"And God, Please Be With the Corn."

Well I didn't want to blog every day because I figured no one would want to read that many posts, but so many amazing things are happening!  Ok, I will try to pick out the most important things.

I worked with the mission team here again today, and Leslie wanted the women to go on a prayer walk and pray for several things-first, for the ladies whose husbands work at El Sembrador.  These women work so hard to raise their families and keep the house in order, but they don't feel like they are doing anything productive or worthwhile while their husbands are out working. Leslie wanted us to encourage them and pray for them so that they would realize just how important they are to this ministry and to God.

She also wanted us to pray for a very special girl in one particular family here.  We weren't sure, but we think she has cerebral palsy.  She can't walk, and she has many mental and physical disabilities.  Her parents can't afford to take her to a doctor and get help, so they are just doing the best they can.  But I'm telling you, they were the most precious family I have ever met.  All of Scarlet's (the little girl) siblings were so sweet, and her mother was so loving to all of them.  It was such an honor praying for that family, and I hope some of you can send up a quick prayer for them as well.

And finally Leslie told us to pray for rain.  Corn is in the process of growing and without rain it will severely affect the harvest.  Corn is such an important part of this school, and a bad crop will mean bad consequences.  The only rain that has come here in the past two weeks has been a quick 10-minute spurt of rain that stopped almost as quickly as it started.  So we all went off in different directions on a particular road and prayed for the corn, the fields, and the school in general.  After a while I ran out of things to pray, and I just stood there, side by side with my Creator, awestruck by the mountains in the distance and all of His creation around me.  It was such a humbling time.

Something else that got me thinking was a conversation I had with a girl named Daniela.  She is part of the Bible Institute here, studying to enter into children's ministry.  We were talking about our schools, and she asked me how many people were in the missions program with me at Asbury.  I told her around 30 people, and that is a pretty generous number; missions is one of the smallest majors at Asbury.  But her eyes got so wide, and she told me that their were only 11 people in the Bible Institute, and only 3 people were graduating this year.  She also said that this was the only program of its kind in all of Honduras.  I thought of all the Bible colleges and seminaries there are in the U.S.  What an amazing privilege to have such easy access to ministerial education.  Some people are thirsting for it; I will never take it for granted again.  I only hope that one day people everywhere will have the opportunity to pursue the calling God has instilled in them in a deeper way.

That's it for now!  Thanks for all the prayers, and if you have a free moment, remember to pray for the corn.

The First Couple Days

            My first few days in Honduras have been pretty great!  We got to El Sembrador (the school I am working at) yesterday in time for a delicious Honduran dinner of rice and beans, sausage, and goat cheese.  I spent the rest of the evening getting settled in at the Harmless house.  It’s a really nice place!  There is wi-fi, drinkable tap water, and hot showers.  I feel like I’m on vacation, but I’m certainly not complaining! 

            There are two mission teams here this week, and since Leslie, my supervisor, is in charge of organizing and scheduling the mission groups, my first week here will pretty much be assisting her however she needs.  Today we went to the market with the women of one group because there wasn’t enough work for everyone, but that didn’t get us out of doing hard labor!  Once we got into town our van broke down, and we spent a good amount of the morning pushing the van down the street while Leslie tried to turn it on.  I’m pretty sure we gave everyone in town their entertainment for the week.  If they weren’t laughing at us they were shaking their heads at how ridiculous this group of women looked chasing a white van down the street.  Some men had pity on us and helped us push, and eventually we got it running enough to get back to the school.

            In the afternoon I worked mostly in the office getting ready for a Bible School they are putting on tomorrow.  I mentioned that I had just got finished putting a Bible School on in the DR, and I was “put in charge” of organizing everything, which was pretty easy, since I just used the same plan I used last week.  The kids seemed to enjoy it last week-I hope they will tomorrow!

            Also, I saw a few monkeys tied in a yard with ropes.  And a parrot-like bird that had a cone around its neck because it was plucking its own feathers out. An interesting end to an interesting day.

And So It Begins

Well I made it!  I haven't showered or slept in about 2 days, but, after returning from an amazing trip to the Dominican Republic, I finally began my adventure in Honduras.  The DR was fantastic, the best trip to date.  I met new friends, reconnected with old ones, helped put on a great Bible School for the sweetest kids ever, and saw the roof go on the warehouse we have been working on for the past two years.  This warehouse will help the Least of These Ministries in the DR store more food to hand out to the impoverished people in the villages surrounding the city of Barahona.  It is always such a blessing to be a part of that team, and I am already missing everybody very much.

But there is not much time to stop and reflect on the trip!  After a few hours of hanging out in the airport, I rearranged my things and headed off to my first flight to Miami at 6 in the morning.  I landed in Tegucigalpa around 12:30.  It's so beautiful!  I will try to take pictures soon and post them.  Today I just chilled out in the World Gospel Mission guest house in the city.  Kent and Rhonda Harmless picked me up from the airport, and have been very patiently answering my endless stream of questions.  They were kind enough to agree to let me stay at their house for the next six weeks.  I was supposed to stay at another house, but a tree fell on the room in the house that I was supposed to stay in.  Everyone is ok, but the room isn't in very good shape.

Anyway, not much to report yet.  We are traveling to El Sembrador, the farm school where I will be working at, tomorrow.  I can't wait to meet everybody and get started!