The Lord's Work Among the Nations

praise the Lord for air conditioning!!!!!

2009-06-26T20:26:00.002-05:00

no joke... think louisiana weather... except for no air conditioning. YIKES!!! osmany's parents do not have air conditioning in their home... oh boy... i am so glad that our hotel has air! i walk into their house and begin to sweat and poor rebeca... she is just wet all the time.

the hotel room i am staying in is pretty bare. a full size bed, a TV, one measly picture on the wall across from a gigantic mirror that looks like it belongs in a dance stuido, and a bathroom. not very homey BUT it treated me well last night :) i slept until around 7 15 and got up and did some quiet time and checked the facebook. i got to talk to sweet sydney on facebook chat this morning.... she made my day! thanks sister :) beca and i played around in the room until we went to the hernandez house. jennifer decided it was too hot for us so we left to go shop some :) you guessed it... NADA... olanchito is a pretty happening place but shopping is not its most popular activity. we ate a typical honduran meal at "Junior's Deli" along with some pineapple juice (all natural, i promise you have never had anything like this... AMAZING!). after lunch i took a siesta... 2 hours of a nap does the soul some good! went back to the hernandez casa and now we are just hanging out. --- i am excited to see what we are having for supper! last night we had baliadas :) jess, i thought of you! they were YUM!

i am reading some in "a chance to die" -- the life and legacy of amy carmichael. so i'll leave you with this quote that has been on my mind, " not one to refuse even unnecesssary risks, Amy was more than ready to take risks for the sake of others."

--> how willing are we to take risks, maybe even "unnecessary" risks for other people to know Jesus? the world will think our risks are unnecessary, but remember... Jesus risked it all for us. may we be found as risk takers for His Kingdom.

back to ¨the duras¨¨

2009-06-25T22:25:00.003-05:00

today marks the 5 summer that i have spent time in honduras! it is really good to be back and to just BE here among the country, the language, the culture, and the people that have become so much of a part of who i am that it is ridiculous. i guess i had no idea how much my summers here have affected daily life for me.. forever.

it has been a day full of emotion.... sweet greetings (beca ran to me), beautiful scenery, and a day of intense questioning. i am longing for the Lord to show me more of Himself and for His direction to be made clear in my life.

in the mean time... we are hanging out in olanchito for a few days. met all of osmany´s family tonight, they are sweet :) we will be spending time with them.. which means practicing spanish. and we are just going to get mentally, physically, and spiritually ready for our journey to la moskitia. the team from north monroe will arrive on sunday and we will fly out of la ceiba on monday to be in la moskitia by supper time.

please pray for me... jennifer and osmany.. for the team coming. pray that the Lord would use us to serve the people here. that we would be faithful to walk in obedience.. whatever that may take or whatever that may cost. please pray that the name of the Lord would be lifted up.

glory to His name!

Gary W. Griffith

2008-10-05T15:19:00.005-05:00

On Wednesday, October, 1, 2008, Gary W. Griffith went to be with his Lord. So much is on my heart and my mind, but I take comfort in the promise that he is with Jesus and that greater things have yet to come and greater things are still to be done in this city...there is NO ONE like our GOD!!!

Garrison told me an incredible story. Wednesday morning around 10 am Brother Gary and Garrison were sitting at the computer listening to "God of this City" by Chris Tomlin and BG was weeping because of how amazing God is. Not even 30 minutes later, he went to the very presence of the one He was weeping over! This man left a legacy that points straight to the Maker of the Universe... there is no question where he stood or what he believed in.

"I firmly believe there is no risk in abandoning ourselves to God and that the Father will use circumstances, pain and suffering, to produce godliness in our lives. Righteousness, a little more freedom from sin, being a little more like Jesus, is worth any pain, discomfort or chastisement from the Father!! It proves you are His child, and He sends more of His Spirit." -- Gary Griffith

BG has shown me through his life and through his death that that a life lived for self is no life worth living and a life lived for the Glory of God is the only one worth living at all. To love God and to love People.

I have also learned to never let a day go by without telling the ones you love, that you love them and how special they are to you. This man was very special to me, a dear friend and mentor. I am a better person for having known him. I thank God for allowing me to be a part of BG's life for these last 7 years. I wouldn't trade the countless memories, laughs, lessons learned, and encouragement for anything in this world.

So.... to my Lord: I give up everything to you. I abandon what we call comfort in this world and desire that you use me in whatever ways you see fit. And at the end of this road, I hope that my life points to YOU! All the Glory be to your precious Name...

The Spirit of God is working mightily in the lives of the people at my church, FBC Swartz. We want more of you Lord! May we never be the same, make us more like Jesus, and may the world see how good you really are! YOU ARE ENOUGH!

R.I.P BG, I can't wait to sing forever and ever with you in adoration of our King. Thanks for teaching me how to worship, not only with my lips but with my life. I love you.

On my lips there's a shout of praise...

At Any Cost...

2008-08-24T20:19:00.010-05:00

"Lord, I give up all my own plans and purposes, all my own desires and hopes, and accept Your will for my life. I give myself, my life, my all, utterly to You to be Yours forever. Fill me and seal me with Your Holy Spirit. Use me at Your will, send me where You will, work out Your whole will in my life AT ANY COST, now and forever." ---Betty Scott Stam, Missionary to China in the 1930's

These precious people know what it means to pray that prayer and experience the reality of "at any cost". In a village near the Honduran border, Pastor Davis and his parents (people pictured) reside in La Pita, Nicaragua. We spent some time visiting with them and during our time together this sweet man shared some of his life experiences with us. I could not believe the stories I heard...

Pastor Davis' father was a lead runner in the Evangelical work in northern Nicaragua. When the Sandinistas took over in the 70's him and his family suffered some extreme persecution. He was a prisoner of war, beaten, starved, ridiculed, and still did not deny His Jesus.

After leaving La Pita, we traveled to a village named San Gregoria. We arrived at the place where we would be staying and seeing the church took me back to a story Pastor Davis' dad told us just a few days before... He was a part of the first baptist church plant in Northern Nicaragua and this is where the story took place. They were at church on a Sunday night and after the preaching, 2 men on horseback stormed through the front doors and martyred two Christians with machetes. Pastor Davis' father told us that he still remembers what the message was that night, it was "Suffering for the Love of Jesus".

To see this church and walk inside it's walls and know the faithful saints that had left their legacy there.. brings a new meaning to "Lord, take my life, use me, AT ANY COST."

i'm pretty sure there are no words...

2008-08-04T17:03:00.005-05:00

I wanted to sit down and write an update on my travels to Nicaragua and kind of a wrap up of the whole summer, but there are truly just no words that I could say to do these past 9 weeks justice. I have been able to get out a few stories and lessons learned since being back at home but they still fall short... so I made a video :)

I have grown so much in my love for the Lord and His people over these past months.... I will NEVER be the same. To Him be the glory, forever and ever, Amen!

Jenn's Birthday, Last Week in Siguatepeque, & Packing

2008-06-26T17:17:00.008-05:00

I have become such a slacker this week with blogging! Sorry to all of my faithful readers :)

Sunday was Jenn's Birthday!! I posted after the internet came on on Sunday but I had no idea how exciting of a night it would actually be! Osmany told us that we were all going out to eat for Jenn's birthday... which was great. We all put on our dresses and got ready to go out :) Bec looked so pretty in her dress!

We took a taxi because the vehicle was still not fixed and we headed towards Barrio El Carmen.. which may not be a big deal to you guys .. but Jenn and I knew that all of the restaurants were the other way! He finally told us that we were going to get Hermana Jamie and Hermano Hermes.. Jenn was excited but still had no idea about the surprise party waiting for us at Jamie and Hermes' house! When we got to their house, it was all decorated and there were some of our friends coming over to celebrate as well! Jamie made homemade pizza and brownies.. MMMM GOOD! Osmany also brought the cake that he bought for Jenn! WHAT A FIESTA!!

Me, Jenn, Jamie --> Jenn's B-day

Osmany, Miguel, Hermes --> Jenn's birthday

They are so precious!

Work went well this week.. I did the usual.. Hermon on Monday and Wednesday, Mobile Clinic on Tuesday, and El Porvenir on Thursday.

The most memorable account from this week was Wednesday at Hermon. It was my last day with them and I was hoping that it would be a good one! Everything was kind of slow in the morning but right before I was preparing to leave.... a group of Americans walked through the door. There was a young girl walking towards me, holding her side, and crying hysterically. I immediately asked her what was wrong or what she thought was wrong.. she told me that she has kidney stones a lot and figured that was what was going on. We got an IV started, and gave her some medication for the pain. I asked her if the people from her group (missionaries from North Carolina) had prayed over her yet... she told me no. I asked her if I could pray for her and she agreed. I felt so impressed to pray over here.. it has got to be so hard to be sick (and not just any kind of sick, but passing a kidney stone sick) and to be away from home and be somewhere where the people do not speak your language. By the time I left the clinic, Brittany's pain had eased up and I felt like she was in good hands with Thelma.

During that whole escapade... a girl about my age walked in with Brittany when she was passing her kidney stone. She is from Honduras but goes to school in North Carolina during the school year and comes home to Siguatepeque in the summer! We immediately hit it off... she is 20 yrs old and is a biology major with one more year left. She told me that she plans to apply for med school after she graduates. She was so excited and thought I would be here a little while longer.. but I had to tell her that I was leaving in just a few days! We are now friends on facebook and plan to hang out when or if I am able to come next summer! God works in the smallest ways...

Rebeca knows just how to cheer me up after work.. she got me a flower :)

I have spent most of the afternoon washing clothes and packing up.... with the occasional break to entertain Rebeca. She cannot seem to get out of my way :) I wouldn't have it any other way though!

It has been a great last week in Siguatepeque! I have gotten to spend some good time with Rebeca... we have had 2 sleepovers plus a girls night full of fingernail & toenail painting and Disney movies! I could not think of a better note to leave on... and I am so excited about the next 2 weeks in Nicaragua!

Please pray for our team as we serve in and around the town of Wiwilli, Nicaragua. Our team consists of: Terry Parks, Denise Parks, Caleb Parks, Erin Hall, Jesse Hall, Juliana Wimberly, and myself. I am flying out of San Pedro Sula at 7:05 am on Saturday morning and should be in Nicaragua by 9:35 am! --- The next time I post will probably be in the States... maybe not though.. I may see if I can't hit up an internet cafe during our weekend time!

Thank you all for your love, support, prayers, and encouragement! I would never be able to make it without such a strong support group at home! I love you!

Goodbye Honduras.. Hello Nicaragua!!

Cataratas, Goodbye's, & The Sabbath

2008-06-21T21:46:00.012-05:00

Here we have the Pulhapanzak Catarata --> waterfall! There are no words to describe my experience at this beautiful place...

Jess and I were pretty content and amazed at just looking at the wonder.... but we stumbled upon an American that convinced us that looking was not enough! There were tour guides that take you down into the waterfall... for only 100 limpiras (5 dollars)!! We knew that there was no way that we would be happy with ourselves if we did not do it, so we went for it! I truly have no words to describe the experience it was to climb down to the waterfall and then stand under it! Jess and I just kept looking at each other saying "WOW, OH MY, I'M SO GLAD WE DID THIS, THIS IS INCREDIBLE!!!" I felt like I was standing right in the midst of all of God's glory and I was so glad that Jess was with me! The first jump we made was only about a 5 footer... a height I was pretty comfortable with. The second jump was after we had walked under the waterfall and come back up to the same lagoon, except for it was about an 8 ft jump.. still comfortable with that. Our guide asked us after we made the last jump if we wanted to go up to another waterfall. Of course we agreed and it was a pretty intense little hike.. barefoot and all :) As we came back down from the highest point, we needed to jump off of a rock about 25 ft from the lagoon! Jess and I both looked at each other and we just just pretty much agreed that we HAD TO DO IT.. gotta love an adrenaline rush, haha! After that nice little jump we went down some more to where we could jump off of a cliff that was over the river, this one was not as high as the other only being about 20 ft from the water. I wouldn't have known that it was shorter, except for the guide told us after he saw the looks of uncertainty on our faces. BUT the fearlessness took us over again and we jumped! PHENOMENAL EXPERIENCE! Words are not good enough...nothing will ever be able to top what I felt as I stood under that waterfall... God and His glory were displayed to me in a way that I have never seen or experienced before! I praise the Lord for His beautiful creation and for a wonderful friend to experience it with! Unforgettable..

Jess and I with our guide from the waterfall, Salvador.

My sweet sisters :)

Later on that evening, Osmany took the truck to a town nearby to check out a Christian bookstore. Well, Osmany made it back to the Hotel at Lago de Yajoa coasting into the parking lot with a broken clutch. This presented a huge problem for us considering we had to be at the airport on Saturday morning. Jennifer and Osmany tried calling everyone that they knew to come get us to take us to the airport in San Pedro Sula but no one answered. Finally, Pastor Roger answered his phone! He agreed immediately to send someone to get us in their new vehicle that belonged to his church in Jesus de Otoro. I'm telling you guys.. GOD IS SO GOOD! If Osmany had not taken the truck we would have broken down on the way to the airport the next morning, the Lord was taking care of us! We had a devotional Friday night and Osmany shared from His heart about all of the trials that we had been facing and the Lord spoke to my heart. Here is what I have been able to gather....with some help from Elisabeth Elloit's book "Passion & Purity" :) The amazing thing about our victory as believers is that it doesn't always come from the escape of trials. The Apostle Paul endured public flogging, starvation, and many other things.. he did not escape trouble, yet he was able to say he was winning the victory through Jesus. We have such a limited vision when it comes to love, most of us cannot imagine a love that does not protect us from suffering. The love of God does not hate tragedy. It never denies reality. It stands in the very teeth of suffering. The love of God did not even protect His own Son.. that was the proof of His love. He will not necessarily protect us - not from anything it takes to make us like His Son. These things that we walked through: no electricity for days, the car breaking down, the man approaching us in Panes, are not as extreme as Paul's public flogging but what really matters when it comes to suffering is that we make the right use of it. We have to take advantage of the sense of helplessness it brings to turn our thoughts to God. TRUST is the lesson! (Elisabeth Elloit, Passion & Purity). 1 Peter 5:10 says, "After you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself perfect, confirm, strengthen, and establish you." If all of the struggles and sufferings were taken away.. where would the victory be and how would we ever grow? There is no victory without first fighting a battle... and how would you know joy when you do not know suffering?

Saturday proved itself to be pretty eventful as well... Jess and I woke up abnormally early and could not go back to sleep. The ride to San Pedro Sula was supposed to arrive at the hotel at 8 am, but because we are in Honduras, he did not come until 9. This put us getting to the airport later than we would have liked but we still enjoyed the ride in a nice air-conditioned vehicle :)

From what I hear... the bunny has been in the United Sates and Africa already, so it had to make its debut in Honduras as well :)

We were about 10:15 making it to the airport with Jess's flight leaving out at 11:50. NOT ENOUGH TIME!!! We waited in line with Jess, Jamie, and Sarah for over an hour trying to get their boarding passes and their luggage checked. The airport is super busy right now because of the airport in Tegucigalpa being closed.. so there were 3x as many people than there would normally be! Jess had to unload some things out of her suitcase to make it under 50 lbs because they would not let her pay because there was not enough time. So in the midst of cramming the backpack full of souvenirs and running to the other side of the airport to get them up to their gate, there was not much time to say goodbye. We got to the ramp and they wouldn't let us pass with her because of the outrageous number of people so we hugged and said a few last words and off she went! Jennifer, Rebeca, and I watched her through the glass windows until she made it through security. Jess told me that as soon as she walked up to the gate to get on the plane they were making the last boarding call! TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT PEOPLE!!! But, as always, the Lord got her on the plane at just the right time!

