I remember the day I arrived in Honduras two months ago, though everyone was so exhausted from the long 3 days of flights and airports. I remember lying on the cold airport floor, closing my eyes and falling asleep. Our ministry host, Roger Flores, and his wife, Mama Corey arrived at the airport to take us to our new home in this beautiful country.
We loaded our big packs into a pick-up truck, and piled into a van for a ride that seemed to last for a long time ( probably because I was so tired). I sat in front, next to Roger, and I had no idea who he was (he seemed like a cool dude). We got to a point where Roger turned to me and said “we are going up this road, but don’t be scared”. Following that, we drove up a steep and Rocky Mountain, dust floating everywhere, and our heads bobbling all over the place, surely we were awake now! He drove us up to our mountain home, a.k.a Loyalty School. When everyone got to the top, we looked out, and there were mountains as far as the eye could see, and the lights of every home lit up the night sky. Our hearts were filled with joy and excitement for the next two months of our race here in Honduras.
Living Situation
We walked into our room to see… BEDS, with fresh clean sheets and pillows. They were foam mattresses on top of metal-barred bunks, but beds nonetheless. After sleeping on a thin sleeping pad on the floor the past two months, these beds were a luxury. Though I could feel every single bar in my back as I slept, I still slept like a baby, and I’m more than thankful for those beds. A small room with a tin roof and six other roommates, my team. Oh wait, plus some scorpions, lizards, huge spider ants, and probably lots of other little friends.
The next morning, or night (I don’t remember… Jet lag is weird), I remember Roger, our ministry host, telling everyone that there was no running water for showers, and that the water is very cold. I remember thinking “I’m gonna be so gross”, I was right. The trough of water downstairs by the bathrooms is used for all of our necessities; washing laundry, bucket water for showers, flushing the toilets, and washing dishes. When there’s no water in the trough, well lets just say it’s quite an unfortunate situation. Taking a shower is no easy task here, you fill up a bucket of trough water, carry it up a long flight of stairs to the shower room (spilling some water on the way up), and proceed to pour cold water over yourself until you feel “clean”. Currently as I right this blog, I can honestly and sincerely tell you that I cannot remember for the life of me the last time I showered. Lol.
Our ministry host’s sister and children, Roxanna, Valerie and Jonathon, make our meals in their home right next to Loyalty school. They cook three meals a day (absolutely delicious authentic Honduran food), seven days a week in their tiny home on a two burner stove, cooking for fourteen people. They make sure we are always well fed, and sometimes, we get the privilege of helping them make the food and hanging out with them. Roxanna, the mother, only speaks Spanish, but loves the Lord deeply and has a strong relationship with Him, she’s also pursuing a pastoral degree. Her daughter Valerie is 15, her son Jonathon is 14, and her youngest son, Aaron, is 2. Their family shows selflessness and dying to themselves to be examples of Christ in serving us. I really love them.
In Cambodia, we were blessed enough to have a laundromat right down the street from us, and the laundry lady was as sweet as ever (love and miss you Lin!). Here, I get the privilege of soaking my dirty clothes in a bucket of semi-clean trough water, soaping up one article of clothing at a time, and scrubbing it on a wash board in a relentless effort to try to get all the dirt out, then proceeding to rinse and ring them out and hanging them on the clothes line to dry in the mountain wind. Most of the time, my clothes still smell like mildew and they have a somewhat crusty feel to them from the soap that dried with them. Our washboard/trough looks over all of the mountains, and when the sun hits just right, it illuminates everything in a bright orange/yellow color, making for an absolutely stunning view. Thank you God for showing me through nature that you’re always there. Washing laundry this way humbles me. I stare out at the beauty of the creator, and I’m reminded that I am just a small human in the midst of his kingdom. By showing me his beauty through nature, he reminds me that abandonment and hardships always bear good fruits, and to never take the little things for granted. I’m thankful for this.
I love our little mountain home, everything about it is perfect.
