'Tis but a flesh wound
Well, life has been keeping me busy. I've been working daily on the church building project I'm leading out in Colombia. We are in the process of buying materials and preparing the land now. One of the guys that's helping me lead it, is down there right now getting things ready. Jesus (a translator from many mission trips to Mexico, who will be leading out in the construction side) is going to be meeting me at the airport in Colombia. The team is coming together. I've been working on making the daily schedule and planning small stuff like worships, as well as finalizing materials, and buying tools to take down with me. It's all coming together! Just last night it really hit me that I'm actually leading a mission trip! Who would have guessed?! It's still crazy to me. We are praying daily that God will open and close doors and that we won't get in the way of His plan for this community. With all the planning, it might seem like we have it all under control, but we are really just moving forward in faith. God has led us to this project, and has taken care of everything so far, so there is no doubt in my mind this is His will. But! We could use your help. We have come up with a little over $4500 of the $6500 that we need to buy materials and tools to build this church. That price does not include our travels, which are already taken care of, thank God. Any donations help! Whatever God is putting on your heart to give will be such a blessing for the people of Las Palmitas who are in need of a place to worship God. Any donations can be sent to my PayPal, jbenson8794@gmail.com with the subject or name of "Colombia Church Project". If you do not have PayPal feel free to message me on facebook, email me, or call/text me. My contact information is on the home page of this website. Thank you for your open hearts.
In other news, I've made it back to the states and was able to help some church members out with construction for a few weeks raising money for both the Colombia project and for some flying hours. Working in construction with Dan Carlson was a blast and I was able to learn a lot because almost every day was a different job. My Aunt and Uncle also offered my brother and me a job splitting wood for them. This turns into an awesome story. I got to their house on a Friday and Daniel and I started working on the wood. There were a few branches that still needed to be cut down to size, so I was running the chainsaw. I don't really know what happened, or how, but my pant got caught in the chain and it ended up sucking the chainsaw into my leg. Thankfully it was an electric chainsaw so it stopped immediately after I dropped the trigger. I didn't even realize I cut myself, but because my pants were so shredded I decided to just take a look. There were two scratches above my work socks and my thought was, "Wow! I'm pretty lucky it didn't get my leg." Then I saw a hole in my sock and decided to investigate. Sure enough, as I pulled my sock away from my leg, I was wrong. I had four big gashes in the lower inside of my leg, near my ankle. Still, I wasn't feeling any pain so I calmly walked up to the house with Daniel (who wasn't so calm). I talked him into just giving me some gauze and I taped it up really tight. I figured, as long as there is money on the table, I'm going to work. So, without pain I finished the work day. After cleaning up, and showering, we decided to take a look at it. After getting in contact with some friends that are doctors, I finally was talked into going to Urgent Care to get stitches. It was actually cool when I walked in to Urgent Care because they asked, "What are you here for today?" and I got to respond, "I chainsawed my leg." The response I got was almost worth going on its own! Anyways, we went in and the doctor stabbed me in the cuts numerous times to give me numbing shots. He then cleaned the wound thoroughly and told me I waited to long and he wouldn't give me stitches (it had been 12 hours). He said I was lucky the chainsaw barely missed all the muscles and tendons. He gave me some medicine and bandages and that was that! I asked/informed him about working on Sunday and he said that as long as I kept the cuts clean and from bleeding I could work. What a blessing because the following week was my last week and I really needed the money. The whole situation was pretty much God taking care of me though. If it would have been a gas chainsaw I probably would have had to have surgery or something. God even made it so it didn't hurt and I was able to finish work. And I now I get some sweet scars for almost nothing! I think I'll put up a photo so y'all can see. I'm really just thankful though, for safety, for all the work that I was able to find, for how this mission trip is coming together, for the donations and support we have received, and for everything. God is pretty awesome!
This Sunday I will be heading down to Chattanooga to spend time with my sister and some friends before I head out to Colombia July 1. I'll be in Colombia till July 22, when I fly out to Panama. The 22nd to the 27th I'll be catching a bus and traveling through all of Central America on my way back to Belize. Please pray for safe travels if you guys wouldn't mind. It's definitely going to be an experience!
Also July 3-6 is foundation, July 9-13 is walls, and July 16-19 is roofing for the Colombia church. We probably will move quicker than the schedule, but if y'all could pray specifically for each stage as its happening, and for safety, it would be greatly appreciated! Thanks for your support and interest in seeing how God is leading in my life, you have no clue how much it means! Till next time.