God has taught me a lot this week, patience, dependablity, and to listen to him. Not to have expectations and to take it easy sometimes. Hard work and dedication will be rewarded in His glory and in His perfect timing. (Pictures to come)
January 18, 2013- All of O squad woke up with eager anticipation of talking to our families, it’s the first day we have off here in Honduras and were taking the bus to mall Las Cascadas. I was so grateful to get an internet connection and be able to talk to my family though it was choppy. Internet overseas isn’t good at all. It was craziness when we first entered the mall; everyone took out their computers in search of a Wi-Fi connection. Just so you all know the bandwidth gets taken up when you do face time so that’s why world racers may just Skype call you instead. This mall had a Wal-Mart, and rumor is it’s the only Wal-Mart in Central America. I bought cheap sandals, so I don’t have to wear chacos all the time, a ton of candy bars for snacking, scissors because no one seems to have any, and Ziploc bags because they always come in handy. Everyone was soaking up every last bit of free Wi-Fi and flushing toilets. The day was long but it felt so nice to contact home for the first time.
January 19, 2013- We were supposed to go to the women’s prison today but change of plans; we went to a soccer field in a gang run neighborhood. We had to have permission to be there and one of our contacts is really close with the higher ranked gang members because she has been ministering to them for a long time. When I say soccer field you may picture this green field full of grass and goals on each end. This was a dirt field in the middle of a bad neighborhood there were about a hundred kids standing bare foot and dirty. Our team of North Americans pulled up in a bright yellow school bus, everyone was staring as we got off so confidently. There were starving dogs, I even saw two get into a fight. My heart was pouring out to these people. The girls all brought nail polish to do nail ministry and the boys played soccer with the kids. We also had a praise and worship team. It’s amazing to see how these kids just wanted to play jump rope and duck duck goose with us. With the language barrier it’s like a constant game of charades. Most of the kids just wanted piggy back rides and to be spun around. I’ve never seen joy on kids’ faces like this. I didn’t feel for one second I was surrounded by one of the most dangerous gangs in Central America. It felt so amazing to bring joy, hope, and laughter into a community like this. They didn’t want us to leave, and saying goodbye was hard. On the way home I thought about how we only had two more weeks here in Honduras and it really broke my heart. I was filthy dirty from the field there is dirt constantly blowing every which way. Cassie, one of the girls that’s a missionary at Zions Gate was on a previous world race and was called back to Honduras. She now helps Tony and the boys at Zions Gate. She has been taking care of this baby, Henesis, who is from the dumps of Los Pinos. Cassie has been called to adopt her, unfortunately she’s had a lot of struggle with the adoption process. Henesis’s dad, Rony, is now in the picture again and is trying to get his life right with the Lord. He also works here at Zions Gate building the women’s dormitory. Henesis had to go back to Los Pinos and Cassie never knows when she will get to see her again. It could be a day, it could be an hour, a month, or never again. Well today, Cassie got Henesis back, no diaper, wet and dirty, but it is such a blessing! Praise God Henesis is in safe hands with the one she calls “Mama”. A new kitten is also part of the crew here at Zion’s Gate it was picked up by one of the kids. People in Honduras don’t have the love and compassion for animals like we do in North America. This 6 +/- week old kitten has cuts all over its face from people throwing it around. We gave it a bath, lots of love, and some food; we’re praying hard it survives.
January 20, 2013- Today we did “taking it to the streets” ministry. We held up signs that said “Jesus loves you” and “honk if you love Jesus”, of course they were written in Spanish. We all looked like we were doing a car wash but we were just trying to get a response out of the drivers in Tegucigalpa. We were on a main road by the shopping plazas so there was a decent amount of traffic. As the Hondurans would say we are “loco gringos”. We were singing and dancing, high fiving people in cars, weaving in and out of traffic. Making a ton of noise and sharing the love of the Lord. We had church service back at Zion’s gate at 4pm. One of the boys who lives with Tony shared his testimony. His name is Carlos and he is 15 years old. He was telling us about how when he was younger his whole family lived on the streets. They were found by the police sleeping outside and he and his 3 siblings were sent to an orphanage. He would leave the orphanage during the day and beg on the streets for money. That’s how he met Tony. He shared with heartache how his father has money and abandoned the family just to start a new one. He said every time he went to visit his father that’s his step mother would make the kids work. She would get a temper if they didn’t and stopped allowing the kids to come over. It’s so humbling to learn something from someone that is younger then you. Carlos said “face your fears”. Those words are what led him to change his life of stealing and running the streets to be a child of God. My heart pours out to the kids here at Zion’s Gate, they work so hard to stay in school and learn English. They are actively trying to turn their lives around and it is so heartbreaking to know where these young boys came from. The trials and tribulations they face every day, how not one of these kids sees their parents on a consistent bases. Tony is doing wonders by raising these boy to be men of God and I praise him for starting this ministry.
