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.