My team and I made it safe and sound to Honduras about 2 weeks ago. Even though our journey here was a little rough (our 6 hour travel day turned into a 22 hour travel day from many obstacles that popped up along that day) but that was in no way foreshadowing for how our ministry for the month would be going. My heart has yet to be this joyful on the Race as it is this month at this ministry in this country.
A quick overview of what we are doing for the month. We are working with Heart of Christ ministry where they take in children who need a place to live because of abuse or abandonment. I came into this month thinking it was going to be really hard for me. That I was going to be more homesick than usual and really struggle with being away from my friends and family during not only Christmas time but also the birth of my niece or nephew who is due on the 22nd!!! But God showed up in an amazing way by giving me more joy than I could ever hope for from the 10 children that live at our compound with us this month. Some of the things we get to do is help out in their classrooms, assist in building a new home for them in the back lot of the compound, and put together presents for other children in the community (we have been helping put together and hand out close to 5,000 presents this Christmas season!) Even though some of these children we live with at Heart of Christ come from heartbreaking backgrounds, they have more joy and love than I do a lot of times. They have ministered to me this month more than I could ever hope to do for them and they don’t even know it. Yesterday, we had a Christmas party at our compound for the kids, the staff that works with the ministry and the staff’s kids. It was such a great celebration of Jesus’ birth.
The kids all put on a rendition of the story of Jesus’ birth and it was the best reenactment of the story of our Savior being born that I have ever seen. Mercy played the role of Mary and Diego played Joseph. They pulled off the parts flawlessly. Sweet Katharine was Gabriel who came in to speak to Alejandro, the shepherd in the field. The three Wiseman were played by Christofer, Darriel and Jafeth and then the show was overcome by the cuteness of the three little angels played by Dolce, Karolina, and Amy. I wish I could put into words how cute it was to watch them act out that wonderful day in history but words just can’t do it justice. I’m attaching some pictures below so hopefully you can grasp just how cute they all were and get a little glimpse of the joy that fill my heart everyday by getting to live life with them.
After the skit, Santa showed up and handed out presents. I was able to put my polaroid camera to some good use and took pictures of the kids on Santa’s lap and gave them the picture to keep. Something I know I took for granted in the States was getting a picture on Santa’s lap or getting to see pictures of my nephews and niece on his lap and most of these kids have probably never gotten to have their own picture like that so I was excited to be able to give them those pictures. Then we pulled out the piñatas for the kids to go ham on (because it wouldn’t be a birthday party in Honduras if a piñata wasn’t involved!) After enjoying all the candy from that, as if the sugar high wasn’t real enough already, we got to enjoy some delicious cake – after singing happy birthday to Jesus of course.
It was such a great day and felt like a party I would attend back at home. It felt normal and was so cool to see that kids here get just as excited about Santa showing up as kids at home and they act out the same bible stories that I grew up acting out in church.
In Honduras they celebrate Christmas on December 24th so we will get to celebrate it twice this year! (on the 24th and the 25th) In the week before Christmas we will be baking cookies and tortillas and other sweet, traditional Honduran treats to enjoy during our two-day celebration. I can’t wait to tell you how much fun we will get to have during that time! All I know now is that it will be a day filled with lots of good food and ending with setting off fireworks. Stay tuned for more details!
Thank you all for the continued prayers and support. I love this journey more and more every month and as I get deeper into it I am just constantly reaffirmed that this is where God wants me now and that He is leading my life to great things. He’s a pretty amazing Father to have.
My final fundraising deadline is January 30th and I have about $3,000 to go. I remember when I first started fundraising and never even thought that I would be able to raise $3,000 let alone get to the point where that is all I have left to raise to stay on this trip! I know God will provide for the funds to be provided (if it’s His will it’s His bill, right Jimmie? 😉 ) If you feel God calling you to give to support this journey, please let Him use you in providing those few more dollars I need to continue to follow His path for my life. If you are not in a place to give, prayers are just as valuable as money to keep me focused on Him and dig deeper into my intimacy in my relationship with my Heavenly Father.
Thank you again for all you guys have done for me. Wifi has been scarce this month but I’m hoping to give you a full overview of the month in a few weeks. I love you all so much!
