Life Lessons

Today when I was doing our laundry at the pilla (it’s basically washing clothes on a washboard, but the washboard is made of cement and built into the house), and was scrubbing a particularly dirty pair of socks that I thought would never get clean, I was struck with a thought. After briefly scrubbing the socks and not seeing any improvement, I was considering giving up, but I remembered that Karlenis had been able to get some really filthy clothes clean, so I kept on going, and surprisingly, I was able to restore the socks to their previously white condition. I got to thinking that people are like dirty socks, and when we look at other people who seem like they are too far gone to ever be cleaned, we can remember that we also were filthy, and Christ cleaned us, and remember that we are never too far gone for redemption. This is so important to remember so that we are able to show everyone the love that Christ has for them.

Before we came to Honduras, we had a very different idea of what our mission here would be. We had planned on coming and getting the feeding program started through our church, but so far, funding has not been available, and we are currently only providing one meal per week. Although the meals are going well, and we are reaching people through them, it seems like God has a different agenda in place for us! We are living in a small town called Los Naranjos, which is located about 2 miles from Pena Blanca, and we chose to live in a Honduran house surrounded by Hondurans. My cousin, Chris, prayed and searched for just the right house for us, and finally located this house, and we feel like we are right where God wants us to be. We have A LOT of children living around us, and we spend a lot of time with them, and it turns out that our main ministry has been with our neighborhood children and their families. We take about 20 kids, ranging in age from 5 to 15, to church every week, we are teaching English classes twice a week, and we are trying to teach the kids how to love each other and treat each other with kindness and love. A lot of these people have never really experienced love and affection, and consequently, don’t know how to express it to others.

We are the only “gringo” family in Naranjos… there are a couple of single guys here, and also a bar/restaurant/hotel that is a hot-spot for backpackers, and we are really forming some great relationships with the people there, which has been fun and interesting. I don’t think any of us thought that we would be coming to Honduras to reach out to a bunch of fellow gringos at a bar, but that definitely is part of our ministry here, and we are really enjoying it. Backpackers from all over the world come to D&D, and we have a unique opportunity to meet a very interesting range of people. The owner, Bobby, has told us that we can come any time we need to get away, and stay in one of their cabins, swim, and have breakfast for free! The people there have really invited us into their lives, and we are building some great relationships with several people there.

This past week we were able to help one of our neighbors who is being forced to move into a different house, which is very small, and when we first went to look at it, it literally made all of us cry (the neighbors too…) because it is tiny, filthy, and lacking the most basic essentials. The walls were very dirty, there was no kitchen, no running water, overrun with trash, and to top things off, there were bats living inside. We were able to pull our neighbors together to help clean up the house, paint the interior and part of the exterior, put in a cooking stove, make and install curtains, and install a pilla. It was exciting to see so many neighbors working together to help a fellow family, and now the house looks like a home, and the family is excited to be moving in tomorrow. I think that the most exciting part for us is that so many people were able to help and to realize how much fun it can be to help someone else without expecting anything in return. Often times, the mentality here is to only help others when there is a direct benefit to oneself, so we are trying to show them a different way.

Fatima, Lisa, & Efren at church

We have been asked to take in two of our neighbor kids, Fatima (11), and Efren (14). These kids don’t have parents who are involved in their lives, and have been passed around to various family members, never knowing what it feels like to be really wanted. When we first came, we found Fatima scrounging through the scraps we had for the stray dogs because she would rarely have a meal. We have made it a point to make sure that Fatima and Efren get at least one healthy meal a day, and we are keeping Efren in school, with the help of some wonderful sponsors who want to help us help him. We have agreed to have the kids live with us for a month, and we’ll see what to do after that.

Please continue to pray for us, and if you would like to partner with us in our work here, we are really in need of people to monthly sponsors so that we can continue our ministry here. If you would like to be partnered with a child here, we could arrange a way for you to communicate via phone, email, &/or letters. We would also really like to have a team come out and help fix up homes & help with the ministry here, and if anyone would like to come for a visit, we would love to have you!