Pastor Roger's son drove us back to Siguatepeque on Saturday afternoon. It was weird to come back home to an empty house after all of the hustle and bustle that had filled it's walls for the past 4 weeks. The electricity was back on... and we discovered that the refrigerator and most of the other electrical appliance (except for Jenn's computer) had been spared during the power surge on Wednesday night.... so that was a positive note :)

Sunday morning we woke up to no electricity again. Surprise, Surprise!! Later we found out that it was a scheduled outage and that it would not be back on again until 4 30 pm. So that meant that I had a whole day to try to pass with NOTHING TO DO! At first it was hard, really hard, but I resolved to spend the rest of the day resting in the Lord. I was able to spend it praising Him through song, reading His Word, reading Passion and Purity, and praying about the things that were so heavily on my heart. About the time I was wrapping it up, 4 30 pm, the electricity was back!

This is my last week here in Honduras and I can hardly believe it is time to move on to a different phase of ministry for the summer! On Saturday morning I will be flying out of San Pedro Sula at 7 05 am to head to Nicaragua! I will be meeting a group from my church at home to serve with them for 2 weeks! I am really excited about getting to see Nicaragua but even more excited about my reunion with my church family!

Please pray for me as I strive to "be all here" during these last 4 days of life here in Siguatepeque. I just want the Lord to use me..

Walk by Faith.. Not by Sight

2008-06-19T15:26:00.003-05:00

So.. I have to admit.. I was complaining the other day about not having much to blog about over the last few days.. BUT the Lord made sure that I had a story to tell you from last night! haha..

I was talking on facebook chat, enjoying myself. Jess was in the shower and we were getting ready to go to bed for the night. All of a sudden, the electricity surged through the whole house but came back on quickly. The lights were brighter than before but it went out again. Jess and Jenn in mid-shower and I was in mid-conversation... everything was BLACK. Osmany went to go check it out after smelling the smoke and just about electracuted himself. The surge protector that protects our computer, printer, telephone, and pretty much everything else is scortched. Praise the Lord the electronics were spared! About 10 minutes after the whole sha-bang, we saw sparks outside.. NOT GOOD.. haha. No fires were spotted but the house reaked of smoke. Rebeca and the Arkansas women slept through the whole thing, but Jennifer, Osmany, Jess, and I were up throughout the whole thing. I am glad that we were up, there is no telling what could have caught fire if we would not have been able to turn everything off. For safety reasons, Osmany wanted everything turned off for the night. He says the electrical wiring in the house is bad. So, as of right now, there is no internet, phone, t.v., and anything that you can think of that takes electricity to work! We do have WATER! God is so good my friends, He knows you have to have water to survive! haha

Jess and I getting ready for bed last night.. in the DARK! The head light and the flash do not do the darkness justice!

I am posting from an internet cafe and I am hoping that everything will be back on soon!

Lots of business at El Porvenir today! About 16 patients and I am pretty sure that everyone of them were sick enough to have a shot or some kind of treatment that involved penitration of the skin. The one that stole my heart today was Christopher... this (macho castretcho) -- it means a strong Honduran-- had a horrible fungal infection on his foot. We had to clean it because it was infected and then give him 2 shots for infection. It took more than one stick because he tensed up so much that the medicine would not go in. When kids are scared .. they have this superhuman strength that I cannot explain! It took me, Jess, his mother, and the other nurse working to get the job done. But he was so brave and courageous.. I think he took my heart with him when he walked out of the door :)

I mean... isn´t that just the most precious little boy you have ever seen?

We are leaving for Lago de Yajoa tomorrow morning! Jess is flying out on Saturday .. man I am going to miss that girl! She has been such a blessing, words cannot express my thankfulness and the joy that she has brought to this experience! God was so faithful to provide the partner that He knew that I would need.. He is good!

SUNDAY

2008-06-15T23:08:00.008-05:00

What an incredible experience it was going to Panes this morning! It was just Jess, Osmany, and me and we left around 9 am. We stopped at the grocery store to get suckers --> "bon bons" and juice before heading out of town. Osmany told us to bring along the soccer ball and the frisbees so we could play with the kiddos. Jess and I were a little unsure about playing because she was in a skirt and I was in a dress, we were extremely sore, and we were going with the expectation of sitting through a church service (even though playing with kids sounded much more fun than sitting in a service that you can't understand)! But we got there and did everything we could to get them to play with us while Osmany met with the leaders of the village regarding the building of the church there in Panes. The soccer ball usually brings them out pretty quickly but it was still moving slow and they seemed to be a little on the skiddish side. I told them we were going to play soccer and THEN they ran to get all of their buddies! Jess was sitting over to the side, after her graceful fall, trying to communicate with the young girls... she was doing such a great job! I saw her taking pictures of them and laughing and the next time I looked over there, she had them all around in a circle throwing a frisbee! I started the boys in a game of soccer and they had a blast! I had so much fun kicking around with them... I think I may have worked some of my soreness out :)

I debated whether or not to share this next tidbit with you, but I think God will receive glory from it, so here it is! In the middle of everything, a man approached me in the village. Jess said that she saw him walk up with a group of men and then the next thing she knew, he was right beside me trying to get my attention. He didn't seem to be in his right mind with all of the kisses he was blowing at me and all of the derogatory things he was saying... my guess was that he had been drinking in celebration of Honduras winning the big soccer game last night. I told him to leave us alone, we were playing with the children and he just kept on and on. I finally told him that if he didn't leave that I was going to get Don Juan (the village leader) and Osmany. He still kept saying things, the whole time his machete in one hand swinging back and forth and a cigarette in the other. I started to walk towards the building where Osmany was and when I turned around, I realized that I was in a bad situation. EVERY child had stopped the soccer game and stopped throwing the frisbee and had made their way over by the truck, every one of them with eyes the size of golf balls. I had been very calm up until that point but once I saw the fear in their eyes, I knew this was an issue. When I turned to go into the building, the man began to walk off so I just let him go on. I asked the children if they knew his name and they told me they did not know him and that he was not from Panes. We cannot expect the people who walk in darkness to live like they are in the light. Knowing how dark this village and the surrounding villages are, it just makes me realize that there is still much more work to be done, many more needs need to be met. We did not see the man the rest of the time we were in the village, praise the Lord! God's hand was on us today in Panes and He protected me. Satan does not want us there loving on those children and building the church... but it was the Lord's will that we were there! He is good my friends, He is good!

We continued to play with the children until the meeting was over... more soccer and frisbee and then they threw in there some climbing and handstands! They are so FUNNY! It has been a joy to watch most of these kids grow up for the past 3 years and to see them open up more and more each year is INCREDIBLE! These kiddos are awesome!

After the meeting ended, we passed out the "bon bons", told the kids goodbye, and went back down the mountain. We stopped by the house of a little boy that Jennifer and Osmany know and Osmany wanted us to meet him. We walked up the mountain to get to their house and met the infamous Lucas himself and his family! His little smile was just so precious and he seemed to be the happiest of his siblings. Sweet Lucas was in a wheel chair, which was a new one since the last pictures of him were taken. Lucas was born with an opening in his back, this hole was how he used the bathroom. However, Jenn and Osmany took up an offering for him and his family was able to take him to a hospital to close the opening in his back and they also pulled a stoma through to the front of his abdomen. His mother had a towel wrapped around the colostomy, no bag or anything protecting it.. and yep.. you guessed it... INFECTED. He has an appointment to go back to the doctor soon, but we hope to be able to get Dr. Leo to go out and check on him before his visit to the hospital to see if there is anything we an do in the mean time. Despite all of this, he is a very happy little boy. Lucas tells Osmany that he wants to be a pastor :) Thank the Lord for this precious boy that loves Him! I know that He is going to use Lucas mightily for His Kingdom!

We went to church this evening in the area that we will be doing the Vacation Bible School. It was fun to fellowship with the people and to enjoy one another's company as well. Jess and I entertained Rebeca for some of the service outside, well Rebeca probably entertained herself more with my camera than I ever could have entertained her! Bec wanted to take a picture of our feet.. our DIRTY feet! It reminded me of the scripture in Isaiah 52 "how beautiful on the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news of good things.." Jess and I have decided that you can't be a good disciple and have clean feet ... at least here in Honduras :)

Back to Hermon tomorrow! As Jess begins her last week here in Honduras, please pray that the Lord would continue to speak to her and that he would use us for His glory! We will also be doing VBS every afternoon with Jennifer, Jamie, and Sarah.... so please pray for the kids that will be loved on during that time. Pray that the Lord's ways would be made known and that He would receive the glory that He is due!

Sta. Rosa Copan & The Mayan Ruins

2008-06-14T19:41:00.011-05:00

I had an amazing 2 days in Copan, it was everything I thought it would be AND then some! We woke up early Thursday morning and headed out from Siguatepeque, it ended up being a 4 1/2 hour trip excluding stops.... still no air conditioner in the car, so we needed to get out every few hours to cool off at a gas station or something. Rebeca slept in my lap pretty much the whole way, such precious times! Once we made it to Copan, everyone checked into the Hotel Granditas Mayas and then Jess and I went shopping! We mostly just looked because we knew we would be able to shop again the next day... BECAUSE the water park that we thought we were going to.. ended up being 2 swimming pools and 2 slides! So disheartening, haha! See for yourself:

One of the most beautiful sites was just walking in the city of Copan. The streets are cobblestone, ALL of them! Most of the streets are just dirt roads here in Honduras and to see something as pretty as cobblestone is rare! The town was so quaint, one could tell that it is a tourist hot spot but never the less it was so great!

Thursday night we went out to eat at a restaurant in town, Jess and I had the typical Honduran meal : beef, refried beans, tortillas, fried plantains, cheese, avocado, and rice. I love the typical food here, I am going to miss it when I am not here anymore!

So Friday morning we woke up and headed to see the Ruins. The weather was gorgeous, really sunny, about 85 degrees, and not a cloud in the sky! We walked up on the first set of ruins and all Jess and I wanted to do was run up it! Just to think that I walked on something that is thousands of years old, blows my mind! These ancient Mayans had a nack for building things :)

As fun it it was to run up it, we realized that it may be even more fun to jump off and taking fun jumping pictures! We must have done this 10 times each and let me tell you, it was a workout!

I was able to get a good picture of our sweet family here in Honduras! I love these guys, they are my heart!

We walked around to each site and read a little bit about the history and talked about how amazing the intricate carvings were. Most of the separate statues were used as alters to sacrifice animals or people to their pagen gods.

There were TONS of "Guacamaya", birds that look like HUGE parrots! They are native to this area and apparently were there when the Mayans were in Copan as well. They used them in many of their carvings and for a mascot-like figure for the game they played with a ball. Not like games we play these days, it was a gruesome story about how they through this concrete ball at the Guacamayan statues and if they hit them they got a point.. which ever team lost, one of their women had to be sacrificed to their pagan gods. Crazy!

After walking on the ground and seeing everything up close, they had a place you could hike up to see an aerial view of the whole Mayan Temple. Quite the hike I would say but SO WORTH IT! Everything was so full of vegetation, color, and life! The Lord overwhelmed me with His goodness and His glory as I stood there on the mountain. I felt so alive as I stood there.

This little one was such a trooper! She did the whole ruin tour with us and did so well! I love her so much!

Once the tour was over, we headed back to our hotel for a rest and then for some more shopping! Before supper, Jess and I decided to go up to the roof and relax in the hammocks. As I was laying there, I had another unexplainable moment with the Lord. His beauty just amazes me and it takes my breath away. I realized that I was laying in a hammock on the roof of our hotel in Honduras, Central America, watching the sun go behind the mountains. It does not get any more surreal than that!

Woke up this morning and I can honestly say, I do not remember the last time my legs where this sore! Okay, maybe when I went snowboarding.. but you would think that snowboarding would make your legs sore! We picked up Jamie and Sarah from Eldorado, Arkansas, at the San Pedro Sula Airport and then headed home to Siguatepeque! I have enjoyed getting to know them and I am sure that we will have a great week! Jess and I will be working our normal schedule in the mornings and then doing VBS with them in the afternoons. I cannot believe that Jess is leaving in one week.. I will sure miss her when she leaves but we are going to have such a GREAT week!

Please pray for us as we wrap up our time together here in Honduras, that the Lord would continue to use us in whatever ways He sees fit! We are here to be His hands and His feet... pray that His light would shine through us.

2008-06-11T18:02:00.006-05:00

I can hardly believe that yesterday was pretty much my first day not to blog since I have been back from Olanchito! But don't worry, you didn't miss anything important :) We did not go to the Mobile Clinic because there are no activities at the Hospital this week, now tell me when that would ever happen in the States?? Instead of sitting at home, we decided to surprise Dr. Suazo and Thelma with our faces on a Tuesday! They seemed to be glad to see us and Jess was able to get some more injection practice :)

Today, however, was an interesting day! We went back to Hermon today and it was the most steady day we have had these past 3 weeks. Jess gave 2 or 3 more injections and the ones she did not want to do, I did. I gave one to a screaming 4 year old, you would have thought we were going to kill him. But it was nothing that I monkey sticker did not fix :) It is amazing how resilient kids are. An elderly woman came in to the clinic today and she was very faint and could hardly walk. She needed medication intravenously so it was my job to do that. Her veins were small, skinny, and they would give out very easily. Every time I attempted I was able to enter the vein successfully but after injecting the medicine, her veins would just blow. It took 3 attempts with medication going in at each point to get it all in her system. Sweet lady just slept through the entire process, I doubt she will even know what happened to her. Dr. Suazo's last day with us was today, he is taking his vacation over the next 3 weeks so we will not be seeing him anymore :( He thanked us for our work and told us that he would love to see us again next summer! I just love them!

We are leaving for Copan tomorrow morning! I am sure that I will have TONS of pictures and stories to share after this fun little vacation! We will just be driving to Copan tomorrow, a 4 1/2 hour trip and then doing some souvenir shopping for the rest of the evening. Friday we will be touring the Mayan Ruins during the morning and in the afternoon going to the Water Park! We will stay in Copan on Friday night and on Saturday morning make our way to San Pedro Sula to pick up a team of 2 women that will be working with us for the week. I am sure this is going to be an incredible week! Please pray for the team as they travel down and for Jess and I as we serve our last week together! I cannot believe this summer is already on the down-slide..

Thank you all so much for leaving comments! Please don't stop! I get so excited to read them and you have no clue how much of an encouragement they are! I love you all and cannot wait to see you!

POR FAVOR!!!

2008-06-09T15:37:00.004-05:00

To ALL of My Blog Readers:

After seeing such a generous response from Jessica Young's request on her blog, jealousy took over and I just had to ask you all to do the same thing.... PLEASE leave me a comment if you read my blog! I know many of you guys read it so just drop me a line and let me know who you are!

So none of you will use this as an excuse, here are 4 simple steps to leave a comment:
1) Click on the comments link at the bottom of the post
2) Type a message in the "leave your comment" box and make sure to include your name
3) Select anonymous
4) Then PUBLISH that stuff

You guys mean the world to me and you have no clue how much of an encouragement you are! Thank you for being such a real part of my ministry here. I love you and miss you!

Spanish Word of the Day:
Por Favor --> Please

WEEKENDS!!!

2008-06-08T23:27:00.005-05:00

here is the video ... the one that Jess doesn't want me to put up :)

Yesterday (Saturday) was a pretty uneventful day. The highlight was going to eat at Bongo's... and to be honest, I really wouldn't even consider it a highlight because the food was not very good! Haha.. NOT what I was expecting! Jess and I had some good girl time and enjoyed our day off from work. We were also able to talk to our friends that had just made it in from Africa.. it was so good to hear from them and know that they are safe! God used them in incredible ways, I cannot wait to hear more!

