Aren't we lucky that we got to play with kids all week??
Friday, September 28, 2007
The Bordo
I wish we could have spent all week here and at the girls dentention center. So much need and so little time...
Faces at the Dentention Center
Look at these sweet girls, aren't they beautiful? I wanted to bring them all home with me. Lydia (that I am standing with - 2nd picture) and I really bonded. We could not understand each other a lick, but communicated in our own way. I ate lunch with her, then braided her hair and prayed for her. She gave me some gum out of the candy we passed out to the girls, and as I was leaving, a stuffed beanie baby to take home. I was floored that she would give me something like that and didn't want to take her toy! She insisted, saying she had others. It was a little beaver and when I asked her its name she looked confused. I told her it had to have a name so I would know what to call it when I got home. She thought for awhile and said, "Terry
!"The girl at the top with Hannah was a doll baby also. I prayed for her and she wept and shook as God poured His healing love on her.
I can't even imagine some of the things these girls have been through. The whole time I was there I was thinking about my own beautiful teenage daughters and how awful it would be for them to live in a place like this.
Some of these girls have their own babies (below), in fact, our leader told us that it was wierd for these girls to see our group of girls come in and NOT have babies.
Party at the Girls Dentention Center
This was by far my favorite day. I fell in love with these young girls at the dentention center. We had a party for them and brought in lunch and the cake you see. "Mi Padre Me Ama" means "My Father Loves Me." This girl is reading "The Father's Love Letter" in Spanish. We had presents for the girls and loved them the best we could. I saw God show up so beautifully! Later on, during ministry time, many of them asked Jesus in their hearts and wept as the presence of God touched them.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
Dedication of the Water Tank
Here we are excitedly waiting to dedicate the new water tanks at the Bordo Church! That beautiful blonde is Candy, the missionary we worked with during the week. Candy and Wyly, her husband, birthed the vision of bringing clean water to the Bordo. Did you know that worldwide over 1.6 million children die from water borne illnesses every year? More than 1.1 billion people in the world do not have access to safe drinking water. Talk about taking something for granted. Furthermore, this tank only cost $2000. 
Praying at Casa Hogar
This sweet baby is Brenda, everytime Mary Leigh picked her up, the power of God would hit her. As soon as I held her in my arms, the Lord spoke to me and said He had picked her up out of a horrible pit and put a new song in her mouth. (Psalm 40:1-3) I found out later she had been living on the streets. It's a miracle she ended up at Casa Hogar instead of the state run orphanage.
Monday, September 24, 2007
Gatlinburg Gals, Last Summer
So you can have a visual. These are the Ya-Ya's, except for Drenda, who is very much missed. See how off-center we are without her? Okay, that's just my fancy camera work. Me and my timer and the top of Caryn's car. I'm not a professional. The Ya-Ya's are (left to right) Caryn, Becky, Tina and me. Like my new cowboy hat? It was safer than the nose piercing I had planned on getting.
Sunday, September 23, 2007
Finally, Honduras
I'm so glad I can access my blog again! I have been wanting to share pictures of our incredible trip. Since a picture is worth 1000 words, I'm going to try and put as many on here as I can, so you can see the joy and peace on the many faces we encountered. God showed up in such a big way while we were there. I left Honduras feeling that God was SOOO big compared to me. He was faithful to minister to every single person we prayed for.
Just to recap the week, we spent Saturday and Sunday in the Bordo, the poorest area in Honduras. Four years ago, the Lord brought a man named Pastor Gustavo to this area and showed him the children running around with no clothes on, drinking water from the sewer. The Lord said, "Do something about that." Pastor Gustavo went back to his church and shared his vision, but was ridiculed. Throughout the years, this man has received only gas money from his church home, yet has been faithful to do what God asked of him as he built a church right on the perimeter of the Bordo. A beautiful group of people work right alongside him shining light into a very dark place. The Bordo is actually municipal property, nothing more than a trash dump. Housing is propped up, pieced together wood or metal with dirt floors. Of course, there is no running water and any electricity is from an illegally tapped line. Around one hundred thousand people live here.
