For the month of December we were in La Ermita, Talanga, Honduras. Our team along with two other teams were at a ministry called Heart of Christ. This ministry is a children’s home and also a refuge for women. It’s one of the few ministries in the whole country that also takes pregnant women.
Honduras is an extremely broken and dark country full of much domestic violence. Honduras is deemed one of the highest murder capitals in the world. Women and children suffer the brunt of the brokenness in the country. The government has been very corrupt in the past but is currently in a transition period and trying to make changes for the better of it’s people. There is still much work to be done and there are deep wounds of the people from the past.
The ministry our team worked with was incredible. They have been in Honduras for 12 years and have absolutely changed the atmosphere of that community. They currently have 17 children between the ages of 2 and 6. 90% of the children at the home are products of incest and abuse. There were children there who were barely 2 years old who had suffered some of the most horrific and traumatic stories that I’ve ever heard. To hear of the amount of rape, severe abuse, and abandonment these children experienced was absolutely heartbreaking. Women have little to no value and many are looked at as mere property. Women are frequently victims of rape and what is worse is that many of them will rarely file a report to the police. There is so much distrust with the justice system in Honduras because of past corruption.
Heart of Christ works hand in hand with the police department. They are partnering together to bring real change to the people’s perception of the police and win trust from them. The ministry will protect victims of rape and abuse by putting them into refuge until their case has gone to trial. Sometimes this looks like 2 weeks and other times it could be months. Slowly, they have made some real progress in this country. They love the people of Honduras IMMENSELY. But they love Christ even more.
I can remember one girl who was at Heart of Christ. Michelle was 16 years old and had a 4 year old daughter. Yep, that’s what I said 16 with a 4 year old. Her child’s father was also her child’s grandfather. Michelle’s daughter is named Katherine and both of them are so so beautiful. They have these smiles that can light up a room and they just exude joy. Michelle came to Heart of Christ while she was still pregnant at 12 years old for refuge but she didn’t leave. Gracie and Lee adopted Michelle and Katherine and brought them into their family.
That was what was so crazy about the whole ministry. Every single one of these women and children had suffered so terribly, yet looking at them you would never know. The smiles on their faces and the joy that poured out of them was amazing. I thought to myself, how, how could they have more joy inside of them than people I know who have had love poured out on them their entire lives.
I was brought to tears last month more times than I can count. But I wasn’t brought to tears because of the atrocious stories of these sweet people. I was brought to tears CONSTANTLY because I saw Jesus all up inside of that place. I was brought to tears because these stories were stories of redemption. There was such beauty that was bred out of so much brokenness. I was reminded of Christ everyday that I was there. So much of this place mirrored what Jesus has done and is doing for us. Now, I belong. I was brought out of brokenness and delivered into redemption. I found hope. I was given a new family. I was given a new identity. I found what it means to be loved. These are the words that stay in my mind when I think about this month.
Okay, I guess most of you are wanting to know what our team had to do with all of this and why we were even there in the first place.
We tried to bring lift to the ministry anyway we could. They are SO busy all the time. They are currently in the midst of building a new facility which will be their justice center. The current building they are in is at max capacity. They actually have had to turn people away because they just don’t have the space anymore. So, this will provide them with the capability to house more people. So, one of the things our team assisted with was in the construction of this building. I forgot to mention, the ministry also has school for the children right on site of the compound. So, our teams helped in the classrooms as well. Another thing our teams helped with were just general chores around the compound. We would do dishes, clean, grab supplies from the store, and basically anything else that needed to be done. Oh yeah, so the compound doesn’t have running water and very limited electricity so we boiled water to wash our dishes, manually flushed toilets and took bucket showers. We lived completely off of rainwater. I actually loved it a lot. The other thing that we got to assist with this month was Christmas. But, this isn’t like any normal Christmas back in the states. Every year Heart of Christ receives donations from their sponsors for Christmas presents to hand out to neighboring villages. This year, we handed out 5,000 presents to children in and around the community. It was incredible! The gifts we handed out to the kids would most likely be the only thing they received that year. We spent the first couple of weeks sorting and organizing boxes and boxes of donated gifts. We would make gift bags that contained a toy, some school supplies, and then either cookies or candy. These were by far some of my favorite days.
This month was by far one of my favorite months thus far on the race. The Lord taught me so much through our time with Heart of Christ. I fell in love with 2 of the girls that lived at the children’s home that had special needs. I found that God rekindled a passion that I have had for a long time by working with those 2 girls and also planted some seeds in my heart of possible future opportunities. The Lord taught me a lot about redemption and hope this month. He also taught me about joy that perseveres circumstances. I could go on and on about what I learned this month but this is already way too long of a blog post so, if you have any other questions about this ministry or things the Lord did this month please message me!
I can’t thank all of my supporters enough for all the encouragement that has been extended to me through this journey. God is so good and He is moving! I can’t wait to share with you guys more of what is to come in these next months.
With love,
Jordan
