We sing the songs in church proclaiming that our only hope is in Christ, and we read the words in our Bibles, but it is easy to sing without thinking and read without applying what we are reading to our daily lives. Our time here in Honduras has probably been the most challenging time of our lives, and we are forced to truly live what we say we believe, which isn’t always easy. These past six months, and the last few weeks in particular, have been extremely challenging for all of us, but the lessons we’ve learned have been life changing, and for that we are thankful. What we have really learned is to fully put our trust in Christ alone, and that there is no other way to truly know joy and the peace that surpasses understanding.
I am not sure even where to begin! We constantly face challenges here that are so different from anything we had faced before. There are the basic differences, such as: living in a very rustic home without hot water, heat, or AC; living in very close proximity with wildlife including countless bugs, lizards, geckos, chickens, turkeys, cows, horses, dogs, and cats; speaking a different language than most of the people; and adjusting to the very different culture.
In addition to a lot of problems here in Honduras, these past few weeks we have also faced problems back home in the states that, because of the distance, we had two choices; we could either worry ourselves sick or choose to give our loved ones and difficult situations over to God because there truly is nothing that we can do. It is so difficult to completely put our trust in God, knowing that only He knows the past, the future, and all of the hidden innuendos of each situation, but when we are able to do that, it is incredibly freeing. As much as we love our family and friends, we need to remember that God loves them A LOT more than we are even capable of loving them, and praying is the best thing we can do for them.
We are looking forward to seeing our family and friends in the US for about a month! We are hoping to visit Florida, Nebraska, Indiana, Minnesota, and Iowa while we are there, and will get to visit both sets of our parents, Alyssa, and Jesse while we are there, so we’re really excited about that! I’m sure that we will have a lot of adjustments back into American culture, so that will be interesting for us. We are currently waiting for about 12 hours in the San Pedro airport before our plane leaves, then we will get to drive about 12 hours to visit Pace, Florida. We are about 4 hours in, and it’s going great!
Updates:
*We have been spending a lot of time with Jessica, a sweet 14 year old girl (with 25 siblings!) who is very interested in learning about God and learning English. It has been exciting to see how much she has learned and how she has personally grown in the time we’ve known her. We are looking for a sponsor to help send her school starting in February, as she has been unable to attend school for the past 2 years due to a lack of finances. She would like to continue her education and eventually become a teacher.
*We are still working with Efren and Fatima and their families. The kids are doing well, and Efren is excited to be able to go to colegio (like high school) in February. He was living with us for 2 months, but is back with his aunt for the time being. We are hoping that he will be able to move back in with us permanently, so please pray for that situation. We have seen a lot of progress with both of the kids, but their home life is still not good.
*Our church services continue to draw a fair amount of people from the community, and we are becoming more comfortable with the food prep and Wednesday night kids’ church, which was very intimidating at first (teaching kids in Spanish & dealing with the little situations that are bound to come up with kids in Spanish was & is still difficult!).
*Our English classes are on hold until we get back from the states with some new material. We were able to purchase a good English program that we are excited to use with the kids.
*We are all becoming more comfortable with our Spanish (even Gordon!), and able to communicate a lot more effectively than when we first arrived. We still have a ways to go, but we now feel comfortable shopping, having conversations, and even going to the doctor without an interpreter.
*We are continuing to build and develop our relationships with fellow missionaries and other Americans here, and a lot of those relationships have become really special to us.
*We have finally developed fairly good relationships with the neighborhood bullies, and are hoping that those relationships will continue. Sometimes it is really hard to be kind to people who are not kind themselves, but in this case, it has really paid off.
*A “rent-by-the-hour hotelito” is opening up right next door to us while we are gone. It is literally less than 2 feet from our house, and we have a lot of concerns about how this will affect our safety, because these places are known to be used for prostitution, affairs, and drug use. We will likely be forced to find another house, which isn’t usually easy to do.
Prayer Needs:
In addition to the above mentioned items, please pray for the following:
*Safe travel and a safe time in the States.
*Safety for our home and Conan here in Honduras (a lot of people get broken into if their house is not occupied). Also safety for Douglas, who is taking care of Conan and the house while we are gone.
*Sponsors to help send Jessica and other students to school starting in February.
*Karen, an 11 year old neighbor who is already involved in prostitution. We are starting to develop a relationship with her, but it is taking a long time.
*Our dear friends in Nebraska, the Nicholsons – their teenage son, John Patrick, underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor on December 3rd. There will be a long recovery, so please pray for a complete recovery and that God will strengthen the family through this ordeal.
*Family problems back home – that we are able to completely leave these issues at God’s feet and that people will make wise choices sooner rather than later.