Because of the Bordo church, the children receive a nutritious meal three times a week and, while we were there, fresh water flowed into the community. On Sunday morning, we went to children's church and participated in the wonderful service they have for the kids and afterwards helped serve food. Sunday night was a youth service and, as sweet and fun as children's church had been that morning, the youth service was vibrant, exciting and powerful. The speaker was a young man who mesmerized me with his energy even though I couldn't understand a bit of what he was saying! You'll see pictures of the dedication of the water tank. This was a 2 year vision of missionaries Wyly and Candy Gammon - the missionaries we worked with all week. It was just an unexpected blessing that we got to see clean, fresh water come into that community the week we were there. If you can believe it, such a life-changing thing only cost $2000 to set up.
In the Bordo, we passed out candy to the children, bags of rice and beans to families and hygiene products like washcloths, toothbrushes and soap. During that time, I had a man come up to me and ask for prayer. He said he wanted to be delivered from alcoholism! I was floored and knew it was a divine appointment for me early in the week. I believe God wanted to show me how powerful and beautiful He is early on because the week would only get more intense. The man asked Jesus into his heart and I watched as the power of God kept knocking him to his knees. He was trying so hard to stand up and couldn't. Candy was with me and she's a tiny little thing and he was clinging to her for dear life! The man had been drinking and after we prayed his eyes were completely clear! Praise God!
We spent one day at a juvenile detention center for young girls. Orphans of the state, mentally handicapped, prostitutes, run aways, homeless, you name it....any unwanted girl between the ages of 12 and 18 is placed here. Such a terrible place to be a teenager. We found out there is gang violence and prostitution going on in the facility. One of the gang leaders wouldn't allow her girls to talk to the "gringas." Every time we asked one of them a question, she would look at the leader to see if it was okay to speak. It was such a subtle dance of glancing and head nodding, you would have missed it if you weren't paying attention. God is bigger than all that though. We had a party for them and let them know how much Father God cherishes them. It was a beautiful thing to see girls so stone-faced and callous open up to such Love. During ministry time, these girls wept and asked for prayer. They wanted Jesus in their lives and to be set free. I believe God healed many hearts that day. I have prayed that what happened inside those girls would change the atmosphere in that horrible place. Of all the days in Honduras, this was the one that affected me the most. I know the Lord has called me to minister to women, but that day the Lord showed me the value of the whole female race. I ache for the girls who live close by me who are abandoned or abused. They live in America too, right? Even sleepy little Greenville, South Carolina.
The rest of the week was spent at the orphanages with the younger kids. We clowned one day, did crafts, skits, played, prayed. What a blessing for us! God also allowed me to minister to the Christian women in these facilities. Many of them have been abandoned by their husbands and are illiterate. They were strong on the outside, but broken-hearted on the inside. They wept as we prayed for them and told them how much God loves them. God told me to tell every single one how beautiful and precious they were to Him. Our God is so good.
Thank you all so much for your love, prayers and financial support during this trip. Hannah and I are forever changed by seeing the great love God has for the lost and hurting. I have dreamed the last few nights of being out and telling people how much God loves them. I know He placed an eternal treasure and desire in my heart to see people transformed by the love of God.
Just to recap the week, we spent Saturday and Sunday in the Bordo, the poorest area in Honduras. Four years ago, the Lord brought a man named Pastor Gustavo to this area and showed him the children running around with no clothes on, drinking water from the sewer. The Lord said, "Do something about that." Pastor Gustavo went back to his church and shared his vision, but was ridiculed. Throughout the years, this man has received only gas money from his church home, yet has been faithful to do what God asked of him as he built a church right on the perimeter of the Bordo. A beautiful group of people work right alongside him shining light into a very dark place. The Bordo is actually municipal property, nothing more than a trash dump. Housing is propped up, pieced together wood or metal with dirt floors. Of course, there is no running water and any electricity is from an illegally tapped line. Around one hundred thousand people live here.