January 21, 2013- Waking up at 5am to drive into the mountains is never easy. We are building a tilapia farm. Donnie one of the missionaries here in Tegucigalpa is overseeing the project. We starting by building a dam out of rocks and mud, the rocks happen to be made out of granite which are very common in Honduras. The tilapia farm will be feeding the orphanages and homeless in Honduras mostly in Tegucigalpa. This ministry takes a lot of power and our all girls team is getting it done. It takes a lot of energy out of you, and we are doing it all week long, praying for energy and strength every morning. I am very thankful we meet our ministry contact at Denny’s every morning because it’s nice to get internet for a few minutes. On our way back to Zion’s Gate Teresa showed us the coffee fields in the mountains. Coffee goes for like $450-500 USD for a sack. I didn’t know there was such a process that went into it. You pick the coffee beans when they are red then you dry them out and roast them. They are then weighed and ready to ship. We got back to the Zion’s Gate and had squad time and worship around a bonfire and roasted marshmallows absolutely love how our squad was all put together this month. It’s truly a blessing to get to bond with my squaddies although I can’t wait until my team gets alone time.
January 22, 2013- I put on the same muddy clothes again to go work at the tilapia farm, welcome to the world race! Our contact made us these amazing shortbread and caramel cookies; it was so nice to have a homemade treat. It really made me miss my mom. We stopped by a gas station and I loaded up on lollipops to keep my sugar up while digging rocks. As we got up to the mountains it was raining so it was extra muddy today. Digging boulders out of the mountain in the rain was quite the experience. Pamela brought her speakers it was so much easier to work with music, but it’s still hard. Rumor has it there is a lot of gold mined on the mountain adjacent to us so if we strike gold we’ll all be fully funded. Our ministry contact, Teresa, told us all to bring extra clothes on Thursday, which is our last day of ministry. Excited! I wonder what she is up to…
January 23, 2013- Oh, holy backache. This Morning was extremely hard to wake up and stay awake. We got stopped at a police checkpoint and they demanded our passports. The police said if we did not provide our passports they would take us all to jail. No worries though, Teresa put the police officer in his place. She knows the laws better than he does. In Honduras a visitor does not need to carry a passport and a “traffic” police has no right to ask for a passport anyway. I learn so much more every day that I’m here. I felt really dizzy and fatigue on the mountain all day. I have little cuts all over my hands from picking up these granite rocks all week. I couldn’t even go back down the mountain to work after lunch; I helped Teresa around the house instead. I scrapped the paint off the clay tile floor and cleaned the bathroom. I love driving through the mountains of Honduras, people still use horseback as transportation it’s so amazing to witness the lifestyle as we’re passing them in an F-350. Getting back to Zion’s Gate was brutal today there were 10 of us shoved into a five-seat SUV. How you might ask… 2 people in the front, 4 people in the middle, and 4 people in the trunk. This is no biggie and quite common amongst transportation in 3rd world countries. O squad had the 1st annual Chris Scott eating contest. This month was tacos, the winner of the girls was Emma who ate 7 tacos in 10 minutes, and the winner of the boys was Seth who ate 7 in 15 minutes. Go Emma!! Love Story had our bible study on the roof; we are still tapping into the Holy Spirit. We had worship and praise for 30 minutes as we journal how the Holy Spirit is touching and affecting us. Listening to Kari Jobe always softens my heart. The Holy Spirit gave me a message and I wrote a poem about it.
“Listen to the cries,
Read between the lies.
Listen to the soul,
Jesus completes us whole.
Faith is based on belief,
and what lies beneth your feet.
Oh Jesus,
How you carried the cross,
How you always love the lost.
How your life was sacrifice for our sins,
How you are the ultimate win.
Oh Jesus,
How I long for you,
Reach into my soul,
and complete me whole.
I've been beaten and broken,
but you always lift me up.
Oh Jesus, how I rest in your love.
