Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Pictures from Tuesday






















































































































































June 13, 2008

Friday

 

We started our last full day in Honduras by filling clothing bags to distribute among the people of Honduras who are in the most need.  Then we hopped on the bus and rode to Hogar Bencaleth, the special needs children’s home. We sat among children with various needs, laughing with some, coloring and blowing bubbles with some, and just holding or sitting alongside others.  These are the places where it seems the easiest for our team to “let go and let God.” We simply go and let God work through these bodies. 

From there, we went to the dump.  Earlier this week we had only taken part of the group, but this time we took the whole bus. The front of the bus was loaded with the clothing bags and the back of the bus was loaded with about 250 food bags.  So we stationed a few big guys at the front door of the bus and few big guys at the back door of the bus while some of the other guys and gals in the middle passed bags and prayed. The 1200 people who live in the filth of the dump have been blessed by a local church and so they are somewhat used to people coming into where they live to help them. They form 3 lines; 1 of women, 1 of children, and 1 of men. They wait fairly patiently and the women and children are always served first.  On Monday when we were there, they had asked us for water and so we took water as well. It was heart-wrenching for all of our team and especially, those who had not yet been there.  There was so much to take in. It was overwhelming and again we find ourselves wondering where God is in this mess.  There were lots of tears and lots of people amazed at how terrible it smelled. And so we prayed before we got there, and prayed while we were there… and we’ll continue to pray for people who have nowhere else to go and find themselves digging through disgusting piles of trash, surrounded by flies and vultures.  And so for today, we are thankful to be the hands and feet of Jesus to people who so desperately need someone to look at them as a person and not as a problem.  And I do not know how many times it took for people to look the other way before 1200 people ended up living in such a vile and horrific place.

 God, May we never turn our heads from the people who need You most. May You open our eyes to see needs that You’ve prepared us to meet. Please, protect us from the “comfort” of home and keep us willing to serve . Let our lives reflect Jesus- His love, compassion, kindness, and service. May our lives be all about bringing the hope of Your Son to the lost and dying.  It is through the powerful name of Jesus that we pray.

We sang all the way to the dump, but it was pretty quiet as we left. We then drove to Didasko, a Children’s Hone of about 23 children that is run by Jorge and Rosa. They are the only 2 people caring for these children. They have 1 gal to cook Monday thru Friday and one to clean and then a groundskeeper. That’s it.  And they just found out that Rosa has a tumor in her brain. It is benign, but it has begun to affect the feeling in her face and also her walking. They gave up everything to be parents to these children and they love them as God loves his own children. Beautiful. And so he requested prayers from our team.  Please join us as we pray for them.  They have options and my favorite option is the one he mentioned first and that is a miracle from God. So let us pray for that. And if God would have it another way, please let it come clearly and quickly.

 

Then we were off to the Valley of the Angels, to shop for some souvenirs and boost the Honduran economyJ After an hour of that, we went just up the street to eat dinner at “Las Tejas.” 

After dinner, we visited the oldest still-standing church building in the Western Hemisphere in Santa Lucia, Honduras. We held our devotional there and our voices reverberated throughout the building… it was so beautiful that a woman who does ministry in the city with street kids came inside to meet us because the singing was so beautiful and she wanted to know who we were because she just wanted her kids to hear us sing. God be glorified through our singing, and we were edified among each other. Worship is such a gift. It was such a joy to be together singing to the God who had strengthened us for this work and for this difficult and yet important day. God is so very faithful.

Friday, June 13, 2008

June 13, 2008

Thursday

Today we divided into 2 teams to build homes for people who lost their homes in hillside fires during the dry season.  Again, 1 team went down a steep hill and the other went up,  this time they went up 183 stairs to the top of the mountain. They were steep, but we are reminded that if we do not build homes for these people who have difficult sites, then who will?  God has given us time energy and resources and we seek to be good stewards of them. 

As team 2 waited for their ride to their site,  we saw a man working alone on a house for his uncle. He had supports underneath, but he was building a wall so that he could put dirt underneath as a foundation.  Our team, who was simply waiting seized the opportunity that God had provided to serve this man on the side of the mountain.   They were literally moving mountains because it matters. And so the hands of Christ were felt by a man who was working alone and in a matter of moments was surrounded by the loving helping hands of Christ.

There were lots of children again and we played and laughed and worked alongside them… It is amazing how much is translated in love when you have no words.

 

God, please continue to bless us and strengthen us. You are faithful. We are Yours. It is through the powerful name of Christ that we pray.