Because of the Bordo church, the children receive a nutritious meal three times a week and, while we were there, fresh water flowed into the community. On Sunday morning, we went to children's church and participated in the wonderful service they have for the kids and afterwards helped serve food. Sunday night was a youth service and, as sweet and fun as children's church had been that morning, the youth service was vibrant, exciting and powerful. The speaker was a young man who mesmerized me with his energy even though I couldn't understand a bit of what he was saying! You'll see pictures of the dedication of the water tank. This was a 2 year vision of missionaries Wyly and Candy Gammon - the missionaries we worked with all week. It was just an unexpected blessing that we got to see clean, fresh water come into that community the week we were there. If you can believe it, such a life-changing thing only cost $2000 to set up.
In the Bordo, we passed out candy to the children, bags of rice and beans to families and hygiene products like washcloths, toothbrushes and soap. During that time, I had a man come up to me and ask for prayer. He said he wanted to be delivered from alcoholism! I was floored and knew it was a divine appointment for me early in the week. I believe God wanted to show me how powerful and beautiful He is early on because the week would only get more intense. The man asked Jesus into his heart and I watched as the power of God kept knocking him to his knees. He was trying so hard to stand up and couldn't. Candy was with me and she's a tiny little thing and he was clinging to her for dear life! The man had been drinking and after we prayed his eyes were completely clear! Praise God!
We spent one day at a juvenile detention center for young girls. Orphans of the state, mentally handicapped, prostitutes, run aways, homeless, you name it....any unwanted girl between the ages of 12 and 18 is placed here. Such a terrible place to be a teenager. We found out there is gang violence and prostitution going on in the facility. One of the gang leaders wouldn't allow her girls to talk to the "gringas." Every time we asked one of them a question, she would look at the leader to see if it was okay to speak. It was such a subtle dance of glancing and head nodding, you would have missed it if you weren't paying attention. God is bigger than all that though. We had a party for them and let them know how much Father God cherishes them. It was a beautiful thing to see girls so stone-faced and callous open up to such Love. During ministry time, these girls wept and asked for prayer. They wanted Jesus in their lives and to be set free. I believe God healed many hearts that day. I have prayed that what happened inside those girls would change the atmosphere in that horrible place. Of all the days in Honduras, this was the one that affected me the most. I know the Lord has called me to minister to women, but that day the Lord showed me the value of the whole female race. I ache for the girls who live close by me who are abandoned or abused. They live in America too, right? Even sleepy little Greenville, South Carolina.
The rest of the week was spent at the orphanages with the younger kids. We clowned one day, did crafts, skits, played, prayed. What a blessing for us! God also allowed me to minister to the Christian women in these facilities. Many of them have been abandoned by their husbands and are illiterate. They were strong on the outside, but broken-hearted on the inside. They wept as we prayed for them and told them how much God loves them. God told me to tell every single one how beautiful and precious they were to Him. Our God is so good.
Thank you all so much for your love, prayers and financial support during this trip. Hannah and I are forever changed by seeing the great love God has for the lost and hurting. I have dreamed the last few nights of being out and telling people how much God loves them. I know He placed an eternal treasure and desire in my heart to see people transformed by the love of God.
Blogging Again....
Unbelievable. Somehow I could not get access to my blog these past months. A case of having the wrong password and whatnot. Nice Guy asked me again tonight if I had updated my blog with our missions trip pictures, so I decided ONE MORE TIME to see if I could get in. After resetting everything AGAIN, I'm back!
So I will update soon, promise. As it is, it's after midnight and I'm pooped. I have much to say about our trip and some other things going on.
So I will update soon, promise. As it is, it's after midnight and I'm pooped. I have much to say about our trip and some other things going on.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Missions Trip Update
To update everyone on our missions trip, I wanted to report that we raised every penny we needed and got a better deal on our plane tickets than we had expected. Hannah and I will be traveling to Atlanta tomorrow to meet with our team to discuss the who, what, when and where of our trip. We'll be working on skits and puppets and things like that. I think that we are going to do some clowning for the children in the orphanage which will be great fun. More details on that later.
