Every 16 hours a woman is murdered. There are more than 600 women murdered every year. There are more than 1400 children murdered every year.
Yes, this month I am spending my time in the murder capital of the world, Honduras.
Coming into this month I had no expectations of this country, much less our assigned ministry. However, it is my favorite month on the Race thus far. My team is partnered with Heart of Christ. Nine years ago, Gracie and her husband Lee moved from Alabama to Talanga, Honduras and started Heart of Christ. Both are people of incredible humility, who have deep intimacy with and hunger for God.
“We minister to the broken, the ones thrown away, abused. Our children’s home is for girls pregnant by incest and rape and also for special needs children dying of starvation and lack of medical care. We rescue victims of violence… women, children, elderly, disabled… victims of abuse, rape, incest, murder, kidnapping, sex trafficking and child prostitution, and more.”
Heart of Christ is a beautiful, unique family.
3 teenage girls – who have been raped, abused and more
2 babies (Another baby is due in 4 weeks) – who are products of the girls’ rape
4 toddler boys – who have been abandoned by their young mothers
2 girls with cerebral palsy – recovering from severe abusive malnourishment.
Moises was brought to Gracie at 5 months old with a large tumor on his side. Moises was basically left to die. Gracie worked hard and prayed hard to have the tumor removed. Moises initially was supposed to be able to have it done in the USA, but a funding grant from Honduras was unable to be made as the country does not have the money so they had to have the procedure done here in Honduras in a public hospital. This miracle child had his 15lb tumor removed and can now run and play as a regular child of 4yrs old.
This is Ivania and Erika. They have cystic fibrosis. Ivania was left for dead. Gracie and Lee took her in, I believe she was around 15lbs and severely malnourished. They had to spend about 6hrs a day for 3 months feeding her to bring her back to health. She is such a beautiful child of God.
“It is the heart of Christ that reaches out to rescue the lost, the suffering, and the dying. We must impact the world by sharing Christ’s love in the form of serving others, meeting their needs, rescuing them from their suffering and discipling and empowering them to become the solutions to the problems around them” (heartofchristhonduras.org).
Gracie has also been involved with ministry outside of Heart of Christ doing investigations with the Honduran police in Talanga. She has been working at solving cases, and has had cases actually lead to a place where people are prosecuted. 70% of the cases brought to Gracie are resolved. That Is only a small part of what Gracie has done in Honduras.
As I sit and reflect on the past 2 weeks while in Honduras, I am in constant awe of how awesome our God is and how incredibly blessed I am this month. I wake up each morning at 5:30 AM for breakfast at 6 AM. Our team leaves at 7 AM to catch a bus to Guaimaca. In Guaimaca we have been doing door to door ministry with a focus on special need families who are eligible for the World Food Program. As of today, my team and I have ministered to 130 families. Once we return to our compound in Talanga around 3 PM each day, we have coffee hour and devotion time with the children and families at Heart of Christ. 4 PM is recess time for the children. 5 PM is devotion time for the World Race team and 6 PM is dinner. After a long day of ministry, I am usually in bed by 8:30 PM each night.
I have crawled in bed with numerous sick, dying, and special needs individuals and anointed them with oil and prayed over them. I have had countless children placed into my arms with the privilege to pray over them. I had the amazing opportunity of baptizing a young girl, Meliagros, who is staying temporarily at Heart of Christ during worship last Saturday evening. The Lord continues to bring souls my way who are needing his gentle touch and unconditional love and I continue to pour it out without hesitation.
The Lord doesn’t just show up in these dark and hurting places. He is already there. He is waiting for me to lift up prayers to Him and claim the authority and power that He has given each of us. He is waiting for me to step outside of my comfort zone, to take bold steps, and obey what He is telling me to do. This is why I am here. To pray for the sick, bring hope to the hopeless, bring healing, and love those who believe they are unlovable. This is only the end of week 2 and I am already getting my world rocked by the power and love of Abba. I can’t wait to share with you what else He is doing here in the near future.
I am asking you to please pray for Gracie, Lee, and these sweet children and families. Pray against spiritual darkness. Pray for doors to be open and lives to be freed here in these beautiful and dark mountains of Honduras. Life here at Heart of Christ is unique and unlike anything I have ever experienced and I am SO grateful for this crazy, awesome, refreshing environment.
Much love to you all from Talanga!
