Amber---July 6, 2011

I feel I have to backtrack a bit in order to show how amazing our Father is. Monday was a very emotional day. I think for most of us it tugged at our hearts like nothing we have ever experienced. Yesterday was a much different day. We went to a village called Hacienda De San Juan. We began our trip with about an hour drive up a mountain. There was a bridge washed out so we had to hike the rest of the way. I have never been so physically tired. We hiked for what we think was about two miles. The closest example I can think of is hiking up the hill by the walking park in deep ruts, with mud, and twice a steep in 99 percent humidity. When we got there we began to play with some children, then we went to their school. It was a very fun day. We laughed and played with the kids for a long time. Because we had to hike back down the hill we did not do any prayer walking. So even though it was physically draining, it was not emotionally draining. I know that God was giving us a break because he knew what was in store for us today. We went to a village called Barbasco. When we arrived the children were about to eat some watermelon. Audrey took me to see the classroom and it was incredible. They had much more materlialistically than the villages we went to previously. Audrey told me that she could tell there was a major “gringo” influence there. There were 2 girls volunteering at the school; one from England and one from New York. We all gathered in the classroom like we did at the first village. The Chorti people seemed very glad we were there. They are the nicest people… Very welcoming. Some of us were greeted with hugs and kisses from a few of the ladies. Marcia asked us to introduce ourselves then JASE asked me to tell them what we wanted to do that day. He did not ask Sean, Todd, Steve - he asked me and I promise I almost had a heart attack. Talk about putting you on the spot!! It was fine really J After I was done Jase spoke for a few minutes and then Sean, Clare, Whitney and, Todd sang Revelation song. Then some thing amazing happened. They wanted to sing “When the Role is Called Up Yonder”! I wish I had my flip camera to record how beautiful it was. We were all singing the same song, in two different languages, praising the same God. I just know that’s what heaven will be like. When we were done we played a few games and half of us went prayer walking and the other half went to another school just up the mountain. There is basically one huge village with about 75 families but because a county line runs in between the village one side is called Barbasco Copan and the other side is called Barbasco Cabannas. I was with Steve, Todd, Clare, Hayden, and Marcia. We arrived at the first house and we got to pray with Adrianna. She is expecting her 5^th baby, and is due in 3 months. She was very nice and welcoming. At our next house we met a 80ish year old lady whose name was Maria. She was a widow and she lived with her 30-year-old son. She told us that she has walked into town yesterday to get money but her name was not on the list. From what I understand it’s some kind of government assistance program. Since her name was not on the list they sent this sweet woman away to walk back up the mountain in the rain. She wanted us to pray for her health, her home, and safety for her son. She told us that she belongs to Jesus and he takes care of her. (I have to tell you this. In this culture they do not pray as we do where we all bow our heads and one person prays. They all pray out loud at the same time) So when Clare began to pray and Maria starting praying right along with her. I have no idea what she was saying but I’m telling you it was POWERFUL. I felt something there. I know we had the presence of the Lord right there with us. So we went to the next house and Maria’s Daughter-in-law lived there. She told us that her husband had died 3 months ago and she was left with 5 small kids. She told us that she was given some food to feed her kids but its almost gone and she does not know how she is going to feed her family. Her oldest son is still in elementary school and her oldest daughter who is probably 8 had to stop going to school to stay home and help out. At this point, Marcia and I have tears pouring from our eyes. I could feel that this lady, who is probably younger than I am, feels that her situation is hopeless. You might think that our visits to the homes gets better… well they don’t. At the next house, a man whose wife has been gone for 12 days trying to deliver their baby greeted us. He did not want her to have a c-section because she would not be able to lift heavy things and therefore could not work. Instead of anger I felt compassion for him. In these villages it takes every one contributing to the family to survive. As we continued we were asked to lay hands an an 18 yr old boy who has epilepsy and we also prayed for a young family who is loosing their faith in God because the circumstances here are so bad. This village has two churches in it. The Church of God and a Catholic church. Almost everyone we talked to went to the Church of God. This village had more “things” such as electricity and one house even had a cement floor. But the emotional needs were great. I hardly said a word the whole way home I left with a very heavy heart for the Chorti people. Tami kept telling me over and over that I would fall in love with these people down here I she was right - I have. There is so much work to be done here that it is overwhelming. But I know that I know God has a plan.