As weeks often do out here (by “out here” I mean away from my original normal life in the United States) this week has felt like a month in and of itself. We arrived in Honduras after a 16ish hour bus ride that included a two stop at the border, our driver getting lost twice, and one bus break down. After telling them all how to get there and fix the bus in my fluent Spanish we were on our way (well maybe that is not really how it went). Another random fact for you Honduras gets cold. Talk about a shock to the system after high nineties all month in Nicaragua. We arrived in the town of La Espiranza to meet our ministry contact Pastor Padro and get ready to head to Rio Colorado for a month in the mountains.
No electricity. I will start by saying that there is no electricity in Rio Colorado where we are staying and I love every minute of it. We cook all of our food over a fire stove in our hosts house, the word shower loosely translates to “bucket”, and there is nothing to do after 8 when it is dark and cold out so we all go to bed and have conversations though our tents. The team has set up camp in the yard of a wonderful couple Birgilia, Roman and their son Neman. We get to wake up to one of the most beautiful mountain landscapes along with a giant Rooster Crowing in at my head each morning. I know I have said this about the last two places as well but I love living in the Honduran mountains and the people that live there.
There is much beauty to be found in the mountains and the simplicity of life but oppression and poverty hold strong to the people of the mountains. The evidence is not hard to find; the children show the marks of poverty in there tattered clothing and worn out shoes, many of the adobe brick and stick houses are less than adequate to hold their large families, beans and corn tortillas in their limited nutritional value are the main staple food, many smiles are lacking teeth, and the education system has left many people still illiterate. You can see the weight of the spiritual oppression by the drunk and passed out men on the side of the road every Sunday, by the catholic shrines in all the houses, and the searching look in their eyes.
Despite all this God is performing miracles here and it is ripe for the harvest. The team spent our mornings last week playing with and preaching the gospel to the children in the schools and our afternoons in the home of families sharing the word of lord with them and telling them that God desires a relationship with them. It is an amazing and humbling thing to hike over 2hrs to find a man that has never heard then name of Jesus Christ and then to hear him pray in Spanish to accept Him into his heart. Every home that we have entered is hungry for the love of the father; three people accepted Christ in their lives this week and even more said that they wanted to rededicate their lives to a new relationship with a God who loves them. We got to attend Church services, in a church the size of my old bedroom, and prayer meeting with the men of the community that desire change. This is the body of Christ moving out here in the boon docks of Honduras. I have never in my life felt more like the hand and feet of Jesus or a stronger desire to lay everything else aside so that I can preach the gospel and the word of as many times as possible. That alone is going to last and I just want these people to know that they are loved and beautiful to the God that created them. If I have learned anything in the last year it is just that… That people are just people and we all need to be loved and WE ALL NEED JESUS no matter who they are or where you are at.
This month is going to be rich. Rich with blessings, challenges, love, with God speaking though the lack of distraction, rich with mountain climbing, with lessons, and with the smiles and hugs of children that yell “Nika” when I see them, rich with the Gospel and souls won for the Kingdom of heaven. Thank you Jesus for breaking my heart, for leading me to the mountains; a place that feels like home to me, a place where I always feel closest to you.
Pray as my Team and I try to live out that call that we have been called to, to preach the gospel and love people as Jesus would. Let us be who He needs us to be for His kingdom and His glory. Pray for the development of this place and the people who we are trying to love.
Psalm 91
1 Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.[a]
2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
3 Surely he will save you
from the fowler’s snare
and from the deadly pestilence.
4 He will cover you with his feathers,
and under his wings you will find refuge;
his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.
5 You will not fear the terror of night,
nor the arrow that flies by day,
6 nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,
nor the plague that destroys at midday.
7 A thousand may fall at your side,
ten thousand at your right hand,
but it will not come near you.
8 You will only observe with your eyes
and see the punishment of the wicked.
9 If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”
and you make the Most High your dwelling,
10 no harm will overtake you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
11 For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
12 they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.
13 You will tread on the lion and the cobra;
you will trample the great lion and the serpent.
14 “Because he[b] loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;
I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.
15 He will call on me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble,
I will deliver him and honor him.
16 With long life I will satisfy him
and show him my salvation.”
I am $455.00 from meeting my next deadline at the end of this month. If you would like to support me you can click on the “support me” tab on the side bar.
