Last Day in Honduras

Today was the last day we will spend in Honduras. We had a chance to visit an orphanage that housed kids from 3-14. The trip there was down a long dirt road filled with so many potholes you can not imagine. This makes traveling to and from the orphanage hard for them, therefore makes getting supplies even harder. As we arrived at the orphanage, we were greeted by several kids waiting at the front gate. Although many groups visit the orphanage, the kids still look forward to having visitors. As soon as we got out of our vehicles kids began to run to our team. It seemed like everyone had a kid near them immediately.

We then got to hear the story of the orphanage. The orphanage began in 2009 with the first kids coming soon there after. The amazing story was that during a church service one night, the orphanage was attacked by several armed gunman. They put a gun to the Pastors head and pulled the trigger several times. Nothing happened. They then hung him by a rope and attempted to run him over with a car, but the car went forward instead of backward. All divine interventions. There is no doubt God had his hand on this great work.

The team got to spend several hours working and playing with the kids. It was hard to leave when the time came.

We the traveled back to San Pedro Sula where we were treated with some McDonald's. We all enjoyed that.

After lunch we had a chance to go and make some deals at the marketplace. I think everyone left with something.

We then toured the Bourdeaux the poorest section of San Pedro Sula, where we found a Church of God church. We had a chance to pray with the Pastor and his wife, and sing some songs with several children of the area. This church needs everything. The saddest is that the roof is about to cave in and they have nothing to fix it with. We don't realize how good we have things back home in all of our churches.

Last but not least we celebrated Jay's 18 birthday at Pizza Hut. We had pizza and birthday cake. And we hope that Jay never forgets his 18th birthday! Happy BDAY Jay!

We leave tomorrow at 11:45 for Honduras and hope to make it back to Tyler by about 9 PM. Thanks for all the prayers and support. Picture albums will be posted when we get back to the States.

 

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Day 7

Today was a great day. We had a chance to visit the Copan Ruins, or for most the Myan Ruins. We had an awesome tour guide. His name Tony. He spoke 10 different languages. He was 75 yrs old. Not only did we learn some things about the Myans, we learned about nature, birds, and more.

We then traveled back to our hotel one last time. We said our goodbyes to Pastor Manuel, Manuel Jr, and Net. The we took our journey back to San Pedro Sula. We arrived at the new place of residence for the next two days and had a meal with the team. Several went to the pool, while others headed to bed early. We will be visiting an orphanage in the am and will be playing with some kids. There has been a battle of sickness, stomachs, sinuses, and more but we know God is the healer. The trip has been so much fun and so worth it, nothing will ever stop us from moving forward. We are ready for another great day.

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Honduras Day 6

Today we had the opportunity to minister to the children of the church. The team performed puppet skits, songs, dances, and helped in each one of the Sunday School classes. Then they had a chance to love on the kids. They danced, spun them around, and took photos with many. The kids also played soccer again with a few of the boys.

The enemy has been fighting our team today with stomach issues. We believe that God is the healer and will take care of them so that we can continue on the journey tomorrow.

Tonight we had the opportunity to see the church in action. It was there Sunday night service. It was amazing. The worship, the dances, and we got to hear Pastor Manuel speak to the church. He spoke from Isaiah and the throne of God. He also gave our team a very specific word about America needing to turn back to God. Through this night, our team was touched by God. Pastor Manuel is a very anointed man and we are honored to have served beside him. I know God will use the church mightily over the years. God's anointing is with them and He will continue to guide them. Just seeing them worship like they do, knowing all the things we take for granted they are without, is very humbling. I pray that our faith would become more like theirs as we begin to rely more on God and less on the world. We must decrease, so He can increase.

 

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Honduras day 5

Hola para Jay y Kat y Jason.

Today we got to take a look at the project for the coffee plantation. The Pastor told us of his plans to produce and harvest the coffee beans. Their plans to create the kids camp is inspirational. It will be such and honor to partner with the church and help them fund the plans for this.

After lunch we got a chance to go see a local portion of the Mayan Ruins. We were all amazed. Each of the kids took a turn at climbing the structures and took many good photos as they posed at the top. They will have many to share I am sure. While there we had a chance to visit the bat cave. No we didn't see Batman but there were many of his friends there.

In the evening we had the chance to be a part of the churches youth service. It was amazing. The worship was like none other. They had two dance teams, had a great praise and worship team, and a good drama team. They know how to have church. Our team got a chance to perform again, and Savannah our new friend sang a great song. Another dance was done by the girls dance team, then I had the chance to partner with Chris, our guide and my translator, to deliver the Word. I will say the best part of the nights were the alters were filled with students and others crying out to God. I believe several of our own students were touched dramatically by God. I know several of them experienced things that they had never seen before. I also want to say the Holy Spirit's power is still working today. We have seen healing on this trip and restoration, and demons had to flee tonight by the power of God.

We ended our night with some of the most amazing what we would call flour tortillas, grilled with cheese, pork, and beans. The were homemade on the grill outside. It was our first real cultural food. Overall the day was amazing and God still continues to prove that this trip was all planned according to His purposes and not ours.

 

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Honduras Trip Day 4

Today was a great day. We started our morning at 6 AM and ate breakfast. We then traveled for about three hours to one of the churches on the District. While there we had a chance to help make and pour concrete for their new Pastors quarters. Up until today, the building had been just a dirt floor. Our team worked great together. They all looked like pros.

