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Good day church family,
Saturday morning was a beautiful sunny morning on the back deck. A few of us got up early to take in our last morning here. We ate a nice breakfast together at 7 and I did my best effort at attempting to say grace in Spanish 😀! Curtis said it sounded like the equivalent of "rub a dub dub thank you Lord for the grub" but I was quite proud of myself! We moved out onto the deck and sang some songs of praise to God with hearts full of thankfulness. We completed our last devotional in Honduras together, fittingly on the grace of God. Rick, Ena, and Otto, our driver, came at 9am to take us to the airport. The drive was spectacular as the natural scenery is breathtaking. At the airport we were instantly surrounded by Honduran helpers hoping to make some tip money to provide for their families. We have learned to come prepared with tip money and stand back and let them help and to just enjoy not having to slug suitcases around. We said our "see you laters" and gave our hugs and thank you's! The airport and flight to Houston was uneventful, thank you Jesus. We said our goodbyes to Job in Houston as he boarded another plane for home. He was a Godsend to our team, that young man is the salt of the earth and we all enjoyed our time getting to know him. God sent Michael to pick us up with the hotel shuttle in Houston. Michael agreed to come back after we checked in and drive us to and back from Pappa's barbecue for a meal out on the town together! This is not something that they normally do but this saved us from getting 3 separate cab rides and allowed us to travel together. We seen it as a blessing from God! We made sure to pass the blessing along to Michael in the form of a rack of ribs and cash! Early to bed and up at 3 am to get back to the airport, Michael was still on and was waiting for us when we arrived in the lobby. Once we got to our gate the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate to a different wing of the airport to board as it was an actual fire! We were a half hour late leaving but made up the time in the sky peaking at 640 miles per hour! During our wait in Newark we discussed as a team the ways that God showed up in each of our lives and the impact that made on us. We arrived in Halifax an hour later than expected, but we have all travelled in God's grace and truth the whole entire time! It was awesome to be greeted by our loving families. Thank you church family for your support and complete coverage of our trip in your prayers! God answered them all faithfully!! Blessings and we look forward to sharing with you how we got to participate in God's redemption story! -Shawn Today was bitter sweet, all of us knew that it was going to be a day of goodbyes (or see you later) but we didn’t let knowing it was the end of the trip stop us from doing the work of God until the very end.
We got the privilege of baptizing 6 new women into the kingdom of God including one of our own. We enjoyed a nice pool day with an average temperature of about 25 Celsius and embraced the children with all the love we could give playing and trying so hard to understand them. After the baptisms we went back to the children’s home and began a very long process of saying goodbye. Lots of tears shed, but the pain of our absence the kids feel and also the pain that we feel in our hearts is there because real love was shared. We went in to do the work of God and before we entered Honduras, God was with us the whole time. 10 days doesn’t seem long enough, but from all of the team we want to thank everyone for praying with us and being a part of this experience because it took all of our efforts for the impact that was made in Honduras. Thank you and God bless. - Job What a way to spend your birthday, here in Honduras. We had breakfast and devotion before heading into Siguatepeque for a cultural experience in shopping. I do believe it went quite well. From there we went to Casa Hogar to have lunch and then a devotion with the kids. We talked about what baptism is and what it means.
