Julia and Sergio

                                            Julia and Sergio

They’re a young couple at church.  After being here for a few weeks Julia started to stand out to me as someone of great promise and potential.  I also felt drawn to her, like she’s one of the particular people I can minister to individually.

On a typical Sunday there are about 100 people, most of which come to church with the help of Pastor Jaco driving in all directions to pick up people before and after the service.  But the past two Sundays when Jaco was out of town, and we had no means to transport people and as a result, less than 40 people came to church.  Sergio and Julia live over 18 kilometers away from the church, and are actually farther from the church than any one else who comes regularly.  However they made the effort to come.  They trusted God for the money needed to take public transport and they came.  Sergio and Julia also come to the Bible Study in Pambarra on Thursdays…often Sergio will translate from Portuguese to Xitsuwa. Clearly they are committed to coming to church and growing in their faith.

Another interesting thing about Julia and Sergio is that they don’t have a house, or really any shelter.  They sleep in the bush.  If it rains, they get wet.  Suddenly, being woken by rats in my caravan is a minor inconvenience.

Even as I think about them now, my heart is drawn to them.  I know God wants to do huge things with them.  I know that spending time with them is not and will not be in vain.  They are eager to learn.  I also know that I need to help them with a house. I don’t know anything about building a house. They don’t have property to build on or any money for a house. I wish I had the money just to lay down and give them a new house, but I don’t.  But that’s not necessarily a bad thing. If it was that easy, I wouldn’t learn anything or depend on God.

 I want to help them get a house, not just give them a house.  I want them to have ownership in the planning process…I want it to be the house they want…if they want a round windowless house made from canisu (reeds) which is most common here I want to help them achieve that goal.  I don’t want to do this for them.  But I want to help as much as I can while still giving them a sense of ownership and leadership in the project.  Right now its on my heart to match every penny they have for the house…but I feel like I need to do more.  Its tricky because they don’t have jobs nor do they have property that they could build on.

I feel like the Lord is telling me to build with them. Both in the physical and spiritual. How do I do that?