The name of our ministry site is called Zion Ministries. It is run by a 40 year old man named Toni who is from Utah. Toni has an incredible story of how he got to be in Honduras. He has only been a Christian for 6 years, and yet in that time has managed to get acceptance in one of the most dangerous communities in Honduras, Los Pinos, which is located in Tegucigalpa.
Toni’s current objective is to mentor and disciple 5 boys that live with him. He does other things on the side, but his main goal is to raise these boys up as strong Christian leaders in the Tegucigalpan community. The boys are amazing. I have gotten a lot of opportunities to pour into them through love, hanging out, and bible studies. The progress God is making in their lives is unbelievable.
The other ministries that Toni works with include working with local pastors, going to prisons, IHNFA, and going to the different colonies around Tegucigalpa and just bringing joy.
The main pastor he works with is named Armando. At one point in time he was a professional soccer player, but now is completely focused on the Lord. He has made friends through all forms of authority, from the president of the country to the leaders of the gangs. Often times he can make a call to the gang leaders he knows and get safe passage for different missionary groups into dangerous parts of town. His passion and zeal are incredible to witness.
The prison ministry is extremely relational. It involves going to different prisons, a men’s and women’s prison, and forming relationships with a couple of the people there and begin the discipleship process.
INFA is the government solution for problem causing street kids. They snag them off the street and put them in these compound type places. Here they go to school and get two measly meals a day of rice and beans. The kids at these places suffer from extreme neglect and need a ton of love. A lot of the kids are girls. The sad thing is this is only a temporary solution, if you can call it that, because the government rotates the kids out once there isn’t enough room and they have picked up more kids.
The colonies that we visit are basically just really impoverished and dangerous areas where a lot of people have moved, similar to townships in South Africa. We go into the communities and provide activities to the kids, talk to the adults, pray, and offer support and fun in any way that we can. It works great if you can do it on a consistent basis.
Out of all the opportunities we have had my favorites have been the boys and cleaning up the grounds. Toni has about 10 acres of land that he is trying to fix up. Much of my time this month has been pick axing 300lb rocks out of the ground making a garden, weed eating, and pouring into the boys. It has been a ton of fun and one of my favorite months so far.
Out of all the ministries I have gotten to be apart of this year this one and maybe the Philippines are the only ones that I am thinking about re-visiting.
