The Role of Men, The Role of God

It's difficult for me to sum up everything that's been happening here in Honduras. The Father is teaching me to come to Him expectantly every day, He's challenging my ideas and theology of who He is, He's making me question whether His love really is sufficient, He's romancing my heart with the secrets of heaven, He's revealing the contents of my faith and my heart. 

There's always an internal struggle when I walk into communities like Los Pinos, where most youth are addicted to huffing paint thinner to escape hunger pains and witness gang violence and killings, or Infa, where children are protected by the government from abusive families yet they constantly fight among themselves. As a North American, what do I have to give and what can I say that can really make a difference?

This past week our group went to a dump site to pass out lunch and to minister to the men, women, and children that work and live there. It's straight up a garbage site where all the trash is deposited and people sift through it for food, recyclables (for selling), and any other 'treasure' that can be found. Hundreds of vultures circle overhead and there's a ton of cows and dogs that eat the garbage. 

As our bus drove up, the smell of burning and rotting trash poured into our windows, as well as flies. 

I preached for the first time this past Monday, sharing the stories of the 2 sons in Luke 15:11-32. Two days later, our group returned for more lunch & ministry at the dump and I was able to minister with a group to a few of the men working there.

The Lord constantly is reminding me of Isaiah 55:11, "So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it." Whenever I struggle with what exactly the ministry is impacting, He reminds me that my role is to listen and obey in sending forth the word or action–but it's God's role to pierce, change, and grow hearts.

I met a 14 year old girl named Francine at Infa this past Thursday, who had lived there for 21 days. She told me that she didn't like living there because the children weren't allowed to leave the premises. She also told me she was targeted to be beat up often because of her soft-spokenness. I chatted with her (with the help of a Spanish-speaking teammate) for the hour and poured into her as much as possible. The Lord has recently put 1 Samuel 17 (the story of David and Goliath) on my heart and I realized then that it was for Francine. How did David defeat the giant? He gives credit to the Lord, yet it's David that slings the stones and he had been trained previously in killing the lion and bear as a shepherd. God had just told me that morning that the key was obedience, listening and obeying in the small instances to train up for the moments of need. Honestly, I don't know if Francine accepted what I was trying to share, but in faith I have to put my trust in God that He used that conversation to strengthen her and build her up.

We have a few more days left in Honduras, this Wednesday we'll be taking a bus to Guatemala! Details of next month's ministry are still fuzzy, so stay tuned. Team Hebron will be paired up with Team Mashach for the month, and we'll be living with a pastor's family by a lake (rumor is that there might be beds in our future).

How to Do Laundry in Honduras from C Young on Vimeo.