Hey All!
This month our squad (all 47 of us plus 3 leaders) are together in Talanga, Honduras. We are staying with a missionary couple originally from Kentucky who has been in Honduras for 8 years. Most people are sleeping in tents or hammocks for the month as there are only enough beds for the two teams working with their ministry, Aaron’s Missions Outreach. There is a team is working with New Life Children’s Homes Honduras, and the remaining 4 teams (including my own) are working with Heart of Christ Ministries.
Gracie is our contact from HOC and she’s been here in Honduras with her husband Papi Lee since 2005. Their ministry has three focus areas: spiritual, victims, and mercy. Gracie came to Honduras with a heart for victims of rape and for children with special needs. Since being in Honduras, she has become a well-known and trusted figure in the community, and many victims call her directly instead of the police because they know that she can be trusted and will provide help to the best of her ability.
Gracie has a small children’s home where she’s taken in girls younger than 18 who have become pregnant as a result of rape or incest. Most other organizations only take in a victim or their child, but not both. Gracie really had it on her heart to not separate the two, so at her ministry she takes in both. She’s kept it pretty small as she wants it to feel more like a family, so she has 10 kids at the moment. Gracie also has a heart for special needs children, and two of her kids have cerebral palsy. She is wanting to open up a school for special needs children as there aren’t many places that cater to children with special needs.
In working with HOC, we’ve been able to help out with the village, construction, and house/children.
Village – Gracie has been asked to help identify single mothers in the community who are 21 or younger and have children less than 2 or are pregnant, to participate in a program where they can receive food. We have gone out to the villages of Tablan and El Guante, going from house to house and to find out if there is anyone in the house that meets this criteria. The people of Honduras are so welcoming, and most every house we visit, the people welcome us into their home. Even if the family does not qualify for the program, we still stay around to get to know them and pray for them as needed. It’s really important to develop relationships with those in the community to establish that level of trust so that if they do find themselves in a situation, they know they can trust and call Gracie. One day a team was in the village and they came across a woman who was 42 weeks pregnant and she hadn’t felt the baby move in 24 hours. The team was able to call Gracie, who happened to be at the clinic with one of the cerebral palsy girls, and they called a taxi to take her to the clinic. The doctor was able to do an ultra sound and confirm that the baby was still alive and well, and then she was taken to a hospital in Tegucigalpa (the capital) to deliver the baby.
Construction – We’ve been able to help out with construction at the HOC location, where Gracie and the children she has taken in stay. Our construction for the month consisted of building a wall fence. I have never done any kind of construction before so this was extremely new to me. Usually when I’ve been on mission trips in the past it’s consisted of street evangelism, working with churches, working in orphanages, etc., so it was cool to see the different forms that missions/ministry could take form.
House and Children– The days we work in the house we help take care of the kids or help out in the kitchen. Two people are usually with the toddlers, one with the babies, one with the cerebral palsy girls, and two on kitchen/cleaning duty. Eva?a and Erica are the girls with cerebral palsy and they are absolutely amazing. They love it when you sit with them, talk to them, and sing to them. I have even gotten to play guitar for them a few times. I have never worked with anyone with cerebral palsy so it’s been really neat spending time with them.
Diego, Alejandro, Christopher (aka Fifi), and Moises are the toddlers. With the exception of Chris, each have been abandoned by their families. Moises was born with a humongous tumor and the doctors said he wouldn’t make it. Gracie took him in, despite what people said, and had faith that he was going to survive. She ended up taking him to have surgery to remove the tumor at a doctor who had never done that type of surgery before. He survived the surgery and now runs around with so much energy.
Hades is Chris’s mother. She was a victim of rape and had him as a result. She lived at the children’s home for a few years, but about a month ago she decided she decided she want to be free and wanted to run away with Chris. She jumped off the second floor with child in hand and tried to run away. Legally Hades could leave since she was now 18, but for the best interest of the child, Heart of Christ retains custody of the child until the mother can hold a stable job and prove that she can take care of him. Gracie was able to recover Chris so he is safe and being taken care of. Hades comes to visit every so often but has not been holding jobs consistently so is still unable to have custody of Chris.
Milagros and Michelle are the two teenagers that live at HOC. They are 16 and 13 respectively and are both victims of rape/incest. Milagros has a 2 year old daughter Genesis and Michelle’s 1 year old is Kathryn. Despite what they’ve gone through, they both walk around with so much excitement and joy. They are both home schooled and have such a bright and promising future ahead of them.
This month has been so different than last month, but it’s been great. I’ve really enjoyed being with the whole squad, working with Heart of Christ, and getting to know the people of Honduras. Next week we leave for Nicaragua (I can’t believe it’s that time already!). We’ll be staying in Grenada for a few days for leadership training, and then we’ll split up and head to our ministry locations for the month (not quite sure where/what that’ll be yet). Our next fundraising deadline is coming up April 1 which I need to have $11,000 by. I’m still about $2,000 shy so if you’d like to help me make my next deadline, please consider making a donation. Please also continue to keep me in your prayers!