Wednesday June 11, 2008   

Hola! What a day it has been.  We got up this morning and had our devo on the bus so we could get to the community where we were handing out food bags. Each food bag that we hand out contained enough food to feed a family for 2 weeks.  And each truckload of food that we purchase makes 200-250 bags of food.  Last year it cost us about $1200-$1300 for one truckload. This year the cost has increased to just under $1800.  That changes our budget, but that changes life for the people of Honduras.  In the U.S. it means we have less money to go to the movies and less money to buy ice cream. Here in Honduras it means that there is no food for days at a time. So we set out and drove to the place that we would distribute the food and then split into 3 groups to walk the mountain and deliver the bags of food. Children came from everywhere to join us and play with us, but the thing that is most humbling is that they come to help us… and we thought we were here to help them.  And so our teams walked among the mountain, with children helping carry food bags so that our arms were free to carry children J  Their clothes were dirty and their hair was full of lice. There was trash all over the ground and the children ran through the dirt streets without shoes. And they were filled with joy spending time with us, holding hands, singing, and laughing. God be glorified through the innocence of the children.  We handed food bags that contained Spanish Bibles to the people on the mountain and spoke God’s blessing over them, but it is always amazing to me that they offer God’s blessing over us and our entire team.  One sweet grandma of a child who was with us gave us some homemade rings of bread after we had given her a bag of food.  And again we came to give and in the end found that we had received so much.  God is so faithful to His word in Isaiah 58:10-12 where He tells us that if we give ourselves to the hungry and afflicted that we will be like well-watered streams in scorched places.  We are certainly refreshed in the midst of this desert.   From there we went to Casitas Kennedy, the state run orphanage. It was lots of fun having a pizza party with the children and then having VBS with them.  We did the story of Joshua and the walls of Jericho falling and reminded them that God is faithful to His word. And we laughed and played and hugged their necks and reminded them that they were loved even though they felt quite alone.    Then we came back to the mission house and filled more food bags to distribute on Friday. Then a handful of folks loaded the bus and went to Los Pinos to bring people from their church and community to meet us for a pizza dinner at the Jesus statue.  Since we will be traveling all day on both Sundays of this trip, we decided to gather some of our brothers and  sisters from Honduras together to worship with them. There are no mid-week services here in Honduras, so we created our own and fellowshipped over pizza and pop and then worshiped God at the foot of the Jesus statue overlooking all of Tegucigalpa.  It was so very encouraging. We had a beautiful service with some songs in Spanish, some in English, and some in bothJ Church makes so much sense after working hard together and suffering with the hurting all week long. It makes sense to gather together and remind each other that God still faithful and that Jesus brings us strength for today and hope for tomorrow. It is an encouragement to press on even when life is difficult.  So I’d pleased to share that we encouraged the church in Honduras today, but I will tell you that they encouraged us more than we have words to describe. Amazing. We are reminded over and over this week that, just like a tiny drop of water is the start of many ripples, our actions make a difference and what we do matters.  May you be reminded of the same thing as you go about your days and night in the States.  Thank you for your prayers. Please keep praying us through.  

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Tuesday

June 10,2008

This was a thought shared with us at devo yesterday morning. It was so appropriate for the day we just had and the day we were getting ready to begin. 

A Franciscan Benediction

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppressions, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them and
To turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness
To believe that you can make a difference in the world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done,
To bring justice and kindness to al our children and the poor.

 Amen

We left the mission house after devo and headed to Good Shepherd children’s home.  This is one of the most beautiful places in Honduras, from the landscape to the people. It seems in such a desperate country that the Lord has placed His hand over this place and poured out His love over these children who have been abused, neglected, abandoned… but in this place, you would never know. They are taught of God and loved by  Him through His people.  The children are kind and Christ’s love that has been shared with them in their moment of deepest need, is shared by them with those of us who visit.  God is certainly present in this place and respected as Lord.  With 230 children living at Good Shepherd, our team of 35 had plenty of children to share their love with.  Many of our girls sat and colored with the kids, blew bubbles, and played with toys.  Many of our boys played soccer with some of the older boys… this is such a blessing for the boys… Healthy interaction with our young men is such a gift to these boys who can easily get overlooked when people come to see cute little kids. These boys had a full day of interaction that they will not soon forget. We had some returning boys on our team who were anxious to play the Hondurans in soccer again after an embarrassing loss last year. But they found their win this year on the field. They played hard and we had 1 injury to one of our boys-  Evan Davis- his mom, Jama,  is on the trip with us and so we took him directly to the clinic on the grounds of Good Shepherd where his leg was stitched and bandaged.  He is doing quite well nowJ Please pray that he continues to do so well as we finish our week of service. Also join us in prayer for the places like Good Shepherd that are literally God’s hands in this country that has so much need. Greg and Eva, the couple who run this children’s home in obedience to God giving full glory to the Father. It is beautiful.

 

After Good Shepherd, we loaded the bus and went to Hospital Escuela. This is the free hospital in Honduras. It is were the people who have no resources will take their sick if they can get transportation to the hospital at all. It is not very clean. It is not well stocked as far as supplies. It is dark.  I know that many of us in the States do not like hospitals. This gives me a whole new perspective on places that people go to be healed.  We split into 4 groups, each one containing a person who could speak Spanish and we walked among and sat among the suffering. We visited the cancer ward where children were undergoing chemo while their mothers sat by their side. We visited children who were sick and children who had been injured. One little boy had been hit in the head with a machete and a little girl who had been shot in the head with a pistol… and each of them were alone.  We visited with some sweet gals and their newborn babies, and we visited with a sweet lady who had miscarried her baby and had not yet delivered the baby. Her name was Teresa. She was a single mom and only 27 years old. She had already been in the hospital for 9 days and they had not yet told her how long she would have to wait for the operation that she needed. So while she waited and suffered, she did it all with a woman who just had a healthy baby in the very next bed.  It was tough to be with them as they suffered but we sat with them and talked with them. We gave them small things out of our bags. And, the thing that seemed to bring the most comfort to them, whether big or small is when we gathered round and joined hands or put hands on them and prayed for them. And so through God’s strength, this team stepped into rooms of grief and brought hope and peace to the afflicted… and for a few moments there was Light in the darkness.  And again, God is faithful.

 

Then we came back to the mission house and filled 250 food bags to distribute on Wednesday!  Our hearts and bodies worked hard this day, and we are so blessed to have opportunity to be here as the body of Christ. Please keep praying! You are carrying us with your prayersJ

Pictures from Monday