Picking up where I left off…. (quick recap – Tony’s heart is for the kids of Los Pinos, one of the most dangerous cities in Honduras. He’s spent the past 4 years loving on the kids and families of Los Pinos. We’ll be spending our month pouring into them and I could not be more excited about it!)
Kids that Tony has spent years with have gone back to paint thinner time and time again. And yes, although that’s painful to see, that’s not where the journey ends. Tony continues to show them unfailing and never-ending love no matter what. If they don’t want any part of it, that’s their decision, but Tony will be ready with open arms when, and if, they decide to come back around.
Change isn’t going to happen overnight. It’s going to be a day by day, minute by minute, step by step thing. After enough small steps, lives are transformed. This is the part I think some of us struggle with. We can preach the gospel all we want, but if it comes down to living it out to the point where we have more downs than ups because we’re putting our faith in God to move and trusting that He will do move but on His time and not ours, are we still willing to do it? I’m not trying to praise Tony for what he’s doing because I believe the Lord’s put that desire and passion and perseverance in him. However, we still have to make the choice to walk in it and to continue walking in it when the going gets tough. The good news is that I’m pretty sure God would be ecstatic if we asked Him for a passion to change the world one person at a time.
So anywho, after going over numerous ideas, we’ve decided to start camp here on the farm! Over the next 3 weeks, we’ll bring in 6 guys at a time from Los Pinos. Essentially, we’ll be with the same 12 kids over 3 weeks which will help in building relationships with them. We have activities, games, projects, bonfires, movies and time to escape the normal day to day life in the city. We have absolutely no idea how this is going to go since it’s all of our first time running a camp… with kids from the roughest parts of the country none the less. But we’re putting out trust in the Lord that He’ll be faithful as He uses us and this camp to reach them. Man, I absolutely love these kids, I love this ministry… the Lord has definitely put a passion in my heart for them.
On the weekends, we’ll also be running family camps and women retreats. J We had our first family camp this past weekend and it was AMAZING!! My gosh, I didn’t think I could love people I’ve just met so much and so quickly! I can’t get enough 🙂
Your prayers are greatly appreciated. We’re confident things won’t go ‘as planned’ and that’s okay, but of course, the smoother the better. Although we would love for all of the activities/projects to go perfect, what’s more important is that we show them unconditional love. We want them to see Christ in us, and then leave it up to them to ask why we live the way we do. As I’ve said before, we’re not here to force our belief’s on anyone. Hector, our friend that’s living on the street in Nicaragua, could tell we were Christians within only a few minutes of meeting Tracy and I. We want His presence multiplied and felt the same way throughout this month.
Thank you so much for your continued prayers and support. I love you all so much!
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