I am on my flight from Atlanta, GA to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. I feel like I am jumping off a cliff! I know without a doubt that I am going where God is leading me, but it is scary since I am not in charge -- He is!! I just left Joe, Abby, Ellie, Nathan, and Sarah. I will be away from them for a whole week! The longest that I have been away from my children is three days. That was when Nana and Papa watched them last fall for Joe and I to go to the Grand Canyon and Sedona, AZ. I miss them already:( I know that they will be fine, but I miss their kisses and cuddle hugs.
This is my first experience to leave the U.S.A. as well as my first mission trip!! This will definately be a new experience for me! I am going with a team from our church (Getwell Road United Methodist Church in Southaven, MS). I am going with Rob, Steve, Rich, Dawn, Maria, Kate, Karen, and Becky. I am excited to see my friends Kevin, Julie, Garrett, Molly, and Sophie McKenzie. They have been missionaries down there for the last four years. I will also get to finally meet their beautiful adopted daughter, Jeimy. I am also excited to meet, Yami, the sweet girl that my friends, Steve and Jenny, are in the process of adopting.
Our GRUMC Honduras team
Julie and Kevin McKenzie
Our family has sponsored two children, Miguel and Yolany, at the Good Shepherds Childrens Home (GSCH) http://www.gsch.bmdmi.org/ for the last two years. Joe has had the priviledge of coming down three times over the last two years. He connected woth Miguel and Yolany on one of those trips. It will be a blessing to finally get to meet them personally. I wonder if I will have the same connection with them that he had with them.
I know that God already has this trip planned out for me. I just need to obey and be faithful. I know that He will put adults and children in my path that I need to teach and that will teach me also. I just need to be open to God's leading!
I brought my prayer notebook along with my bible and a journal. I want to be able to have God's Word with me all the time. I want to document what He teaches me on this trip because I know that it will be life-changing. As Kay Warren says I know that it will "wreck" me.
This scripture brings me peace and comfort.
Philippians 4:4-9
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy -- think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me -- put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
We were picked up at the airport by the McKenzie family along with some of the other Honduras missionaries like Mike, Marty, and Chad. We were taken to lunch at Pizza Hut in Tegucigalpa. Our translators, Benjamin and Waleska, met us at Pizza Hut. So far it feels the same as being at any other Pizza Hut except everyone here spoke Spanish.
After eating and catching up with everyone, we got on the bus for the GSCH. It was a crazy drive through the roads of Honduras! I don't think that there are many traffic laws in Honduras, but ironically I didn't see an accident while I was there?! I think it took about 45 minutes to get from the city to the GSCH. This is a picture of our bus and our host, my friend Julie! Julie and I met in Community Bible Study many years ago. She was actually my small group leader one year! If you know her, I know that is hard to believe! Only God knew that 7-8 years later we would be in Honduras together showing God's love at the Good Shepherd CHildren's Home.
The mountains and the countryside are absolutely breathtaking! We also saw many poor areas of the country. We saw many animals and children fending for themselves on the streets. That was difficult to see. We were told that they don't have any animal shelters for the dogs here. They do have some children's homes here. That is why we were all here.
When we got to the Casona where we would be staying, we got settled in our rooms. The picture above is the casona. Then we went to the casitas to see the kids. I walked up the road with Steve. My good friends, Steve and Jenny have been in the process of adopting Yami for about a year and a half. I wanted to get some pictures of Steve and Yami seeing each other for the first time in a few months. It was a blessing to get to see Yami run into Steve's arms! It made me think of how we look running into God's arms.
Everyone else had been to the home before. I was the only person that hadn't been yet. While everyone else found the kids that they had connected with on earlier trips, Kevin introduced me to Yolany. Kevin also told me that Miguel and his mom, Tia Tomasa were visiting with his older sisters for the weekend. I would have to wait until Sunday or Monday to meet them.
Yolany was shy and timid at first. She has the most beautiful smile but most of the time in pictures she won't smile. Since I had just started learning Spanish and Yolany doesn't know much English we couldn't communicate by speaking very well. We did have two translators with us but they couldn't be with everyone all the time. Therefore, I decided to get out my cell phone and show Yolany pictures and videos of my family. Kevin told her that my family would all be coming to meet her the following week. We ended up with a bunch of girls around us as we watched the pictures and videos. Eventually, Yolany put her arm around me. I guess that meant that she felt comfortable around me?! I really hadn't expected our first meeting to go so well. I was thrilled!
Kevin and Yolany
Me and Yolany
Then I taught Yolany a card game called SET that I had learned at a family reunion this summer from my cousins and my Uncle Mac. After awile Daniela, Carolin, Raquel, Yami, and Steve were trying to learn how to play. We had a great time! We were having such a great time that Steve and I didn't even notice that the rest of our group had gone back to the Casona for dinner. When we noticed they were gone, we walked back to the Casona. We talked on the way back while I took a few more pictures. (see below) It looked like it was going to rain!
I wanted to add a few more pictures of the team on the first day at the home.
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