Man, I have a lot that I want to write about. We’re wrapping things up in Honduras and leaving for Nicaragua next week. I can’t believe it’s already time for month 3! I was thinking about the past couple weeks, and I think that it can be best described by the Psalm 30:5 verse "Weeping may stay for the night, but rejoicing comes in the morning" Here’s why:
Two weeks ago, I was really struggling with missing home. It was my brother’s birthday, and I didn’t have internet access to say “Happy birthday” on his birthday and I knew that my family were all together, and I cried a little in my tent. Also, we were doing a lot of landscaping on the ministry property here, and I wasn’t finding much purpose or fruit in what I or my team was doing in ministry. I realized that this made me miss home more because I was questioning if what I was doing was of significance. Also, a situation happened in my team where one of our teammates felt very unloved and devalued by everyone on our team. Not related to that situation, but I felt a little distance from my team as well and was missing connections that I have with friends back home. Also, one of the only boys that I made a connection with on the ministry site decided to go back to his home of living off the dumps and getting high off of paint thinner.
However, right now I feel joy, peace, and contentment. I feel fulfilled and excited in ministry. I thought that I’d have to wait 2 weeks to go online, but they told us that we just had to wait 2 days, so I got to talk to my brother and family 2 days later, and my sisters both wrote me long e-mails later too. The situation with our teammate was resolved, and it really challenged me to love better and to put others’ desires over my own and to be a servant. Also, I was able to have some conversations that put down some walls and created a greater understanding between me and some teammates, and I feel more connected to them. The boy that left the ministry site actually decided and got to come back, and I haven’t been able to spend a lot of time with him, but the time that I have has been good. A teammate of mine and I got to draw with him because he likes to do that and is really good. My teammate actually bought him a sketch book and pencils. Also, they built a Denny’s in the capital city about a year ago, and we got to go there for breakfast one morning which was sweet. Although I’ve been eating too much sweets because I can’t always control what I eat, so when I do have control, I overeat the candy and snacks which isn’t good.
I was praying, and I remembered 1 Corinthians 15:58 "..because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain", 1 Corinthians 10:31: "So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.", and Colossians 3:23-24: "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving." These have helped me to realize that God is glorified in whatever I do for him and that His Kingdom is spreading regardless of what I can physically see, and they’ve also given me motivation to work during ministry. Also, when I really think about it or say out loud what I’ve been able to do/ have seen in ministry, I can really see the significance and purpose. I don’t want myself or Satan to make me doubt that what I’m doing has significance. I’ve been processing through the question of “What is ministry?“ in my head because many times I think of ministry as just verbally preaching the gospel, but I’m realizing that ministry also comes in forms of building up/encouraging another ministry, giving love to a baby born from incest, and praying for a man who searches dumps to get money.
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It’s also helped because this last week we’ve had some great opportunities to build relationships and show God’s love. Last Saturday, we did this thing where we went out to the road and had signs that said “Honk for Jesus” and “God bless you” and Bible verses and things like that, and we also had candy and music. It was really fun and encouraging to see people honk for Jesus and to spread His name. We also had an afternoon where we got to go with a Spanish-speaking pastor to different houses to talk with people and pray for them. We went to a house where the pastor was talking to a lady, and she started crying and said she wanted to recommit her life to Jesus. It was really encouraging, and they gave us this really yummy coffee and cookies at the house. The Central Americans have been so hospitable. I also got to talk to some Honduran men with 2 others from my team, and that was cool just to talk and I actually got to share the gospel with one of them which was cool. I also got to go to this sign language class at the ministry site because there’s actually a woman that lives here that can’t hear or speak, and they don’t know why, and she’s never been taught sign language. It was really inspiring to the look on the woman’s face when she was learning sign language. I can bet that I’d feel pretty excited to have a way to communicate if I’ve never been able to before. I was surprised by how much I learned in just 1 hour, and it was really cool because the lady pointed to my cross necklace and made the sign for God. I understood her, and it was really cool because I’ve never been able to communicate with her before.
Also, we went to the place where people live off of the dumps and were smelling their rags to get high on paint thinner as we were there, and one of them was offering porn for us to look at. We planned an afternoon to do nails for the ladies and to cut and dye hair for the ladies as well as the fellas there. (Mohawks are common for the boys here as well as rat tails they’re called and red and blond dye). It was pretty cool- it did feel chaotic at times, and at times they didn‘t seem overly grateful, but I felt honored to be able to wash the ladies’ feet and do their nails, and one of the women there did my nails too. I was also touched when I told one of the women that I liked her bracelet, and then she gave it to me as a present. In my head I was thinking, “I can’t believe that someone who lives off the dumps and who might have no other bracelet gave me her bracelet.” I accepted it because I know the joy it gives someone to be able to give someone else a present..
We went to that same place the next day, and I was really encouraged to be able to talk to this gentle man that couldn’t see very well. He told me that he had been shot in the head, and she showed me the hole. He couldn’t see very well because of that. He also showed me his skinned knees that he got from falling over when he was drunk. I noticed that he was missing some teeth too. I just connected with the man because he was so sweet, gentle, and friendly. Later someone from my team had told me that he was really wasted or high the day before when we were there. Everyone went to play soccer, and I just sat with him and watched because he couldn’t play because of his vision. He was just asking me questions and seemed like he really cared. He told me that one of his sisters has the same name as me. From what I understand, he said that he actually likes living where he’s living because it’s better than where he was living. That surprised me. My teammate and I prayed for his knees and vision.
This month has been really good. Our squad has really liked this ministry contact. He’s very excited and open to new ideas and he actually does things to make them happen. He has a contagious excitement to ministry and a contagious way of loving the people that no one wants to love. I really liked that this month and also that I felt that I had a lot more free time and alone time as opposed to last month. Also, the weather here has been wonderful. Next week is my teammate Grace’s birthday and we’re also having a fun girl’s night out. And then we're leaving for Nicaragua!
1. You can pray for the man I met at the dumps- his name is Josue Luis
2. You can pray for the boys that were living on the streets that now live at the ministry site
3. You can pray for our ministry contact Tony
Thanks love everyone!
Yasmine- the cutest girl in the world 🙂 She's taken care of by the ministry in Honduras. She looks like she wanted to travel with us to Nicaragua. 🙂
