Honduras 2010, Day 2

Today has been a wonderful day of ministry in Honduras. We began with a school in the mountains in a village called Lo de Reina where we did a presentation that included a skit where I told a Bible story featuring Scott as King Nebuchadnezzar, and Zachary, Taylor and Jack as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. It also included the other team members as the flames in the fiery furnace and Jordan and Gary as the guards...yes we looked as funny and silly as it sounds, and the kids love it! The children there are precious and really enjoyed the balloon animals and noise maker crafts half of the team made with them. The other part of our team played soccer with the children...I hear it was a pretty rough game, haha. Corey has a knot on his shin, and apparently Scott knocked a kid over...When Scott apologized, he said, "It's okay...it's a game, what do you expect!"...well, in Spanish ;) At the end of our time at the school, we handed out school supply bags and said our goodbyes.
We went to El Ayudante to see the site and eat sandwiches for lunch. It was really neat to see how much it has changed since we were here two years ago. The medical center walls are completed, and we will be putting a finish coat of paint on the walls in the dorm rooms tomorrow.

This afternoon, we traveled to the squatters village, which is basically several acres of land where people have built "houses" on land that doesn't belong to them in hopes that if they stay long enough, the government will make it legally theirs. It is hard and incredibly shocking to see the conditions in which they live the first time. Many of the homes are made of sticks, plastic, scrap metal...whatever they can find, and they have dirt floors. It sounds strange to say, but the homes have now become more permanent than the last several times we've come. There were a few nicer homes made with cinder blocks. While there we gave out many pairs of flip-flops and hygiene bags. It was also neat to see how God has answered our prayers for these people to come to a saving, personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Most all the people we encountered were attending a church there in the village. We were split into three groups, so I don't know all the interactions the others had, but our group included Corey, Zachary, DeDe, Scott and me. In the three trips I've been here, I don't think I've ever gotten to go with Corey, and it was really special for me to also be able to experience today with my little brother!
We met one woman in particular who really stood out in my mind. Her name was Lucillia. She was an older woman with an incredibly warm smile and kind eyes. She shared about how God has been part of her life and thanked us so much for coming. As we prayed for her, she prayed for us as well. One of the groups was giving out hats, and they ran out...Jordan took off his prized Atlanta Braves hat and gave it away to a man who didn't have one...I didn't see it, but Becky said it brought her to tears. He has grown into such a gentleman...I've even noticed his thoughtfulness toward other team members these past few days...you should be very proud, Connie and Lee! They were all so very grateful for the gifts we brought them and the encouragement we were able to share.
We are looking forward to seeing what God has in store for us tomorrow as we go to CasaAyuda, a school for special needs children, half are deaf and the others have other special needs like Down Syndrome...pray that we are able to effectively communicate the love of Jesus to them.