Afterwards a surprise birthday cake for the birthday boy (me)! All the kids were excited to have cake, as was I. It was really special as they all wished me a happy birthday and gave me a hug. In the evening we had supper and then went to a local church to worship with them. It also gave us an opportunity to give and bless as well. Thank you for all your prayers, God Bless, Jason. Hello Church family,
Today our new Québécois friends -Debbie and Claude- went home. After breakfast, and sad goodbyes, we went to Casa Hogar and continued our conversations with the children about faith. Among other things: we discussed giving ourselves to God and making Jesus the king of our lives. Many children stood in front of the others and testified that Jesus was their saviour, a couple of them are planning to get baptized this Friday when we go to the pool. After lunch we went to a coffee plantation and were given a tour of how everything happens, a lot of impressive work goes on to make coffee. After dinner we did our nightly devotions. Today was a very uplifting day for us all. Can’t wait to tell you more when we get home -Aiden Hola everyone,
Today we had cultural day. The morning started with coffee (it is the best I have ever had), then breakfast, followed by devotions together, very powerful. We loaded in the van and off to la Esperanza. We stopped half-way for a hot drink. Some had coffee, others had a traditional corn drink. We got into la Esperanza, and we had a very nice meal at a local restaurant, then we visited a look-off, and local place for people to bath that are less fortunate. We got to do some shopping at the market and support the people there. We finished the night with supper and devotions with Rick and Ena as well as Melodie. A eye opening day for everyone. -Patrick Day 4 had us up early, some of us at five to get ready for breakfast and then to take the children to the zoo!! We all piled into a school bus and we drove off, even had a little water gun fight on the bus, haha. After two hours of travelling, on roads that you would not think a school bus could go on, we made it to the zoo. We are all able to roam around with two kids as they taught us how to say the names of animals in Spanish. And now this zoo was not your “typical”Moncton zoo. But we did see some pretty cool animals that were up super close. As the days go on you can see how much more the children open and become much more comfortable with all of us. Even to the point where they would be dragging us into the pool and pushing us in. We are all having a great time and all doing well, now ready to have dinner back at the camp. Hopefully not falling asleep from the busy day.. -Alexis  Hola church family! This is day 3… We had breakfast and did morning devotions together. We had church this morning at Casa Hogar with the children so before we left we all asked God to use us in His redemption story for the children. We know that we are all chosen and the children at the home are chosen too, but it’s important for us to share with people so they can get a sense that He is real. The church service we did with the children was a little bit different. It wasn’t a normal service per se, instead, everyone from the team shared a practical story of how God has shown His goodness in their lives. There were many emotions during the sharing time but it is so so good to hear how God works in others lives. We also sung some songs together, in Spanish and English! After church we hung out with the children, and some of us helped to make hamburgers for lunch in their outside kitchen. We had a picnic style lunch outside and then we all hung out for the afternoon. Some of us played soccer, swung on the swings, listened to music and did some pull up competitions to see who was the strongest. I would say that the children are getting more comfortable with us, but still laugh at us as we try to speak to them in Spanish!!! We are back at Cerro du Luz for the evening, relaxing a bit before supper and evening devotion time together. I cannot wait for you to hear more about our time here in Honduras, see you when we get home! -Vicki  First official (full) day in Honduras. We started off the day with a delicious breakfast and devo time. Today we were reminded of the importance of how we view God and how He has created us in His image. We then headed to Casa Hogar! We started off with a tour of the property so we could become more familiar with it and then got right into hanging out with the children. The boys headed straight to soccer and the girls were all excited to get their nails painted, these activities really broke the ice and the children started to become more comfortable with us. Today mostly consisted of getting to know the children’s names… and remembering them, haha, while also figuring out some basic Spanish as the children giggled at us. In the afternoon we handed out the back packs full of goodies (shirts, pants, shoes, socks, etc) to all the children. The smiles on their faces as they opened them up was the only thank you needed. They each got a little taste of Canada as Big Mama (Shawn) handed out some maple cream treats. Some of the team went out to a soccer game and got to see two of the children play, while the others came back to freshen up for Dinner. I must say most of us came back to Cerro de luz (where we are staying) with rosy cheeks from the sunshine today. I write this as we are about to be on our way to dinner out tonight and want to suggest a couple prayer requests. The team is all doing well but please pray that the children would continue to open up to us and us to them, that language would not be a barrier but the Holy Spirit would be doing the communicating through us in our actions and the words we do know, for opportunities to share the gospel with children and also locals, and for continued endurance and protection. Can’t wait to keep updating you all! - Cassidy We are 1 day into our journey and we have seen God’s hand in many ways already! Thank you for praying.
We took off Thursday morning in the rain and wind, and I think if it we had been any later the flight would have been canceled. Our first 2 flights were both on time with no problems. Our luggage all arrived in Houston intact! The shuttle was waiting for us as soon as we walked out the door and all 11 of us and our bags fit in. We did have a big test of faith this morning when we came back to the Houston to check-in for Honduras. Job’s Covid test had not come in yet so they wouldn’t let him check-in. An airline attendant helped us check the bags, but still Job could not check-in. After a lot of praying and calls he was finally able to get the test results and check-in! It was last minute but God came through! We should arrive in Honduras around noon today. Thanks again for your prayers, Curtis, for the team The missions team at the airport, ready to head out. They have 2 flights today to get to Texas where they will be spending the night. Then they have a flight to Honduras tomorrow morning. Please continue to pray that the flights are on time, their cargo and luggage arrives with them and for safety on their travels!  |
