Home from Honduras-Mark

We are all safely back at home from another wonderful trip to minister to the Chorti Indians in Copan de Ruinas, Honduras. As usual, God put together a wonderful team. It’s exciting to watch each team member use his or her God-given gifts to make the team complete. Trisha kept our blog updated each day with pictures and was drawn to the children in each village. Valerie was indispensible as a translator. Connie was drawn to the medical needs and will be a great help as we prepare for our medical trip in July. Ned kept us entertained and did an exceptional job as a storyteller. His gift of sharing the Word was just as evident in Honduras as it is each week in Seminole. The four youth (Brandon, Hayden, Jaclyn, and Kameran) were magnets for the Chorti children in the villages. They broke the ice as they acted out the stories Ned narrated. They also were always eager to help out and fill in wherever we needed them. Steve and Audrey are always complementary of the Seminole youth. We had two exceptional young men (Brandon and Hayden) join us this year from a church in Sanger, TX. You would never guess we hadn’t always known them. It’s only through the Spirit that bonds can be formed that quickly.

Each morning we met at the Mission House at 6:30 for morning devotionals and breakfast. The first morning I led a devotional from Psalm 121: 1-8

I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth. He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. Behold, he who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade on your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.

I felt like God showed this passage to me for a couple of reasons. First, to acknowledge that we realize whatever we did this week was from God’s provision and not of ourselves. Secondly, there were members of the team that were new to Honduras and this scripture gave assurance that the Lord is our keeper and protector. One of the young men I mentioned earlier had never traveled outside of the United States. In fact, this was his first airplane flight. His strong faith and passion for sharing the Word was an encouragement to all of us. Lastly, we discussed how that when we are attempting to do God’s work Satan will be working against us, but we are assured that the Lord will keep us from all evil.

This week was different from previous trips that most of us had made to Honduras. We spent the week prayer walking in four different villages. We were very possibly the first Anglos to visit a couple of the villages. We usually started at the school and shared a Bible story with the children. When we were able to do this, it seemed the village was more open. I’m reminded that we are often more open to someone new when we see they are interested in our children and families. We left the school and split into two teams to begin praying over the village. We would approach a house and introduce ourselves to the villagers. Many times, there were only women and young children at home as the men and older children were in the coffee fields harvesting coffee. We normally began the conversation by asking questions about their families and work leading into asking them if there were things we could pray about with them. They usually mentioned things like a good crop, health, hope, etc., but almost without fail they wanted us to pray for their families.  I had the privilege to have my entire family with me on the trip. More than once I was told what a blessing it was to see an entire family serving God together. I was humbled and challenged each time. Humbled that God has blessed me with a family that desires to serve Him and challenged to be the husband and father God has directed me to be.

This morning as I began to gather my thoughts to write this blog I was challenged by Luke 8: 39.

“Return to your home, and declare what God has done for you.” So he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole town what Jesus had done for him.

As always, thank you for your prayers. They were felt. 

Valerie---Honduras

Oh my! Thank you, Lord for bringing me back to Honduras! I’m SO thankful for the opportunity to be here with the Chorti for the 3^rd time. I have been truly blessed by these past 6 days, and I’m already looking forward to coming back.

            Thank you, church, for the many prayers. I could definitely feel them, and after struggling the 2^nd day, the 3^rd and 4^th were MUCH better! I need to also thank a wonderful angel who sent me here. I was unable to pay for the trip (with 2 in college…..go figure!), but someone took care of the whole trip! It truly blessed me in an amazing way.

            The beauty of this country is hard to take in: the tropical mountainsides, the beautiful shades of green, and the bursts of colorful flowers. In amongst the beauty are the Chorti, a very loving, humble, impoverished people. They have been pushed into the mountains and forced into poverty. They are very intelligent and use resources in amazing ways. They plant crops on the sides of mountains, harness solar power and recycle debris for natural gas. They use plants for medicine, food, and decoration. They welcomed strangers from a land far away with nothing to offer but prayer into their homes.

