“If you want to hear God laugh tell Him your plan”.
This quote became evident after my first mission trip to Nicaragua. After spending a heartbreaking day serving in a garbage dump, home to hundreds of families, I told God, “I love serving but please don’t ever send me back to a dump.” That short week spent in Nicaragua felt like an eternity and assured me that long-term missions were not for me.
Well for those of you who have been reading my blog from the beginning know that God not only shattered my idea of “short-term” missions but He sent me on a voyage around the world that forever changed my life.
This journey ironically began in a place I told God I would never return to, the garbage dump of Tondo-Manila Philippines. Tondo is one of the largest dumps in the world, a deeply depressing place where thousands of families reside.
It is a place that will stick with me forever; the smells, the children’s eyes, the burning garbage piles and the joy. I’ve often told people that in the middle of “hell” on earth, I’ve found the most joyful people I’ve encountered, altering my idea that joyful people come from wealthy American suburbs.
It was in this place that I radically encountered Jesus. Looking into the eyes of a young boy holding his baby sister, patiently waiting for food, I saw God. This 8-year-old boy, remarkably resembling my little brother Willy, allowed me to finally look outside myself and encounter the living God. Jesus wasn’t in our stained glass churches but was amongst the least of these.
Fast forward ten months to Honduras, I was miserably sick, missing home and ready to be done. After a scorpion bite, strep throat, lice, crushing my hand, sleeping on cement floors, very little food and stomach parasites I swore up and down I would NEVER return to Honduras.
But, as always, God had another plan…
In a few short weeks I will be returning to Honduras for 9 days with Agua Viva. This organization brings clean drinking water and latrines to remote Honduran villages along with the living water of Christ.
Each team member will be partnered with a local family and live in their homes for the duration of the project. During our short time there, we will be working alongside the men and women of the village, digging ditches in the rocky hillside and laying PVC pipes to facilitate the placement of a water spigot at each home.
While we are able to provide the labor necessary for building the water system, we still need to raise funds to purchase all of the materials and hire local skilled labor. If you feel led to contribute financially, a tax-deductible donation can be made to Agua Viva and returned to the address below or made online at www.aguavivaonline.org.
Agua Viva
23955 Beard Ave.
Lakeville, MN 55044
As a team we have committed to paying for our own travel costs, so please note that every dollar raised will be used for the water project materials and labor.
With that said, going on the World Race would not have been possible without so many of you and I am still humbled to think of the way each of you supported me. After the immense generosity of so many of you, I’m apprehensive at the idea of fundraising yet again. However, one thing the World Race taught me was the importance of community and the need for others to be praying and supporting me along the way.
I would never have completed the World Race had it not been for your encouragement and support, so once again I would love to have each of you praying for our team as well as the people we will be serving in La Vanilla, Honduras.
With love,
Maggie
