For several years, I had the privilege of training the mission trip leaders for Come Build Hope. I believed then, you could divide the CBH builders into two groups: those who believed it's all about getting a house built in two and a half days and those who believed it's all about relationships. I was all about the relationships. "This is a mission trip," I would say in training. "Take time to pray. Take time to talk with your team members. Take time to build relationships with the Mexican family." But inside me was a part that did not like to fall behind on the build, that squirmed in the bleachers when other build teams shared their daily progress at the evening campfires. I guess you could say God hit me with a hammer on one particular trip to wake me up to what Come Build Hope is really about.

Saturday, I step off the bus onto the dusty road at our build site pumped and ready to build relationships! I always encouraged the mission trip leaders to include the Mexican family in the prayers, lunchtime devotionals, and building process. But as I look around our site, only one family member is present-a teenage boy who slouches in our midst. I gather our team, including the boy and the local kids who seem to appear out of nowhere,
and pray.

As the day wears on, our progress is slow. The teenage boy disappears and the rest of the family is not around. They're at work as many of the families are during the build.

Sunday is much the same. All sorts of obstacles prevent the house from coming together. I can see a corner of another build site from our concrete pad, and I watch as the roof of that house juts into view. I walk up the rutted road to check out other build sites, following the sounds of hammering and sawing.

"Lord," I pray, "you know I'm here to build relationships, but why isn't our house getting built at the same rate as these others? Please bless our time together, and the Mexican family. Amen."

Late afternoon shadows spread over our site, and we race to get more done. Our Mexican family arrives with two steaming pots of tamales and two jumbo-sized bottles of soda, so cold they perspire in the heat. The family will be at work when we dedicate the house at noon tomorrow. They want to thank us now for the house. I look at the bulk of the chicken wire still in neat rolls, the unopened bags of stucco mix, the scattered nails and lumber-not even the roof is completed. How can they thank us for this? I don't want to stop working. Any thought of relationship building has become like the dust on my work boots-hardly worth noting.

Monday, our team foreman asks for help at the morning build meeting. Most build teams are ready to apply a second coat of stucco, hand the house keys to the Mexican families and head home tired, but happy. Maybe we can at least get the roof done, I think glumly.

But we aren't at our site long before the first helpers come. Soon, our site swarms with builders. The roof? Finished. Chicken wire? Wrapped. Stucco? First coat applied. Even the teenage boy joins in.

Come Build Hope is about building houses and relationships. But mostly it's about God on the move in unexpected ways. I can't wait to see what he will do at Come Build Hope this year!

"We continue to shout our praise even when we're hemmed in with troubles, because we know how troubles can develop passionate patience in us, and how that patience in turn forges the tempered steel of virtue, keeping us alert for whatever God will do next. In alert expectancy such as this, we're never left feeling shortchanged. Quite the contrary-we can't round up enough containers to hold everything God generously pours into our lives through the Holy Spirit!" Romans 5: 3-5 The Message

By Janice Coy

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The phone call came on the day before Easter last year. Cory Trenda, our faithful World Vision liaison, had news that hit me like a hand grenade. "I just got word from our World Vision people in Ethiopia. Yesterday, on Good Friday, a mob attacked our World Vision compound. They beat up several of our workers and ransacked the place. Then the mob went to the Mekane Yesus offices and tore them up. Fortunately none of our MYC friends were there. We don't know any more. We have to pray."

I hung up the phone and sat in paralyzed shock. Our 2011 team had just returned from a wonderful week in the desert. As always, we were welcomed by the desert people with open arms and much gratitude for all the progress that has been made in education, water, farming, health. I couldn't suppress the fear: "Oh no, have they turned on us? Did our team do something wrong? Is our ministry over? Have all our efforts been for nothing??" I forced myself to turn it all over to the One who called us to the desert. We waited and prayed and held on to the Easter hope that out of this disaster would rise up a witness for Jesus.

Before the week was out, we had emails from our beloved Mekane Yesus and World Vision friends in the desert. They encouraged us: "We must not lose heart. We have experienced persecution before. We believe God will use it for good, to strengthen our work." And that's exactly what has happened. The desert leaders met with WV and MYC workers and told them: "This attack is not just against you. It is against all our people. We will catch the criminals and hold them accountable. And we will repair the damage. Please continue your work with us."

