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“HAVE A GO”
Inspecting the building site. God had worked many miracles to raise the cost of our fares, food and project materials to enable the team to get to Ecuador. We knew what our task was before leaving NZ but on inspecting the job it was a bit daunting. Being Kiwis we all put on a brave face. ‘WE CAN and WE WILL’ was our team cry. We didn’t know each other. We came from different churches, denominations and different parts of NZ but we all shared a love of God and were prepared to get out of our comfortable boat and ‘Have a Go’. It was a long way from our homes and families. The country, the hot humid climate, the food, the language, the heavy 50 kilogram bags of cement, the hand mixing, the flimsy scaffolding, the coarse sand, the different sized concrete blocks, the tools and the different building requirements were all so different for us. Collectively we had heaps of huge work experience, life, humour determination and faith. None of us were scared of hard work and the team cry rang out with gusto ‘We Can and We Will’ as we all pretended to be confident we could accomplish the building task. At night though, in utter exhaustion I cried to the Lord - ‘the task is too big and too hard - we won’t be able to complete it in the short time.’ I forgot we worship a God who does the impossible and the project was completed before we left. We had the special privilege to worship with the Church. We did not know the songs or their Spanish language. Their Pastor, through interpreter Mark Pavelka, made us feel so welcome. Psalm 133 was read - ‘How wonderful it is, how pleasant for God’s people to live together in harmony.’ It was marvellous - we were all together, living in harmony as God’s people, maybe not in heaven but certainly in the same street. We were fortunate to see the exciting, challenging guinea pig project. This is a well planned visionary business project to enable local Christian leaders to earn income and make it possible for them to spend more time doing God’s work in the communities. More capital is required. Come on New Zealand how about helping this very worthwhile project get started? It was also a great privilege to live and make friends with Owen and Avalon, Mark and Anne and their family. We were encouraged by their wonderful example of hard work and the love of God and His people. Our New Zealand churches could learn a lot from the progressive lay leadership training that they have initiated. The work party was hard work but very rewarding and encouraging in many different ways. I was challenged to look closely at how I spend my time ‘Doing Church’ or ‘Doing God’s Work’ and to remember ‘our missionaries’ more regularly. What a great job they are doing and how far they are from their homeland yet they have been brave enough to ‘HAVE A GO.’ Perhaps next work party it will be time you ‘Had a Go.’” Chris Whyte
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