My holy holy sent from above,
My savior, my king,
You are my everything.
I thank you and give you glory,
for all that I am,
a beautiful love story."
I was excited to pack my bag of clean clothes for tomorrow.
January 24, 2013- Are you sitting down? You may want to as you continue to read this blog… I stretched every last second out of my morning; I was running on empty, after all, it is the end of the week. Teresa’s truck was making a weird noise so we had to pull over on the side of the road as we were headed up the mountain. Donnie got under the truck to assess the situation. As everyone go out of te car Teresa instructed Elissa to hit the break if the truck started to roll back. Donnie figured out that one of the bolts came loose from underneath her truck. We then pulled up to this “ferreteria” which is a hardware store which was miraculously less than a hundred feet away. They just happened to have one left of the bolt size we needed, and there just happened to be a tire store next to the hardware store. Ok God is definitely present. Here’s where the story begins… Donnie and the man from the tire store jacked up the truck. Teresa put the car in park and put the e brake on. Most everyone got out of the truck to walk around as it was being fixed. Elissa and I were in the front of the cab, and decided just to stay in and have some quiet time. Shortly after, the truck started rolling backwards and Elissa jumped in the driver’s seat to slam on the breaks. The truck tires were only 6 inches from the heads of the men working under the car when we came to a screeching halt. We had no idea anyone was even under the car as it was rolling back. I witnessed my teammate save two lives. A few of my teammates rushed to pray in Spanish for the men who almost just died. Thanks to the mercy of the Lord and Elissa’s quick reactions they were safe. Teresa’s premonition was 100% right, she knew the truck would roll back even in park with the emergency brake on, it’s just amazing how God can talk to you and give you the answers ahead of time. The rest of the day was just present with the Holy Spirit, Kellie, Pamela, and I had amazing bonding time as we were raking up the base of the fruit trees on the property. Exposing the ground around the base of the trees helps the nutrients get into the roots and helps the trees bear more successful fruit. Teresa, has plants/tress that produce oranges, mandarin oranges, lemons, bananas, avocados, guava, and a ton of orchids. I love how our team of girls can be transparent with each other and just laugh! A few of us walked to the Pulperia during our lunch break, Elissa put together an amazing wild flower bouquet! We also found wild blackberries, I was too afraid to eat them. One of the kids from Zion’s Gate, Henri, was having a hay-day. I really hope he doesn’t get sick. It was very rainy on the farm after lunch, and working in the rain is never fun. We left the farm around 3 and Teresa told us that she told us to bring clean clothes because she was going to let us take hot showers at her house… WHAT! A! BLESSING! She also called her masseuse and old us if we wanted a massage it was only 10 USD for 30 minutes. Ok no way, am I dreaming? A hot shower and a massage on the world race, I am getting pampered! We neared her house and we were all pumped with excitement, when all of a sudden a protest pops up out of nowhere. There are about 5,000 liberals marching in the street for socialism in the country. They hate North Americans and it’s very common for these protests to break out in riot. Teresa high-tailed it around the back roads dodging and weaving through the protest. She told us to get down and don’t pop our heads up because this could potentially be a very dangerous situation. The police were in full riot gear on the sidelines. It felt so good to finally make it safe back to her house. Taking a hot shower was heaven! I paid for a 30 minute Honduran massage and I feel so great! Her masseuse works at one of the best spas in Tegucigalpa and she was just superb, exactly what I needed after a week of hard manual labor! I was so humbled by the fact I got pampered, I know it would be hard to be the people on my squad that were doing other ministries all week and wanted a hot shower. I was so thankful for his present spirit in all of today!
January 25, 2013- We are in the Valle de Angeles “Valley of Angles” we shopped around at the market and we had pasta for dinner. Its really nice to not have spanish food all the time. We have to catch the bus at 7:30 so I will keep you all posted next week (or the next time we have internet)
Crazy facts about Honduras
A Honduran birthday is celebrated by covering someone in eggs and flour.
It’s the murder capital of the world.
The currency in Honduras is called Lempiras. It’s about 20 Lempiras for every American dollar. 400 Lempiras is $20 USD.
Parents have custody of their kids until they are 21.
You get two years of prison time for abortion, even in cases of rape and incest.
If a boy and a girl go out together solo in Honduras it is assumed they are engaged.
There is about 2,000 people that live and work in the city dump.
One acre of land in Honduras is about 5,000 USD in the mountains and 50,000 USD in the city.
