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Day 5 Blog
Joey Bruner
ETBU Freshman
Papua New Guinea
Thursday, May 11, 2017
Today was an amazing day! I woke up at 7:00 as I have been every morning to spend some time with the Lord, and dedicate our day and work to Him. Then we all enjoyed a great breakfast at 7:30. The women who prepare the meals are all amazing cooks, and their meals and food remind me of my moms home cooking. We then had a little bit of time to get ready for our day ahead which consisted of a morning at the Donna Holland school where we painted and led a time of sharing.
We were asked to lead the school's chapel time at 9:00 for 45 minutes. We weren't given any restrictions, we just had to come up with something to do for that time. So as a team we had decided the night before to spend the time giving testimonies. Jose Vega, Danilo Martins, and I chose to share our testimonies. I led off, with the help of Joel Botello as my translator. Danilo, who speaks Portuguese, went second and shared in Spanish, and did a great job. And Vega finished it off with his testimony and a life circle drawing. Coach Crawford then thanked the school for their love, and was followed by Matthew Argenbright who expressed the passion and love that we as a team have had and how much we have learned from them about happiness and contentment. It was great to see all the kids together and express to them our reason for being here and how God has used all of us and our passion for soccer to further His kingdom and make a lasting impact on the kids lives.
Shortly after the chapel time ended, we went straight into painting again. Our goal for the day was to use all seven buckets of paint on classrooms and the outside wall. We worked until about 12:30 and came back to the house for a great lunch which gave us the energy we needed to go back to painting at 2:30. When we returned, the kids were already out of school, so it was weird not seeing them there. But it made the work go by faster, and we finished by about 5:30, finishing six classrooms and the outside wall.
Today was a very tiring day, but God gave us the strength to do His work and do it with joy. We ended the night with another wonderful diner and a game of cards before we went into a time of Bible study led by seniors Matt Argenbright and David Jackson. They spoke about humility, God's presence, and serving with God not for God. This really spoke to me, because before I left, God convicted me about my intentions for the mission trip. I was more focused on what we were going to do on the trip and the fun we would have rather than serving with God and doing His will. God has shown up on this trip and given me opportunities to serve alongside Him. Please continue to pray for us that God will use and speak to us the rest of the week.
