Month one of the race, and I am already in love. This country and this ministry are capturing more of my heart each day. Honduras is green, lush, and beautiful and we came at the perfect time of year. The weather is fabulous. Nice during the day, a rainstorm in the afternoon, and chilly at night.
A little history of Honduras: This country is marked by generational patterns. The country is known for violence, gangs, murders, prostitution, drugs, government corruption, poverty, etc. The men are not very involved in the family structure. Over 90% of the kids in this country do not have a father on their birth certificate. Many of the kids here learn to eat out of dumpsters, beg for money, huff paint thinner, and repeat.
The ministry we are working with is called Zion’s Gate Ministries and is located in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Tony and Nidia are founders of this home that takes in troubled teen boys off the streets. They mentor them, disciple them, love them, and teach them how to get off the streets and into a better life with the Lord. These people are seriously incredible and have more passion than anyone I’ve met. About a year ago, they bought a property where they have their ministry. The building we are staying in used to be a nightclub that had the worst reputation in the city and now it is housing missionaries. Talk about the Lord’s redemption! Tony and Nidia have a vision of expanding the ministry and building two more homes so that they can make both a boys and girls home to take more kids off the streets, get them clean and help them to change the community around them. They also want to build a home for themselves so that the home they are currently in can be used to house short-term and long-term missionaries. Along with housing and loving troubled teens, the property is also used as a park for the little kids at the school down the street. Multiple kids come to play at the property on their lunch hour daily. Tony and Nidia are involved in about 12 different ministries throughout Honduras as well.
I have fallen in love with a sweet 15 year old boy on the property. He is a tough kid, and is violent, but really he has such a sweet heart. We have bonded and I have had the opportunity to share Christ with him through my words, but more importantly through my actions. These boys are striving to be seen and loved, and the Lord has given me supernatural grace and love for this precious boy.
While we are here, our schedule looks something like this: Monday-Wednesday, we are on the property doing manual labor, and each team has different jobs to do to expand and beautify the grounds. They have big visions for what they want to do to expand this property that had been abandoned and overgrown for years. On Thursdays we are going to an organization called IHNFA where there are troubled teen girls ages 14-17 who were literally pulled off the streets because they were a threat to the community. We are there to love them, and share Christ with them. Also on these days, some of us can visit a home for physically disabled babies and kids, and some of us can visit a trash dump where people are scrounging for food. On Fridays we do street ministry called “taking it to the streets” where we get to minister through our actions to people traveling to and from work, etc. On Saturdays we are going into a colony, with Tony’s Honduran friend, Armando, who is a pastor. This pastor has created over 2,000 soccer teams around the country made up of gang members to get them off the streets. Sundays are our days of rest.
These people do not have a huge non-profit, yet they are making a huge impact on the people of Honduras. They are loving the hard people, and sharing Christ in many places. Their vision and their hopes are incredible and I am behind them 100%. They are hoping to expand to reach more troubled teens, and I hope to figure out a way to help them in that. They do not have many sponsors, but hope to get some help as they move forward. These people have put all my passions together in one place, and I hope that they are blessed as they continue to seek the Lord in it. If you would like to know more about them, or how you can help them move forward, email me. I’d love to tell you more! I am excited to continue to work with them throughout the month.
The internet here is not working well, so I can't post pictures for now, but look for them on Facebook!
