I have been serving and living at Heart of Christ refuge home for the past week. Over the past week our team has been able to serve in at least 5 different opportunities. First, we have served by watching and playing with the kids at the home, while their caretakers and other employees at the mission are receiving long-awaited training. Second, we have served by going out into our community and talking with the locals in our broken Spanish. Third, we have served by painting the ministry’s new children’s home. Fourth, we have served by cooking meals and cleaning dishes. Fifth, we have served by updating the ministry’s website.
The Children
All the kids are all living miracles! Most of them have tragic stories where their mother was raped and abused. Our ministry hosts are amazing Godly examples to all the women and children here—especially Papá Lee with the boys. It is so encouraging to see their smiles each and every day. Our team just loves on them; we break up into pairs. One pair cares for the special needs girls, one pair looks after the babies (ages 2-3), and one pair goes with the boys (ages 4-10). I have been looking after the boys, we have played with cars, blocks, soccer balls, Frisbees, Play Dough, … I have been a jungle gym, a horse, a car—they climb all over me but I absolutely love it.
Village Ministry
We went out into the village and just walked around and prayed that God would be present is this community. As we walked an elderly woman invited us into her home, so we went in and talked with her through Google Translate. We asked her about her family and about her childhood. We didn’t understand most of what she said but the most important part was that we were there listening to her story. We also meet another woman who was tendering her garden, when Rachael told her that her flowers were very pretty she ripped them out of the ground and gave them to Rachael. Everywhere we went we encountered the hospitality of the Hondurans.
Construction
The children’s home is almost complete, the solar panels are being installed sometime this week, the tile floor is being laid, and painting has begun. We did some painting last week and will be doing various construction tasks throughout the month.
Cooking and Cleaning
Originally our team was only supposed to help prepare the food and clean up, but now we are the head chefs cooking for over 2 dozen people. We are quickly learning to be flexible and adaptable and to cook local Honduran food.
Technology
The internet is a wonderful tool that allows missionaries and their ministries to remain connected with their supporters around the world. I had very little experience with web development before coming on the race, but now I have had the opportunity to edit and update my ministries websites for the last two months. The more I learn about editing websites the more I realize that the ability to edit/update/design websites is a powerful tool that I can use for the Kingdom.