Today we slept until 10 am, I CANNOT for the life of me remember when the last time it was that I have done that! FELT SO GOOD! Jess and I decided to take a hike this morning after we got up and ate breakfast, we only went for 40 minutes but it was good to be out in the sunlight and to be moving around! Not hard to admire the Lord's creation here :)

After lunch we washed some clothes, I wrote some thank you letters, and read a book! At 5 pm we headed to Jesus de Otoro to go to Iglesia Bautista Nazert for their 7th anniversary as a church. It was Jess's first experience in a church here in Honduras and I would have to say it was not the funnest! Haha, the church service was over 2 hours long and when it is in a language that is not your own .. as you can imagine it makes things hard to concentrate! I was glad that we brought a book to read on because the pastor preached for an hour and a half! The sweet people from the church fed us before we left, so hospitable! If there is one thing I could learn from these people and bring back to my home in Monroe, it would be the gift of HOSPITALITY! They have an incredible nack for it!

The drive home was nice, we were able to listen to some music and look at Siguatepeque lit up at night as we drove in. Lots of laughs with Jennifer, Osmany, Rebeca, and Jess :) We just HAD to make a pit stop at KOBS to get some icecream to finish off a great day! And OH BOY, it was GOOD!

Spanish Word of the day:
Icecream --> Helado

Life Is Good

2008-06-06T23:52:00.003-05:00

Today was another fun filled day at Hermon. It was quite possibly the busiest day at a clinic that we have had so far this summer, 16 patients! Nothing too interesting, just stayed busy! Came home and shopped on the internet for a while, did not buy anything.. it is just fun to look sometimes. Haha, you know?

Jess and I had a bit of an adventurous spirit this afternoon and decided to take a walk into the central part of town. We wanted to try to find some tomales, mangos, tortillas and other Honduran foods to satisfy our cravings... well we got caught in the rain! Made it to the grocery store just in time before the bottom fell out and shopped around until the rain subsided. We found tostacas (Honduran treats), pan dulce (sweet bread), and other random treats that looked nice. On the way back to the house we stumbled upon the tortilla makers, the fruit cart, and the tomales! I was excited that we had found the market! However, they did not have the kind of tomales that I wanted... but they did have the tortillas and some GINORMOUS mangos! It was really fun to walk around and get to know the city a little better, we probably walking about 3 or 4 miles all together :)

We watched a video in the "Wising Up" series by Beth Moore tonight. She had a good word about being a wise wife! Or maybe I should say LOTS OF GOOD WORDS! I have not the slightest clue who the Lord has for me in this area, much less am I married and I felt the Lord speaking so strongly to my heart! Praise the Lord for holding wisdom in the palm of His hand and offering it to us... all we have to do is go get it!

For those of you who do not know, I have many friends traveling home from Africa as we speak. Please pray for them as they make this long journey home. Pray that the Lord would protect them and bring them home safely to us; pray that He would continue to use them as they are lights for Him, even in the most unlikely places.

Osmany is coming home tomorrow from his week in the Mosquitia, so I am sure we will spend the day relaxing and hearing of the Lord's work in the eastern part of Honduras. I am praying that this weekend will be restful, meaningful, and full of the Lord's presence!

Spanish Word of the day:
Busy --> Ocupado

Shalom

2008-06-06T00:00:00.004-05:00

Community Clinic today.. we got left this morning! HA! The hospital payed for us to take a taxi into El Porvenir, so everything ended up working out. There were about 10 patients today, so I'm pretty sure we had something to do for all of about 1.5 hours out of the 5 hours that we were at the clinic. One could say that it was boring, but Jess and I really never seem to have that problem :) God has truly blessed me with an incredible friend and sister! The spare time made for some good pictures, a funny video that Jess really doesn't want me to put up but don't worry...I am going to anyways, amazing conversation, rest, and reading!

So, I just want to go ahead and tell you that God is rocking my world on a DAILY basis here. Jess and I have been talking about this peace that we cannot describe or explain that has overtaken us since being here in Honduras. As I was reading in Velvet Elvis today, the section "Shalom" appeared. I thought to myself, NO WAY! Rob Bell talks about peace not just being the absence of strife but instead the presence of the goodness of God! There is a feeling of wholeness and completeness.. I want to tell you that this is EXACTLY what we have been talking about! I feel so complete and whole, and I'm pretty sure that it has nothing to do with me. Yes, God called me here and here I am but I think there is more to it than that. He does not have to give me this peace, but He does. Because He is good. And even more mind blowing, He would still be the same God, a God that is good, even if I did not have this peace. It is all about Him receiving the glory. May my life NEVER cease to bring Him the praise that He so rightly deserves, may the world know God because of the peace that He has put in my life. SHALOM.

Spanish Word of the day:

Peace --> Paz

Rainy Days...

2008-06-04T22:25:00.004-05:00

We decided to grace Hermon today with our presence, and OH BOY were we ever glad that we did :) Haha, there were all of about 5 patients! However, Jess was given the opportunity today to give her first injection and she did WONDERFUL! I thought it was cool because I was able to teach her and watch her in action for the first time :) Not many people get to do that...

Our walk home was pretty today, you can check out Jess Young's blog if you want to see what it looks like :) We went into town today to run some errands, check out a clothing store called Charrion (Jess and I were actually surprised at their selection of clothing) and we hit up KOBS on the way out! Cookies and Cream on a waffle cone... mmmm, reminds me of home :) It rained on us most of the time we were in town but thankfully it slacked off as we started on our walk home. We took some pictures of the scenery and our precious friends!

Tomorrow we will go with the Community Clinic to El Porvenir. Hopefully there will be many more opportunities to practice skills!

"No Reserves, No Retreats, No Regrets" - William Borden. This quote has been on my mind and heart today. I want to "BE HERE" so bad that I can't see straight. It has been a day of missing my family, friends, church family, and just everyday things that you don't even realize. But even though I miss you guys, I wouldn't be anywhere else right now. I want to have no regrets when I leave this place and I want to know that I was obedient to do what the Lord called me to do every single step of the way. He has indeed given me a peace that surpasses all understanding and for that I am grateful!

Spanish Phrase of the Day is BACK!!!
Que le vaya bien! = (It's basically a way to say, "Have a good day, Go well")

Thanks for your comments, your prayers, and your love!

AHH It Is ALL About The EXPERIENCE!!!

2008-06-03T18:53:00.008-05:00

Another day with the Mobil Clinic, we went to a village named Santa Rosita. My first time ever with the Mobil Clinic we went to this same village but MANY things were different about this trip! A new doctor worked with us, Doctor Molina. And there was the usual crew of Alex, Rosalia, and Miguel (dentist). We pulled up and we weren't at the Centre de Salud, we were at the church. No one was exactly sure why we were not at our normal spot but being as flexible as these people are here in Honduras... no one complained and began to set up for the day. Things started off pretty normal, we helped pull files for patients and checked their weight, blood pressure, and blood sugar for those who needed it. After we finished with pre-consult info we helped Rosalia get the medication for each patient after they came out of their consult.

At the end of the line of patients, they always have "citologias" for some females. Now for those of you who are not medical majors, I am going to go ahead and apologize, you may not want to read if you are not into medicine. But for those of you who would be excited to hear about this, the Doctor needed some help so I went back to assist him! Citologia means Pap Smear in English! The Doctor had a small 5X5 room with a lantern to light the way! We got a flashlight and I assisted him with the first one. The next one, he got Jess to come in and help. During the process, he asked me if I would like to actually DO the test. Of course, I did not turn down the opportunity! So I did a Pap Smear today with Jess's assistance! The Doctor said that many of the women are more comfortable if another woman does their test. I was very thankful for the opportunity to learn more about the human body and to get some hands on experience is PRICELESS! Below is a picture of the room the Doctor did his consults in... SMALL!

The clinic ended, we packed everything up and the crew decided they wanted to "explore" the mountain! Haha, it was a fun experience! We must have gone up some of the steepest inclines I have ever seen and somehow we made it out on the main road! So I guess the exploratory work did its job! The scenery was beautiful and we enjoyed the time of fellowship with our friends!

Going to Hermon tomorrow.. pray for us!

2008-06-02T23:39:00.003-05:00

"Galletas Bonitas" --- beautiful crackers :) Haha, I guess "beautiful crackers are better than ugly crackers" - Hannah Brown

We went to Hermon today, and it was a rather slow day, as you may can tell by our picture taking with the "beautiful crackers". Jess and I always seem to make the best of it though! I gave a few injections, helped with medication, and we did some bookkeeping for their records. Jess will be giving an injection sometime soon, so you can just go ahead and be praying for the Lord to give her boldness :) Over all, it was a good day at La Clinica Medica Bautista!

After we finished at the clinic, we rode up-town to buy some groceries and to have lunch. My favorite thing about eating lunch in the grocery store is that I can have "Jamaica" juice. It is fabulous! Played with Rebeca outside for a while today, I just love the girl! Rested, watched a movie, ate some good ole' pizza and rice crispy treats, and now I am ready for another day!

Tomorrow we are going with the Mobil Clinic to Santa Rosita. I have been to this village before, so it will be cool to be able to visit again! Pray for Jess and I as we serve the people in whatever way the Lord may call us to serve. Pray for safety as we travel into the mountains and pray that His light will shine through us. I love you and miss you all!

RELAXATION!!!

2008-06-01T16:16:00.003-05:00

After a busy week of adjusting to Siguatepeque, recovering from illnesses, working in the villages and clinics, Jess and I were pumped about a weekend of relaxation! I have to admit, my attitude about it was probably not the best at first but I have come to realize that I really needed this time of rest! It felt so good to sleep in until 9 am on Saturday morning! I was able to spend a bunch of time reading, praying, and meditating on the things the Lord is doing in my life. We watched movies, napped, talked, ate, played with Rebeca and just pretty much did WHATEVER! Jennifer, Jess, and myself started Beth Moore's "Wising Up" series on Proverbs Wisdom this past week and watched the second session last night. After the session was over, the Lord opened up doors for great conversation and LOTS of fellowship! We must have talked for 3 hours after the movie was over about the situations in each of our lives :) I know some of you were praying for our time together, THANK YOU! I saw the Lord answer prayers as we were going last night! Since we didn't go to bed until around 2 am this morning, we slept in until 10 am! Jess and I laughed because it is the latest we have stayed up since being here in Honduras! This morning has been spent just spending some more time with the Lord and getting some clothes washed since the rain has stalled for a while.

I have been reading Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell since being in Honduras. Something that has really struck me over the past few days of reading it is that he explains Christianity as "a way". I really thought that was an interesting way of explaining things. Rob Bell states "As a Christian, I am simply trying to orient myself around living a particular kind of way, the kind of way that Jesus taught possible. And I think that the way of Jesus is the best possible way to live." He says "that whenever we purposefully try to live the way of Jesus, we find ourselves living more and more in tune with ultimate reality. Because Jesus said that when we see Him, we in turn have 'seen the Father'. Through His compassion, peace, truth telling, and generosity, He was showing us God. This makes God the ultimate reality. The kind of life Jesus was living was perfectly and completely in connection and cooperation with God, this makes it the best possible way to live life." Just food for thought :)

Please pray that this week I will be sensitive to the Lord's leading, wherever that may be. I want to soak up every opportunity that He brings my way. Pray that there will be learning opportunities at the clinic for Jess and I both to be able to grow as nurses. Please pray that the Lord would lead us to be a servant no matter where we are at, pray that His light would shine through us.

Your prayers, encouragement, facebook messages,and blog comments have been so inspiring! Please keep them coming! Thank you for your support and your love! You guys are a huge part of ministry here in Honduras! I love you!

This picture was taken at some point during the week, but I thought it was too precious not to share :)

The Overflow

2008-05-29T23:02:00.010-05:00

This morning started at 5 55 am for Jess and I, we had to be at the Hospital at 7 am to be able to go with the Mobil Clinic. So we met up with the crew and drove about 30 minutes to Agua Dulcita, a small village on the outskirts of Siguatepeque. We helped pull files, check vital signs, clean and pack up the equipment :) That was pretty much all we were good for! BUT it was interesting to observe and learn from what the others were doing. The Dentist that went with us was set up in the main room so we were able to watch her doin her "thing". This woman is INCREDIBLE, she pulled like 4 teeth and did a filling in ONE HOUR... and that is not counting what she did the rest of the day! The Doctor saw 25 patients from 9 am to 1 pm.

While these amazing people were in beast mode, Jess and I were probably frolicking about enjoying the scenery and our time in the village. Evidence...

After our time in Agua Dulcita, we drove back to Siguatepeque. Our friends dropped us off near our house so that we would not have to take a taxi all the way from the hospital! How awesome are they?? On the walk home we stopped for some icecream :)

I had a divine appointment on the walk home today.. Jess and I were walking along eating our icecream and someone said "Jessica!!!" and I turned around and it was the Pastor at the church that has the clinic that I worked in for the past 2 years! It was so good to see him! And even more divine that Jess and I needed to talk to him about starting work there some during the week! He said that they would be so glad to have us and that we could start tomorrow! I cannot wait to see Thelma and Dr. Suazo again! Praise the Lord for His provision!

We also made a Honduran meal tonight, well we really only made the tortillas but watched Jennifer make the rest. Here is a picture from the tortilla making extravaganza!

Bec... we painted Rebeca's fingernails and toenails with the polish that you sent! She loves it and says "Gracias"!

Today was such a good day, and I am VERY excited about being back at Hermon tomorrow! And being able to share this experience with Jess is indescribable, I have love watching her interact here! We serve a Great God!

Whoever Loves Much, Does Much

2008-05-26T16:21:00.018-05:00

Day One:

We left Siguatepeque around 8 45 am and arrived at the airport just about the time the plane landed in San Pedro Sula. The team did not get through immagration and baggage claim until around 12 but I was there waiting on them when they got out! After greeting everyone and sitting down for a bite to eat we headed off on the bus to Olanchito. It was about a 5 hour drive but Jess and I had no problem using that time to catch up on our missed time together and to talk about how great of a week we would have. It was also a good time to snag a nap :) We got to the mission house around 5 30 pm and found that there was no one there to let us in! To pass the time we walked down to the river, took fun jumping pictures off of the chapel's stage, and just enjoyed one another's company. During our fun, Wally pryed the door open with a medal wedge and we were able to get in only to find another problem, NO WATER!!! So, our Extreme Missionary Adventure began! We settled in for the night and began to prepare to hike out at 7 am the next day. All of the boys went to bed, and around 9 pm, there was someone knocking at the gate. The girls flipped out because it was strange and so I wondered outside to find my sweet friends from the church! Leonardo, Kerlin, Fredy, Claudia, and Odelle were there to "let us in" and I also informed them of the water problem. We went to bed at 10 30 and set our alarms for an early morning.

