Honduras

Ryan and I are back safe and sound from a week-long mission trip to Honduras! Our church sent 25 team members to Jalaca, Honduras from July 7-14 to minister at New Life Children's Home. We had a wonderful week getting to know each other, loving on the sweet children, and serving the Lord. The men spent most of their time on a construction project and the women led something similar to VBS, distributed shoes, organized supplies, and helped wherever necessary.

This was my first trip out of the country and it grew me in lots of ways pretty quickly. Seeing how these children live and how desperate they are for love helped put my world into perspective. It was nice to unplug for a week and concentrate solely on our mission. I didn't think about work, my endless to-do list, or any other seemingly "important" items on my agenda at home. Being in Honduras showed me how rewarding it is to live simply- to focus on Jesus and victorious Christian living- and to stop majoring on the minors. When you encounter children who have never owned a pair of shoes... you realize the things that stress you out are trivial. When you briefly live in a place without hot water, frequent power outages, mice scurrying through the walls, and no air conditioning... you realize how blessed you are and learn not to take anything for granted.

I am incredibly grateful for the privilege to serve with my husband.  I am more in love with him than ever before. The Lord has done amazing things in our lives and in our marriage over the last several months and being able to minister with him has given me pure joy. It was also great to bond with my church family and get to know them better. I will be forever thankful for the opportunity to serve in Honduras and for the ways the Lord has changed me in preparing for and serving on this trip.

Riding the bus from the Honduras airport to the village. Officially awake for well over 24 hours at this point.

Tegucigalpa

Our room for the week

 

Shelly Maria. Not to be confused with Shelley Marie. :)

Sandra loved Ryan-- would not let go of his neck!

Sweet Miguel

The men working hard on the dorm

The supplies we brought for the kids

Waiting on church with Emily 

Ryan preaching at the first church service with a translator. One of the best parts of the trip!

Haiti the model

Crafts with the boys... making masks

Yenni... stole my heart

Chalk is fun!

Ryan and David mixing cement for the girl's dorm

Ryan and Jason :)

 

Shoes we brought for the kids

Miguel excited about his new, clean shoes!!

Mrs. Jennifer telling a Bible story

 

Feeding brigade for the local Hondurans

Put my spiritual gift of organization to work in the supply closet :)

Ryan wrote our initials in the cement <3

"Bertha" aka the cement machine that did not like to work

 

Maria... one amazing woman!

Erika and me on the last morning

The wonderful Barnes family

Kendra and me