After completion of the floors, the Pastor was are working with sat us down and began to share the vision for the property and for the churches on his district. He has over 250 churches on his district and volunteers his time in serving these churches as their overseer.

The whole trip I had been asking God to show us how to help these churches and Pastor Manuel gave us that opportunity today. He said that many of the churches cannot afford to pay any of theirs pastors and often times have no resources to help even fund the church. Part of his vision was raise enough funds for a Coffee Plantation that would support the church and its pastors. Pastor Manuel continued to share that the land for this has already been purchased and that he was believing God for the seed money. He also shared that the farm would more than pay back the money in the first year and double the profits every consecutive year. This is how the churches would help fund pastors churches and provide proper training for them. I really believe that God spoke to all of our group to help raise this money. To get this started for the churches only takes $3000, and we believe that we can be the ones to help him start this ministry. They have the workers in place to make sure it stays successful. We shared we wanted to help with this and Pastor Manuel could only say it was a 15 year prophecy that was coming through with our group.

We then traveled back to our Hotel where several of the team got to swim for the two hours of down time we had.

Tonight the church graciously prepared a home cooked meal for our team. It was their version of the steak kabob. We also had beans and fresh pico de gallo. The night quickly turned into fun for the students as the two churches taught dances to each other and then prepared one together for tomorrows church service.

The end of our night couldn't have ended better when both churches combined to play soccer game. The day was a great day and we know that we are walking in the path God has prepared for us.

Tomorrow we will be going to see the place where the coffee will be planted and be involved in the youth service tomorrow night. God has been so good to us and he is opening the eyes of all of our kids for sure.

 

 

 

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Honduras Day 3

This was the second full day of our trip here in Honduras. We were greeted this morning with a great breakfast in the Hotel Cafe. We then went to the Church to meet with the youth and pastors of the church to prepare for our morning at a local high school. Our team got a chance to perform two dramas and I got a chance to speak to the students. I think our kids realized how good they have it in our schools and how comfortable they really are in the environment we live in. While at the school I preached the message Crazy Love and at the end of the message most of the students at the school raised their hands saying they needed a Savior. What you need to know about these kids, was that they were at this school because they had been kicked out of their other schools. The school helped the kids get their life on tract and after this morning I know God will give them all a new future.

After a quick bite at the hotel for lunch, we went out as a team with the other church and evangelized a whole community, We spent nearly 3 hours talking with people about Christ and praying for their families and for healing in their bodies. We then invited each one of the people out to a night of worship in their park. It was unlike anything that we would call a park, but to the location did not matter to them. The worship team played and all I can say is we had church in the middle of the streets. Our team performed dramas again and I got a chance to share once more. The preaching didnt last long as the Holy Spirit took over. It is amazing to see what God can do in such a short amount of time when He is in control. The park was packed with people pursuing God with all that they had. I know that God pursued them just as much. It is my prayer that they will keep the fire burning and not allow the passion they have for Him to ever be hidden. I pray for our new friends in the city on a Hill.

 

 

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Honduras Day 2

This morning started off early at 3:45. We waited patiently for our aIrport express shuttle to arrive and our bus driver was kind enough to turn the heat on for us this morning. We all enjoyed our morning sweat to help us get the day started.

As we arrived at DFW several of our students were nervous because they had never been to an airport or been on a plane since they were little.

As we made it through security, Jay and Susan were pulled aside because of their suspicious bags.

On a positive note, we were able to combine Susan's bag with others to get her in at a great 49.5 lbs. Great packing!

We have met numerous people en route to Honduras as well. One group was from a church in Dallas going to another part of Honduras. We also met 2 businessmen headed there for business. They were able to reassure some of the anxiety the students were experiencing...definitely a Godsend in line at Starbucks.

The flight to Houston lasted about 45 minutes and was very uneventful but very encouraging for those that were not a fan of flying. We got to ride the airbus and we are now ready and waiting for the flight to San Pedro Sula.

After we arrived at the airport we were greeted by a team of local pastors and their youth pastor. We ate a a place called Power Chicken. The spread was unbelievable. We had Parrillada Catracha and Mariscada Catracha...which is basically two large plates of food with chicken steak, pork and more. The students are excited.

After eating at Power Chicken we made our way through the pot hole roads for about 2 hours to Copan. While traveling to Copan, we were met by several Checkpoints of armed guards. Each carrying what will from now on refer to as flowers. Along the way were streets filled with trash, parks that looks simlar to what we would call a dump, and homes that no one should have to live in.

For us the stay would be different, as we are staying a great place fileld with showers and even some ac. But for others, their night will not be the same.

After a short team prayer, Chris our trip coordinator took us to the Church of God that we will be spending the week with. The team was greeted with students lining the youth room on each side and shaking all of our hands as we entered. We then played a name game in which all of us had to say our names, and then dance. Some good times.

After some ice breakers between our group and theirs we had an amazing night of worship. They started off by playing some of our music to worship to and then we worshipped to their music. The key was all of us were worshipping the same God. We then had powerful prayer times with both teams and began preparing for the busy day in the morning. We will be going to a high school to minister in drama, song, and I will have the opportunity to bring the message to students. Please help us cover this day in prayer. We will end the day tomorrow with evangelism and a street service where will be preaching to a group of people who have never heard the gospel.

We believe that God will show up and many will be saved. Please join us in prayer for tomorrows students and people we will be ministering to. We are just now beginning to settle down and have spent time praying with our team and getting a drama ready for in the morning. May God refresh the team tonight so we can share the good news in the am.

 

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