Day Two:

I awoke to my alarm at 5 30 but found no one else to be up, so my happy self went back to bed! Everyone began stirring around 6 45 so this put us a little behind but HEY thats part of being FLEXIBLE! Dario, Dunia, Kerlin, Leonardo, and Fredy met us at the mission house to head out with us for the week. Our drive into the village where we would park our cars was 2 hours but we stopped along the way to pick up some pastor friends, Fransico & George. We parked our cars at Agua Blanca and set out to hike. The scenery during our hike was breath-taking and it was such an enjoyable experience! Not really tough but not really easy either, I enjoy myself ALOT! There were a few up's and down's but for the most part there was a good path and we were able to walk through some small rivers. Compared the Olanchito, the climate was cool and bearable, what a difference that made! When we arrived at Quebrada de Arena all of the people were waiting on us. We were able to sneak off for a minute when we got there to freshen up and wash off our dirty bodies and nasty clothes. The precious lady that was going to let us stay in her yard, opened up her wash area for us to use. We had a clothes washing session on the stone and quickly ran back outside to be with the people. As soon as we returned there the people gathered around and I was given an opportunity along with my team mates to share Discovery Stories. I shared with them the study of Creation and then later shared Old Testament Joseph's story with them through a drama. In the midst of the commotion, there was a man that had approached us with a terrible wound to the hand from an accident with a machete. He had completely severed the ligaments linking his bones from his fingers to his hand. We had no suture kit or anything so I cleaned the wound with normal saline and removed all of the debris, butterflied it together the best we could, and put a stick under his hand to prevent moving of the joint. We are praying that even though we did not have the proper supplies that the Lord would heal him and give him complete use of his finger again. We also showed the Jesus film around dusk and there were many people in this unreached village who gave their hearts to the Lord! A team has not visited the village in 5 years becuase of its hardness but God seems to be toiling the soil in this precious village! After the video we prayed with many of the people and announced the medical clinic and games for kids that would be going on the next morning. Our next adventure was going to the bathroom in a village who had no outhouses, which meant we went down the mountain in a secret place, haha. We set up tents and headed for bed, however, Jess, Sarabeth, Rachel, and I stayed up a little later than everyone else :) Gotta love girl bonding time! We talked about the things that the Lord had shown us just in the short time we had been there and shared life! Great times of fellowship :) Going to bed wasn't too difficult because of being exhausted and knowing that we would need rest for the busy day ahead of us.

Day Three:

The roosters began crowing at 3:30 am and the cows were making some AWEFUL noise right oustide of our tent! All the girls in my tent woke up with achey backs and pretty much on the ground! Haha, talk about having no comfort! It was fun to wake up to each others laughter about the situation at hand and to see how each other was interpreting it. A sweet woman, Rosa, invited us into her home to eat breakfast (rice, chicken, and tortillas). I have never been in a more hospitable village in all my life, which is suprising because of the history of the village. It still blows me away that these people seem to have so little but yet they have so much to give! The medical clinic began at 8 30, some sang songs and shared testimonies while we set everything up. I was actually to do most of my own translating and speaking with little help from Dunia. We saw about 45 families and were able to give everyone vitamines and the majority of the people parasite medication. Anything else that the people needed we were able to provide for as well with in reason. After we finished the clinic we hung with the people and then prepared to hike back down to Agua Blanca. On the hike down we stopped for a while besdie a small river to rest and had a blast! When we arrived at Agua Blanca we ate the food they provided: rice, beans, tortillas. After finishing the meal we set off to bathe in the river! This is probably one of my favorite memories :) Because I was the only one out of the girls who had ever bathed in a river, I had to teach Jess, Sarabeth, Rachel, Caitlin, and Krystal what to do. I found a rock out in the center of the rapidly moving river and sat down on it and washed off well. We acted crazy, enjoyed one anothers company, laughed, joked, and enjoyed being CLEAN and COOL! Two precious girls from the village joined us, Jansy and Lela. We washed their hair for them and spent some good time with them. As we were bathing we really felt so in touch with nature that the Lord created. We felt like it must have been like this for the people who lived when Jesus did. Sarabeth stated my FAVORITE quote of the whole trip "I feel like I am in Jesus' time except for the fact that we have on all of this under armor!!" It was the truth! After all of the fun in the river we went back up to the houses and spent some more time with the kids: painting finger nails, throwing the football, and playing the name game in spanish and english. The church was packed out for the Jesus film, so much that all of us were outside! It began to rain so we took cover at a school nearby and enjoyed each others company for a while. When the movie was over we went back to the church and prayed over people and everyone in the village was so excited that they wanted to watch another movie! We were so utterly exhausted that we put out our sleeping gear and prepared to get into the bed as soon as the other movie ended. There was some girl bonding time but not as much as the night before. Brother Dario told me we would have another clinic the next morning, in my mind I knew there wasn't enough medicine or vitamins for the people that needed it but we planned to have it anyways. All you can do is meet each need with what you have until you can't do it anymore. So I went to bed wondering how God was going to work the next day...

Day Four:

I woke up to the faces of little children staring in their schoolhouse wondering what all of the "gringos" were doing in there! We quickly woke up and exited the facility so the kids could get to work, BUT it turned out that they ended up playing with us for the first half of the day anyways! Haha, who needs school?? How many schools do you know in the states that would call school off to allow strangers to share Christ with their students? I know none. We set up for the medical clinic and much to our suprise, there was the EXACT amount of vitamins needed for each family that came in. It was a miracle, kind of like Jesus feeding the 5,000! Sarabeth and Jess shared with me that they spend the morning praying as they were bagging the vitamins, and their prayers were heard! I am being honest with you when I say we may have had enough for 10 people, but My God said NO, I want all of these peoples needs to be met! God is so good, He is the true provider! We said our goodbyes to the people of Agua Blanca after passing out toys, shirts, and hats, and drove to another village. This was the village that George pastored in! As soon as we arrived we went out into the community to visit the people. Some stayed behind to cook (dang boys) and the rest went house to house inviting people to come see the film. The second house we visited was a man who had accepted Christ just the year before. He invited us in to his home and we were able to share how great our God is through testimony and through song. I translated my first testimony there, it was Jess Young's, how awesome is that? He offered us a few treats: something that looked like a sweet potato, candy squash (suprisingly really good), rice, beans, tortillas, coffeeand a place to wash off! The next place we visited I shared my personal testimony in the spanish language, which was a goal that I set for myself for the summer. These people that I shared my testimony with were not believers, but I was thankful that the Lord opened up a door for me to share what He has done in my life. The last house we visited was the house of a local man that seemed to have things together. Sarabeth and Rachel shared their testimony there and I was able to translate for them. The man spoke to use about ways that he was trying to reach the community and they sounded good but something about his home and what was being said sounded a little off. We spent some more time there after being offered coffee and cookies and prayed with the family before leaving. Turns out, this man that we had visited where Sarabeth and Rachel shared their testimonies, had been acting as a false prophet in this particular village...adding things to the Gospel and making up a bunch of crazy rules. On the road back to George's house we met up with our team mates that had stayed behind to cook, Brett and Daniel shared with us that when they went into the school and they were given an opportunity to share discovery stories. The teacher and a few students personally asked them how they could know Jesus! They were able to pray with them and give them a spanish bible :) It was so awesome to meet them and fellowship for what little time we had, I know that I will see these people in Heaven one day! George's wife cooked a great Honduran meal for us and we played soccer for the rest of the evening. It was a pretty intense game, but we hung in there :) The Jesus film began around dark and the team retreated inside the school house for some time of prayer and to share what God had been doing in our lives. We prayed for a while for the people and then the Lord opened up doors through Clint for us to share what He had been showing us and to be COMPLETELY honest with each other. It pretty much turned into a "love fest" , courtesy of Jess Young :) It was a time of encouragement and fellowship, GREAT TIMES!!! Many of us felt uncomfortable in the village at one time or another so most of the girls were asked to stay inside during the invitation and time of prayer for the people. It turns out that we were definately a distraction, not our fault, the Devil was just after them. We were of harrassed a bit but were well protected by the walls of the school and the lock on the door. We lifted up our concerns to the Lord and prayed until it passed. God is my Protector! To make things even better, the false teacher that I mentioned above, came to repentance and shared that he wanted to join Pastor George's ministry in Janito. We had some great girl talk at bed time this night as well, I really LOVE my friends :)

Day Five:

Woke up on Thursday with a feeling of complete exhaustion and inadequacy. We stayed for a while longer and played games with kids, and met some needs medically. One little girl sticks out in my mind, she was being malested by her step dad and had some sever problems. My heart just broke for this precious child of God, I know that He has big plans for her life. I am still praying that the Lord would deliver her from the situation she is in and that He would be her true Father. After a morning spent ministering we began the drive back the mission house. Sarabeth and I enjoyed singing praises to the Lord on the IPOD and eventually we had the whole vehicle singing! When we got back to the house, as filthy as we were, there was still no water!!! Well I say none, but there was just enough to bathe with a trickle of water, which we were VERY GRATEFUL for! So we washed off and went to lunch at Pollo King. After our lunch/supper we went by the hammock place and then straight back to the mission house. It was a good evening but the Lord brought me into a rough situation later that night. Through this difficult situation I learned to truely love people no matter how they react towards you and what words they may use. My sweet friends were a huge blessing that night and the Lord gave them words that affirmed me and brought me back to where I needed to be. ANOTHER wonderful night of fellowship :) God is so good my friends!

Day Six:

Sarabeth, Rachel, Jess, and myself decided to get up early on Friday morning to make breakfast for the whole team and the locals that had been with us throughout the week. So we woke up bright eyed and bushy tailed and cooked pancakes, french toast, eggs, fruit, and some home-made syrup. By 9 30 am everyone was there and we had a great meal fellowshiping with one another and enjoying some familiar food :) The plan was to go to 2 orphanages so we left out at 11 am and spent about 2 hours in the first. We played games with them and then shared God's word through stories and drama, the kids really seemed to enjoy it! The hot weather in Olanchito was taking a toll on all of us, so around 1 pm we headed to eat some lunch. It felt so good just to have a cold drink! After lunch we went to the church that Dario pastors and played some games with the children there and then the rain came! It was fun to talk with them and teach them the stories of the Bible. A sweet little boy at the church asked Jess to be his girlfriend :) We went across the street to the hospital to visit Leo's little boy, Leoito that had been sick with pneumonia. We made it just after visiting hours and the Lord still made provision for all 15 of us to go into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit to see him and pray over his little sick body. It was a pretty emotional experience but we knew that the Lord strengthened Leo and his wife Vanessa through our visit. The ride home was so good as we spent time fellowshipping with Fredy and Dunia. The girls in my car: Jess, Rachel, and Sarabeth, and I talked about the love that we all felt for these people and a call just to come back. It is so good to know that the Lord is still moving in the hearts of His children to reach the nations! We spent the night saying goodbyes, another emotional experience for the first-timers. I know that I will see these beautiful people again, whether it be on this side of eternity or not is up to the Lord.

Day Seven:

We were up and out of the mission house by 7 am. Arrived in San Pedro Sula around 12 pm and checked into Grand Hotel Sula. McDonald's was across the street so we headed towards familiarity again :) Turns out that this was the nicest McDonald's we had ever been to! Talk about great service! The canopy tour was on the agenda next, and none of us were very excited. I think we were nervous and thought it may be a cheaply made thing so we weren't sure if we wanted to do it or not. BUT when we got there and saw everything, we got REALLY excited! It turned out to be one of the funnest things I have ever done! There were like 9 zip lines and 3 or 4 other courses. Being like 100 ft in the air and jumping off the edge of the canopy can give a pretty big energy rush :) The Lord opened up doors for me to talk to our guides, neither one of them were Christians. I told them that I would pray for them and they told me before they left that they wanted me to pray for them! Before we left, our group prayed with them and lifted their names up to the Lord! Another great experience shared with AMAZING friends! We got back to the hotel and got showered and met everyone downstairs for dinner. Afterwards we all took pictures dressed up and had some great girl talk again back in the hotel room! Jess, Rachel, Sarabeth and I stayed in the same room...definately enjoyed our last night together :)

Day Eight:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESS!!!--- she was serinated at 4 am :)

Woke up at 3 45 with the girls to help them get packed and downstairs to catch the bus to get to the airport. We said our goodbyes and hugged their necks and off they went! Jess and I went back to our room and slept what we could until time for Osmany to get us! We went to Cinnabon across the street and ate breakfast and caught the bus back to Siguatepeque with Osmany. Bless precious Jess though, she was sick the whole day and on her birthday! Stupid parasites...

TODAY:

I am happy to report that Jess is feeling much better today! Praise the Lord! We have just been celebrating her birthday today instead of yesterday :) Today has consisted of movies, blogging, catching up on facebook, and just enjoying not being sick! We have a pinata for Jess's birthday and a cake that we will be able to enjoy tonight! Praise the Lord for days like today and for my sweet friend Jess!

So.. If you can't tell, I had a PHENOMENAL (2 words PHE-NOMENAL) week :) God has shown Himself to me in ways that He has never done before. There are more brothers and sisters in Christ because of this team's obediance to Him this week! I feel like I have bonded closely with my friends from NMBC and we will be able to share this for a lifetime! Please pray for Jess and I as we start work tomorrow, I cannot wait to see how it goes! I love you!

AMAZING WEEK!!!

2008-05-25T21:18:00.003-05:00

I am not even sure where to begin, or if I want to try to put such a week into words. As a matter of fact, it will probably not be tonight. I have some prayer requests for you though.. Jess is sick. We got up really early to send the team back to Monroe and she has been sick ever since. I am assuming that it was something she ate last night at the Hotel. We were able to get some medicine in her pretty quick after it all happened so she has been sleeping most of the evening. Please pray for her, I hate to see my precious friend sick! The other request is not so major, my allergies are giving me all sorts of problems. After spending time in the mountains this week, I have a terrible cough! Since I am sure my patients will not want me coughing on them, I am praying that this will pass soon. We are taking the day off tomorrow after a hard week and a hard day. I will give you the details of the NMBC Crusade in the mountains of Olanchito tomorrow, so get ready! Thank you all for your prayers, I am confident that they were answered! I love you!

Eagerness :)

2008-05-17T23:12:00.003-05:00

Another day of relaxing... I do have to admit though, I am getting a tad bit stir crazy :) Went into town today for a bit, it was so busy that we just decided to turn back around! So when we got back to the house, we pulled out Rebeca's swimming pool, cleaned it out, and played in the water :) The water was cold, but it was fun! Tonight we made pupusa's for supper. A pupusa is a cheese stuffed tortilla, sounds good right? I probably should have refrained from them, but I just couldnt resist :) The rest of the evening has been spent packing my things for the week ahead! I am so ready to see Jess and the rest of the crew from North Monroe Baptist Church!

Please pray for us this next week as we serve in Olanchito and in the mountains. The members of the NMBC's team are: Clint Sheppard, Jessica Young, Josh Bumgardener, Krystal Quetant, Sarabeth Johnson, Tyler Hebert, Daniel Herring, Rachel Deas, Caitlin Carbrey, Brett McClelland, and myself. Pray that we will be bonded as a group, that we will be obediant to share God's word wherever the doors may open, and that the Lord would reveal Himself to us and the people of Honduras in a new way. Pray that He will be glorified through us!

I will not update until I return from the crusade in the mountains, but please be in prayer for us this week! I love you guys!

Spanish word of the day:

Tesoro --> Treasure

2008-05-16T23:36:00.004-05:00

Today was one of those days in Honduras where we thought we were going to do something productive, but it fell through!!! Haha, gotta learn to love it! We were supposed to go to Panes today, but the car is still not fixed! As of this afternoon we were supposed to be going tomorrow and I found out tonight that the truck is still not fixed and won't be fixed until tomorrow afternoon! So I guess Panes will have to wait until I get back from Olanchito!

I rested most of the day, all of the sleep that I missed out on all semester, yea well I am recovering :) It has been amazing to be able to rest and just be still and know that He is God!

Rebeca and I had a fun evening! She started off mad at me because she knows that I am leaving to go to Olanchito on Sunday but she got over it quickly. We played on the bed for like an hour and a half! Gotta love the simplicity of life for small children :)

Spanish word of the day:

MONO --> Monkey

La Clinica Communtario

2008-05-16T00:33:00.004-05:00

After a day like yesterday, I felt very fortunate to have a day like I did today! I had such a great time with the people from the Community Clinic! The Community Clinic is in a small village called Porvenir, outside Siguatepeque. It was very personal and I did not feel overwhelmed as far as responsibility goes. I was given opportunities to give shots, nebulization treatments, take vitals and even talk with some patients :) Jess you better get ready sister!!! The girl that I worked with today is also a nursing student, but she pretty much runs this community clinic as far as the nurses job is concerned. Her name is Ludis and we became good friends today :) We had about 20 patients today but we still finished early! For about an hour I was able to talk to Ludis about life, faith, family, friends, and school! I still need lots of practice with my spanish but I had the spanish dictionary out and we were going to town (thank you Christin!!!)!! To get back into town we had to take a taxi, all 5 of us! 4 of us were on the back seat, and it wasnt an easy fit nor was it a short ride back into town :) The other two girls pictured are Patty (left) and Vanessa (right), precious women!

