THOUGHT FOR TODAY: I have noticed a couple of times lately when dealing with financial matters and I don't have exact information, I tend to estimate in my own favor. In a sense, I am making a little compromise in order to get what God would freely give. Sometimes we give up so much to gain so little.
Yesterday I asked Chicho from Seis de Mayo to cut my hair. He hasn't had much experience, but I wanted to give him the business. I got a little nervous when I saw all the hair hitting the floor; but it turned out to be a good haircut. Before he left, I talked to him about the possibility of getting a small loan to start a barbershop in his house. I have seen him hanging out in some very bad places lately... I don't know if I have mentioned it before, but our employees here at the mission center have established a little "credit union" and he could probably get a loan there.... Yesterday Mauricio, the general manager of the Landau factory, invited us to lunch at his home and to meet his family. We had a really nice time. He told us Landau is donating another 21 industrial sewing machines; that makes a total of 32. They are also adopting Gathering Hearts as their community service project.... We also went to the private school yesterday and got a very positive report on the 10 scholarship recipients. We are storing the roofing there at the school for the family on the mountain; we will have it carried up next week. We will also take Dr. Thurman's chainsaw to cut some trees for posts to reinforce the roof.... Today we are having an employee luncheon to bring them up-to-date on upcoming events.
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: I have noticed a couple of times lately when dealing with financial matters and I don't have exact information, I tend to estimate in my own favor. In a sense, I am making a little compromise in order to get what God would freely give. Sometimes we give up so much to gain so little. Mauricio and his team of direct reports came out Saturday morning, including the heads of human resources and accounting; managers of quality control, production; and setup and maintenance of all machinery. There were two others, but I don't remember what they do. The Landau Company encourages its employees to get involved in community service and in the past they have helped organizations like Habitat for Humanity. However, Mauricio said they are planning to now adopt the Gathering Hearts Production Center as their project. Actually, each of these people also has their own team, so we could have 10 different work teams involved in this project. It was all very encouraging… Saturday afternoon Beto and I took Carlitos, Perla, and Esmeralda to Puerto Cortes to buy things for school. I asked Carlitos if classes had begun; he said Perla had started but he had not because he didn't have any shoes. So, we bought three pair of shoes and three long lists of school supplies….We stayed at the Harrison’s after the Super Bowl yesterday, and spent today in San Pedro taking care of business that had accumulated while we were gone; and bringing in groceries and supplies for the team arriving 2/17. THOUGHT FOR TODAY: We never have to wait for the right moment to ask forgiveness; it’s always the right moment.
2/3/2011 Cheryl and I arrived in San Pedro last night. We flew standby, but made every one of our three connections and so were able to make the trip in a single day. It was after dark when we arrived so we stayed in the hotel and came on home this morning… Mauricio will be out in the morning; he's bringing 10 people from the factory with him, including their head accountant. Their objective is to survey our facility and come up with a specific plan and dates to be ready for production… I met with Nicholas this afternoon and he told me that most of the needy children from the villages who received scholarships to the private school are now outfitted with uniforms and have their books. The only thing left are notebooks and shoes for Carlitos, Perla, and Esmeralda, the youngest of Lourdes’s kids, who is beginning the program this year. Beto and I will take them to Puerto Cortes tomorrow afternoon to buy those… Nicholas starts his pastoral training program this weekend so Beto will drive us into church on Sunday. Please pray. After church there is a Super Bowl party at the Harrison's. We will spend the night with them. THOUGHT FOR TODAY: Earlier this week I was experiencing a new vitality, optimism, and increased sense of the Lord's presence. I was thinking maybe without even knowing it I had entered a new dispensation; or achieved a new level of spirituality; or that I had finally pushed the right button and that's how it's going to be from now on. Fortunately or unfortunately, that wasn't true at all. I just hadn't made the connection; we had ended a time of fasting only a couple days before. I'm the same person I've always been. I'm redeemed, but destined to fall again if I don't continue to pray, study the Bible, memorize verses, and have periodic times of fasting
I missed a day. I got water on my computer and had to let it dry out. Yesterday was payday and Nicholas called to see if he could cash the check. Thank God I could tell him yes, there is enough in the bank to cover it… We got a message from Mauricio on Sunday confirming February 4 as the date he will bring out his team from the factory. He said, "The plan is to clean up and develop a plan with the volunteers and set milestones with dates."
THOUGHT FOR TODAY: When we say all things work together for good, maybe we should go on to explain that the statement makes sense when we look at the bigger picture. All things are not necessarily good until we put them in context of everything else. All things really “are good” when they are “working together”. I once heard Dr. Robert Voight liken it to baking a cake. He said that each ingredient may not taste good by itself; but when they are all combined, out comes a cake, and that is very good. |