honduras2010

Greetings from Honduras!!!!

Hola from God's weary worriers.   This has been a glorious day!  The weather has finally turned warm.   YEA!!!!!  We are so  tired of wearing layers of clothes and being chilly.   God was glorified in all that happened today.   Many were brought to Christ, one  home received concrete floors, many received medical and dental help and children received clean hair.  The Hondurian people are so appreciative of all that we do for them.  They have so little and yet are content with what they do have.   Our efforts bring a tiny piece of heaven to very deserving people.  God has been  smelling a fragrant offering this week.  It is hard to believe this week is coming to a close tomorrow.   There is much to share with everyone about how God is moving among this team and among the people of Honduras.  Everyone of us must count our blessings!!   See you soon!!

Carolyn

A concrete floor.  It seems like such a simple and insignificant thing, yet to one family today it was everything.  It meant safety for their six children, a clean place to lay their head and a firm foundation for their 15 x 15 foot house.

The trip to the house was rather exciting and quite an adventure.  Josh and I traveled in Honduran style via the back of a pick up truck.  We journeyed up and down the bumpiest dirt road near cliffs and on step hills.  The whole time were traveling on the one lane road I kept thinking, my mother would die right now if she knew that her precious daughter was one giant pothole away from being flung to her death.  It was quite the adrenaline rush!

Thankfully, we made it alive and in one piece to the site of the house.  We unloaded, met the family, prayed and then proceeded to fill buckets full of sand, gravel and water.  Mixing concrete and leveling it is definitely "back breaking" work and not for the faint of heart.  Thankfully we had four strong men and a few local boys to help with the heavy lifting.  The father was extremely helpful and his children were such a blast to play with during breaks!

Two young girls, Dahli and Kimberly, really caught the attention of Josh and I, as well as captured our hearts.  They were three and two respectively.  They would throw their arms straight up in the air with a plea full look on their faces.  We then, of course, scooped them up in our arms and swung them in the air.  The whole time their faces glowed and their smiles stretched across from ear to ear.

My heart totally melted today.

 

Back at the church things seemed to be going well with many more people coming through then the Monday/Tuesday brigade. I collapsed on a seat and didn't get up until the bus was ready to go.

It was a terrific day and it felt so awesome to shine God's love through our physical act of love in labor.  Only two more days...oh so sad.

Sarahann Baldwin

Honduras: Halfway

Hola.  We have reached the middle of our week of service and  I am again amazed at the speed with which the week passes. One piece of good news is that the weather was significantly warmer today. Much more normal for Honduras this time of year, and much more comfortable, since we have no heat.

Today the team visited Rancho Ebenezer, which is one of the most fruitful areas of the World Gospel Outreach ministry. The ranch was built as way to minister to the many abandoned children in the country. These children are literally rescued from a life of abandonment and are taken in on the ranch, where they are given a two parent home, an American based education through 12th grade (in English and Spanish), and a strong Christian foundation. The fruits of this ministry are the most long term blessings for the many people served here. We often see the growth and fruits of the ministry as those of us who have come for several trips can watch the children grow and mature.  We also experience it on the daily brigades, as many of the ranch "graduates" serve as translators for us.  It is truly amazing to see how God is working in the lives of these young people in a country where their futures might otherwise be very different.

The ranch is fairly self sustaining, with coffee and blackberries grown to produce products to sell. Also, all of the woodworking, furniture building, and wood fabrication is done on site. Shortly there will be a larger coffee processing facility to hopefully increase the sales. The team toured the school, a family home, the fields where the crops were grown, sampled coffee beans off the plant, and had a delicious meal with the staff.  They were able to interact with some of the ranch kids, and played to a 2-2 tie in a hard fought soccer game. This was considered a moral victory by the team, as the kids are reportedly undefeated.  All in all, a good day of rest from the brigade sites, and a look at the other part of the WGO ministry.

Tomorrow we resume our brigades, at a new location. The week is flying by. We look forward to continuing to serve in a place that is desperately in need of Gods blessings, and we all feel privileged to be able to serve Him in a way that touches the lives of the Hondurans as well as the team members themselves.  We all pray that we will be used to His service.  

Jack Wells  - Will Kiehl

Honduras Dia Tres!!!

    It was a bitter sweet day today.  Being our last day that particular brigade sight, we were "Muy Triste" (very sad) to be leaving, but the impact that we left with those people (and the even greater impact they had on us) was nothing less than worth it.  The Children had HUGE hearts and were constantly wanting to hug you and play games and tell you that they loved you.  At the end of the day people that you hadn't even interacted with came up and thanked and hugged you, and it was as if they'd known you for years.  The impact they had on the brigade team is definately one that will last a lifetime...

