Merry Christmas friends and family!
Life these days is taking place in Valle De Angeles (Valley of Angels), Honduras. I’m living in a house, well sort of, the guys have tents pitched in the back yards and the girls are in the rooms inside. We are staying here with our two hosts David who’s a Texan and Scarleth who has lived in Honduras her whole life, they are amazing people and are such a blessing to get to stay with. I’m so thankful for them as well as this house. I’m also thankful for things such as running water for showers, perfect weather, gorgeous mountain view’s, delicious food and plenty of it, great community of people around me, the guys I get to do a bible study with every morning, and a ministry which I enjoy very much. Here in Honduras we have five of the seven teams living at the Josie I was talking about earlier and the two other teams are off in another city. Ministry here consists of about twenty of the thirty people going to an orphanage for people of all ages with special needs. The remaining stays back at the house and helps David build furniture that he sells to support his ministry. At the orphanage we have been doing all sorts of things from organizing their craft room, to painting, to singing Christmas songs, to simply playing sports and hanging out with the residents. Back at the house when building furniture we work with David to make things like coffee tables or bedside tables out of wooden crates that he bought at a low price. This is what I’ve been doing lately and I’ve enjoyed it very much getting to learn better techniques from David as well as talking with him about our faith and growing more in that way as well. This place will be a place I’ll be quite sad to leave in a couple weeks but also happy with all that I’ve learned here.
Back in early November we said our goodbyes to Cambodia which was a bit sad however most of us were ready to get moving forward to a new place. There were things like the scolding hot weather that I was ready to leave. Also the fact that it was almost impossible to communicate with most people. However I do miss things like the coffee shops and being able to bike all over the place. I also miss the experience of a culture that was so different than that of the states. The culture their was so much different in the way that they live their lives getting around on motos and taking tuk tuk’s on days we didn’t have enough bikes. Not to mention the fact that I may have eaten dog. So many unforgettable memories took place in Cambodia. Some of my favorites vary from getting to see Angkor Wat, an ancient wonder of the world, to dancing in the rain praising Jesus at a temple atop a mountain, to staying at a hotel for my birthday with a swimming pool. What’s crazy is these memories are outside of the even better memories I made revolving around the ministry we did. There was a day I picked probably thousands of lice bugs from a few elementary age kids at a school. Or the multiple days getting to play board games with residents at a trauma hospital. Or even just having fun painting schools spending time with my team. My biggest takeaway from the Cambodia portion of the race was simply how much we need the lord in our lives. Cambodia was a place where you could literally feel how spiritually dark it was. There would be chants from monks over loud megaphone towers coming from the temples as early as four in the morning. With all the prayer and worshipping of idols and false gods around us it became much more prevalent when we weren’t seeking the Lord like we should. It showed me that I can and need to lean on the lord more than I ever thought I’d have to. Without him the darkness of Cambodia would have overwhelmed everyone but through Christ I’m able to look back on two of the most life changing months of my entire life.
With the World Race only a third of the way done I’m overflowing with excitement to see what else the Lord has in store. With the growth and maturity thats already taken place i can only hope it will continue at this pace. God is so good! Lately I’ve been focusing on hearing from him and growing my intimacy with the Lord. It is not easy and takes lots of faith. This is one of my prayer requests both that I’ll be able to grow in my intimacy with God as well as have a greater intimacy with him. Before I go into a few other prayer requests I want to express my gratitude and thanks to those who have donated since launch. It means so much to me knowing I’ve got people at home who are praying for me daily or weekly and especially those willing to support me financially. So thank you again to everyone who has donated and specifically those who donated after launch. I do however have some more fundraising to do, to be exact I need $3,716 more to reach my goal of $14,951 and be fully funded. Anyone who is still praying about giving or that feels led to give I want you to know more is still needed and it would mean so much to me if you donated. My last prayer requests just include that I’ll be able to grow in my intimacy with the lord and have a greater relationship with him as well as the people I come into contact with throughout this life i would have never imagined.
Merry Christmas Everyone! I love you all!
