A mashed potato heart…that’s what we prayed for within the first few days of being here. It’s been SO awesome to be able to see God answering that prayer over this month! Along with that, I prayed for new eyes…His eyes…and it’s been so awesome to have them!
If you read my last blog, you can probably understand our reasoning for praying for those things. That blog touched a little on how things were a little rocky.
This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing…there is beauty even in those times! 🙂
God led our team to Urraco…
He KNEW we would be the first team to ever be here. He KNEW there would be a language barrier. He KNEW expectations on both sides would not be met. He KNEW our relationship with Pastor would be a little hard in the beginning. He KNEW there were holes in the roof. He KNEW poop and sewage water would overflow out of a hole in the floor and get on Mollie’s bed. He KNEW a bat would fly into a fan above Carlie’s head in the middle of the night, and we’d wake up to find a bat on one side of her bed and its missing wing on the other side. He KNEW we’d have days without electricity. He KNEW the newness of the race would begin to wear off. He KNEW I’d get sick twice this month (thank you for destroying my amazing immune system, Doxy). HE KNEW IT ALL…
And He still chose us to be here. 🙂 Because….
He KNEW we could handle it, and that we would draw closer to Him in this instead of push further away. He KNEW all we could do was rely on Him. He KNEW Pastor Rony had been praying for a World Race team for over a year–and He wanted to use us in His answer! He KNEW we would be joking and laughing and enjoying time with Pastor Rony and his family before this month finished. He KNEW we would draw closer together as a team, and really begin to feel like each other’s family. He KNEW that even after the newness of the race wore off, I would know I was RIGHT where I was supposed to be. He KNEW we’d be able to laugh at it all and would be able to smile as we told our families back home about stories…stories of poop beds, bats being cut in half overhead, jumping spiders, the “river” flowing into our room from the downpour, the ant infestation under Kat’s bed… He KNEW that the people here would love us so well and that we would love them back! He KNEW that we’d be served a FEAST one night and that we wouldn’t be able to eat until the next afternoon…haha 🙂 He KNEW that there would be a Chinese restaurant in the middle of nowhere that was actually within budget! 😉 He KNEW I’d be able to learn something important while I was sick this month. Oh, and He KNEW I’d be reminded just how much I love country music (thanks Megs and Molls)! HE KNEW IT ALL…
He KNEW I’d begin the month wondering what the HECK we were doing here, and He knew I’d be able to look back at the month and smile at this little treasure…laugh at the craziness of it all…rest in His peace…and see how much He used it all to grow me, to grow all of us…
He KNEW Honduras would grow on me.
Honduras, you are absolutely BEAUTIFUL! I began my last blog with: “What. A. Month.” I was right in saying that… What a month to remember!! 🙂
With Love,
Ash
