Long time no talk!
You may be asking yourself why I've been so busy or unintentional, and I do have a few answers for you.
- God is doing GRANDE things out here on the field, and I'm not about to apolgize for Him for that.
- Our time in Honduras wrapped up about 10 days ago, and we've been making the long trek to the next region of the world we'll be ministering in.
- I haven't been at the top of my game in the health-department, so I have been laying low and trying to rest as we transition into all God has in store for us here in Romania, working on a farm, trying to speak Romanian {much more difficult than Spanish, in case you were wondering}, and doing lots of construction on homes for orphans and their adoptive families. I'll tell you more about all that goodness later, including team changes once again!
BUT, TO CATCH YOU UP ON OUR FINAL DAYS AT OUR AMAZING MINISTRY IN HONDURAS….
Here goes.
After becomming more acustom to how rough and ragged life can be in Honduras, and how life is so precious and often times can appear ugly on the outside {see my previous blog, "Garbage for a Bed"}, we started to get more glimpses inside of the hearts of the kids we were working with at Zion's Gate Ministry–the kids who once lived in those dumps, or on the streets; the kids whose life-long ambition was to reek havoc and become a gangster–to steal, cheat, lie, and kill their way through life.
These are the very kids I fell in love with. They look harmless, right?
{From Left to Right: Carlos, Luis, Christopher, Fenny, Fernando, & Ariel. You could always find "The Gringos" Jen & Elijah around the boys, loving on them, playing games, practicing patience.}
Do you see their smiles {well, everyone except Carlos, who is "too cool for school"}? Those smiles come from the love they're receiving now that they're off the streets and away from their hard lives. They now live on the property of Tony Diene, an American guy who sold everything he owned and moved to Honduras 5 years ago. He has a mission of going into the dark, scary colonies that no one else wants to, and sharing the love of Christ with the young ones he encounters as he works to raise support and awareness, all to serve them as a father and provide them with a place to live free of charge…except for a few stipulations: he requires them to go to school, work around the property, help missionaries like us with our physical labor as we come in for the month, and start taking responsibility as boys who will someday become men…and possibly even fathers themselves.
{Fernando is a cheese-ball, and loves to make popcorn and bake cookies! I predict he'll be a chef in the near future.}
{Hermon thinks he's a gangster, with the rolled up pant-legs and bandana. Praise God there are now better things in store for his future. He also likes to smooch everyone on the cheek, Central-American-style. Watch out!}
{Luis is mischievous, and purposely calls you by the wrong name. But he has a big, loving heart. Clearly.}
It was hard at times, but Tony really taught us all we needed to know about these boy's hearts: they each needed love, because they've never received it, and they act the way they do sometimes, because they've never had the positive example. So it in turn encouraged us to step up and be that example. I've never "parented" a teenage boy, but shoot dang, it was difficult!
{I think it's obvious who Tony is, and then there're the boys, Walter, Hermon, & Elijah and myself and Jo Linda, one amazing lady and my new co-logistics leader! We're having fun working together already.}
{Some of the group working on the streets of Los Pinos, the most dangerous colony in the whole capitol. But where some of the biggest hearts we met came from, and where Tony makes a point to go.}
So as we loved on the boys, we also set out to beautify and improve upon the property, and learned once again that language has no barrier when God and Love are involved.
So we watched as walls came down, both literally on the property, and figuratively, in these boys' hearts.
Here are a few more photos of the amazing flowerbeds, rooms, and relationships that were built.
{That's me on the school-desk, sanding the crap out of the spackled wall's of the building we "camped" in while chattin' it up with my bro, Chase}
{In the zone, sketching out our new prayer/wailing wall on the property. Design is what I love, so this was a fun project for me to help contribute to!}
And for more photos of the kids and the work we did, visit my squadmate,
Robin's amazing photography blog.
{I promise, you'll scroll for days when you get a glimpse of her talent…}
Well, that about wraps it up. Except for this:
God came for the murderer and the thief, the widow and the orphan, the opressed and the depressed, the single young mother, and the suicidal father, and for you and me. I've always known that, but God has honed in on that truth in my heart all the more this past month, and I'm grateful for the reminder.
Next time you come into contact with a gangster, remember that he's a boy with a heart, in need of a good home, with feelings and emotions just like you and me. They're children like we once were, and they love to help bake cookies and build tree-houses. And hard as you try not to love him like your own brother, I promise that you inevitably will.