Some friends came over tonight and we spent time with them after supper. Leo (the Doctor I worked with at the Mobil Clinic), Lela (Leo's wife), Leoito (their son), and Lela's brother Daniel were a fun bunch! More time to pracice the spanish :)

I did not write much yesterday but I want to talk about what happened yesterday at the hospital. All I can say is that I will not be working there anymore this summer because of 2 main reasons #1 Communication is an issue; when you are that sick, it is not good to have someone taking care of you that cannot understand exactly what you are saying all the time. Communication is very important in the nursing profession. #2 I felt as though the tasks that I was going to need to be able to do to work there were out of my scope of practice as a student nurse. I am not yet that comfortable working by myself doing the things they were asking me to do. So with that said, we are going to try something else! We are still going to do the Mobil Clinic and the Community Clinic the two days a week with the Hospital but instead we are going to go to either La Clinica Hermon ( I have worked there the past 2 years) or go to Panes for those days. We will already be going to Panes every Friday but it is possible for us to go on those days as well. I am still not sure exactly where we will be but we will be serving the Lord SOMEWHERE!! Please pray with Jess and I as we are trying to be sensative to the Lord's leading. I know that the doors will open so that we will know where to go!

Spanish word of the day:

(this is for you Jess!!)

JUGETE SENSILLA = simple toy :)

Working, Changing, Following ....

2008-05-14T22:29:00.004-05:00

I am not going to write much today, just know that the Lord is leading elsewhere as far as medical service is concerned. Hopefully I will know more after work tomorrow. Please pray that the Lord's direction would be clear and that His peace that passes all understanding will reign in my heart as I try to make the best decision. Get after it my faithful prayer warriors :)

Spanish pharse of the day:

Escuchare --> I will listen.

Mobil Clinic

2008-05-13T22:07:00.012-05:00

I learned all about the "mobil clinic" today! 2 days a week, I will be working with them and I loved what we did today! We left the hospital at 7 am to go to Santa Rosita, a village about an hour away from Siguatepque. I rode in the "ambulance" with Dr. Leo, Dr. Miguel, Alex, and Roscelia, all of which are WONDERFUL! When we arrived, there were about 20 families waiting on us at the Centro de Salud and immediately the team began to take action. Not in a way that one would think by being busy but instead ministering to the people. A story from the Bible was shared in their native tongue and we were able to pray with them. The unloading of boxes, setting up stations, and the gathering of information from patients, and beginning to meet the patients needs immediately followed the time we gave to the Lord. My job was to take their blood pressure (pression aterial) and their weight (peso). After I finished with all of the patients, which was around 30 people, I helped Roscelia in the pharmacy. We did not eat lunch until around 1:30 but the morning went by quickly! After eating we packed up the boxes, loaded the "ambulance", and said our goodbyes we worked our way back down the mountain. Speaking spanish for 8 hours straight with no english was quite interesting! Kind of a bittersweet deal, I am glad I got to practice and I liked speaking with the locals BUT I had a major headache when I got home!

Jennifer and Rebeca picked me up at the hospital today. After they picked me up, Rebeca and I went back to the house while Jennifer went to her class. We had fun :) Max bit my ankles again.. I just thought he had matured! HAHA (Jess, these pictures of Max and Princess are for you!!!)

Our line is hooked up here at the house... Osmany found a Linksys product that allows us to call out of Honduras to the states for a very cheap rate and for anyone who has a (318) area code to call us just like it is a local call, which means it is free for you guys! I would love to hear from you! Our number is (318) 402-0784.

Tomorrow I will be at the hospital all day, or at least that is what it is looking like. I am not really sure what to expect but I'm sure it will be wonderful! Thank you for all of your prayers, they are being answered! Please continue to pray for language fluency, relationships, and for the team from North Monroe that is coming in 4 days! Ah, what a week this is going to be!

Spanish phrase of the day:

"No Se!" --> I don't know!

this is how it is going to look...

2008-05-12T21:52:00.002-05:00

I had my interview at the hospital today with Dr. Velasquez. While we met we talked about my schedule, what my interests were, and then he showed me around the hospital. I am excited about being given an opportunity to volunteer at this hospital! Dr. Velasquez shared with me that they have a nursing school at the hospital, the girls that are in training stay there on campus and they are there for 3 years. They are not as qualified as nurses in the states.. this being true, the Dr. wants me to teach them what I know! All I could say was WHOA and WOW! 2 days a week I will be working with the mobil medical clinic that goes into the villages to care for the people who cannot pay for medical treatment. The other 2 days I will work in the hospital, hopefully getting to see some births! I unpacked today and got some rest before I start work tomorrow at the hospital. I was very thankful for a relaxed day!

Please pray that my nerves will settle down before tomorrow! I am nervous about starting work at a new place, speaking the language, and about all of the new people! I know it will be good but it is just hard to be going at this alone. I am praying for relationships to be formed as I work alongside many Hondurans and a few Americans in the hospital. Pray that the Lord will use me in whatever way He sees fit!

Spanish word of the day:
RELAJANDO--> relaxing

I Made It!

2008-05-11T22:11:00.003-05:00

I am here!!! Made it to Honduras around 8 45, and they were waiting on me! Rebeca is not a bad sight to see after being exhausted from a day of waiting and traveling :) I thought there may be a warming up period, but she ran right to me! And of course I brought some Great American Cookies from the States so that really did her in :) Jennifer and Osmany are great, so good to see them as well! Last night we stayed in San Pedro Sula in a very nice hotel with a pool and everything! Too bad we didnt get to enjoy it! We checked out before lunch and went to "Diunsa", kind of like a Wal-Mart, and ate lunch at Pizza Hut.

San Pedro Sula is HOT, almost unbearable! The air is thick and it is so muggy! The truck had no air even after trying to fix it, so the 2 hour ride to Sigutepeque was an interesting one. Sweet Rebeca slept on me most of the way, she sweated so much.. well we both did! I wish I had a picture to share with you from that ride home, it was a sight for sore eyes! Amazingly enough, the longer we rode, the cooler it became! I LOVE SIGUATEPEQUE! We are higher in the mountains so it makes the weather much more bearable. Don't get me wrong, it is still hot but this is a hot I can handle!

Max and Princess greeted us at the gate as we drove in! Max is much more calm, praise the Lord! I have not had my ankles bitten one time :) HAHA We unloaded everything and headed to the grocery store, always a fun adventure! There we ate supper and shopped for a while. Rebeca and I attempted a shower tonight but that turned out to be disasterous! She ended up with soap in her eyes, we had water all over the floor and YES you guessed it.. she busted her behind on the wet floor! Jennifer had to come in and I had to hold the screaming child to get the soap out of her hair. Bathing has never been a successful process for Rebeca and I, every time we attempt to do it together it never turns out right! AHH good times!

I have an appointment tomorrow at 7 am with a Doctor from the hospital. Please pray that everything goes well, as I am sure that it will. They are giving me a schedule and everything! Jessica Young, I am already ready for you to get here! So is Rebeca :) We have been talking about you!

Back by popular demand... the Spanish word/phrase of the day is:

HACE CALOR : It's hot!

A Curve Ball..

2008-05-10T09:41:00.003-05:00

FUN stories to tell already!!! so.. I am updating from Alexandria, Louisiana at 9 47 am, this morning I woke up thinking the next time I would update would be in Honduras. I got to the airport this morning around 4 45, checked in and they asked me if I would like to move to an earlier flight that was leaving at 5 30. I told them that would be good because I could have a longer layover in Houston. We got on the plane, they went through the whole spill about safety adn what nots if the plane were to crash... and then we just sat there. We sat on the plane from around 5 10 until 7 20. They were having technical difficulties on the plane and couldn't get the maintenance crew out there to get us to Houston on time, so we evacuated the plane and went BACK into the airport! From there we all had to schedule new flights, some of us were blessed to be able to make it to our destination today, others were not able. During this whole "escapade" I was able to make some friends on the plane. Some folks sitting across the isle from me were Becky, 4 year old Tanner, and 10 month old Mason. Everyone was pretty frusterated about the situation but the Lord clearly revealed to me that I was not supposed to be on that airplane! Becky and I talked some about the Lord and she shared with me about her life. If that was the only reason we were put in this situation then it was worth it :) Many people called and texted me during this time and had no idea what was going on, just wanted me to know that they were praying for me. I am confident that the Lord has me right where He wants me, and thankfully I will be arriving in Honduras around 8 40 pm, Lord willing! I have no way to get in touch with Osmany and Jennifer about this delay, pray for them as this will be a long day of uncertainty. Please pray for me as I try to fly out again at 5!

1 MORE DAY!!!

2008-05-09T15:33:00.003-05:00

Leaving tomorrow :) I am so excited! My flight leaves from Alexandria at 6:35 am and I will arrive in Honduras at 10:52. Please pray for safe travel and that my luggage makes it to Honduras with me!

5 Days Before Departure

2008-05-05T09:05:00.002-05:00

HELLO EVERYONE!! So... it is only 5 days before I leave! I cannot believe that another year has come and gone and I am on my way to serve yet another summer in Honduras! I am excited and I feel honored to be returning to serve with these people! Here is how the summer is looking thus far:

May 10-17 : Siguatepeque
May 18-25: Olanchito
May 26-June 21: Jess will be with us in Siguatepeque
June 28: I will leave Siguatepeque
June 28-July 12: Serve with FBC Swartz in Nicaragua
July 12-July 19: CROSS CAMP 2008 -- in Alexandria, LA

To all of my faithful friends, please continue to pray! I am confident that the Lord has some amazing things in store for this summer, He always does :) But I am expecting for Him to blow my mind and just do things that I never thought were possible, all for His glory! The situations and testimonies leading up to this summer are amazing, and I know that after I return I will have many more!

Please pray for me the rest of this week as I finish up my school work and prepare to leave! I will update one more time before I leave with more prayer requests :)

2007-06-28T21:56:00.000-05:00

It was my last day at the clinic today, and it was a good day to end on. I never got to finish an IV but today I was given the opportunity to do an intravenous injection. So it was pretty much the same thing, I got it the first time :)

After work today, we prepared for the arrival of Jennifer's friend from Olanchito. Her name is Nellie and she has a 4 yr old son named Elias. I met them last year when they came to stay with us for a few days, so it was neat to see them again.

Once the bus arrived with Nellie and Elias, we picked them up and headed to Pane. It was raining the whole way up there, but we knew we were going anyways. We got to the village and began to do a small Bible study with the children and then we showed them a few crafts. The verse we talked about was John 1:3 "Through Him all things were made". The flower was a symbol of God's creation, they really enjoyed making it! We brought coloring sheets for them as well and shared some cookies and juice. It was a really good time. A nice ending to my summer here in Siguatepeque.

Tomorrow we are heading to San Pedro Sula to go to the water park for the day. I am excited about getting a day to soak up the sun and just have some fun with the kids! Saturday the team from Swartz will be here! Please pray for us as we spend the week serving in the mountains. Pray that we will be united as a group and that our individual ministries will shine through each of us. Please pray for their safe travel as they fly down on Saturday! As for me, this is my last post from Honduras! I will update when I get home about our week in Olanchito, so don't tune out just yet :)

2007-06-26T13:39:00.000-05:00

okay so its official, i am THE BEST shot giver EVER!! haha, not really! but i am learning quickly! i am really enjoying my time at the clinic and the Lord has put many opportunities before me. I am so grateful for my time there! only 2 more days ...

2007-06-24T21:52:00.000-05:00

We ventured back to Pane again today for our meeting with the village leaders and the single mothers. The meeting consisted of explaining to the people what we were going to be doing and how the process would work. At the end we got information from the single mothers such as: their names, how many children they have, whether or not they have a house, and if they have a house we needed to know if they had a latriene(outhouse). The number of women was almost discouraging and come to find out over half of them have no house. We wanted to help them out by building them latrienes but you cannot build a latriene for them if they have no house. I mean some of these women have 4 or 5 kids, one even had 12. They have nothing. Where does one even begin? Please pray for these people...

In the mean time, we played with the children and taught them the wonderful sport of frisbee! They seemed to have a good time as you can tell from the picture.

Tomorrow is back to the clinic, please pray for me as I am pushed beyond my comfot zone daily. Pray that the Lord would calm my nerves, my fears, and erase any doubt. Also pray that the Lord would sustain me as I await for my friends arrival on Saturday! I want to make the most of the last few days that I have here in Siguatepeque, pray for effectivness.

Clinic Days

2007-06-22T13:21:00.000-05:00

My last few days have been spent working in the clinic in the mornings and helping out at the house in the evenings. Monday started off not so good because all I was doing was filing stuff, the whole time thinking " you know this is really not up my alley, why am i doing this?". I had been filing the last week I was at this clinic and when I returned I was not pleased to find that the work had not been finished. The Lord humbled me and showed me that I am to be obediant no matter how small the task, so I pressed onward to finish my task. I actually grew to like to filing room, great worship time :) Turns out, Wednesday rolled around and Thelma (the nurse) told me that she needed me and let me tell you I did NOT go back to the filing room! On Wednesday the Doctor and Nurse both told me that tomorrow they were going to make me do all of the shots and IV's. Dude I about FREAKED OUT. I got really nervous and scared but I also knew that neither one of them would put me in a bad position. I woke up Thursday morning just praying that the Lord would give me a peace about what I would learn that day and that if He brought me to it, I know that He would get me through it. I was given the opportunity to give 4 shots that day! Each time, giving the shot got easier and easier. I have given shots before, but this just turned over a whole new page for me. No putting in IV's on Thursday but I did get to take one out. When I woke up this morning, I was just as nervous as the morning before. I spent time with the Lord and asked Him to calm my nerves, my fears, and whatever was making me feel like I this. Got to the clinic and the first thing Thelma asked me was, " are you ready to put in your first IV?" My stomach turned into a knot! But since I had already resolved that I was going to do whatever they gave me the opportunity to do, I picked up the equipment and prayed. I prepped the spot and got everything all ready, the only thing that was left was to insert the IV catheter. Good vein and everything, but I choked. I tried and realized that I wanted to watch before I actually did one of these, haha. So I watched intently, and the nurse told me, "Next time, YOU are doing it!". So that would be how my day started out, not too encouraging you might say. However, for some reason it didn't seem to phase me. Throughout the day I was given more opportunities to give injections and things of that nature, and it went SOO WELL. I'm a professional now :) Haha. The Lord has also been answering my prayers and probably the prayers of others about the language barrier. Today I was able to talk to patients, about other things besides medicine and just get to know them. That was a really cool experience! I want you all to know that I serve a BIG GOD, and He is able to do more than we could ever ask for or imagine! (Ephesians 3:20)

2007-06-20T13:48:00.000-05:00

Yesterday we returned to a village that we worked in all summer last year so it was cool to go back. there is a church back in the states that has adopted the village so we went to get some information from the clinic head and the village leader. it is about a 45 to an hour drive from the town that we live in, we we left out early yesterday. on our drive up we met the nurse just walking along the side of the path, so we stopped and talked to him. he told us that the people of Pane are very mal nourished and have alot of sickness. basically they just need to be eduacated on ALOT of things. that is someting that we are working on.. jennifer and i are going to be putting together a presentation about how and why it is good to boil your water, brush your teeth, how to make home made toothpaste, how to NOT get parasites. so that should be fun! then we met with the village leader, the Lord had him standing right at the entrance when we arrived! we talked with him about who needed the latrienes(outhouses) and things of that nature. there are 55 homes without outhouses!!! how crazy is that? there are 201 families in this village, and they say that over half of them are in extreme poverty. this sunday we are going back to meet with the people that need the outhouses.

spanish is getting easier and easier! praise the Lord!

