Its really happening!

I should be going to sleep.  But I can’t not write about today.  I’m just so excited that things are really starting to happen.

I had a meeting today with some of the people at IHNFOP, basically social services.  And then really seemed enthusiastic about the project that we are working on.  They shared with us that the two biggest needs for children in La Ceiba are…

1. Childhood malnutrition
2. Teenagers and what to do with them – including children having children/young moms

I was just so excited to be able to tell them that we are going to do what we can to address both of these issues.  Kate will be working to provide food to street children as part of the drop-in center when she gets here.  And I will be working with teenage moms.  They were very encouraged.

The hard part is I want to help all of them.  They told us stories that just broke my heart.  IHNFOP can only provide help to children up to age 18 and you can tell it is just really hard for them when they have teenagers who are doing well, but have to leave their services.  I am really thankful for these women who have worked there over 10 years and you can tell they just really love the kids that they know.

I cannot help all of them, as much as I want to, but I can help four.  And I’m excited to go on Monday and actually meet the first girl who is a candidate for our program.  The social worker is taking me to meet a teenage girl who is pregnant.  I don’t know much about her situation, but I will soon find out.

Please pray for wisdom and discernment.  They shared with me that the need is great and they will introduce me to a lot of girls.  So please pray that I will know how to proceed.  I’m a little overwhelmed that it is really happening, but just so thankful that the Lord walks before me in this process and He already has it all planned out.

On things that make me sad…

I think some of the Spanish words I’ve used the most since I’ve been here are these… “No pelea!” which means “Don’t fight!”.  It is constantly coming out of my mouth along with “No grita”, “Don’t scream”.

The sad thing is that for some of these kids fighting is survival.  Its as easy as that.  Its what they know and its how the make it from one day to the next.  It’s the only example that has been set for them.

Carolina and Vilma were doing a puzzle today.  Two 12 year old girls struggling to finish a 24 piece puzzle.  All the sudden they are punching each other.  And its no surprise.  I’m fairly confident these girls have never been in school a day in their lives.  They do whatever they want all day long with no authority figure present.  They don’t play educational games or have someone read them stories.  They most likely get beaten instead of lovingly disciplined.  They have probably seen violence inside of their homes and within their families.  They get picked on by the other kids in the community because their clothes show their poverty.  So they fight back in the only way they know how.

And it makes me sad.  And it makes me want them to know a different way to live life.  I want them to know hope and joy and peace instead of survival.  I want them to know grace and mercy and kindness instead of fighting.  So we pray for them to know God who can show them all of those things and who can change their hearts to know a different reality than the one that confronts them everyday. 

And until then we will lovingly discipline and teach them that there is a different way to interact.  And we’ll love on them give them hugs and watch them play soccer and show them that someone cares.  And we’ll keep saying… “don’t fight” until we’re blue in the face :)

Translating

Oh so much harder than it seems.

The thing is… I speak Spanish as if I’m playing catch phrase.  If I don’t know how to say a word, I just talk around it until the person I’m talking to guesses what I’m trying to say.  Well… when you’re in a medical clinic, trying to sounds professional, but not even knowing what half the words are in English… it’s a whole different story.  Welcome to our week!

Today I got to figure out how to say heartburn, ulcer, lymph nodes, and so much more!  But… the joy of all my Spanish learning is that we are treating patients! 

We are so thankful for the team from Trinity Pres who brought an amazing medical team down.  We have two doctors from Columbia who speak Spanish as their first language and that is a huge blessing.  And they brought a dentist and an ultrasound machine.  I mean… this is great.  So we saw a bunch of patients today, got to share the Gospel with them, pray with them, and help some of their physical needs as well.

Please pray for us this week as we will have 4 day-long clinics in Armenia Bonito. 

Music

One of the things that Bethany and I have been doing this week is expanding our Spanish worship music repertoire.  I’m teaching Bethany to play guitar, so it’s been a fun way to practice and to learn some new stuff.  We have come across a new favorite song!  You may know it in English…

Here are the words… roughly :)

I see the King of glory
Coming on the clouds with fire
The whole earth shakes, the whole earth shakes
I see His love and mercy
Washing over all our sin
The people sing, the people sing

Hosanna, hosanna
Hosanna in the highest (x2)

I see a generation
Rising up to take the place
With selfless faith, with selfless faith
I see a near revival
Stirring as we pray and seek
We're on our knees, we're on our knees

Heal my heart and make it clean
Open up my eyes to the things unseen
Show me how to love like You have loved me
Break my heart for what breaks Yours
Everything I am for Your Kingdom's cause
As I walk from earth into eternity

Pavement Project

Its almost official… we are so close to forming a partnership between MTW’s team Honduras and the Pavement Project.  If you have no idea what that means, you should read here.  The Pavement Project is a ministry with at-risk or street children that works from a picture-based counseling program.  Currently they are holding Kate and I a spot at their September training so that we can go and learn more about this ministry and receive training to use their materials.  We are SO excited!!!  And a little nervous… the training will be five 8-hour days of Spanish… that is a lot!  So you can be praying for that.

But our overwhelming emotion is just excitement that the Lord is putting this tool in our hands to reach kids for His kingdom here in Honduras.

I want to share a story with you of a girl that went through this program in Acapulco.

A dripping faucet can pass un-noticed for years.  The dripping is slow and rhythmic, but can cause enormous damage over time.  A little at a time, drop by drop, the faucet is eroded from the inside out.  Imagine if your heart was like this faucet.  Imagine if you suffered pain so deep and yet felt forgotten by everyone as it just dripped and dripped.

This image was given by Lucia, 12 years old, when asked to describe herself.  She drew a black and white picture of a dripping faucet and explained to her counselor how the pain of her father’s death was destroying her inside.  She felt that she was a faucet running with sadness and pain and that she was simply not important to anyone.

After describing herself in this way, Lucia heard many stories from Scripture that showed how important Lucia is to God and how much He loves her.  One story spoke to her heart… the story of when Jesus gave life to the widow’s son.  Lucia began to cry as she understood for the first time that Jesus could take all of her sadness and pain and renew her hope in the same way that He had done it for the widow.

Now when Lucia was asked to describe herself in a drawing, it was no longer black and white.  It was a beautiful butterfly with colorful wings that Lucia described as happy, beautiful, and FREE!

Please pray for the children that are going through this program now and that the Lord would prepare the hearts of the children in La Ceiba that He has planned for us to work with after we receive this training.

So much to say…

I have so much to say since I have time this week to sit down and write.  But… my blog has been acting up and I haven’t been able to post anything.  Now I post things, but nothing with pictures.  As you may have noticed, they are all black… weird.  So please forgive the fact that you’re going to get a barrage of posts, not necessarily in the right order, once all of this gets back up and running! :)

I will start to say… this week has been great!  We have a much needed week off from summer teams to rest and recover before welcoming in two teams to end the summer out well.  I have still been able to do some ministry this week and just do some of the other hundred things on my to do list…

1. look at houses
2. learn new songs in Spanish to sing with the kids
3. organize all the random ministry stuff at my house
4. get our new songbooks in order
5. you get the point!

There are just all the little things that need to get done in the midst of a busy schedule of being out of the house all day.  It has been great to get to do some of that stuff as well as take an hour to sit on the hammock and read.  I’ve needed it!

Well… that’s all you got for now.  Hopefully fun pictures and updates to come soon!

Newsletter - August 2011

August 2011