Orientation and the Work Begins

Our team was exposed to a brief introduction to the work and challenges of the Iglesia Gran Comision Church in Choluteca. The leadership of the Church asked themselves very early in their development, if they should become involved in social programs. Half of the leadership team said yes, while the other wanted to focus on internal programming and serving the congregation. This is a challenging questions that in my experience most churches are faced with, even if they don't recognize the choice. Why is the church involved in social programs, is it to help those in need, lift up the less fortunate? Yes, it is all of these thing, but for the church in Choluteca it is much more. It was their opportunity and obligation to experience the love of God, by sharing his love thru their engagement, interaction, and love of those in need. WE are his hands and feet, and have been sent to engage the world. Serving others by humbling ourselves challenges and changes our hearts. Social programs are not the answer to solving the worlds problems, it is the practice field for followers of Jesus Christ to find and experience the love of God. For the church in Choluteca, founded in the poorest region, in the poorest country in Latin America, the opportunities to partner with God are everywhere.

Beds

So, we began building beds today-actually just cutting the posts.  Given my carpentry skills and John's willingness to take risks, I cut the wood.  Let's just say that they are all within 1/16, or maybe 1/8 of an inch.  I've purchased worse.
Cody played a little soccer with some of the kids.  These kids know how to play!  And of course, there's not a lot of soccer at Ida.  Let's just say that Cody is learning and having a great time with it. 
One of the best parts of the day was talking to a Mom who has a tiny disabled girl.  She carries her everywhere, always has a smile, and is following God in the midst of many adverse circumstances.  Who is helping who here?  I held little Esther for quite a while.  She is  beautiful, and has a wonderful mother. 
Can't wait for tomorrow.

Day 2

Well day 2 was better then day 1. The biggest thing that I took away is something one of the pastors from the church said. He said social projects are the churches opportunity to practice Gods love. I was blown away by that. I love helping and filling the need but in reality it fills the need in me. God uses these situations to pour back into his children. The people do get something out of it. They get to see Gods love poured out on them but ONLY because he fills us first. We got to start cutting and sanding the wood for the beds. That was great and I enjoy that work. We got to go to a store that is kind of like a SMALL Walmart. Looking forward to day 3. I am really amazed at the beauty of this country!

Baptism at Limon Honduras

Wow!

Not much to add to the travel experience-the other posts sum it up!
The people here are incredibly friendly.  I am so interested in what the church is doing and how they work to help the community.  They are trying to show God's love in many different ways-nutrition, school supplies, transportation, housing, food, all while nurturing the spiritual needs of the people.  This morning we were able to witness 16 baptisms.  Most were young people.  And most were baptized by the people who had an influence on them spiritually, which I think is really cool as opposed to the pastor baptizing everyone.

In a few minutes we leave to go begin building beds.  We have been told that many people/children sleep on the dirt floor.  It rains often, so at night they try to find a dry spot.  I can't even imagine.  The best part I think will be getting to deliver the beds to families, and we actually get to seek people out that need them.

So I have never blogged or wrote anything for that matter. Unless you count what I had to do in college. We had an amazing flight. God was really with us. Then we had an adventure. We had to fit 14 people in a van with all our luggage. Well it did not fit. So, we got a tarp, clamps, and some rope and tied all the luggage to the roof of the van. It is only by the grace of God we have that luggage. That 3 and half hour drive was SCARY to say the least. Dips and turns and sudden stops it was white knuckle to the extreme. I was in the back of the van praying. Well with Gods grace we made it to Choluteca and as we turned down the road to the church one bag started to fall out but alert Cody saw and we stopped and put it back in place. On that car ride God showed me his beauty and majesty even in the face of the worst poverty I have witnessed personally. Thank you Lord.

Travel Day

We made it to Choluteca, but what a wild ride it was.  . . . . .  . But I’m getting ahead of myself.    Leaving from the Flint airport was wonderful.  The staff was friendly, the airport is small so walking to the gate was a snap, and security was. . . . .   well was security.  We arrived in Tegucigalpa with another applause filled landing.  If you have never experienced a landing in Tegucigalpa, Google it.  After clearing immigration and customs there were hugs and greetings as we were met by Frank, Emily, Levi, Edwin, and some new friends.  As we loaded up to our traditional trip to lunch at Pollo Comparo, we discovered that we had to find a way to fit 14 passengers, 8 50 lbs suitcases, 6 carry on bags, and 8 backpacks in a 15 passenger van.  Levi, being the problem solver that he is, made 2 trips to the restaurant and disappeared to gather up 1 large blue tarp, 6 C-Clamps and 100 feet of rope and we lashed the luggage to the top of the van.  The drive to Choluteca was a spiritual white knuckle ride (I’m sure there were a lot of prayers in the back of the van, but from the front seat, it was white knuckle. The heavy rains had created pot hole infested roads as bad as any Michigan Road I have ever seen.  Combining the roads with the normal Honduras driving through the mountains, and making the last hour of the trip after sunset, we were all glad to finally arrive at Iglesia Gran Comision.  We arrived at the church in time to see the last 2 songs of the Saturday evening service.  Edgar performed one of the News Boys hits, and Luis Fernando closed the worship service.  We are all glad to finally be in Choluteca, and are looking forward to our first full day in country.