Birthday Weekend

2007-06-17T23:10:00.000-05:00

we celebrated jennifer's birthday this weekend with a pinata, some pictures, going out to eat, and eating cake! oh brotha that cake was GOOD!!!

had some great time for fellowship this weekend with trish and jennifer. i feel like this weekend and my time here in honduras i have learned how to live life from 2 Godly women. i feel like we lived out titus 2:3-4 "older owmen likewise are to be reverent in their behavior, not malicious gossips nor enslaved to much wine, teacing what is good so that they may encourage the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be sensible, pure, workers at home, kind, being subject to their own husbands,so that the word of God will not be dishonored."

tomorrow i am going back to the clinic here in siguatepeque! pray that the Lord would continue to open up doors for ministry here and that He would sustain me in these days.

Anyone Can Comment!

2007-06-15T11:12:00.000-05:00

Okay so during my lesson on technology for trish, i found out that i can make it to where anyone can make comments on my blog!! all you have to do is click anonymous and post! i will be expecting alot more comments now :)

La Ferria

2007-06-14T17:57:00.000-05:00

- putting the tarps up!!

-the guitar that was given to the village

- me with some beautiful children from la ferria

- a typical house in La Ferria

amazing days...

2007-06-12T17:08:00.001-05:00

okay so have you ever had a day where you just felt really loved by God? well i DEFINATELY had one of those days on sunday :)

i wrote in my last post that meagan and brady came to church with me. that was a great part of my day, but i had no idea that the best was yet to come.

at 3, we headed out to la ferria again. some of my friends from the clinic joined us: meagan, uli, and casey. doña maria and july also joined us :) ¨la ferria¨in english means ¨the carnival¨. this village has a name like this because all of the houses are made out of sticks and colorful plastic bags. kind of like the ones we get at the grocery store. the reason their houses are like this is for a couple of reasons 1) they are poor 2) they are waiting on the government to lease the land to them legally so they can build their little village. some of you know that right now in honduras, this season is called the rainy season. well how well do you think plastic bags from wal mart would protect you from the rain?? - --- not very well!! marlon and trish had this idea to pray about getting these people some heavy duty tarps to protect them during the rainy season. sunday was the day that we were able to take them out there. we were also able to give them a guitar donated by someone back in the states, they were very thankful for both. marlon and trish have been working in the village for 8 months now and this is the first time they have given them anything other than the word of God; in hopes that they would be completely satisfied with the things of God instead of being dependent on material things. as we were finishing putting the example tarp on a house, the rain came! it was like the Lord was putting His stamp of approval on the tarps :) we were also planning on heading out soon after but the rain was a God given delay. During the rain we sat underneath the house with the new tarp and sang with the children and adults. we took pictures, laughed, and sang our hearts out. it was a great time! when the rain relented a little, we decided to head back into town before it got too dark. well to our suprise, it began to rain again. and what you dont know yet is that meagan, myself, uli, and casey were all riding in the back of the truck because there was no room in the cabin for everyone. so we road the whole 45 min back into town with a tarp over our heads, it was big fun!!! and soooo memorable! it was great to share that time with the girls from the clinic, great bonding time :)

last night marlon went back to la ferria to show the jesus film. no response as far as acceptance of Christ goes but we are confident that the Lord is working in the hearts of those people. please pray for them!

i have been spending my days working in the clinic... great experience for what is to come! i am so thankful for this opportunity and i feel like this summer has prepared me for ministry in the states in sooo many ways!

i´m back

2007-06-10T15:32:00.000-05:00

i am back in danli! made it here last night around 10 pm.

this morning we went to church , and 2 of my friends came with me! brady and meagan came along and it was sooo great having them there! we had a great time!

yuly is here in danli with us now, she has made the move from la cieba to danli and we are getting her set up in her apartment! how exciting is that?

heading to La Ferria to put up tarps for them as the rainy season approaches. this is such a neat little village and marlon and trish have already been working here for quite some time.

will update again soon, but please pray that this week will be used to its fullest and that the Lord will be glorified! im ready to serve :)

returning..

2007-06-09T14:53:00.001-05:00

today i am returning to danli for another week ... i am really excited! i ask that you pray for me this next week. i am expecting the Lord to move, so this means that i am going to be attempting a few things as well :)

"i have become all things to all men, so that i may by all means save some. i do all things for the sake of the Gospel, so that i may become a fellow partaker of it." 1 corinthians 9:22-23

2007-06-08T22:04:00.000-05:00

funny story..

2007-06-08T22:00:00.000-05:00

rebeca prays every time we have a meal... it always contains humor to some extent but today just topped them all!

her prayer in spanish : Jesus, gracias por todo! gracias por la comida que yo no quiero y gracias por la leche de chocolate que yo quiero... blah blah blah

her prayer in english: Jesus, thank you for everything. thank you for the food that i do not want, and thank you for the chocolate milk that i do want :) haha how funny is that??

maybe you had to be there, but i hope this brightens someones day!

today's exciting news!!!

2007-06-07T18:18:00.000-05:00

okay so todays exciting news is ... JESSICA GOT INTO NURSING SCHOOL!!!

Day 1 @ Clinic and More

2007-06-06T22:30:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my first day at the clinic and it went GREAT! I felt as though I picked right back up where I left off. What a great feeling! The nurse, Thelma, and the Doctor, Dr. Suazo, were happy to see me and we caught up on a few things :) My friend Marta was there as well, so good to see her again! My spanish was also suprisingly good yesterday, only by the grace of God :)

Today we were supposed to go to Panes, a village that I served in last year. But turns out we had to take care of a few things before Osmany leaves for a couple of days.

Tomorrow I will be going back to the clinic! Please pray for a continued understanding and ability to speak the Spanish language. And pray that the Lord would continue to build those relationships that I made in Danli. I am going back this Saturday and cannot wait to see what the Lord has in store!

one thing i did not miss...

2007-06-04T23:19:00.000-05:00

okay well i forgot about how much i HATED cold showers... haha, actually they are really not so bad once your body gets acclamated to the arctic temperature :)

so it is official, i think... i am going back to danli saturday and will return to siguatepeque the next thursday.

going to the clinic to work tomorrow (clinica medica bautista), please pray that my first day goes smoothely and that it will be a good reunion with my friends from there!

Siguatepeque

2007-06-03T20:15:00.000-05:00

I made it to siguatepeque today! this weekend was a great relaxer and i had quite a few first time experiences... tegucigalpa is a scary city(that is all i am going to say) and i have now ridden on a hoduran yellow school bus WAY OVER max capacity. haha

friday night i spent some time with my friends from the clinic, we went out and ate and then hung out. im pretty sure i will be returning for one more week :)

the Lord is good...

Last Day in Danli?!?

2007-06-01T16:31:00.001-05:00

Today is supposed to be my last day in Danli, but i am just not at peace with it. I feel like it is time to move on as far as the clinic is concerned, however i do not think the Lord is through with the relationships that i have formed. I am praying whether the Lord would have me return from Siguatepeque with Trish next week. Please pray that the Lord would direct my steps...

Last Day in Danli?!?

2007-06-01T16:31:00.000-05:00

Another One Joins Us!!

2007-05-29T18:36:00.000-05:00

So.. another american joined our midst! His name is Brady and he is a Christian! What a blessing! How cool to know that after I leave, Meagan and Brady will be there to continue the work in the clinic along with my other friends!

Please continue to pray for the time that I have left here in Danli, I know that the Lord is going to use me right down to the last day!

Jennifer and Rebeca are coming tomorrow :)

Caminando Arriba La Montana

2007-05-28T19:33:00.000-05:00

So this is what it looked like after i got to the top of the mountain! it was a great hike up.. we hiked like straight up for about 2 hrs and then slid down the mountain on our butts! it was an intense hike up, we even had to use a laso to pull ourselves up some difficult parts! and even the slide down the mountain was intense... loved every minute though! it was so fun to get to continue to build relationships with my friends from the clinic!

yesterday was my last sunday at church, i understood most of the lesson! how refreshing to hear a word from the Lord, in spanish :) thank you all for praying!

this will be my last week in danli, so please pray for a continued building of relationships with my friends from the clinic and that the Lord would use them! also that we can minister in this clinic that reaches the people.

jennifer and rebeca are coming here on wednesday! getting really excited!!!

Relationships

2007-05-26T19:34:00.000-05:00

last night, my friend meagan from the clinic came over and watched the movie that we were showing for the youth! it has been so fun just getting to know her and hanging out!

i worked at the clinic this morning from 8 - 12 and while i was there the Lord opened up some doors. as i was sitting there, i prayed that the Lord would bring up some conversation that would glorify Him. as i was sitting in the storage room ¨popping pills¨well really we were just taking the pills out of the packages, haha; but while that was going on alex made a comment that he might want to come watch the second half of the movie tonight. but when i told him that it would be at the church tonight, he told me that he doesnt really go to church anymore. this opened up a HUGE door for me to share with him a relationship with Jesus as opposed to just religion. as we talked, i asked him some questions and he shared alot with me about why he is not a christian. as i was listening the only thing i could think was .... well i dont know where i would be if i had walked in your shoes. have you ever met someone who has just been crushed by legalistic individuals in the church? well there are alot of them here in honduras.... as alex and i continued talking, gary another native honduran joined the conversation. he told me that he felt the same way. it was soo neat to be able to talk with the guys about my relationship with the Lord and share with them what scripture has to say as opposed to a whole bunch of rules that the CHURCH has made. they told me that they liked what i had say, and the only thing i could think was, ¨well its definately not original i believe this is what Jesus taught.¨

most of you know, before i came down to honduras one of the main things that i prayed for was to have more friends. the Lord has provided above and beyond what i ever could have asked for! 3 more americans arrived at the clinic last night and i was given the chance to get to know them today! Kasey, John, and Thomas are all from Kentucky and seem to be pretty neat people.

after work today, all of the workers of the clinic including marlon went to play soccer! it was soo fun! i loved getting to play with them, i think it was just another step of developing those relationships with them!

tomorrow after church, we are going on a hike! i am pretty excited about that! so pray that as we hike tomorrow that the Lord would open up doors and just minister to their hearts.

La Zebeda

2007-05-24T18:23:00.000-05:00

today we made the long drive to La Zebeda to meet up and take some stitches and staples out of 2 young boys. the one with the stitches had healed nicely. however, the one with the staples was not so good. well i guess it wasnt terrible, but the mom had not let the wound breathe at all and she had cleaned it so much and covered it with a leaf!! if any of you have ever had an open wound, we all know you must let it breathe or it will be water logged and hard to piece back together! that is exactly how it was... but i decided to look on the brightside. at least it wasnt disgustingly dirty and neglected. his problem was easily resolved and we sent him on his way with some more antibiotics! we prayed with the boys before they left, i ask that you pray that the Lord would continue to heal their bodies and that their spiritual needs would be met!

tomorrow i will return to the clinic, pray for opportunities there. afterwards we are having some pastor friends from the mountains over for lunch. tomorrow night is youth night at the church, so that should be fun! we are going to watch a movie, one of my movies :) in spanish of corse!

i talked to jennifer today... she is coming to see us wednesday and then i will go back with them when they return to siguatepeque. i am looking forward to a fun reunion, especially with rebeca :)

Moviendo Montanas

2007-05-23T16:11:00.000-05:00

Okay so the name of the clinic that i am working at is called Moviendo Montanas(Moutain Movers), it is a very neat place! i am loving my time there and wish i could have more of it! this clinic is specifically for teaching young people who intend to go into the medical field, and they do a great job at it! i mainly just help out in exams, tests, and in the pharmacy. so much fun! the guy that is pretty much in charge all day is a mess! his name is michele and he is from canada! he cracks me up... i spend most of my day trying to figure him out and trying to keep up with him! hes one of those people that just speaks WHATEVER pops into his head, and it is pretty stinken funny when it comes out. alex is the translator, he is from honduras but has lived in the states for 8 yrs and is back here trying to get his residency. another young guy that i have been working with is named gary, he is from danli as well. he speaks english very well and is actually coming to the US for college in august! i have gotten to know each of these people pretty well and i am looking forward to more doors that will be opened to hang out and spend time with them as a group! i mentioned before that i dont know if they know the Lord, so still praying that the Lord is going to bring that up into conversation. as a matter of fact, he already has in one instance :)

tomorrow we are going back into the mountains to take staples out of a young boy and stitches out of another! pretty cool to be able to follow up on then. pray for us as we make that drive, its about 5 hrs. a HARD 5 hrs!

Amazing Opportunities

2007-05-22T17:56:00.000-05:00

Soo... i woke up this morning with a new outlook on life, haha im just joking. but feeling as good as i was feeling i felt like a new person!

went to the clinic today, it was FANTASTIC!!! the Lord has already opened up so many dooors of opportunity ! everyone at the clinic is so willing to teach and instruct. and not to mention that 3 maybe 4 of the people that i will be working with are not christians! AND not to mention they all speak english!!! i am so pumped about this opportunity that the Lord has put before me! please pray for doors to be opened so i can serve these people and just share Christ´s love!

Internet Is Great!!!

2007-05-21T18:54:00.000-05:00

wow... i am so glad that i am able to communcate with everyone through the internet! i just might not would make it otherwise :) haha... just kidding but it really is sooo great to hear from everyone, such an encouragement!

yesterday marlon and i went to church in the morning and i was able to join the young peoples class! it was fun but really hard to understand. i prayed that the Lord would show me what He wanted to show me and He did, as always! we went to church last night as well. the church was celebrating its 15th anniversary so it was cool to get to be apart of that. the service was run slightly different as well.

this morning, i woke up to a not so good feeling. i have been sick all day because of some cheese that ate! NEVER again will i eat the cheese!!! it was hott in danli today, trish and i both slept most of the day on the cool tile floor while we were both suffering the reprocussions of of the cheese.

tomorrow i should start out at the clinic, please pray for me. i am nervous and i need the Lord to calm my heart and my fears. i know it is going to be a great experience!

