Finally, a day of rest! Today is our sabbath and our first day of rest since we’ve arrived in Honduras. It’s been pretty fast-paced since we arrived at launch so I’m writing this blog from my bunk bed for the month while embracing all the rest today brings me. My vision for my blogs is to be vulnerable and to always share the real story of whatever I experience, not just the fun parts or the parts that I think everyone would be impressed by. My heart is to share the real stories, the full stories, and that’s what Jesus has asked me to do through my storytelling ministry.
After some very lengthy travel days, we arrived at our ministry site on January 8th. This month we’re partnering with a ministry called Legacy of Hope Foundation in Santa Rosa De Copan. Legacy of Hope Foundation is a crisis care center for children in Honduras who have suffered unimaginable trauma and abuse. It exists to provide solutions for orphan care in Honduras. It’s a safe place for these children until they are found a permanent and loving family. Here they receive medical and psychological attention to provide for each of their needs. It’s a place where they’re cared for, where they’re loved, and we’re they’re shown unconditional love. A lot of these children that come through the crisis center have never known or seen what that’s like. Santa Rosa De Copan is one of the safest (it may actually even be THE safest) cities in Honduras. I think that’s super cool and not a coincidence, considering that safety is what these children are in need of, along with so many other things. Right now my team and I are serving them by helping with a big move from the old centro to the new centro for the kids (which means center). We are moving everything to a different building that provides a better system for them to care for the kids. Our days are long and jam-packed. It’s tedious, it’s tiring, and it’s not always fun. Scraping and scrubbing termite feces off of shelves isn’t fun. Smelling each and every article of clothing to determine which ones smell like mold so that we know what needs to be washed and what doesn’t isn’t fun. Repetitively folding, organizing, and taking inventory of everything isn’t fun. Even though our hosts blessed us with a nice house to stay in for the month (very thankful for this) there are still things that come with living in Honduras. Waking up to no electricity isn’t fun, which is a common occurrence here. Hand-washing laundry and having to wait longer than 24 hours for it to dry isn’t fun (and isn’t the most cleanly). We have to be extra mindful to not drink the water and to not flush the toiler paper, which of course goes against everything we’ve been taught. It’s a bit overwhelming. But the work we’re doing is making a difference even when it feels mundane (and a lot of times it does). Matt and Marianne are our hosts for the month and BOY have they taken care of us. They’re going out of their way to make us feel at home and we couldn’t have asked for better hosts. They’re GREAT Y’ALL! They’re American and so they obviously speak English, which is super nice. We’re learning and we’re getting a lot more done than what was expected of us and I just think that’s so cool. My team and I started out with a determined mindset that we were going to get as much done as possible considering we only have a month here. I can’t wait to see how much we get done by the end of this month.
One thing the Lord is really hitting my heart with this week is unity. What it looks like to live the life that He intended for us to live together with Him. That’s the thing though, I have been so set and focused on doing all of these tasks for Him and not with Him. I struggle with perfectionism so much that I get so caught up in the work that I’m doing and experience pressures from throwing unrealistic expectations onto myself. I convince myself that since I’m doing this for God that everything has to be perfect and I begin to feel super overwhelmed. I have to fold the clothes perfectly. I have to wrap the mattresses in plastic perfectly. I have to take all the pictures I can so that I can fulfill my role as a storyteller the best that I can. I have to make enough time for Jesus during my long days or I’ll be behind everyone else. I have to make time for my family so that I don’t look like a bad sister, daughter, and girlfriend. I have to somehow create time in my day that I don’t have so that I can learn Spanish as fast I can to be able to communicate with the kids the way that I want to. This entire past week I have nearly broke down due to a lot of change, all at once. I felt so overwhelmed because I was becoming too focused on the things that are all ahead of me instead of taking them as they come. I fall for the lie that perfectionism is just part of who I am and that it’s a struggle I just have to accept and live with. But the Lord is speaking against that and showing me that I CAN fight against it, I don’t have to settle for being a victim. I can fight against it. The Lord is in the process of stopping me and reminding me that all of these things don’t have to get done. Those are just things I’d like to get done. I forget that He’s invited me here to do this journey with Him, alongside of Him, to partner with Him and to share in that. I am being reminded that I’m doing this world race with my Father and not for Him. He doesn’t need me to accomplish His will. He doesn’t need my help. He can effortlessly find other people to do whatever He needs to do through them instead of through me. But he STILL invited me. He STILL wants me to do this with Him. He wants ME. He wants my heart. He wants our relationship. None of it matters if I don’t do it with Him. The tasks don’t matter. The lack of time and the huge/stressful to do lists don’t matter. It’s the day-by-day journey with Him that matters. 
If any of you want to learn more specifically about the kids here at Legacy of Hope Foundation or more about this amazing ministry in general, I want to encourage you to do so!
Website: www.legacyofhopefoundation.org
Instagram: @legacyofhope_fdn
And if you’d like to follow me and keep up with what’s going on, I’d love for you to do that by subscribing to my blog.
P.S. I am currently still fundraising and about $2,800 away from meeting my February deadline which is approaching rather quickly!! If I don’t meet my deadline I am at risk of being sent back home. If you’d like to help me stay on the field just click the “donate” button on the top right of this blog page. I appreciate any and all donations!
