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This month in Honduras has been full of hardships and answered prayers. We are the first team to ever visit our contact and expectations on both sides were not originally met. The pastor pretty much does everything, including leading church events that occur almost every night. I think he had an unrealistic expectation that we would be able to give him a break from that. Within that expectation was that there would be a fluent Spanish speaker on our team. While a couple of us know a good bit of Spanish none of us know enough to give a sermon in Spanish or teach a leadership seminar.
My team had an expectation that we would have livable sleeping conditions. A leaky roof and spotty water and power make it hard to function. Multiple nights we slept only 2 or 3 hours at a time due to flooding from a leaking pipe or rainwater from the roof. The language barrier was wearing us out and putting a lot of pressure on the Spanish speakers.
We received a phone call from another squadmate on Saturday that she had a vision of us walking around the church seven times. We started the next day. That day was full of emotional turmoil. Between lack of sleep and reliving everything that had happened within the last couple of days to our family’s back home we were ready to break. We spoke with some women in the church about what was going on. They began to fight for us. These sweet women spoke to the pastor and then brought us extra blankets to lay on the cement floor since our cots were drenched. We told the pastor no one would be translating the sermon that night so the Spanish speakers could get a break. By the end of the night it felt like a weight was lifted off our shoulders!
Since the moment I crossed the border into this country I felt a heavy weight on my shoulders. While crossing the border I was literally heaving my guts out into a plastic bag in the middle of the bus. There were multiple logistical problems in getting to our ministry site. By the time we arrived I was exhausted and still hungover from anti-nausea medicine-but my job was not over yet. I was immediately thrown into the role of main translator. Three days later (Sunday) I was worn out from lack of sleep and stress of miscommunication. I made connections with back home during wifi and my family and friends immediately started to pray. The weight that I didn’t even know was on my shoulders began to lift off and by the time I went to bed I was able to laugh and have joy once again.
The days following have not been any easier than the beginning, but the Lord has prevented it from raining (and it is the start of rainy season) and opened up the pastor’s heart to us. In the beginning he was very cold and standoff-ish. We prayed for his heart to become like mashed potatoes. That we would learn how to give grace to one another. Just the other night he and his family came and hung out with us when power to the whole town was out. We enjoyed sitting outside, laughing, and enjoying each other’s presence.
As a team we are working through and growing exponentially in our relationship with God. Ministry may look different and hard, but through all of us praying and the power of God we are making it through.
To close I want to offer a blessing written to the Israelites in Numbers:
“The LORD bless you and keep you
the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the LORD turns his face toward you and give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26