            As I get ready to leave, I take with me the smiles of the children, the tears of those prayed for and the many handshakes from my new friends. I will be back because I am leaving my heart here in Honduras.   

Jaclyn---Honduras

I don’t even know where to start. First off, this week was beyond amazing. All the people were so kind and gracious, and although they had so little they were so grateful! I enjoyed every village we went to and I truly believe these people touched us as much as we touched them. Today we met a lady who had lost her husband and was raising her four daughters on her own. She had no home and no money to send them to school. They were absolutely precious. It broke my heart to see that. I also loved prayer walking. We went door to door praying for families. Almost every single family invited us inside to pray for them. They were very open and friendly. The children were so adorable. I think they stole all our hearts the instant we saw them. We’re very grateful for all the prayers and for the words of encouragement. God was with us the entire time, watching over us and keeping us safe. Psalm 121: 7-8 “The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” Thank you everyone for everything. God bless. 

Kameran-Honduras

Well, obviously I can’t stay away from here! Haha! Honduras seems to get better and better every time we come. This time we prayer walked, which is something I have never done before. It was very different, but God still did many powerful things through it. We were able to pray with many different families and they each touched my heart differently. In our last village today, we met Jose. He has cerebral palsy and just seeing him instantly made my heart heavy. As soon as my mom started to talk to him, he got the biggest smile on his face that I will always remember. He captured all of our hearts immediately. Leaving him here was a hard thing to do. Please pray for him and his family. This experience, although different, has still been amazing. The people, the scenery, just all of it are always going to stay with me. Thank you for all of your continued prayers. Love you all!

Kameran   

Goodbye Montana........for now!

It seemed like Spring Break would never get here and now the week is over and we are back in Seminole. We had a wonderful week in Poplar, we......

• led worship during the Sunday morning service
• moved everything out of the church basement to storage
• removed the kitchen cabinets out of the church basement
• painted over graffiti all over Poplar
• painted 2 rooms in Pearl's (an elderly lady in the church) house
• moved sand bags for the Hess family
• painted a bunkhouse for the Hess family
• taught a children's Wednesday night class
• taught Wednesday night bible study for the youth
• gave testimonies and sang at the Juvenile Detention Center (one girl was saved - PRAISE GOD!)
• played a lot of basketball with students
• and much more!

We are richly blessed to have had all of these opportunities while in Montana. I know that we will return to help Vance and Cathy Thomas. Please pray for them and for The Blue Church as they spread the truth of God's word and His love to the native people. Thank you Vance and Cathy for your obedience to GO wherever God calls you! Thank you for allowing us to spend a week with you. We also thank Bill and Kathy Hess for hosting all of our girls and Chris & Christa Burtch in their home.

We took a different route home so we could stop and see Mount Rushmore. It is gorgeous!

Our New Friend.....Isaiah

Isaiah is a 16 year old boy who hung out with our team most of the week. On Thursday evening, he put on all of his regalia and danced for us. He has won many dancing contests. The dances tell a story. It was a treat for our team to see Isaiah dance. Please pray for Isaiah; he is a Christian - please pray that he will be obedient to the Lord and stays strong and courageous in an environment with so much peer pressure.

Tribal Council

On Thursday morning, our team had the privilege to attend a Tribal Council meeting. Poplar is located on the Fort Peck Reservation of the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes. The reservation is a sovereign nation and the Tribal Council is the governing body of the reservation.

We sang "God of this City" for them and Jacob Burtch led the opening prayer. The council members took a picture with us and allowed us to sit in part of the meeting.

Montana......Wednesday Evening

On Wednesday evening, Jase, Todd, Madison, and Kendyl led a chidren's class at the church and the rest of the team stayed at Vance & Cathy's house to be with the youth. Chris Burtch led the bible study. The students were very interactive with our students, played basketball and ate dinner with us. Vance & Cathy have a basketball goal on their garage and it was definitely used to form relationships this week. Even during the school day, students would come over during their lunch breaks and shoot baskets with our team. Our prayer is that we would be a light to these students. Words really cannot describe the oppression that these students live in..............we pray that they saw hope and love.