2007-05-19T15:33:00.000-05:00

2007-05-19T15:01:00.000-05:00

I am finally able to get on the internet!! yay!!! it has been a great week though!

heres how it went down....

met up with the team from lubbock in the airport last saturday and from their we headed to honduras! we arrived to meet marlon, trish, and july (our translator) who took us to danli. saturday we pretty much spend the day getting to know each other and getting ready for the week. sunday we went to church and shared our hearts with the people and then went to eat at a restuarant shortly after. after lunch we went to a village about an hour from the house called La Ferria. this village is full of houses that is made out of plastic bags and sticks. crazy, let me tell you! but the children adn adults were so happy to have us, it was great getting to share the day with them. i will be going back there during my stay with marlon and trish so you will be hearing more about it later. sunday night we went into town and played soccer with a bunch of people from the church, it was sooo FUN!!! i ran for like 45 min straight with no break and didnt die :) monday we headed out for the first village, it ended up being a 5 hr drive to Camelia. the drive there was just about the worst one ive ever been on but we made it fun. we got there and began setting up for the jesus film and slept there for the night.the next morning began at 4:10 am because of the roosters, chickens, and dogs that would play hide and go seek around our tents, what a great way to begin the day :) haha. we set up to do a medical clinic, sports clinic, and childrens ministry. while we were doing all of that there were booths set up to counsel with people after they received medical treatment. the pastor from our church in danli was given the opportunity to counsel 7 people who wanted to give their lives to the Lord! and July couseled with 4 children! how amazing!! these peoples lives will never be the same because of the saving grace and power of ALMIGHTY God! for the movie tuesday night we showed "something to sing about". the people seemed to like it. wednesday morning we set out on our hike to a village named Espanolita. it took us about 6 hrs more or less to get there. man you dont realize how out of shape you are until you hike for 6 hrs straight up a mountain! there is just no comparison guys :) at this village we rested for a while and then began working with the children. we had lots of flip-flops to give out so we did that for quite some time. this village actually had somewhere to take a shower. BUT since the boys decided to take all of the daylight hours that we had left we could only wash our faces!! haha, but i was very glad to get the opportunity to do that :) if you have ever gone for more than 3 days without a shower while getting VERY sweaty every day, you know what i mean! that night we showed the Jesus film and afterwards we were able to give out lots of toys for the children. you should have seen their faces as each one lit up! it was so great to see the appreciation in their eyes and their hearts come alive! it was such a blessing! the next morning we were to wake up at 4 30 to hike out of the village in time to get out in the daylight and arrive back in danli before nightfall. the hike out was just as hard as the hike in, its one of those things that you just have to ask the Lord to help you make it every step of the way. and we made it... and God was just as faithful as He always was and is. thursday night we went to church and shared our testimonies of what the Lord had done in the villages and in our hearts this week. i have also been invited to spend some time with the youth group from our church, i am pretty pumped about that! friday morning we headed out to Isle de Tigre. it was a neat little island off the western coast of Honduras. there we rested and spent some time swimming and riding the boat in the pacific ocean! oh man, lots of memories! i have met some pretty awesome people this week, and i will remember this week for the rest of my life. i had so much fun with the team from lubbock and i thank God for allowing me to serve this week with them! it was sad to see them fly out this morning but i know that the Lord has something great planned for them at home this summer!

i was praying about what the Lord had shown me this week and i really wasnt sure. i guess i was searching for some divine revelation, but i dont think that was His point. i feel as though the Lord was showing me throughout this week that He desire for us to share our lives with lots of people. whether it be our brothers and sisters and Christ or the lost pagens of the United States or Honduras. the relationships that we have in this life will be the only things that matters on the other side of eternity. first your relationship with God will be how you are judged first, and then how faithful you were in your relationships with others. I want to be found faithful in the relationships that the Lord has provided for me. So take this week and realize how many great people the Lord has put in your life, Christian or pagen. and just share life with them, let them know how much you appreciate them and how much you love them. pour Christ's love on them and just be a light.

"You ar ethe light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. let your light shine before men in such a way, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in Heaven. " Matthew 5:14-16

"It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn, what this means: ' I desire compassion and NOT sacrifice,' for iI did not come to call the righteous, but sinners." Matthew 9: 12-13

Please continue to pray for me! I dont really know what this week will hold, but I am excited to see how the Lord will use it! I will be updating more frequently! i love you guys!

Day 2 Before Departure

2007-05-10T19:57:00.000-05:00

Here is the address that I will be at in Siguatepeque, just in case you want to send me something :) Remember, when sending mail to Honduras it may take longer than normal. 2 -3 weeks is a pretty common, so if you sent something in the next couple of days I would most likely get it when I arrive! And if you wait to send something on June 15th, I would probably not get it by the time I am planning on leaving. Haha, this country takes snail mail to a whole different level!

Jessica Williamson
Apartado 109
Siguatepeque, Comayagua
Honduras CA
773 - 3685

Would love to hear from you guys!!

Day 3 Before Departure

2007-05-09T22:23:00.000-05:00

So... It's official! I am going back to Honduras in 3 days!! I am really excited to see how the Lord is going to move and work this summer! Not only in my life but in the lives of the people around me! I am so thankful to be getting the opportunity to return to Honduras...

Here is how my schedule will look:
May 12-May 31: I will be living with Marlon and Trish Munoz in Danli
- 1st week spent with a college group in the mountains
- 2nd and 3rd week will be spent volunteering at a medical clinic and continuing the work that they have already started in Danli!
June 1-June 29 : I will be with Jennifer and Osmany Hernandez in Siguatepeque.
- I will spend my time there working in the medical clinic and continuing the Bible studies in the surrounding villages
June 30-July 7: I will spend the week with the team from FBC Swartz in Olanchito.
- We will be working in the mountains showing the Jesus Film, providing some medical care, and loving on the children!

Please pray for me as I take this next step of my life! I am really excited and ready to be used by the Father...

2006-07-20T18:11:00.000-05:00

this is the only picture that we took at the water park yesterday.... its hard to carry around a camera!!!

well this is probably going to be my last update from honduras. i will be meeting the team from FBC Swartz at the airport in san pedro sula on saturday morning and i will spend the week with them in olanchito. please keep us in your prayers!

thank you all for your love, support, encouragement, and most importantly your prayers! i could not have made it this summer without it! the Lord has done some amazing things here in my life this summer and some pretty cool work is going on here in honduras! please continue to pray for this country and for the people.

2006-07-17T14:43:00.000-05:00

last night was the best night i have had at church in a long time. rebeca never sits still so i took her outisde and we played with some other kids. well it started to rain so we had to go back inside the church.... i ended up on the floor with like 7 children gathered around me asking me questions and wanting to dig through my things. of course i let them, i couldnt help but humor their curiosity and i tried to answer as many questions as i could. we got out my camera and had a little fun with it, they dont see cameras much less a digital one. they were all running their hands in front of the lens and watching it on the viewing screen then i let them take some pictures. the one up there is one that i took, theirs were a little blurry as you can imagine a normal 5-10 yr olds pictures would be!

today i worked at the clinic, lots of patients :) i find that my spanish is still getting better and better everyday and i becoming more comfortable as far as speaking. i know that some of you are still praying for that and thank you! tomorrow is my last day at the clinic, it will be a bittersweet goodbye.

we are going to all of the villages tomorrow to remind them of the bregade and to ask permission to use the schools. pray that we have safe travels up the mountains and that the people will be open to letting us come in, we are going to some villages that we have never been in before.

oh yea.. something i forgot to mention on my saturday's post. during the Bible study in Los Panes, jennifer asked the kids if anyone knew who Jesus was. not one of them could tell her. i guess all of us thought that since we were in a village that was predominately catholic that they would at least know who Jesus was and might know some answers, but i guess they really dont know. that blew me away. another man congratualated us ... we were kind of suprised as to why he was giving us this praise. well turns out.. there have been groups that have come in and tried to start Bible studies but have given up shortly after because no adults were showing intrest. you know .... all people need is love and some kind of consistancy in their life, and the Lord provides the people. we just have to be patient. me, jennifer, and osmany were talking and we all agreed that if we are only in that village for one persons benefit, then all the work is worth it!

please continue to pray for us here in siguatepeque as we prepare for the teams to arrive. i have alot to do as far as washing my clothes and packing before we can leave on saturday morning. so please pray that i will be sensative to what the Lord has for me to do here for the rest of my stay. i have a feeling that the Lord is going to move really big in the next 2 weeks, i am so glad i am here!

2006-07-15T19:17:00.000-05:00

well no bus was in the way today, so we made it to los panes. jennifer taught the story of the prodigal son and the kids colored a picture that was about the bible study. they seemed to really have a good time today... i think we had over 60 kids.

it was kind of sad telling the kids bye today.. it was the last time i get to go to the village.

this week is going to be pretty crazy, or so i hear. we only have 6 more days until the team comes and alot of work has to be done. we have to go to all of the villages, pack up most of the house, clean the house, pack my stuff away, and prepare spiritually and emotionally for the teams. i am really excited about spending the week in olanchito with the team from my church! the Lord has some pretty awesome things in store, im so ready to get to work!

on wednesday we are going to the water park in san pedro sula.... im pretty pumped about that as well!

my last day at the clinic is tuesday, so pray for me as i wrap things up there and say my goodbyes!

2006-07-10T21:39:00.000-05:00

sorry that it has been almost a week since i have updated and i know that even when i do update they are few and far between... but its almost like things are so routine now that i think yall should know what i have been doing! haha

we didnt get to go to Panes on saturday because a bus was blocking the path up the mountain, so we were pretty bummed about that. instead we visited el achote....seemed like a pretty productive evening

today i went back to the clinic... the highlight of my day was the 98 yr old patient! interesting huh???

alright well the team will be here in 11 days, im pretty excited! keep the prayers coming! love you guys!

2006-07-04T16:25:00.000-05:00

these are some pictures from our bible study in panes this past saturday.. arent the little girls beautiful?!?!

2006-07-04T15:47:00.000-05:00

mom this update is for you... you see rebeca playing with her toys in the swimmin pool??? she really likes them alot and about flipped out when we got them last week! she says "gracias" !!!

nothing new has been going on..

church was good on sunday, osmany got to preach... i wouldnt know if it was good or not, still having trouble understanding :)

clinic was crazy busy yesterday, ended up having 29 patients! way too many people for a 4 hr time span....

but that picture is from today, after rebeca got up from her nap i put her in the pool and let me tell you... that water was COLD! her little teeth were chattering but she had fun :)

tomorrow we are going to continue to invite the people in the village of el achote to our vacation Bible school, well not mine but the teams that will be coming to siguatepeque the last week of july. so please continue to pray for the preparation being done here for the team and begin to pray for the team that will come here from swartz that same week! i will be with them in olanchito and i hear that it is supposed to be an XMA trip so im pretty pumped! pray that the Lord with prepare us physically, mentally, and spiritually.

2006-07-01T21:33:00.000-05:00

today was my first Bible study @ Los Panes. it went really well, i think we had right at 50. mostly kids of course, but the Lord is faithful and He will bring them in! osmany led them in a few songs and then jennifer taught the Bible story of noah and the arc. after all of that was over we got the soccer ball out and kicked around with the kids, but before i knew it they were all gone! why??? jennifer got the bubbles out, they were amazed! not one of those children had ever seen anyone blow bubbles! they were going crazy trying to pop them, we could barely blow them away from our face before a mob of kids slapped at them!

i find myself amazed at being here on a daily basis, it is such a priveledge. you know we say we come here to minister to the people, but in all reality... i think they minister to us more than we do them.

2006-06-28T18:05:00.000-05:00

yea thats right... i bet you have never seen a crucifix made out of a fork??? pretty cool huh!?!? only in an all catholic village will you find this....

the village that we visited today was el achote. 40 families and no church or no work being done there and its not far from the town either... sad. well we went around to some houses and talked to the families some and they seemed very receptive and welcoming. im sure we will go back and invite more families to the VBS that the team from the states will do a one week in july. this is just prepartion ....

tomorrow i will be at the clinic and then we have church in the afternoon, pray that i will understand the truths being spoken!

spanish word of the day: TENEDOR --> fork

2006-06-24T19:37:00.000-05:00

im really upset that i dont have pictures from today, but its not my fault. my camera ran out of battery before we even got there. it was a pretty cool day here in honduras.....

i went with some of the people from the clinic i work at on what they call a "medical bregade". we drove about an hour to a village and set up to see the patients. i guess we got started around 8:15 and did not finish until 3. we saw 123 patients! wow... God is good

i helped with the pharmacy which means i got the presciption and labeled the meds. it was crazy hott in there with so many people but we managed to get it done without totally losing it.

today confirmed again what the Lord is calling me to do.... to use nursing as a gateway for the Gospel. i am so excited to begin the journey God has called me to go on, and i know that this summer is big time preparation for it :)

thank you for your prayers today, i feel like many of them where answered. tomorrow will be a full day at church, maybe i will understand a little !?!?

spanish phrase of the day: " TENGO MUCHO CALOR" --> i am very hott

2006-06-23T21:34:00.000-05:00

goin on a medical bregade tomorrow, please pray for us!!!

2006-06-19T21:08:00.000-05:00

first of all i want to thank all of you who leave comments on my blog... you have no idea how much it means to hear what you all have to say! they are very encouraging and i sometimes wonder what i would do without hearing from the most important people in my life!

yesterday was a rough day. jennifer felt bad so she didnt go to church with us. so that meant that it was me, rebeca and osmany. well rebeca was good for ahh i would say 15 minutes of the 2 hrs that we were there. everything seemed to bother her and she kept wantinv to run in and out of the church and i just couldnt stop her. i literaly just wanted to cry... but i knew that since i couldnt understand the sermon that God was teaching me anyways. i think it is at the times where we fall apart that the Lord shows us that we cannot possibly do things on our own. it is only through His strength that we can do anything :)

today was a good day, i feel like my spanish is getting better. i know i say that at random times but i actually had a full out conversation with a lady that came into the clinic today. i am becoming more and more help at the clinic because of more knowledge of the language and the clinic itself. we had our normal afternoon workout after lunch, and i cant forget to mention that the truck did not stall on me to the gym today :) i also found out that i dont have to pay 40 dollars for 2 more visas since the nice people at the airport gave me a 90 visa when i came into Honduras. good stuff huh??? this afternoon i decided to lay out in the sun on the roof, my first realization is that i am ALOT closer to the sun than we are in the states. i must have been laying there for 4 minutes and i was already really RED. so needless to say that didnt last very long!

i will be back at the clinic tomorrow... please pray that we will be a light for this community.

spanish word of the day: ALABARE --> praise Him

2006-06-16T22:45:00.000-05:00

today was a good day.... clinic this morning and a pretty relaxing afternoon. im looking forward to this weekend! hopefully we will go to Panes tomorrow and then a full day at church on sunday!

spanish phrase of the day: !QUE LINDA! --> how precious, how beautiful, how sweet...whichever one you want it to mean

2006-06-14T20:48:00.000-05:00

i finally got some sun today, ahh i love it!!!
today we went to Panes to spread the word about our Bible study and work with the children... the pictures is of osmany explaining some scripture to a sweet family. there were glad that we were there.

the village is beautiful but most of the people live with literally the clothes on their back and need medical care. and the thing that gets me, this is just one village, there are SOOO many more that are just as bad or worse! even if you are not called to do foreign missions as a career, i would encourage you to either be apart of or support a mission trip to places like this. i have learned and seen with my own eyes the eagerness of these people who live with nothing to except and live out the Gospel of Christ, but someone has to tell them! taking medical care to them is a good door of opportunity!

i challenge you to seek the Lord's face and see if He would have you take the Gospel to ALL nations... it is an extreme calling but someone has to do it :) if you are interested in going with a team, let me know! i can plug you in somewhere!!!

spanish word of the day : SOL --> sun

2006-06-11T19:08:00.000-05:00

todays trip was to a little village, Yoritto. it took over 3 to get there and about 4 to get back... so it was a long day!!! but they told me it was a productive meeting... there were 6 men that hiked 4 hrs down from their different villages to meet with us. there are 35 villages around Yoritto that can only be hiked into that need to hear the Gospel, so some work will be starting there soon!

spanish word of the day: VACA --> cow

2006-06-10T23:03:00.000-05:00

tomorrow we are going to Yoro, so that means many hours in a car with a 17 month old!!! we will be back late sunday night!!! please pray for us...

