I can’t believe that I’m in Honduras! It’s so beautiful here and it was such a relief that the heaviness I felt when I entered El Salvador vanished as soon as I crossed the border. We met up in with our entire squad in San Salvador and together we all headed to Honduras and to debrief the first two months. Even though Honduras is considered one of the most dangerous countries in the world, we were assured by our host that we would be perfectly safe. So we all loaded up and headed out. We were so blessed to be able to have several days of debrief before we started our ministry in Honduras. Debrief is a time when our AMAZING Squad Leaders and coaches from the states grab us and discuss the first two months and pour life back into us. We got to stay in real beds and take hot showers! Plus there was only 4 or 5 of us to a bathroom instead of an entire team or two. We slept a lot, prayed a lot, let go of a lot, and were SO blessed to finally meet Randy and Betsy Garmon, our amazing coaches. They are our spiritual parents for the race and read our blogs and keep up with our Facebook statuses and pray for us and talk to our leaders about what is going on with each of us spiritually. They were and are such a blessing and we are all in love with them!
After debrief, we headed to our ministry site. We are right outside the capital and we are working with a great guy named Tony. Tony is an American that God called to Honduras about 4 or 5 years ago. Tony works with street kids and is truly changing lives. Tony does the type of ministry that speaks most to my heart. He is real, genuine, and a bit unique….but in a good way. He is a dreamer and fully trusts that God will fill his day with work. Tony goes out to the poor communities and just treats people as Christ would treat them. He builds relationships with street kids and beggars and dump dwellers and addicts. He goes to them and just talks and jokes with them and treats them like human beings. If he can help he does, but mainly, he wants to befriend them. He’s not looking to make himself a place of charity, but he will help people if he can. What he mainly does is finds the roughest boys that the community doesn’t like, and he builds a relationship with them. If they show that they want to start changing their lives, then he takes them home with him.
Now I need you to understand, these are street punks. Kids from 10 – 20 who don’t go to school, get high all the time, rob people at gunpoint. These are tough kids who have hellish family lives and are poorer than poor. They are tough enough to have literally survived on the streets of one of the most dangerous countries in the world. Their rap sheet isn’t that of the average American teenager. They come home with Tony and live in his house. To stay, they have to go to school and stay clean. If they slip up, they are out for a specified time. If their attitude is too bad, they are out for a specified time. Tony is never cruel or mean to these boys, but he is firm and he is in control. If they are disciplined, they are not shunned, just not allowed on the property. It’s AMAZING!!!!!! He is teaching these boys how to be productive, contributing members of society as well as loving them into the Kingdom of God! It is so inspiring. He truly loves these young men as a father loves his own children, and they love him too. Thanks to Tony and his beautiful wife Nedia, these young men are learning to trust and respect others and most importantly, they are learning about Christ! The boys are great!!! They are so affectionate and so protective of us. It’s a bit sad and funny to be guarded by a teenager, but it is necessary. The boys aren’t perfect, but when you look at them and watch them, you realize that under that tough exterior, is a kid. They are just kids that never got a chance to be kids. They never got to just play and build tree houses and laugh. They never had affection or at least not much. They never had the opportunity to learn or were never taught that they could be anything they dreamed. It’s a beautiful ministry. It’s not perfect, but life isn’t perfect and neither is family.
Please join me in praying for Tony and his ministry. One of our squadmates is building a website for Tony this month and I will share that information with you as soon as it is up and running. On the site will be the opportunity to sponsor one of the boys. It will show their picture and share some of their story. As well as working with the boys, Tony is building a ministry where he can host and house missionary groups and church groups. He has big dreams for this ministry. While here this month, we have helped to start working on the property and we all chipped in to help hire a tractor who came and started working on a football (soccer) field. The field still needs lots of work, but we have started it. The field will be the only “Christian” field. That means no drugs or alcohol. It will help the boys and the community have a place to play without being tempted and it will be a way the ministry can get a little extra money by renting it out to teams. There are so many projects and I am sure that on the website, there will be a list of projects as well as boys that you can give to. Believe me when I say that if you are looking for a place to give or a ministry to support, Tony’s ministry is truly changing not only lives, but communities. They see the difference in these boys and it is having an impact on them.
My heart has truly been convicted and challenged by Tony. I know how I think and treat those in my area that might not look like upstanding citizens. I walk past the needy, and brush off the poor, and look haughtily at teens who are being disruptive. I miss the opportunities to show them Jesus, to show them kindness. I miss so much…..
