Members of the Corinthian church (Christian community) understood that idols had no real existence, however, many were unable to put this knowledge into practice. Old links between idol food and idols were impossible to forget.   Weak believers are influenced by their past.  In 8:13, Paul writes, “Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause my brother to stumble.  What a Christ like attitude!  Paul teaches us that love never insists on its own private convictions if the exercise of those convictions damages a fellow believer.  Love always desires the best for those it loves, even if it means self denial.

 Iriciel ‘Cookie’ Gadson, Lay Leader

I’ve been praying this whole trip about not putting limits on God and how amazing his wonders truly are.  Today, I saw a miracle in action.  We were able to bless two families with some chairs, a dining set, and a mattress and box spring for their 2 room homes.  Each family had at least 3 to 4 children.  Until we arrived the homes were empty concrete structures.  Their faces lit up with pride and gratitude as the dining chairs were placed around the table where their family could now sit together.  My heart opened up and I could feel His magnificent presence in their homes on this mountain side.  He did not discriminate where to place His love.  He didn’t look for a fine suburban home filled with the best furnishings—He came to this 2-bedroom home an inhabited the hearts, minds, and soul of these families.  And I was blessed to breathe Him in and feel the miracle of His love and power.   I left feeling like I was leaving a friend’s home and hope to return very soon. I’ll post pictures soon—you have to see these families.  :)

The scripture for today’s devotion is referenced as a Hallelujah Psalm, which means “praise the Lord” in Hebrew.  Today we say Hallelujah because of God’s great works in us.  We say Hallelujah because of God’s grace and compassion for us.  We say hallelujah because God has shown His power to us.  We are called to praise God for “the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom”.  The accompaniment to this wisdom is praise for what God has done, is doing and will do.  Each day, God provides ‘Hallelujah Moments’.  Let us pause when a ‘Hallelujah Moment’ is upon us to offer praise for God’s enduring grace and provision.

Tiffany Flackes, Steward

Today was a great day.  I woke up around 6 am after getting about 10 hours of sleep.  I got dressed and headed over to the house and Veronique was already preparing breakfast for the group.  She made pancakes for us today.  I asked her if she could make a ze (egg) for me.  I finished breakfast and settled down to catch up on news as I waited for the rest of the group to come over for breakfast.

After breakfast, we headed down to the workshop/storage shed for a day of painting and roofing.  We spent the morning painting.  Mr. Bolden and I took a few breakfast from painting to help the guys with the roof supports as they were finally ready to work on them.  After we got everything prepared for the roof, we went back to help the ladies with the painting.  We had to wait for the painting to finish in order to put on the roof anyway.

At about 11:00 am we ran out of paint…..break time!!  Linda had Lucien go out and pick up some sugar cane for us.  Most of the group hadn’t tried sugar cane before.  Minister Tina really liked it and dug right in.  Linda also had one of the guys climb a coconut tree and get some coconuts for us to try.  They were dry, so there was no coconut water, but the coconut milk was just right.  We headed into to lunch to enjoy some of yesterday’s leftovers.

After lunch, Jimmy had returned with more paint.  We pent the afternoon finishing up.  It’s amazing how much the concrete absorbs the paint.  We had to put 3 or 4 coats of paint on to get a good look.  After painting we cleaned up and had dinner.

Tonight’s meal consisted of fish, banana bread, steamed plantain, rice & peas, and some other stuff I don’t recall because I don’t eat them.  After dinner, Minister Tina rounded everyone up to start our short 15 minute devotion a bit early.  About 60 minutes later we finished.  Tonight’s devotion was on 1 Corinthians 12:12-22.  Min. Tina asked us to think about how the scripture related to us and what we were doing here.  Min. Tina also had us think about our spiritual gifts and share them with the group.  My gift is service.  Min. Tina has us do one more thing.  She passed around sheets of paper with everyone’s name on them.  We were to write one or two sentences about the person on the sheet, fold it, then pass it along to someone else to write.

After devotion, I discovered I’d be able to watch the State of the Union on my iPad.  There seemed to be enough interest, so I connected it to the television so all could see.  Some of the group started a loud card game.  Realizing I was unable to hear the president’s speech, I disconnected my iPad and went to listen to it using my headphones.  Mrs. Hobson was watching and spoke up loudly when I disconnected it.  She let me use her Android tablet to watch if I reconnected my iPad.  This seemed reasonable, so I tried it out.  It worked for about 5 minutes, then the CNN app on her tablet kept crashing.  Of course the card players had gotten much louder by this time.  I was frustrated, but I figured, I could just replay it after it finished.  After they finished, I got my iPad and began to search for a replay.  60 minutes later I could find no replay, so I headed of to bed a little disappointed.  Maybe tomorrow would be better.