Ministry
I’ll be honest with you, when I found out I was going to be a teacher for the third month in a row here in Honduras, I wasn’t the most excited. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, and I love kids, but I never felt as though it was my forte and I had no idea what I was doing when I was doing it. The language barrier makes it difficult to explain things and teach about Jesus which is also a little frustrating, but I knew that God had a purpose for me doing this type of ministry, so I put my trust in him. I was blown away by how much he taught me through this, He taught me that everyone needs to know the love of the Father; young and old, rich and poor and everyone in between. He taught me that it doesn’t matter what I think I’m inadequate for, because he’s not asking for adequacy, he’s asking for availability. So he called me to die to myself and serve and love on those crazy little kids even when I felt like I wasn’t teaching them what they were supposed to be learning academically, I was an example of the Lord’s love for them which is what they needed most. On days where I was overwhelmed, exhausted, burnt out or frustrated, God was my strength, my encourager, and someone who always called me out of my comfort zone, and called me to put myself aside. What I learned teaching is that it’s not about how terrible at it I might think I am, because those children don’t care about that. They care about relationship, laughter and love, and I’m blessed that God called me to create that for them.
After a month of teaching, my team switched ministries with the other team. It was their turn to teach, and our turn for helping out around the school and manual labor. My team and I begun to decorate the whole school for Christmas and the kids’ upcoming Christmas pageant! We made the Bethlehem/stable backdrop out of paper for the pageant, and decorated the classroom doors with paper snowmen, reindeer, and a Christmas tree, we also included verses on the doors! The students loved the doors and smiled at the sight of them. After we were all finished decorating for Christmas, we started on our manual labor project. This one’s a little harder to explain, but it involved going down the mountain into the woods, collecting multiple tires, digging and raking on the side of the mountain to move boulders and dig up roots so that we could lay the tires and fill them with rocks and dirt and stack them up to create a safer environment for the students. We worked as a team to Carry MULTIPLE heavy buckets of dirt up the steep mountain to fill the tires. I hope the pictures can explain more! Personally, I really love manual labor, because unlike other ministry, you can always see the end goal reached when you’re finished. It builds perseverance, endurance and teamwork, and I enjoyed growing as a team with my girls. We did this project for five hours a day, sometimes six or seven for 5 days, and I was definitely physically exhausted and every muscle in my body was sore, but it was worth every moment. Through the ministry month of December, ministry looked a lot different from what I would of imagined ministry would look like on the world race, but I’m reminded that every day life is ministry, and when you’re serving others, you’re glorifying the Lord. He taught me that serving others can be a difficult and tiring task, but also so fun. He called me to break down my walls and forget all of my expectations, because His plans and His ways are always higher than mine, and he’s in control, not me.
Humbled
In Honduras, the Lord has taught me how to quiet myself and how to die to myself to serve others, and also, how to just live with more appreciation. I’ve learned to not take things for granted, like a hot shower at home, using a washer/dryer, sleeping in my comfortable bed, using a flushing toilet and being able to just do Day-to-day tasks easily. In other places, those tasks aren’t always simple, rather they take a little more determination, motivation and hard work. Living without convenience has opened my eyes and has made me fall in love with abandonment. Without all of these distractions, I’m able to focus on solely God, and what he’s trying to speak to me in the moment. I’m reminded that Jesus did not live a glamorous or simple life, not even close, and I definitely don’t need to either to be happy or content. I can only pray that I stop taking anything for granted, not just the things I listed in the beginning of this paragraph, but also every drop of sweat I have when I carry my shower bucket up the stairs, delicious food that my host family worked so hard to make, every breathtaking view in front of me as I wash my laundry and talk to God, every unfamiliar and unplanned ministry, and every hardship that comes with abandonment. He has taught me that serving others and building his kingdom can look different in many ways, but he always bears good fruits through it, and growth comes from what he teaches you along the way. We only have a short amount of time on this earth, so stop taking shortcuts, stop telling yourself you can’t do that one thing, stop holding yourself back, forget your expectations, and stop taking things for granted. Look around you, and stop letting life and things of this world hinder you from going deeper into intimacy with your Father.
God has broken my walls down. He has told me that this life isn’t about me, it’s about him, and his kingdom.
Verses
“those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the spirit is life and peace.” Romans 8:5-6
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vein conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of others.” Philippians 2:3-4
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Colossians 3:1-2
With blessings and Love, Rebekah
Thank you for reading! (By the way, I LOVE your comments!!)
