Schools, translation, and teams, oh my!!!

This past week was a big one for me! It was my first time hosting a team on a short term mission trip. I felt very overwhelmed before hand and unsure if I would be able to do it. Thankfully, the Lord sent many great people to help me out and definitely gave me the abilities to do what I needed to do. It was definitely a different pace from how my normal life has been here, since it required 24-7 attention, but I loved it!

4 college men from the University of Memphis were here for a week. They came ready to do whatever the Lord put in front of us. They were flexible and had awesome attitudes. They didn’t really know each other before hand very well and they didn’t know me, but the Lord definitely provided us with unity and a sense of family. We spent most of our time doing evangelism. We were able to visit 6 different high schools throughout our time and share testimonies and the gospel. Over 140 students made commitments to Christ during our times with them!

Anthony, Denver, Michael, and Parker, my "sons"

At the schools, we would come in, share testimonies and then present the gospel using the bridge diagram and Romans 6:23. Karla, our friend and translator was there to help us out. Little did I know that we would be splitting in groups and I would be called on to translate. It was difficult for me and I tried my best to get out of it, but I still had to do it. Throughout the week and with a lot of encouragement from my team members, I was feeling more confident and it was apparent that the students were understanding what I was saying in Spanish. Big steps for me! This was definitely one of my most stretching moments.

Sharing the gospel using the cross diagram! 

The students at one of the schools 

                        Talking with some of the girls afterwards who wanted to know more! 

Another one of our awesome opportunities was to speak at the biggest high school in Honduras (possibly Central America). It has over 10,000 students and is pretty rough. We were able to speak to 1500 9^th graders. The night before they contacted us and said they wanted us to create a program of some kind. So we decided to do the Lifehouse drama (if you haven’t seen it, look it up on youtube it’s awesome!). After practicing it twice and falling into bed exhausted, it still went really well the next morning and seemed to impact the students.

Taking a "selfie" at Central, the biggest school in Honduras! 

There were several times we had one thing planned, but then they would be changed to a different day, or canceled all together. We were supposed to visit the women’s prison but because of a security issue, we couldn’t go. However, it was evident that God surely knew what he was doing. That day we went to two schools we would not have otherwise have gotten to go to and saw nearly 100 students accept Christ!

One other fun opportunity we had was to speak about the gospel on two national radio stations and a national television station. They brought us in to talk about why we were in Honduras and to speak to the youth of the nation about why it is important to be involved in positive things like volunteering. We also got to share the gospel through that. Who knows who needed to hear that message that day?

Radio Time

At the TV station

What a cool opportunity to share why we care about Honduras! 

On our last day together, we were also able to make a trip to the city dump (In a bus provided by the government! Talk about cool connections we made during the week). While I had seen the dump before I had always traveled to the school nearby and hadn’t gotten to interact with the adults who actually live there. The sights and smells are ones that don’t easily leave your memory. Moments like these stir up questions about what does it mean to have hope in the darkest places? Would I still worship God if that were me? Why was I born into a completely different home than the next person? There aren’t easy answers. 

There is hope even in the darkest places. While we couldn’t do much, I pray that if even for a moment they saw a piece of God’s love and a glimmer of hope.

Wow. What a week. It was far beyond all that I imagined, but that’s our God. He does more than all we can ask or imagine. This week brought up my confidence in a new way. I saw that God could do things through me if I was just willing, even if I felt weak. I was reminded that God has a purpose for me and surely wants me here. I didn’t expect to be so impacted by the things we saw and did, after all I live here. But out God is alive and working and He is truly amazing and my eyes are now more open to see it. I didn’t expect to be so blessed and encouraged by the guys I would work with, but I truly was. In conclusion, I must declare “How Great is our God, there is NO ONE in heaven or earth like Him!” I pray that you also see a piece of the greatness of God this week!

Our team and the city that God is truly working in!