverbs 12:1, 13:10). (I've experienced this firsthand today; I have no knowledge of framing at all.) But as our church's study on obedience this month reminds us, we need only be faithful with the few things we have been given (Matthew 25:21), particularly with our own households (Joshua 24:15) and the needs of others (Romans 12:13, Hebrews 13:16). I am proud to have one of my household with me (though I miss the rest of my family) and to see him engage fully in both the work and the fellowship. Thank you all so much for your prayers, cards, and support. You are a very important part of this team. Please continue to pray for us, and especially for health for one of us who is struggling with a cold or something similar. God bless you!

Aaron