Hello from Honduras! My team made it safely down to Central America and have been working at our ministry site for the last 5 days. There is no internet onsite, so I had to head into town to find an internet café.
Where we are: We are a two hour drive from the capital of Tegucigalpa, outside a sleepy little town of 7,000 people. The place we are staying is out in the countryside off a dirt road and resting in the foothills of some small mountains in the area.
What we are doing: We are working at a children’s home for kids rescued from horrible situations and various trades in the area. I won’t be able to say our ministry contact or any names of the children we are with. In fact I won’t be able to post any pictures with the kid’s faces in them because these children are still being hunted and searched for by gangs and people around the country.
Who’s here: My team of 8 (Courageous Love). The rest of my squad, 5 other teams, are doing some ministry in a town about an hour down the road. Two of our squad leaders are with us for the first 10 days and have been a great help with helping ease into our first month of ministry. The home we are staying at has 13 children ranging from age 4 to 17.
We are sleeping in our tents out in the yard under a little covered structure. I sure am glad I decided to get a sleeping pad after training camp because it’s so much better than sleeping on the ground! There is no running water so we are using buckets to shower with in our outdoor shower room.
Their main need for us is manual labor and spending time with the kids, whether that be helping with school work or playing soccer games. They just moved to this current site about two months ago so there are still a lot of needs around the surrounding acres.
Manual Labor tasks:
· –Clearing brush from overrun fish ponds that haven’t been used in years. Clearing out all the grass and turning them back into usable ponds.
· –Clearing out an unused building that has been overrun by a bat colony.
· –Digging ditches to run piping through around the property.
Highlights in the first 5 days:
· –How loving and enthusiastic the kids are, despite the life they’ve been through.
· –Clearing a huge soon to be pond with machetes and a weed-wacker.
· –Our hosts are so loving on their children and us, helping everyone grow closer to the Lord daily.
· –The meals are wonderful and big community style.
· –Spending an afternoon with the kids swimming at a nearby lake.
· –Playing in a soccer game against the children’s home down the street.
It’s been a great first week and I can’t wait to see what the next couple bring. We’re planning a big youth event on the 25th where we will host a youth weekend for about 75 kids.
Please pray for the children we spend time with every day. For safety and health of my team and squad. And that the Lord will use us in any way possible to expand his kingdom and share the love of Christ.
