Honduras Day 5

On Wednesday we went to La Escuela Rural Mixta, a small mountain school in a community called Lo de Reina. The children there were so warm and welcoming! One of the young boys even got up in front and welcomed us formally to their school. These children don't have a lot, but they are so happy. Once again we had a presentation where we sang, did a skit and shared a testimony. Today Dottie shared with the children about God's love for them. Afterward we split into teams. With the younger children we did a noisemaker craft, balloon animals, face painting and nail polish for the girls all in 45 minutes! Then we switched with the older group which had been outside playing sports. We gave these children school supplies and candy, and they were so excited and grateful.
After lunch we left for the Squatter's Village. This is an area of "houses" where people have taken up residence on government land. We are told that if they remain there for two years, the land will become theirs. The conditions these people live in are difficult to bear. It's really hard to explain...the pictures tell a better story. We did door to door evangelism at the village. It was so amazing! We began by giving the people hygiene bags, school supply bags for the children, and flip flops for all ages. Most of them were incredibly grateful for the things we brought them. Those things will last a while, but eventually they will wear out or run out. Our goal at the Squatter's Village was to leave them with something that was eternal...life with Jesus Christ. We had prayed for God's anointing, and more than any other time it was evident that we couldn't do this on our own strength. It was incredibly hot outside and we were all so tired from the other ministry earlier in the week. But we prayed together before we left the bus for God to allow us to accomplish what He had sent us there to do. We were able to see 17 people come to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ!!! One of the groups approached a lady who was already a believer. She told them that she had been praying for us to come and that she knew that God had sent us. My group included Leah, Scott, myself and our translator, Seunsidi. We began with the balloon animals to draw a crowd and got stopped at the very front of the village (I love balloon animals, but I have made more bunnies, dogs and butterflies this week than I thought humanly possible. I'm retiring until next year!) The sun was so hot though that they were popping almost as soon as we got them blown up. So we took them back to the bus and then tried to find out where the other groups had not yet gone. It seemed that everywhere we looked someone was already there. We began praying that God would lead us where he wanted us to go. He led us to a house where a family lived. As we spoke to them, a 12 year old girl named Sory was very interested in what we were saying. After we shared the plan of salvation with her, she prayed to receive Christ! After we finished praying, you could see the joy on her face! She had the biggest smile on her face and kept hugging me and saying thank you. While this was going on, a young boy was watching us. When we asked him if we could share with him, he said yes but that he wanted us to come to his house. We followed him and were able to lead him and his mother to Christ. Then his two brothers came up and we shared with them. This whole family of four chose to allow Jesus to be their Savior and Lord! After that it was time for us to leave, we were there for almost 3 hours, but the time went so quickly.
That evening we celebrated our last day of scheduled ministry at a restaurant called El Torrito. We had a delicious meal and wonderful time of fellowship. One of the neatest things about our trip this year is that our translators and bus driver were really a part of our team. They didn't just translate/drive for us, they painted, ministered to people and hung out with us...they were our friends. I truly believe that is why we were able to accomplish so much this week. With God's grace and a team of not just 17 but 28 we were able to do all the work we came here to do. God blessed us with an amazing last day in Comayagua! We can't wait to get back to further the work of El Ayudante and love on these precious people again next year!