The World Vision brothers who were injured are healed and back serving the desert people. What a witness to the overcoming love of Jesus! As on the first Good Friday, the evil on last year's Good Friday was eventually turned into good. As we lay down our lives and lift Jesus up, the people of the desert are slowly being drawn to Him. One Muslim leader even told us: "If the desert people want to follow Jesus, that is OK with me. Jesus has done much good to them."

*This article is from the 2012 Lenten Guide. To receive daily readings electronically.

The idea is to train some who can train others: teach some who can teach others. This is the plan that is working out among desert farmers. Some have wondered if desert nomads, properly called "pastoralists," will ever give up their age-old ways of wandering the vast desert (the size of Idaho) looking for water. But they have repeatedly told us, "We don't want to follow the tails of our cattle anymore. We want dependable food for our children."

Responding to this dream, World Vision agricultural experts live among the desert people, teaching them how to dig canals from the river that will irrigate their land. Then World Vision has started a demonstration farm with all kinds of vegetables and fruit, from tomatoes and onions to bananas and mangos. They train men and women how to plant, care for and harvest, and how to take their extra produce to market.

One day our team was driven way out into the desert, along bumpy roads, when we came to fields of green. We stopped and walked through the fields to a traditional desert house of mats over sticks. Our World Vision agricultural trainer called out and a young man with several cute little kids emerged from the house. He was wearing a medal around his neck. Turns out he was one of two farmers who received from the president of their country that year's Model Farmer award (only six are given out by the president each year, and the desert people won two of them!).

D smiled as he told us, "I'm so happy for my World Vision friend who has taught me how to raise many crops that are good for my children. I sell the extra at market and can put my children in school." Then he told us something that put a big smile on our faces. "I have relatives from miles away who have heard about my farm. They have come to see it. I give them seedlings and tell them what I've learned. Now they are farming in their villages." D is a model farmer not only because he is creating a new life for his family, but because he is creating a new life for his people. A learner has become a teacher. That's the best way to multiply our efforts in the desert.

*This article is from the 2012 Lenten Guide. To receive daily readings electronically, sign up on our website, or you can pick up a printed copy of the 2012 Lenten Guide at the info table on the patio after the service.

The Good News of Jesus has a way of turning tragedy into triumph. As the Psalm writer puts it, "Weeping may remain for the night, but joy comes in the morning." This came true this past year for a mother from San Diego and for many mothers in the desert.

For thousands of years, the desert people have roamed the brutal desert in Ethiopia to find water for their families and animals. But there is abundant water...underground! World Vision works with the desert people to draw that water up, so women won't have to walk for hours to get unhealthy water from dirty springs. In previous Lenten Guides, we've told stories about how World Vision wells have changed many lives.

One tiny family in San Diego read these stories and filled their Love Loaves each Lent. Sandy and her only child, Clay, were especially touched by the water stories. Several years ago, Clay, a young adult, died in his sleep. It was a heart breaking tragedy. His mom grieved, and through her tears she had a vision. "Could I raise enough money to fund several wells so that desert children could live healthy lives? Clay was so full of love and life. Maybe I could honor him by giving life to these kids." Sandy shared her vision with family and friends. She was amazed by the overwhelming results. Enough was raised for THREE wells!

Then Sandy had another vision, "Could I go with the 2011 mission team and see the wells myself?" With some trepidation, she signed up. One day on the trip, our team was driven out into the desert. We stopped, and there it was, well #1. A leader told us that it serves 300 families. Mothers were drawing crystal clean water into plastic jugs. We told them Sandy's story, and they dropped their jugs and gathered around her. They understood Sandy's loss. They have all lost children because of diseases that come from dirty water. To see the tears streaming down the cheeks of one American mom as she was hugged by the other moms...it was a truly magical moment. Sandy's tragedy has, by the love of Jesus, turned into great gain for hundreds of mothers and children in the desert of Ethiopia. The conquering love of Easter is at work, turning tears into joy.

*This article is from the 2012 Lenten Guide. To receive daily readings electronically, sign up on our website, or you can pick up a printed copy of the 2012 Lenten Guide at the info table on the patio after the service.

We Americans stood beside a school that was almost finished. A little ways away was the school currently used by about 40 children. It was out under a tree. The "room" was split in half. Younger children faced one direction looking at an old chalk board. Older kids, with the backs to the younger ones, faced the other direction looking at another old chalkboard. With cattle, goats, sheep and camels roaming past, the two teachers somehow tried to keep the kids focused on their lessons. On the chalk board there was a language lesson. They were learning to read their own language, their own national language, Amharic, and English. Three languages at once. These kids are bright!

