brickyard lessons

These past three weeks at the brickyard have been such a joy. The time we spend out there is amazing. The people are so hungry for the Word and are soaking up new truths like sponges. Each day is simply exhausting, but so worth it. Children are hiding the Word in their hearts. Women are learning how to walk with Jesus. Men are learning how to lead their families.

Everyone knows it isn't manly to smile in pictures.

I am so grateful for the time I had at the brickyard this summer. With each week came a different theme, and as I have prepared to teach, the Lord has showed me how I, too, need to remember the basics. Do I really believe that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient? Do I really believe that God is sovereign and in control? Do I truly believe that I do not have to do anything to earn my salvation, but instead just have to trust that Jesus went to the cross for my sins and rose again three days later?

A typical day of class

The Tarahumara and mestizo people with whom we have been working live simple lives. They have rich traditions and beliefs. Many of the girls are married with a child at fourteen or fifteen years old. Little children run around barefoot on ground littered by nails, scraps of wood, and trash. The men labor all day making bricks that they sell for almost nothing. Their means of life are primitive compared to ours; they have no running water or electricity. Instead of a toilet, they use an outhouse. Forget Maytag or Whirlpool, little children scrub clothes with a rock in a bucket of water.

Two volunteers from a team with two of our faithful women.

The government allows the people to live and work at the brickyard, and each family is somewhat like an independent contractor, selling bricks to whoever they can whenever they can. However, with the growth of the city, there are neighborhoods encroaching on the brickyard. These neighborhoods will continue to grow as Chihuahua grows, which means that the brickyard might be moved. If or when the government moves the brickyard, it may be moved as far as 40 kilometers away, meaning that the current ministry there may cease to exist.

A stack of bricks is proof of backbreaking work.

And yet God is doing something miraculous in the hearts and minds of these people. They are learning about what God did for us and how that truth can truly change a life. Please pray for these dear people--that their hearts would continue to soak up truth, and that they would be able to see God work in mighty ways.