For now, I do have a serious prayer request. Our passports have not come in. I've read so many horror stories on the internet in trying to figure out what to do about the situation that I'm trying very hard not to panic! The State Department is so overloaded that I've heard they are not issuing anything unless you are 2 weeks from your departure date. The place to go for an appointment? Washington, D.C.! Not Atlanta or Charlotte, but eight hours away! The good news is I will actually be in D.C. next week! Our first family vacation in about 4 years. What perfect timing! Who wants to go to the Smithsonian when you can sit in the passport office? All that said, I may not be able to get in. There's that 2 week window. So I contacted both Lindsay Graham and Bob Inglis to see if my Congressman can help me. Maybe they could just sashay over to the office, pull some strings and have my passport waiting on me when I get there?
If you are reading this, the Lord brought you here to pray for us and our passports! Please do.
For now, I do have a serious prayer request. Our passports have not come in. I've read so many horror stories on the internet in trying to figure out what to do about the situation that I'm trying very hard not to panic! The State Department is so overloaded that I've heard they are not issuing anything unless you are 2 weeks from your departure date. The place to go for an appointment? Washington, D.C.! Not Atlanta or Charlotte, but eight hours away! The good news is I will actually be in D.C. next week! Our first family vacation in about 4 years. What perfect timing! Who wants to go to the Smithsonian when you can sit in the passport office? All that said, I may not be able to get in. There's that 2 week window. So I contacted both Lindsay Graham and Bob Inglis to see if my Congressman can help me. Maybe they could just sashay over to the office, pull some strings and have my passport waiting on me when I get there?
If you are reading this, the Lord brought you here to pray for us and our passports! Please do.
Wednesday, May 09, 2007
Missions Update
Well, just wanted to let everyone whose been asking me know that, yes, we are raising money for our trip. We've raised almost half of the money we need and so appreciate everyone who has blessed us financially. I can't even describe how it feels to know that people believe in the Kingdom of God planted in us and are willing to sow into that. Thanks to all of you who have generously given. We need to have most of our funds in by June 10th so we can purchase our tickets. In the meantime our van has died! My old faithful Pearl, I can hardly bear it. Nice Guy will be going and cleaning out the contents (because I can't! sniff!) and we'll be donating it to Goodwill this week. God is teaching me how to trust in Him! We had agreed not to have another car payment and well, by golly, we just don't have $10,000 sitting in the bank right now. Fortunately, we can get by on one car with Nice Guy's work schedule, so I've been driving the truck around, but it's just not the same...I'll miss you Pearl!
Also, we will be going to get shots in two weeks. Can you say typhoid? Please pray for us regarding this that we don't have any side effects from the shots!
Today I was so blessed! Something that's been on my heart for many, many years came to pass. I was able to go to a local women's shelter and love on, pray for and minister to the ladies there. My friend Hope taught a lesson on God the Father's plan to redeem mankind through Jesus from the "foundation of the world!" It was excellent! And then we prayed for the ladies. They were so thankful we came, thanking us over and over again until I wanted to say, "No! Thank you for letting ME come."
Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!
Also, we will be going to get shots in two weeks. Can you say typhoid? Please pray for us regarding this that we don't have any side effects from the shots!
Today I was so blessed! Something that's been on my heart for many, many years came to pass. I was able to go to a local women's shelter and love on, pray for and minister to the ladies there. My friend Hope taught a lesson on God the Father's plan to redeem mankind through Jesus from the "foundation of the world!" It was excellent! And then we prayed for the ladies. They were so thankful we came, thanking us over and over again until I wanted to say, "No! Thank you for letting ME come."
Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday!
Thursday, April 12, 2007
To See the Glory of God...
I wrote this at the beginning of 2006 and never finished it....
Well, Happy New Year everyone. Seems I haven't had quite as much time to sit and write as I did when we were having our Christmas break.
I have spent alot of time thinking and praying. I'm wondering what this year will bring. And I've been reflecting on the past two years - horrible in one sense - magnificent in another. I lost one of my precious nephews. Despite living for only 7 weeks, he touched the lives of our whole family in a way some people never do - he pulled us all closer together - closer to the Lord. The loss, at the time, was overwhelming and beautiful too because God was beautiful TO us despite our sadness. And then my dad, only 59 and healthy as all get out, suddenly found out he had a vicious tumor growing in his leg, eating his bone and depositing cancer in his body. Despite removal of his leg, he only stayed with us 10 more months. I miss him soooo.....