Montana.........by Grace

This week has been a blessing to be here in Poplar Montana with everybody including my grandparents, Vance and Cathy Thomas. I really enjoyed being here and doing a whole lot of painting with some very awesome people. Being here and learning more and more about God has been amazing although I really miss my family back home. I love being with the church and I know that since we have been here I saw a HUGE difference in my Christian ways. I love where the girls stayed at Cathy and Bill Hess’s house and to tell you now it is absolutely GORGEOUS there and they are very generous to let us stay in their home.  I know I will miss everybody here very much! I have grown so much closer to God ever since we arrived. I never want to forget being here.

                                                               By: Grace Hatley

                                                     

                                                                        3-15-12

Montana.........by Morgan

The beginning of the trip I was not looking forward to the long drive we had ahead of us. Two days in a cramped van didn’t seem like a joy ride of any kind. When we finally arrived at Montana I'm positive everyone in the vans jumped out and started dancing around because they were so happy we were out of the vans.

The first day we started working was a beautiful day and I was really working forward to getting the job done. At first I didn’t truly understand the reason why we were painting the fences and covering the graffiti. I finally understood that we were trying to help the town and make it cleaner in more then one way.

When we first went to the JDC the girls and guys just kinda looked at us like we were outsiders from a different planet if some kind. I only saw one girl who looked like God was really working on her heart when people where telling their testimonies. I was sure when we came back the next day that she would hopefully speak up and ask God into her heart.

A girl was saved this day but not the same girl that I thought would be. She was new to the group and you could tell that God had really been pushing her to stand up and ask the big question, “Can I be saved?” A wonderful ending to an amazing day.

This trip has really brought me closer to God. It has made we realize just how good we have it down in Seminole.  People here try to run away but can never get far enough. Attempt suicide, drink themselves to death, and do so many drugs it ruins their brains. I pray that God will lay a healing hand on this town when we leave and I also pray that every last one of these people ask God into their heart and will be promised eternal life in heaven with Jesus Christ.

Montana.........by Kevin

This week in Poplar has been a truly eye opening experience for my naive West Texas eyes.   I have never been to a place where God has so obviously not been in the heart of the majority of the people of a community.  The amount of tragedies that the average person experiences on a daily basis in Poplar cannot be imagined unless you were here to witness it for yourself.   Suicides, rapes, murders, and molestations take place way too often.  The pure fact that someone committed suicide one of the nights we were here is completely mind blowing.  Watching a people of a sovereign Native American nation drink themselves into oblivion day and night in the streets of this town has been difficult and incredibly hard on my heart.  My mind has been spinning this week with a huge question; what difference can a small ministry team from Seminole, Texas make in such an ungodly place as Poplar?   As I sit here tonight recalling all the tragedies of this place, in my heart I know we made a difference.  I know we sang, I know we prayed, and I know we ministered and provided opportunities for God’s Word to be heard, I know we painted a lot of graffiti, and I know we started repairs on the basement of a church that makes a difference in this town. I know that this place has definitely not been saved in any major tent revival, save the town type of revolution, but I do know that some major seeds have been planted.    One person was saved and came to know God as their Savior (if that is one person that doesn’t kill themselves in this town that will be a miracle)!!!   We have given her that right of eternal life and she now has the power to make a difference in this town.  That is truly powerful!   I know that one small ministry team from Seminole, Texas did some amazing things in this community.   I will be glad to be heading home tomorrow to place where God is present!  It will be nice to be surrounded by love and not evil!  I will continue to pray for this community and hope God becomes the light of this town.  I will be taking an amazing gift back to Seminole, and that is the gift to see God at work on a daily basis.  I have taken that for granted!  WE are blessed and I cannot wait to get home and be enveloped and surrounded by those miracles and HIS Love!