So we have had no Internet, but
here is the Honduran update.
We have made it! (Just in case you were worried, fear
not)
Honduras is a beautiful country and we are blessed by our
contacts heart for the surrounding communities and his love for not missing the
opportunity and living in the moment.
Upon arrival we found out that our team would be working in
the hardest part or ministry of all the teams. We were going to be working with the youth in Los
Pinos. This area has housed the
heart of Tony’s ministry. Sector F
is the location and here the youth are addicted to paint thinner and other
drugs and the people consider it hopeless and not capable of being
redeemed. However, Tony and his
wife have gone in and taken many youth into his care, loved them and truly
trusted God to do the impossible.
Here is the thing. Sometimes God has a different plan!
Tony decided after some recent events that the area we were
going to be working in is a little too risky. I was pretty down and out at first because I have come into
a faith and trust in God that I want to walk into the darkest corner and
declare a light that can’t be hidden.
At first I felt as though we were retreating to fear. If anything the race has shown me what
boldness looks like. Don’t worry
because we are cautious, but sometimes God calls us to walk into the unknown
trusting that He has us in His hands and I KNOW for a fact that wherever we are
we are protected. There is a lot
of work and purpose left for us.
And still God is speaking to and into me. Here is what we have been doing. We have been working in a church in Los
Pinos, just a different part. This
church has become a sort of prison for me. Four walls close in fast when there are little places you
can roam freely. We do have free
reign from the church to the pastor’s house, which is maybe thirty feet from
the church. So, we hang out on the
streets and play soccer with the kids, I talk to them in my broken Spanish and
try and teach them what swag means.
I have truly made some pretty awesome relationships. We spend the mornings planning and the
afternoons teaching English to the community in the church.
We have also had an opportunity to walk and hand out fliers
and stickers promoting the church to the community. We came across a group of three houses on this hill. We literally climbed to the top house
on automobile tires dug into the ground and surrounded by rusted barbed
wire. At the top of the hill lived
this woman, Naddy, who had been bed ridden after being in a bus accident for
the past year and a half. The Spirit
fell in that small house at the top of the hill and we cried out to God in
worship and just spent a good bit of time just praying for resurrection in her
bones. She tried to stand three
times and through tears and smiles she failed to take off running. But her boldness struck something in
me. At first I had my hands on her
legs and then God spoke and told me to step back to a corner.
God doesn’t need me or you or anyone else. But He chooses to use us. I didn’t have to put my hands on Naddy
for God to work through them. His
hands do the healing and healing is going to happen. God’s heart is one of joy and hope and that bed and room is
no prison for Naddy. I felt a
little sad leaving because most of us left with long faces, but I left
chuckling because God is doing something unbelievable in that house. Healing is taking place. I have a feeling we are going to go
back and she is going to be dancing in the streets. That is the God I am falling in love with every day. The I Am that strikes us with laughter
and a joyful song.
This morning I took some quiet time. I woke up at six a.m. thinking I was
going to run and ended up retreating into my tent to listen. The biggest lesson God is teaching me
right now is to quit trying to Do and just Be. The coolest thing is the Be leads to the Do. It’s a little confusing, but I am
starting to figure this out and I love it. Everything I have heard or read keeps leading me back to
these words. This morning I was
lead to Luke 19. The story I read
was the one about Jesus sending two of the Disciples to highjack a donkey. The lesson I learned was this… Those two Disciples probably
looked at Jesus and laughed. They
probably said, “You want us to do what?” (high inflection on the what) And Jesus looks at them and says, “I
want you to highjack this Donkey!”
I can only imagine the conversation as they traveled to
Jerusalem. There is something to
learn here though. Like those four
walls that have closed in on me daily, sometimes we don’t feel like our impact
is very valuable or that we are being sent to highjack a freaking donkey. Sometimes we want to travel into the
darkest corner and be the one that places hands on a lame woman and watches her
take off walking and dancing. We
want to cast out demons or bring a ton of people to know Jesus.
I want to highjack a donkey!
That donkey paved the way for
the Son of Man. Wow!
Something that may have seemed irrelevant in the moment
paved the way! I hope you
understand this. Life is about not
missing the opportunity. I have
encountered the Spirit in Honduras!
I have rolled around in the grass laughing for no reason, spoken life
over people, danced around like a mad man not giving a care in the world about
what anybody else thought and most importantly I have looked the I Am right in
the face. Haha My vision has never been clearer.
Life is for living, not by doing but by being. It’s time to re-evaluate your DoBe
mentality. I hope you don’t miss
the opportunity right now to go highjack a donkey and just Be. Be empowered to be yourself. Papa loves you!!
Pray for rehabilitation in Honduras. We get to love on Tony’s family
everyday and we have an opportunity to just Be and Love in Los Pinos. There are four youth from Sector F that
live with Tony and they are awesome.
There are many more that come around! It’s an awesome ministry and feels like family.
love and miss you guys,
