Recieving the land for the ministry

Dear Loved ones,

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with yall. How blessed we are to be able to know the one who created us. And that the one who made this massive universe cares enough about us to personally spend time with us every day, and instruct us in the things He cares about. Allowing us to feel some of the pain He feels when we look into the eyes of the innocent who have been hurt by someone evil, or allows us to feel a little of the hopelessness of a little one who is trapped in a situation that he/she has no way of getting out.

But then I think it probably hurts Him just as much when He sees His children who He blessed with so much, being so involved in themselves that they don’t take the time to care about those who are less fortunate then they are. It is such an honor to be called by Him, and to be able to be involved in the work He is passionate about. We praise Him for the opportunity He has given us.

Chris and I spent the last week upriver in the village of KrinKrin. It takes a little over half a day to get to Waspam (to the river) from here, so we had to spend the night in that area, and catch a ride with a boat that was going upriver the next morning. For those of you who don’t know what kind of boat that is, it is a 30ft hollowed out half log. This guy only had a 15 hp motor on it, so it took us 12 hours to get there. It seemed like a long time, especially sitting on a 3 inch piece of wood all that while, and the last 3 hours being in the dark, and rained and poured on.

If I didn’t know that God was right there with us, I would have felt pretty alone, that far into the jungle from the last road, but as it was I felt totally at peace, because I knew we were exactly where God wanted us. So the rest didn’t matter, like being in a boat that seemed totally inadequate for such a huge river that was way high with spots that looked like the water was boiling, or the fact that it was dark and it was almost impossible to see the dangerous spots with our little flashlights, or that we were on the water in a thunder and lightning storm that lit up the whole sky and crashed into the jungle every few minutes and rain coming down fast enough that we had to keep dipping the water out of the boat, plus all the night sounds of the jungle.

But it was a good trip. It was right in the middle of their rice harvest, so it was kinda hard to get all the elders of the village together, until Saturday morning at 6:00 we had the town hall meeting where they discussed the matter and decided to give us a nice piece of land for the ministry. (about 4 acres) It was so amazing to be there and see God work it all out there before eyes.

This year is now the second good harvest they have had in a row, so they have plenty to eat at the moment, which is very good. The food problem happens when there is a crop failure like they had three harvests ago, and about 9 or 10 month from now, just before the next havest. But there are still lots of urgent needs there. We talked to several people who have been in all the villages along the Coco River, and all of them said that KrinKrin and the village on each side of it were the poorest of all the communities along the river. So I guess that’s probably why God called us to that area.

We talked to the village people about the lumber for our house, and it looks like the cost of the material will be about $5500. We are hoping that we will get the funds in for it by the middle of Nov. so that we can get it ordered when I meet with them in Waspam to finish the paperwork. If everything works out the way we are hoping we plan to move out to the village in Jan. Then from there we hope to go ahead and start on the children’s home and the security fence around it.

A few people from our church plan to come and help on our house, which we are looking forward to. There are quite a few others of you who said you want to come down and help when we need it, which will be when we start on the children’s home and the fence in Feb. We are so excited that things are moving forward with the project, and that we will get to see the ones who can come. Even though we don’t have the money to pay for it yet, we’re not worried about it, because we’re convinced the Lord will make sure it’s there when He needs it, like He has worked out all the rest of the details.

We have learned a head full of Miskito words and are now learning how to use them in sentences, which we have learned can cause a headache as well as learning words, but we are making headway. Our stuff is still stuck in customs, but God is in control of that too. Thank yall so much for your support in prayer and resources. If we wouldn’t have people who do what you do, we couldn’t do what we do. We praise God for all of you, and pray that He will reward you according to His promise. The photos below are of the land and of the river with a boat like the one we were on.  The Lee Family, written by Eli