We are currently in Granada, Nicaragua for squad debrief. Tomorrow morning we head on our way for Panama where will be begin month 3 (I can’t believe it’s already month 3!) of ministry in Boca de Toro. I feel like I’m still processing all that I learned in Honduras. I was welcomed into a family (Carmen, Alexandra, Edgaurdo, and Pamela) . They treated us as their own children and when the daughter, mother of 19, came home from the hospital, they ran over to our house to get us to come see the baby only 1 day old! It was such an honor to be invited into their home at this very special time. The night we had to say goodbye was so hard. We had become so close with this family over the course of the month after, eating meals, laughing, and sharing life with one another. I also got to see what the life of a missionary can look like. We got to be a part of Tony’s ministry for a month; investing in the lives of 6 boys and deciding what choices have to be made, how to react when after months of doing so well, the boys fall so hard. Being clean and doing well for a week and then the next week being kicked out of school, finding one of the boys high, and them wanting nothing to do with you. We saw the real struggles, the real life, not sugar-coated. It was in these times I learned what grace and forgiveness truly look like. To trust that God is all- powerful and has his own timing even when the situation seems hopeless. Having faith that God will continue to pursue them and remembering that He has a plan for each of us.
I got a glimpse of hard lives. Lives where children go home to a place that looks much different than the home I grew up in. A place where you are lucky to have $1 for food for the day. Where your father is out of the picture and your mother is often not home, or even really present in your life. Where a home looks like 4 mud walls and 2 beds for a family of 6. A life where children at the age of 10 become addicted to the numbing affects of paint thinner.
While there was so much more that took place during our month in Honduras, these were the highlights for me. These people had an impact on me that I will take with me the rest of my life. This is only month 2 of the World Race and I can’t wait to see what other people and stories will change my life for the better.
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