But I'm beginning to understand as never before, that you need to come to the end of yourself to really find God. I've been a Christian for 18 years and tried to stay in control of any hardship or sorrow that came my way, but I was liberated and swept away by the love of God when I learned to let go and let Him hold me and hide me.
I'm reading an incredible book called More than Enough. It is the story of missionaries, Heidi and Rolland Baker whom the Lord called to start caring for the orphaned and abandoned children living in the dumps in Mozambique. They have absolutely nothing and they find God in such an incredible, powerful way. They experience the reality of God. Miracles are common, everyday events in their lives because they need Him SO much. In America, we just don't need Him enough.
I know I don't. Except now I don't have an earthly Father and I DO need my Heavenly Father to be my Father here and He's promised He will be a Father to the fatherless, but I'm talking about needing him and wanting him more than anything else this world has to offer. I look at myself and see so much of me and I want people to see God - not Me.
And now here I am...2007....
To see the glory of God and not ourselves. Isn't that our hearts cry? I know many people passionately pursuing the glory of God in their lives and it is so inspiring. I feel blessed to be surrounded by many. But isn't it necessary if we are going to make a difference in this world? We need to be different and separate, otherwise who will see God?
This summer Hannah and I have the opportunity to go to San Pedro, Honduras for our first missions trip. I'm excited for both of us, but mostly for Hannah who feels the Lord may be calling her to full-time missions work one day, especially with orphans. Recently she had a vision of Jesus with children of all races hiding behind his robe looking at her. They brought flowers and put them in her hair and sat on her lap. This is MY daughter at the age of 15 experiencing God more powerfully than I ever have. I am overwhelmed.
Yesterday, I was working on our support letter and explaining all we would be doing in Honduras. I was very excited while I was writing, I was thinking of Heidi Baker at the time. One of our outreaches will be in the Bordo, an area where 30,000 children live in a trash dump. We'll pass out food, candy and hygiene products, but also pray for the children, believing the Lord to heal and deliver many. It is beyond my imagining right now. I have never in my life seen poverty like that.
Yesterday afternoon it hit me. I was walking by a man that smelled like....well....urine. And it struck me that I will be holding children that are sick and filthy and smell horrible. Suddenly I was scared to death. I am afraid I won't be able to do anything but cry. I've heard that Heidi Baker holds her babies and cries over their sick, diseased and dying bodies for hours and the Lord heals them, so that may not be the worst thing. What if I can't hold them or love them because I'm too scared or repulsed? What if I want to turn my back on them, so I just don't have to see how horrible life is for these little children. What if I can't do it?
In fact, I realized suddenly that I couldn't.
You see that word up there? I. This is what I'm talking about. I can't do it. I know I can't, but I do know that God would not be sending me there if He did not think I was ready to let Him be sufficient for me. He doesn't even want me to have the strength to do this, because His Glory and Grace can't be compared to our own feeble attempts. When He loves and moves through me, I will be one step closer to my heart's cry of all of Him and none of me.
Sometimes prayers aren't answered like you'd hoped or God doesn't show up like you'd imagined. The worst thing I can think of would be to pray for an orphaned, sick child and not see God move. That's the other thought creeping around in the back of my head, but really, I know it's a lie. God doesn't hold out on us. At the very least, what God has done in my life this past year is I know His character and I trust that He is always good and loving and reaching out to us constantly pulling us towards Him. We take one small step of faith and He comes bounding toward us. Ephesians says, "I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him. It is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at the place of honor at God's right hand in heaven...and God has put all things under his feet and made him the supreme Head of the church - which is his body, filled with Himself, the Author and Giver of everything everywhere." Amen!
Well, Happy New Year everyone. Seems I haven't had quite as much time to sit and write as I did when we were having our Christmas break.