2006-06-09T18:30:00.000-05:00

sorry about not updating yesterday, it wasnt that i didnt have time or anything like that its just because nothing happened. the clinic was really slow yesterday and we did our aerobic workout. thats all that happened, haha.

however, today was very productive! i gave my first shot today at the clinic.... it was fun. i also learned how to drive a standard! haha... i think that was more of a challenge than giving a shot, its definatly gonna take some time to get used to it.

after our workout at the gym today we went to central to get some things at the super market and then i ran by the post office to mail some things.

anyways.. that was 2 days in a nutshell. we are going to hang out posters in Panes tomorrow if we get them made tonight, i dont see a reason why we couldnt finish them so hopefully we will be going there tomorrow. sunday we will be at a pastor's meeting all day in a little village near Yoro to find out if there is a huge need for help over that way. so be in prayer for those things.

spanish word of the day: INJECCION --> shot(injection)

2006-06-07T19:34:00.000-05:00

we were supposed to go to panes today to put up posters and what not to make our Bible study well know... but that didnt work out becasue of the constant rain for the past couple of days. instead we went eat at a restaurant then decided to go house hunting. didnt find any houses for rent, and the ones that were werent really livable. we came back to the house for rebeca to nap and watched Radio, what a good movie! then me and jennifer went to the gym, an arm workout! haha, im sooo weak in my arms! we had tomales for supper tonight, they were awesome!

tomorrow i will be back at the clinic, and if the weather permits we will do some work at panes tomorrow after lunch.

sorry not much of an interesting day.....

spanish phrase of the day: TE AMO --> i love you

2006-06-06T21:11:00.000-05:00

another day at the clinic, except this one was LONG! i finished writing some letters and read in my book i been workin on finishing for some time now. we saw a few patients today, most with gastro-intestinal(GI) problems.

we came home to eat and then headed to the gym, the leg workout was on the schedule for today.

i ran by the store and got some things that i had been needin to get and then dropped of letters at the post office that needed to be mailed.

finally layed down tonight and finished the book, Through the Gates of Splendor. it was an amazing story about 5 men who gave their lives for the furtherance of the Gospel. elisabeth elloit, a wife of one of the martyrs, said that people around the world were trying to make sense of the deaths of the men. elloit's view was, God is God and His will always prevails, bottom line. it was God's will that her husband and the other 4 died taking the Gospel to the Auca tribe, no one will ever be able to make sense out of it other than it was the Lord's plan unfolding. no one can put limits on what God can do in a situation like that. and i know that their situation was huge and its one of those things that has forever changed the face of history, but there are things that we do everyday that are in obediance to Christ that make a huge impact and that will somehow change someone's life. we cant put limits on what God can do with those simple acts of obediance either. the Bible says in 1 samuel chapter 15:22 that obediance is greater than sacrifice. sacrifice without obediance is not pleasing to the Lord. those men sacrificed their lives but it was an act of an obediant heart.

please pray for me that i will be obediant to do God's will in my life. thank you for your prayers! i love you!

2006-06-05T21:11:00.000-05:00

well im glad i woke myself up today at 6 50 or i would have never made it to the clinic.... the whole house slept until about 7 15. haha... so i got there a little later than normal, but it all worked out. we saw about 20 to 25 patients today. and when you see them all in a time span of 4 hrs, thats pretty dang good! senora thelma told me that the next person that needs an IV, i get to start it! yay... and i might get to give shots too!!! haha, big fun!!!

tomorrow... clinic again. then to the gym after lunch! haha, its been a week since ive been! its not gonna be pretty!!! my spanish today was alot better, thank you for your prayers!! keep 'em comin!

spanish word of the day: TERRUNDA --> cotton ball (they make them here, its fascinating)

2006-06-04T20:24:00.000-05:00

this morning church started at 9, i chased rebeca around for 2 hrs. but hey, its better than sitting and listening to my spanish brother preach for an hour when i cant understand a word he is saying!

came back after church and ate and just kinda hung around until church started again at 6. i got to go with rebeca again outside but this time some kids joined us. that is what the picture is from. they were soo good with her and they were good with me also! i think i learned more spanish tonight from their eagerness to learn english and help me learn spanish! we chased chickens, cats, dogs, and whatever else crawled! it was big fun!

tomorrow i will be back at the clinic, so pray for my understanding of the language and that the Lord will use the clinic to reach the community. i think we might go to the park tomorrow after work, so we'll see!

spanish word of the day: POLLO --> chicken

2006-06-03T20:59:00.000-05:00

this morning we even attempted to go workout at the gym, turns out its closed until next monday!!! bummer....

we left for Panes around 12 and pulled in at 1. we just walked around the village and invited them to a Bible study, then if they sounded interested Osmany read some scripture to them. he read the store in Luke about mary & martha. there is only one church in the whole village and it seems that the catholic church there has pushed them away with the confines of religion. so when he read them the story he told them that we wanted to show them a relationship with Christ and not religion. well the devil was after us today and trying to push us out of the village, and the rain came!!! but little did he know that we were gonna make the best of it, we went to a few more houses and rejoiced as we walked through the pouring rain!!! i think the picture does the memory some justice....

one of the ladies that we met while we were going house to house needed a ride into siguatepeque to go to the doctor, so they hopped into the truck with us. the woman also brought along 2 stow-a-ways... her daughter and a ROOSTER! the little girl was 6 and her name angela, she was the most beautiful honduran girl i have ever seen and she had the sweetest personality! suprisingly enough, i didnt hear the rooster the whole drive back to sigua.

tomorrow i think we might be starting the children's ministry at the hernandez's home church. we'll see..... i think i might sleep until someone wakes me up! haha... that car ride was rough today.

spanish word of the day: LLUVIA --> rain(noun)

2006-06-02T21:50:00.000-05:00

so this is where i work.... and i had to be there at like 7:00 am this morning, it was rough!!!

there werent as many people in the clinic today, good thing cuz senora thelma was at work with the same thing that i had! not good......

after work today i came back and washed my clothes on the washboard, it took like an hour and a half. then i had a nice suprise waiting on me, i got my prize from liz! i got a journal and a card! it made my day!

tonight we had spaghetti for supper, good stuff huh!?!?

tomorrow we are going to Panes to do children's ministry, im excited! i havent gotten a chance to go there yet. please pray that the Lord will use our service in the village to reach it for Christ! and as always keep praying for my progress in the language! cant wait to tell you all the Lord does in the village tomorrow!

spanish word of the day: vaya --> an expression of suprise; such as "wow" or "oh man"

2006-06-01T20:23:00.000-05:00

i woke up to the smell of pancakes this morning!!! yum....

i finally went back to the clinic and today was great! i got to experience the work of the clinics in the third world countries. in the states, we pre order gauz pads and cotton balls. they definately make them and all of that good stuff! there werent many patients today so we did a bunch of little things around the clinic.

still learning spanish... guess you could say im learning more every day?!?! sometimes i feel like im losing it.. hopefully not though!

nellie and her son elijah are still here with us, they are leaving early in the morning.

post office called today and i got my first letter in the mail today!! i get to go pick it up after work tomorrow.. im very excited!

please pray for the work done in the clinic tomorrow, friday's are normally pretty busy. pray that my ears will quick to hear and my mind will be quick to understand the spanish spoken in the clinic so i can better serve the people! thank you for your prayers!

im starting a spanish word of the day, haha. todays is : ABURRIDO ---- means bored

2006-05-31T20:37:00.000-05:00

turns out i didnt make it to the clinic again today.... i was sick when i woke up again! blah...

i have felt good for most of the day though, so i figure my immune system has kicked whatever i had.

jennifer's best friend from honduras is in town for the next 2 or so days.. her name is nellie and she has a little boy named elijah. im sure most of the night will be consumed with getting to know them and enjoying each others company.

definatly will be back at the clinic tomorrow, so keep those prayers comin!

2006-05-30T19:14:00.000-05:00

not much to say for today other than the fact that ive been sick... blah

but i feel better now! so thats a plus.....

tomorrow im going back to the clinic, so all prayers are much appreciated and needed!

Day 1 @ Clinic

2006-05-29T20:44:00.000-05:00

this morning started out with an hour workout at the gym! it was grand.. but i do have to admit that im sore!!!

well day 1 @ the clinic was nice. it was good, i really like the enviroment and i learned alot about medicine already. but its really stinken hard to communicate with people when you dont know their language.i get soooo frusterated at myself when i cannot speak to them and when i cant understand what they are saying. i really need you to pray for me for an understanding of the language and to be able to speak it and to have patience with it.
other than that.. the nurse there, Senora Thelma, she is amazing! such a sweet woman. there was also a girl that looked around our age that came in around 10 to help out. her name is marta, she was big fun. we saw about 20 people today and i saw more stuff today than ive seen in a while. these are some tough people....

we went to wendy's tonight... how random is that? a wendy's in honduras! think about it for a second if you dont think its slightly weird!?!?

alright... well yall have a nice night! te amo mucho y te extrano :)

2006-05-28T19:38:00.000-05:00

another day of nothingness... didnt even leave the house! i guess this is the Lord's way of saying, "you better rest now because starting monday there will be none!" haha.. gotta love that! in the morning we are going to the gym at 6 so that i can be at work by 8! tomorrow starts my summers work in the medical clinic!

please pray for me as i start to work in the clinic tomorrow! continue to pray for the fluency in the spanish language, the Lord is still showing me more and more every day! thanks to everyone who is already praying! i love you!

2006-05-27T21:32:00.000-05:00

today was not so eventful after our long 2 day trip... we made a run to the bank and the grocery store earlier this morning. after we got back we just hung around the house all day. watched some movies.... it was nice.

i keep saying that because starting monday my days will start at 5:30 am! im sooo excited about starting work in the clinic! i know that the Lord has alot to show me...

2006-05-26T14:17:00.000-05:00

well we made it back a day early! yay.. that was a rough 3 hr drive. we left yesterday morning early and got to Yoro around 1:30 pm. osmany met with the baptist pastor of a church there in Yoro. We all had supper last night in the hotel we are staying in, Hotel Marquez. The hotel was really really nice. i definatly was not expecting air conditioning, soft beds, runnig water much less hott water. i was in a room by myself, but jennifer, osmany, and rebeca were just down the hall. i wasnt sure how much i liked being by myself at first, it gave me alot of time to think. well it turned out, last night was the best night i have had since ive been in Honduras. i began to watch tv and the only channel that was english immediatly turned to spanish... i was like MAN!!! so i turned the TV off and put in my ipod. the Lord showed me that i needed to use that time to spend with Him. i had an amazing time of worship and study of the scriptures.
the song that really struck me when i was listening is called "i would die for You" by mercy me. it really hit me hard, my life has never been this clear before. i mean since i have been here in Honduras. you never really know why your alive until you realize what you would die for. its the truth, i never really understood life until i realized "to live is Christ and to die is gain".
i also began to read in "beyond the gates of splendor" by elisabeth elloit. her husband gave up his life to bring the Gospel to the Acua indians in ecuador. everyone back home gave him a hard time for leaving, wanting him to stirr up the Christians on the "homefront". this was jim elloit's reply "how can i stay home while many nations perish. what if the well filled church in the homeland needs stirring? they have the scriptures, moses, and the prophets, and a whole lot more. their condemnation is written on their bank books and in the dust of their Bible covers." so... i guess that gave me a huge wakeup call. what do you guys think about that?
anyways... that was my night last night. we ate breakfast in the hotel this morning and then set out in search of a pastor of a village about 45 min from Yoro. turns out... he isnt living there this week so we got his address and contact info. jennifer told me the reason we took the trip was to set up a good time to meet with all of the pastors around the city of Yoro to meet about the work being done there. we want to be able to help out if they need it. so after we left the village we made our way back to Siguatepeque. the ride back was BEAUTIFUL! the mountains, lakes, rivers, and most of all the people. it seems to me that their facial expressions tell their life story. God is sooooo good, just incase you have forgotten!
thank you for your prayers on that trip..... my spanish is still progressively getting better! praise be to the Lord of all!

2006-05-24T18:41:00.000-05:00

ahhh... gotta love sleeping in! i slept until almost 9:30 this morning, i guess i didnt realize how tired i was from traveling. marlon and his wife left today around 1:30 after we ate at Bongo's for the second time in a week! gotta love that! after we got home i started on my postcards, so if anyone is expecting a thank you letter start looking for it! it might take a few weeks, but it'll get there! i also got my first clothes washing experience today. it wasnt as bad as i thought, just takes some time. but it is definatly a cheap way of washing clothes, i might have to buy a washboard for the dorm room! haha... right! chicken sandwhiches are for supper and then im sure we will settle in for the night!
we are going out of town tomorrow so i wont update until saturday. however, it will be alot considering i will be updating for 3 days!
pray for us as we travel to Yoro and check some things out! have a great 3 days!

2006-05-23T21:57:00.000-05:00

this morning we had an early start. we were at the medical clinic by 8 am and i got a chance to meet the doctor that i will be working with. he speaks some english so that is good! the Lord definatly tore down the language barrier in that aspect of my life, praise Him! i am really excited about working in the clinic, i should start next monday.
after that we came back and got ready for some friends to come over. Marlon and his wife are staying the night with us, it has been good getting to visit with them. me and marlon reminissed about our hike last summer, that was interesting and humerous.
i feel like i am learning more and more spanish every day. being around a 16 month old helps because they speak in small terms when they talk to her, but i really feel as though im getting it.
thank you for all of your prayers! especially those who are praying for my speedy understanding and fluency in the language! i am seeing the power of prayer at work in my life!

2006-05-22T19:07:00.000-05:00

i got to sleep till 9:15 today! i was sooo excited! i definatly needed some sleep. after i got up i took a shower, no hott water. that was an experience. we went by the bank to exchange money, picked up something to eat at Bongo's(i like honduran food), made a trip to the grocery store, and visited the clinic i will be working in this summer. today was a relaxing day, we have just kinda hung around and rested. what a blessing!

thank you for your prayers and your consistancy! i love you!

2006-05-21T23:40:00.000-05:00

this is rebeca, she is amazing! if it wasnt for her i wouldnt know half of the spanish i learned today! haha....anyways just thought i would share this picture.

today started off pretty good, i woke myself up at 7:45 am. gotta love that, im not even in school anymore and i still wake up that early! we didnt end up leaving siguatepeque until around 10, because we waited on the pastor and his family to meet us. they have a little boy name andres, he is 6. we drove to la esperanza(hope in english), which by the way is the coolest city in temperature in the whole country of honduras. we ate at a restaurant there and then made our way into the mountains. it took about an hour and a half just to get to this church in san marco. when we got there i had to hike down a MOUNTAIN to use the outhouse in the rain. it was quite an experience! the service was about 2 hrs long, and with it being spanish i got a little frusterated. the Lord quickly began to move in my heart and show me some things today though. most who know me know that i communicate the best through speech. well, here i cant do that because i do not know the language fluently. so when a friend put things in perspective for me today, i realized that i am having to communicate in a different way. people know we are Christ's when we show His love. i might not can speak it now but i can show it! coming down the mountain was also another God fearing experience. i think i prayed the whole 2 hrs down. pitch black skies, fog, rain, and 5 adults and 2 babies in a 5 passenger truck was a scary combination. but to no suprise, we made it down safely.

please pray for me as i continue to learn the spanish language, it seems to be my biggest enemy and weakness as of now. tomorrow,i am going to the medical clinic where i will serving so remember me tomorrow as i go there. thanks for all the love and support! you have no idea how much it means!

I'm Here!

2006-05-20T17:24:00.000-05:00

Well im finally here.... such a long awaited trip and im finally here, i cant believe it! the plane ride wasnt too bad and it was good getting to know jennifer and osmany on the car ride to siguatepeque. their house here in sigua is way far beyond what i would have expected. indoor plumbing, anytime internet access... i definatly dont feel like im roughing it!

the Lord sent someone into my life today when i really needed it. i guess He always does, but He is always faithful even when i forget that He is nothing less.

tomorrow should be an interesting day, im excited to see what it holds.....

6 Days before Departure

2006-05-14T20:43:00.000-05:00

How beautiful is that??? that is the scenary that i will be enjoying this summer!!! haha but first i have to get to going on getting ready! i still have alot to do, but as i said in the other post, i think it will all pretty much come together before its all over with.

the Lord has been teaching me alot about His will lately, and His will for us all to go preach the Gospel to all nations. I am getting that chance this summer! i am so honored to get this opportunity to share the Good News with the people of Honduras!

until the whole world hears,
jessica williamson

9 Days Before Departure

2006-05-11T21:51:00.000-05:00

well its 9 days until i leave..and needless to say, im excited! there are still a bunch of little things to be done but they are the least of my worries. please pray for me as i continue to prepare for one of the biggest chapters of my life!