On Sunday God gave us the perfect afternoon to be at the beach. After we attended church in the morning we were all ready to participate in worship and fellowship while enjoying the sounds of the waves and the cool ocean breeze. We spent time resting and getting to know each other better but the best part was that during worship we were able to spend time praising God under a tapestry of stars we know he created on by one….just like he created us to be a group of individuals serving him during Valley Summer Project.
After our fellowship we realized that this week of work caused us to look to ourselves and our own missionary responsibilities more closely. Sometimes accountability dosen’t come from living according to what others on earth judge to be true but what you know God holds to be true in your life. God is wise in his ways and he has truly blessed us with such a diverse group of people particpiating in VSP. This week we realized just how God uses the “weak to build the strong” and presents us with challenges when working with a group of missionaries that are on different spiritual levels. In the end, it was our passion to do God’s work that made us realize that it is not for us to decide when God’s plans are carried out…as long as we keep our eyes set on him and what he calls us to do in our personal relationship with him…he will be faithful in providing the character to get our work done.
The past couple of days we’ve been spending a lot of time helping the youth at Iglesia Bautista Casa de Oracion. It was evident when we arrived that this group of young individuals were more than just students doing what they were told by their youth director….they were truly passionate about evangelism to their peers. Keeping Timothy 4:12 in mind, we observed that this youth group made it impossible for anyone to “look down” on them because of their ability to put aside their fears and reservations in order to do God’s will in their community. Through our interaction with them we rediscovered the need for missionary work to be directed towards the teenagers and young adults because they are our future of God’s kingdom.
In the afternoon we have been helping with VBS at Iglesia Bautista Trinity in Brownsville. The hospitality of the church and their desire to provide vacation bible school for their children made us feel welcomed. The first day we started with 4 children by the end of VBS we had nearly 20 children! God truly kept us motivated as children who came in jumped right into the activity and kids of different age groups worked well together in completing each activity. Although we didn’t have as many children as we are used to, God showed us that we are making an impact no matter how small it may seem…it’s all for his kingdom.
Sarah L. Quintanilla