I have spent alot of time thinking and praying. I'm wondering what this year will bring. And I've been reflecting on the past two years - horrible in one sense - magnificent in another. I lost one of my precious nephews. Despite living for only 7 weeks, he touched the lives of our whole family in a way some people never do - he pulled us all closer together - closer to the Lord. The loss, at the time, was overwhelming and beautiful too because God was beautiful TO us despite our sadness. And then my dad, only 59 and healthy as all get out, suddenly found out he had a vicious tumor growing in his leg, eating his bone and depositing cancer in his body. Despite removal of his leg, he only stayed with us 10 more months. I miss him soooo.....
But I'm beginning to understand as never before, that you need to come to the end of yourself to really find God. I've been a Christian for 18 years and tried to stay in control of any hardship or sorrow that came my way, but I was liberated and swept away by the love of God when I learned to let go and let Him hold me and hide me.
I'm reading an incredible book called More than Enough. It is the story of missionaries, Heidi and Rolland Baker whom the Lord called to start caring for the orphaned and abandoned children living in the dumps in Mozambique. They have absolutely nothing and they find God in such an incredible, powerful way. They experience the reality of God. Miracles are common, everyday events in their lives because they need Him SO much. In America, we just don't need Him enough.
I know I don't. Except now I don't have an earthly Father and I DO need my Heavenly Father to be my Father here and He's promised He will be a Father to the fatherless, but I'm talking about needing him and wanting him more than anything else this world has to offer. I look at myself and see so much of me and I want people to see God - not Me.
And now here I am...2007....
To see the glory of God and not ourselves. Isn't that our hearts cry? I know many people passionately pursuing the glory of God in their lives and it is so inspiring. I feel blessed to be surrounded by many. But isn't it necessary if we are going to make a difference in this world? We need to be different and separate, otherwise who will see God?
This summer Hannah and I have the opportunity to go to San Pedro, Honduras for our first missions trip. I'm excited for both of us, but mostly for Hannah who feels the Lord may be calling her to full-time missions work one day, especially with orphans. Recently she had a vision of Jesus with children of all races hiding behind his robe looking at her. They brought flowers and put them in her hair and sat on her lap. This is MY daughter at the age of 15 experiencing God more powerfully than I ever have. I am overwhelmed.
Yesterday, I was working on our support letter and explaining all we would be doing in Honduras. I was very excited while I was writing, I was thinking of Heidi Baker at the time. One of our outreaches will be in the Bordo, an area where 30,000 children live in a trash dump. We'll pass out food, candy and hygiene products, but also pray for the children, believing the Lord to heal and deliver many. It is beyond my imagining right now. I have never in my life seen poverty like that.
Yesterday afternoon it hit me. I was walking by a man that smelled like....well....urine. And it struck me that I will be holding children that are sick and filthy and smell horrible. Suddenly I was scared to death. I am afraid I won't be able to do anything but cry. I've heard that Heidi Baker holds her babies and cries over their sick, diseased and dying bodies for hours and the Lord heals them, so that may not be the worst thing. What if I can't hold them or love them because I'm too scared or repulsed? What if I want to turn my back on them, so I just don't have to see how horrible life is for these little children. What if I can't do it?
In fact, I realized suddenly that I couldn't.
You see that word up there? I. This is what I'm talking about. I can't do it. I know I can't, but I do know that God would not be sending me there if He did not think I was ready to let Him be sufficient for me. He doesn't even want me to have the strength to do this, because His Glory and Grace can't be compared to our own feeble attempts. When He loves and moves through me, I will be one step closer to my heart's cry of all of Him and none of me.
Sometimes prayers aren't answered like you'd hoped or God doesn't show up like you'd imagined. The worst thing I can think of would be to pray for an orphaned, sick child and not see God move. That's the other thought creeping around in the back of my head, but really, I know it's a lie. God doesn't hold out on us. At the very least, what God has done in my life this past year is I know His character and I trust that He is always good and loving and reaching out to us constantly pulling us towards Him. We take one small step of faith and He comes bounding toward us. Ephesians says, "I pray that you will begin to understand how incredibly great his power is to help those who believe him. It is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him at the place of honor at God's right hand in heaven...and God has put all things under his feet and made him the supreme Head of the church - which is his body, filled with Himself, the Author and Giver of everything everywhere." Amen!
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