My bag boots got ruined in the end.

So the music ministry at the church here in El Recreo has a Monday night Bible study each week and we have been studying the book of James for the last couple months. It's going great. Not only are we getting a lot out of hanging out together for a couple hours a week outside of church services and band practices, we're also getting a lot out of studying James. It is really rewarding to see the good work that God is doing with this group of musicians. James is all about taking our faith and putting it into practice. He is all about the practical…not just professing faith but showing it. And the message is sinking in which is so awesome to see. Last week we finished up chapter one. James says, "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." We read it and I asked if they know any orphans or widows. And we talked about that passage for a while and what James means by it and what it means for us. And all of a sudden José’s face lights up, and his hand shoots up in the air and he says, “Magdalena is a widow!! And she needs someone to build her bridge!”

Magdalena's husband Byron died a few years ago of a heart attack and she was forced to leave her home with her children because she could no longer afford it without her husband's income. She had to find a piece of land outside of town in the marsh area called "La Invasión". She and her children live in a house made of bamboo, up on stilts because when the heavy rains come during the winter months, La Invasión is under 3 feet of water. During these months, bridges are a necessity. If you don't have a bridge that connects your house to the other bridges which lead out to the main road in the city, then you're stuck in your house for the duration of the winter...unless you have a boat. Magdalena's bridge, like everyone's, gets damaged every year during the summer, and she has to rebuild for the winter. When the first rain comes and softens the ground, everyone starts repairing old bridges and building new ones, and hopefully they finish before the next rain.

We all went to her house last Wednesday morning and dug holes for posts, cut beams for the bridge, and began putting it all together. It was fun to see the guys in the band working--serving--in a different way than what we are used to doing (leading worship during church services). And it was a blessing to see that not only Magdalena was being blessed, the band received blessing as well. And, on a who's-laughing-now note, everybody here makes fun of me for saving plastic grocery bags after I go shopping. But, they came in pretty handy after all. So...I think I've earned the Eagle Militia plastic-bag-work-boots badge for my thriftiness and quick thinking in the face of mud.

Anyway, we didn't get the bridge done, but we got about half of it done, and someone else went to finish her bridge on Sunday, so now her bridge connects to the bridge in front of her neighbor's house. But the thing is, all the neighbors' bridges connect to each other on the way into town. In other words, they all depend on each other when it comes to these bridges. If somebody doesn't get theirs build, then everyone beyond them can't get into town when it's flooded. And Magdalena lives about half a mile off the main road and there are a lot of bridges that need to be build between her and the main road. So now she's just waiting on the rest of her neighbors to build their bridges so she can have a way to get into town when it rains.

I am excited to see what other kinds of ideas we will have as we continue this study. I'm excited to be a part of what God is doing with the band here, and most of all, I am excited that we've moved the Bible study on Monday nights to my house instead of at the church because I can not handle the crickets anymore. They are monstrous and crawly and yucky and jumpy and there are thousands of them and they jump and fly and scurry all over the place and I do not like them. And by the grace of the Lord, they don't come in my apartment. I think He knew I wouldn't be able to handle it if they did. So we meet in my apartment now.

Please keep me in your prayers as I continue working with the music ministry at the church in El Recreo--that I might make a positive impact on this group of musicians. And pray for my health...it's been not that great, and I don't want it to get worse with the rainy season. Thank you for your support and encouragement!!