As Promised....

Since Evan's doing such a great job of posting the daily happenings, I figured I'd post a few pictures & some of my thoughts as a long-term missionary in this location (well, at least for the next 6 weeks).

At the Skate Park: One of the greatest aspects of the Concrete Jungle Skate Park & music cafe is that everything you see exists because of short term teams that have partnered with us in ministry. We've had some professional construction teams that helped with big projects like framing the roof, and we've had less professional construction teams that have helped paint, sand or varnish the cafe. I LOVE the fact that the Ocean Hills team is serving & working hard, leading us closer to our goal of completion of the cafe & skate park. One of the best things about the construction work is that I can name more than 2o people who have come to know Christ or made the decision to follow Him specifically because the skate park & music cafe exist. Our team is working to build, literally, God's kingdom!

Here's a few pics from the Alternative Missions property:

At the Colegio: Ocean Hills is actually our last mission team this summer & is helping us end with a bang as far as the local "Colegio" (or high school, in English) is concerned. All the painting & repairs the team is doing is great follow up work for outreaches we've done in the high school earlier this summer. For me, one of the best things about this week is the encouragement we're offering to the colegio teachers & for the Directora in particular and the opportunities this gives us to share the Truth of God. In fact, we have been invited to come & use the Word of God to take part in the group counseling sessions held weekly for each class. Please pray that God would give us wisdom as we pursue the local students & teachers. Isn't great news how projects that seem petty to us can actually be used as a great tool in the hands of the One who pursues mankind in love?

Here are some pictures from the work at the Colegio:

We've had a great week together so far & I look forward to what the rest of the time holds. I have genuinely enjoyed getting to know the students and leaders and am thankful that they're here!

Please continue to pray for the OHC team that God would give them boldness and cultural sensitivity in pursuing the local youth in friendship. Pray that they would use their testimonies as an encouragement to the local youth and that the local youth would do likewise. Since the youth retreat, many of them have been growing like crazy in their faith! So, praise God & let's be praying for more growth in both the OHC team as well as the local youth.

Joyfully Serving,

TJ Gause