It’s been three weeks since we concluded the fall mission trip and as I’ve retold countless people about the latest experience and what we did I’ve coined a new word…..”Rewumbling”.
When we went out to Jose’s house one day to deliver a bed for him, we were at a point where we finished our work. Karen knows how much I enjoy playing with the siblings (10+ kids ages 4-12) and she knows how much they enjoy playing with me so she turned to the kids and told them, “OK, you can go play with the ‘big boy’ now”. As the kids and I went outside to wrestle, run or do something, I thought for a minute and then grabbed a long piece of rope we had to tie the bed onto the top of the car and wrapped it into a loop, doubled it over and tied it up….Presto! We had a “ball” made out of nylon rope!
I then instructed the kids to take sides and within 5 minutes, we were playing a version of football with the kids on my team running routes and trying to catch my pass – if it was “intercepted” we changed sides. It was such a neat (read “rewarding”) experience to realize this group of children and I could have a wonderful time without a playstation, fancy equipment or even a real ball.
A few days later, we were visiting with Pastor Mariela (Vida Abundante Church) about eventually buying a piece of property for the church. Keep in mind that her family typically lives wherever the church is. The first piece of property was outside of town….an empty lot of weeds, and when we asked “where would your family live?” she stated simply, “We’ll put up some stakes and a canvas….make a tent.”
We asked what else she had found and she showed us a property that included a one room cement structure with a dirt floor. As we tried to tell her we felt neither of these options was very good as the living quarters seemed inadequate she stopped us and said “You don’t understand….our family is here to serve our God…we don’t need much to survive.” I suddenly lost all desire to upgrade my cell phone or to buy a new laptop. Here was someone who was very clear about what was truly important to them and what they did (or didn’t need) to fulfill their purpose. You can certainly see where “rewarding“ and “humbling” both describe my experience. Hence, the word “Rewumbling”.
Larry Pedersen – 2010 Mission Co-host