-Ashley

Words can simply not fully describe the emotions that were in the air today. People were led to Christ, teeth pulled, babies treated, hurts shared and tears shed. If a spaceship had landed and aliens had wondered into this church today they would have left fully understanding the meaning of the word "unconditional" love. And they would not have to ask any questions but simply observe the church in action down here. One of the highlights was one of our teams pouring  concrete to replace a dirt floor. No longer will the family have to sleep on mattresses laid upon the dirt! We will attach some pictures but even they can't do justice to what we are experiencing. The entire team will have individual stories to share when we return but in the meantime "GOD's" church is alive and at work in Honduras.

Ray

Honduras Day 3

Hello everybody up there in the states.  We were unable to blog yesterday due to some technical difficulties here at the house. So a quick briefer over the past two days. Yesterday was a fun and unique day we started the day off attending a local Spanish church and I actually believe that the entire team attended that service, it was different but amazing. After the service we went to a local restaurant and did some shopping at a local market town called Vally De Angels.

Today was first brigade day and that was amazing!!! So many needy people that we were able to help both physically and spiritually. Five people verbally committed their lives to Jesus today and that is only the beginning of God's amazing work for us here. The children are beautiful, amazing and so happy just to hear the word and spend time just being with us. We poured a concrete floor for the church we worked in today so hopefully now they will be able to use that room for Sunday school and better able bring the children to God. I can not wait to see what else God has in store for us here but whatever it is I know it will be amazing. 

A couple of people have given a theme to this trip.  It is "Dios haz tu obra en mi", which was one of the songs sung in the worship service yesterday.  With 22 newcomers to the team, we don't know what to expect, but know that God has great plans for all of us.  The trip has seemed challenging in many ways - especially the uncharacteristic cool weather.  It was about 50 degrees in the city this morning when we woke up, which made it maybe not even 40 up here on the mountain.  It also took a couple of days to realize that one of the women's rooms had no hot water.  (Actually, to realize the other rooms had hot water!)  But we are clothed in Christ's love and mission and that keeps us warm.  Every member of the team is finding clarity in their God-given purpose on being here.  And I thank God daily for every member and their growth!

This is a picture of the Praise Band singers at CCI-The Spanish speaking church

 

These are just some of the people we have helped so far

 

This is a lovely view of the city from a park we visited, notice the Coca-Cola sign

 

Oh Yeah did I forget to mention we blew a tire on the way back to the house. HAHA could have been worse though and Praise to God that it wasn't.

Honduras Day 1

We all survived the wild plane ride into Honduras today roller coaster baby!! We had a blessed day of seeing Gods beauty and poverty. We are so blessed to live in the USA and have all the freedoms we have. God was good, our flight was delayed and us and our luggage all arrived here. The new mission house is huge and very nice. We're one of the 1st groups here so it's a treat for us. We had a nice day of singing and worship.  We're are all soooo tired so it's time for bed. Tomorrow we will go visit the Honduras church and have a wonderful lunch.

Blessings,

Sandi

PS Hope our house is still standing when we get home :)

Dinner Gumby...

The team had their last american meal for the next coming week!  It consisted of Sweet and Spicy BBQ sauce...however when Sandi touches it, It's sweet and SASSYYY!!!! anyways, it also consisted of our Gumby Mascot being drowned in tea, and doing the limbo under some dinner-ware...not what you would call a typical dinner at Bandana's.  Unfortunately we had to eat without two of our Male team members being Jack and Don. WAY TO GO WILL! ONLY ROOSTER IN THE HENHOUSE!  (Help Me!!!! Someone please say something manly!!! I want to burn something.... Hmmmm Gumby where are you???)

Getting ready to play some cards. We will be learning Crazy 8's with the Bassett twist and some Egyptian Rat Slap. 

Wake up call at 3:15.  Jacked to be God's Hands and Feet!!!

Rock On!!! (Jesus is the Rock!!!)  Ashley and Will

ps...will does NOT have a manpurse...it's a carry on :)

Packing Party

Packing party was a lot of fun. Getting everything sorted and checking expiration dates. Pizza arrived just in time (right when we finished)! 

3 more days and we will be on our way. A huge Thank You to everyone who has helped as we have to check 11 bags to fit all the donations. God has blessed our preparation to overflowing!!

 

Keep us in your prayers as we travel. As we serve, we will remember all of your generosity that goes with us. Blessings to all!

Please pray for our team...

On this trip we will keep posts to keep you updated...please keep us in your prayers for protection, for bold opportunities for share the Gospel...and for both physical and spiritual healing.