As we stood by the new school, a man walked up to us. His name was Mohammed, the most popular first name in the world! Through our interpreter, he told us that his son went to the school. And so did he! The father sat with his son by day and then met with adults by night and taught them what he had learned that day.

When we began visiting them in 1999, these people called themselves "backward." They told us they were forgotten by their own government, and that's why they had no real schools. "We want to educate our children," Mohammed confided in us, "We believe that a village without a school is like a room without a window." This hope-filled father couldn't wait for the new school to be finished.

The next year our team drove up to the school and were greeted by a big crowd of kids and adults holding signs and shouting "Thank you, thank you." We felt like rock stars. Our gifts have constructed five schools that educate 1700 girls and boys. One mother told us, "Education is like light in darkness." We know that God has a bright future for the once forgotten people of the desert as their children (and adults!) get a good education.

Lift Him Up-Girls In School

Sunday, March 4

X stood up in her class. She looked downward. Maybe she was shy or embarrassed. It's unusual for a Muslim woman to speak out when men are present, and especially when the men are foreigners, Americans! Our team from the USA spent two mornings interacting with students in the classrooms that our gifts had recently built. We were practicing English with them. All desert kids are learning English in their schools, and they are eager to practice with people who grew up speaking English. And their parents want their girls educated!

The question the class was responding to was simple; what do you want to be when you grow up? Boys' hands went up instantly. We called on a few of them, and they stood up tall and proud and told us, "I want to be a pilot," or "I want to be a doctor." One even declared, "I want to be president of our country!" We really wanted to know what the girls would say, so we asked for only girls to respond. X slowly stood up. In a soft voice she announced, "I want to be a teacher." Bravely, several other girls revealed their dreams.

Later we learned that X was one of the girls who is in school because of the Keep A Girl In School program that is funded by our gifts. Girls from very poor families are often pulled out of school so they can work and support their families. The Mekane Yesus Church, one of our two amazing partners working among the Afar, devised a plan to keep those girls in school. For $150 a year, they provide the girls school uniforms and supplies and provide their parents the money the girls would have earned. Fifty girls have been in this program for five years. Only five have dropped out. That is a 90% retention rate. Amazing!

There are 200 girls on the waiting list. Our 2012 team and other friends of the desert are contacting friends and family all over the country, asking them for gifts of $150 to keep a girl in school. The experts tell us that when you educate a girl, you change the world! We are full of hope for these girls and their people.

*This article is from the 2012 Lenten Guide. Learn how you can receive the Lenten Guide electronically.

Lift Him Up-Signs and T-Shirts

Sunday, February 26, 2012

The knock on the door did not sound very friendly. Z got up from the desk in his small office and opened the door. There in front of him were two men who looked mad. Z smiled and welcomed them in.

Z had lived in the desert for 12 years, working for the government. When World Vision and the Mekane Yesus Church began our work with his people in 2002, Z, who was a Spirit-filled follower of Jesus, was asked to head up the Mekane Yesus Church work in education and health. He spent many hours with leaders from his community, including these men, to determine what the first steps would be in bringing new hope to the desert. A five year plan was put in place. Three MYC workers joined Z to form a team. They rented a small office on the main street leading through the desert capital city. They had just put up a sign that faced the road. It read: "Desert Development Project, Mekane Yesus Church." Mekane Yesus means "House of Jesus."

The two visitors quickly got down to their business: "You must take down that sign. It says "Jesus," and the desert people are Muslim. Jesus does not belong here." Not wanting to sink the ministry over a simple sign, Z agreed. The men were satisfied.

Over the next four years, Z and his team worked hard to turn the gifts we gave them into new schools and health clinics. The desert people came to trust and love their MYC friends. At the dedication of the first school in 2005, there was a big celebration, with traditional dancing, lots of speeches, and even a ribbon cutting. Z had a clever idea. He ordered several hundred T-shirts for the celebration and printed on the front of each shirt: "Desert Development Project, Mekane Yesus Church." Everyone wanted to wear one. Even the local religious leaders, who had ordered the sign to come down several years prior, proudly put on a celebration T-shirt.

Z smiled in his heart and thought: "The desert people are now wearing Jesus on their T-shirts. May they soon invite him into their hearts." This has been our prayer all along.

*This article is from the 2012 Lenten Guide. Receive daily readings electronically.