Two of my favorite sentences I’ve learned in Spanish in Honduras so far…
Porque para Dios no hay nada imposible. Lucas 1:37
Estoy feliz de estar aqui. [I am happy to be here.]
As our bus inched closer to the murder capital of the world, San Pedro Sula, I gripped my bible tightly. So many thoughts were going on in my head…
“Will our host be there to pick us up? Or will we have to wait around for them? That could be pretty dangerous. It’s already dark outside!! I really hope they’re already there waiting for us. What if they’re not? What will we do???”
These thoughts came into my head, but as quickly as they came, I replaced them with truth and promises from God. Every day I’m getting better at taking my thoughts captive and embracing His Word instead.
I started to say the part of Psalm 91 that I have memorized… “Those who live in the shelter of the Most High will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty. This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety. He is my God, and I trust Him. For He will rescue you from every trap and protect you from deadly disease. He will cover you with His feathers. He will shelter you with His wings. His faithful promises are your armor and protection. Do not be afraid of the terrors of the night, nor the arrow that flies in the day…”
Closing my eyes and letting those words sink into my soul, peace consumed me. Because seriously, if God loves me enough to send his son Jesus to die for me, surely he will protect me everywhere I go. Since God called me to do the World Race, surely He will keep His promise of protection in every country.
As I was letting myself drown in supernatural peace, my teammate Derik comes over and sits by me on the bus and asks to read our journal entries out loud to each other. Victoria joined in from the seat in front of us, and that’s where the laughter began.
The laughter hasn’t stopped since that moment.
Once we got off the bus in San Pedro Sula, we looked up ahead and saw three people holding up a poster. It said “Welcome World Race to Honduras –Derik –Victoria –Rachel –Lucas –Grace –Katy … Wi are glad to have you here!!” and my heart melted in that moment.
I had to thank God right then. Earlier I was worrying about the craziest things and doubting God’s protection for me, and here I stood with an abundance of blessings. It reminded me of Peter when he tried to walk out to Jesus on the water in Matthew 14.
Jesus called out, “Take courage. I am here!” So Peter started walking out towards him on the water. But when he saw all the waves crashing around him, he became terrified and started to sink. Peter screamed for help, so Jesus reached out and grabbed him out of the waves. Then Jesus said “You have so little faith…why did you doubt me?”
When we are walking through the crashing waves, it’s easy to forget that Jesus is out there extending his hand to us. He’s saying “Trust me, I’ve got you.” There’s no reason to doubt His protection of me. After all, He’s already been there ahead of me.
I will save the rest for a later blog, but I wanted to let you all know that I will rarely be on the Internet this month…once a week is probably the maximum. We are living with an amazing family …Pastor Gregerio, his wife Francisca, and their children & grandchildren. None of them speak English, so it’s been a challenge for us since no one on our team speaks Spanish; however, we are quickly learning enough Spanish to communicate with them. Plus we have a sweet Spanish/English dictionary that we use constantly. The lack of communication has forced us all to get better at charades, and it always provides laughter for everyone.
Our host family is amazing. The Pastor is teaching me so much on guitar, his wife is teaching me how to cook, and his kids are constantly beating me at a game of Uno. Our ministry is working with “His Hands for Honduras,” which is a school & feeding program for about 40 children in the village we are in called Zolano. The biggest thing we have been doing so far is putting on mini Bible dramas for the kids. So far we’ve done the story of Zacchaeus and the story of Shadrach/Meshach/Abednego in the blazing furnace….and the Pastor liked both dramas so much that he had us perform them each a second time in front of the whole church…haha!! We also sing songs and play games with the kids. Thank you all for your prayers!!!
Proverbs 31:25 “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.”
