I don't concern myself with matters too great or awesome for me.
But I have stilled and quieted myself,
just as a small child is quiet with its mother.
Yes, like a small child is my soul within me.
O Israel, put your hope in the LORD-- now and always.
Psalm 131
Here we are in Peña Blanca, Honduras. The verse up above was one that I found in our house, taped to the mirror. I read it when we first arrived ... and glanced at it every day not knowing exactly what the owner could of been thinking at the time he wrote it. Then, it hit me. It was after one interesting afternoon when we had an unexpected visitor at our door. It was a woman, her young daughter, and her mother ... "What could they be looking for?" was my thought! "Is this a possible ministry opportunity??" We talked for a while as she came inside with her family. I heard the need and reacted based on what I heard. My next step was to seek counsel. I made a call and then ... BAM ... realized what was really happening here. That evening, I looked at that verse again and, not knowing whether this is what it meant to the gentlemen we were renting this house from, as the living Word always does ... it spoke to me. Lord, I'm not too good for these people, I'm not too proud. Neither am I required to "exercise myself in" these matters that may seem too great or too high for me. But, as long as I still myself like a child "weaned from his mother" (KJV), as long as I still my soul ... I know that the Lord will guide me in what to do. ... and then, just like the verse says, and I emphasized in my head, "O [Honduras], put your hope in the LORD-- now and always!!"
See, there is something that has happened in this country that most likely has happened in other countries. You know, it's funny because we had some missions training videos we watched leading up to our trip that warned us of what could happen if missions was done wrong. I almost feel like a reporter and feel as if I must report the truth. That being said, I wanted to share with you, the reader, that Honduras is a country that has come to expect, almost demand things/help from all missionaries. It's pretty sad, they see a "gringo" as we're called here and they give a story to make you feel bad and give them money/things. Some have become very good at manipulating. They seem to have lost the reason for the missionaries being here and have come to see it as a free for all. Of course, on a semi-brighter note there are needy people who do need to be blessed in such ways. The great thing about having full term missionaries here is that they already have a sense and know who is in need and who is doing the manipulating. It was so cool to see God show me this verse in vividness (is that a word?)!
At this same time, feeling somewhat more alone now that the team from Calvary Greer had left, I felt there were other things that could be done to fill in the time ... ministry wise. I had this idea pop into my head about going outside, taking the Futbol (soccer for you back home, jajaja) and kicking it outside with the neighborhood kids and with any kid that wanted to play. I was sort of nervous, thinking it may not go well. The enemy likes to plant seeds of doubt all the time. I prayed about it and thought about it ... and just the other day, I was reading in 2 Kings. I later decided to hear a message taught by Jon Courson online ... and there was confirmation. He was saying something about the lines of doing what the Lord showed you to do! It was AWESOME! ... So, even though I'm super lazy ... I went outside that afternoon, Naomi (the best babysitter in the whole world!! She's like my Mom!) watched the kids inside and let them play outside some, and we met some little girls. We have played Futbol the past few days (yesterday it was raining) and the kids really look forward to it! They wait outside the house about a half hour before play time! It's so cute! They have asked for Kyle to play too, they like to play with the tall "gringo" and they always want to try to beat him! His drama, theatrical effects make them hysterical! It's become quite fun! On the ministry note, I try to invite new kids all the time, right now, we have 3 that play, 1-4 that watch, 1 that would play but has school, and 2 that I'm waiting to see if they show up! The ball itself is an "E-Ball" and has the different colors on it to represent each, a different part in the gospel message. I got to share it with 3 of the kids one afternoon while we were "waiting for Carlos (Kyle) to come" They were interactive with me and I can't wait to reinforce the whole thing! Naomi had also been mentioning that she would like to teach the neighbor girl more English since the kids here are so excited to try their English with us!
On that note, we're working on putting together VBS here in Peña! Leah is in charge of running things and getting together with us to figure out what we're going to do! We are wanting to reach unchurched kids ... I believe we will be making flyers to hand out a few days before hand. We will be starting on the 10th of July and doing it for 3 Saturdays in a row. In Honduras, the regular school year runs from February through November, if I remember correctly ... so weekly classes are not an option. PLEASE pray that the Lord will show us what kind of theme to go with. We would like to teach them something that they can actually apply to their lives, along with the gospel message, not only stories that they've heard before. We really need a clear vision as to where to take this. It will consist of worship, teaching, crafts, teaching, activities, and games! The Honduran children are usually very disorganized in how they do schooling so we have to break it up for them to keep them in tune with it all. PLEASE pray for their focus, their hearts to be open and for a lot of little kids to go. Our age group is from 6-10yrs old. We're hoping that our Calvary Greer team coming at the end of July will do one of their dramas for the kids! Wouldn't that be cool!?
Speaking of cool, Kyle and I have been attending Friday night youth group here (funny, isn't it?) It actually is occurring at the exact same time that youth is going on in South Carolina! We seem to usually have 3 boys attending including a few adults. Loq has offered to take anyone home who can make it to the teaching. The worship is great and the teaching is verse by verse, chapter by chapter! Last night was an amazing night! The boys really opened up to the teaching and it was quite a night! We all held hands in prayer and you knew the presence of God was there! PLEASE pray for a girl named Ana Betty! I've been hoping to see her their. Please pray for God to give her that desire more and more and for her to have a way to get there. Also pray for those boys to be able to be men that stand up for the things of God and not the things of the town.
I'll end this with some prayer requests ...
1. For Eulogio. He is teaching this Sunday! For peace, preparation for Sunday, clarity.
2. For kids worship. We'll be doing it this Sunday for the first time and the kids tend to be very quite and non-participating. Pray for our perseverance too!
3. The neighbor kids and kids all around the neighborhood. (See above)
4. The teens. (See above)
5. For the people that come to Calvary Chapel Peña Blanca. Transfomation in their lives and love for the Lord :)
6. For all of us .. that we don't become downcast, but continue for the Lord. And that we could encourage the missionaries here.
7. That I get to my devotions EARLY.
8. Of course, for husband Chris ... I miss him! Pray that God works on him also as we're away from eachother. (Elise constantly prays that her Daddy gets here safe)
9. The kids. That they behave and don't get into too much trouble ;)
Oh! P.S.! There are some cool things here! Kids don't have to sit in car seats and they can play outdoors a lot more! They're in bliss! Also, instead of getting in the car to go to the supermarket, we can take a few steps to the corner and you're in town! We can buy fresh produce every day without wasting gas! You can greet anyone and everyone and there are always people walking around town ... at night, everyone goes to sleep early though so it's quiet. They're on agricultural time here and they're all up at the crack of dawn, including the roosters! Boy, thank God that there was a fan at this house for noise! LoL! The smoothies are also very yum!! We miss seeing everyone's faces ... that away from home is definitely within us. Please send any prayer requests to us you guys may have. Okay ... enough for today! Be blessed and stay in the Word (pray that for us too)!
Catalina (The pic is of our house here)
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