Saturday, April 27, I spent all day in Puerto Lopez, a river port village about an hour’s drive from Villavicencio. The town is famous for the fresh fish that are caught in the river and for the cargo barges that haul cattle up river the the markets of Bogotá and the center of the country and the construction materials and supplies they haul down the river on their trip back. But I did not go to the port for any of these reasons. I was there because the church in Villavo had organized a work crew to help the new church there as they try to get a building constructed in which to meet.
Some years ago, we had a work crew here to help the Villavo church get their building started. They observed and helped as the Americans as the work progressed. The goal had been to get the new building up to the second story and the slab poured. But we had difficulties and were not able to get the slab poured. But the work crew left all of the materials and a great example of service and sacrifice. The local church met and decided that they could do what they had seen the American work crew do. They organized their own work crew and within a couple of weeks they set to work. For three solid days they mixed concrete, hauled it by hand in buckets, and they poured the slab. Work went on around the clock as the men took turns working and sleeping. The women of the church made sure there was plenty of good food and lemonade. They poured the slab and today that is the second story of our church/school building.
The lessons they learned from that time have contributed to the sense of communion, hard work, and service. So when the new church was planted in Puerto Lopez a couple years ago, it was the church here that took the lead. They also helped buy the lot for the new church. Now, as the church lost their lease where they were meeting, the move was made to start building, even there there were no funds on hand. But with great sacrifice and commitment, they set to work. When it came time to pour the floor, there was no money on hand, but there were many willing hearts and strong backs. The church in Villavo organized another work crew and so on Friday we all went down to mix some sixty yards of concrete and pour the floor. We prayed for a sunny day as they church did not have the money to finish the roof and a rain would have made work impossible or damaged the freshly poured floor. God is good and granted us that request.
We began at the crack of dawn and mixed concrete and set the levels. Once that was done, conduit was installed and we began to mix concrete and pour the floor. It was slow work and back-breaking labor, but with great commitment and good humor the work progresses amidst good natured ribbing and faux complaints of modern day slavery and worker abuse. It was slow going as we were mixing the concrete by hand. By noon we were about one third finished. We took turns breaking for lunch as others kept mixing and pouring. After lunch the entire group was again hard at work. We wondered if we would get done before we lost the light of day. But with renewed effort and determination we plugged away until we finished pouring the floor just before we lost daylight.
It was a day of very hard work and everyone was exhausted. But everyone was equally thrilled by what we had managed to accomplish. It was a day of great sacrifice as everyone work very hard. But it was also a day of great blessing. Now we must continue to work to see if we can finish the roof. If you would like to be a part of this exciting project, we still lack about $2,000 to finish purchasing the roof structure and zinc roofing to cover the building. As the Colombians were blessed by their sacrifice and hard work in this new church plant, you too can share in those blessing by being a part of this exciting work. Send you love overing designated for the Puerto Lopez roof project and you will be a blessing to the work here as God blesses you in so doing.
Work Crew in Puerto Lopez