Ive been reading a book recently called The Irrisistible Revolution. I finished it the other night, and am now reading it for the second time. This book is rocking my world. In it Shane Claiborne talks about a chapel speaker named Rich Mullins and how he spoke about how we as Christians are "All into that born again thing, which is great. We need to be born again, since Jesus said that to a guy named Nicodemus. But if you tell me that I have to be born again to enter the Kingdom of God, I can tell you that you have to sell everything you have and give it to the poor, because Jesus said that to one guy to...But I guess thats why God invented highlighters, so we can highlight the parts we like and ignore the rest."
Lately Ive wondered where exactly I will end up in life..the college years are coming..and so Ive asked myself, do i really want to go to college, if so, what do I major in? Ive also thought about moving to Honduras, but do I go to college first? Do I take online classes? Do I just move here and see what God has in store for me? The more I read this book, the more I think that there has got to be more to life than what America is telling me. The world is telling me, go to college, get a degree, get a good job, make good money, start a family, blah blah blah. Everyday I find it harder and harder to buy into this way of thinking. Im also finding that maybe Rich was right..what if Jesus really did mean that? Then what? What would my excuse be? "Well i just thought that I needed to have a lot of money and a nice house, drive a nice car..." when the rest of the world is living in poverty so that few of us can live as we please? It makes you wonder, how is this living in the Kingdom of Heaven NOW? When so many run the streets barefoot, no where they can safely call home, no food to eat. You know, once you've seen poverty, its hard to turn your head and just forget the faces you've seen, the hearts that are hurting, the moms with no food to give their kids, the 10 year old boy who sells sticks of gum on the street in attempt to make enough money to get something to eat for that day. These are the things that capture your heart, they will forever remain imprinted on my soul. What if we did sell everything we have and give it to the poor? How different would this world look? Shane Claiborne also said," Jesus was crucified not for helping poor people but for joining them. That is the Jesus we follow." Thats the Jesus I want to follow. I dont know exactly what that means for my life yet..but I have a pretty good idea. This way of doing life is what is making more sense than anything else is these days.
- sam
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- sam
The day we went out to Good Shepard, it had just finished raining, and when we got out there, there was a rainbow inbetween the mountains! It was beautiful!
So the other night JT, Ashley, Teresa and I left here and went out to the rocks to watch the sun set.
I love the mountains around here!
It was a beautiful night to sit back and look at Gods amazing creation!
Today one of our Housekeepers, Dilcia, had a bible study with some guys from the church, and decided to be baptized! It was awesome. Shes such a sweet, sweet lady. I have pics from that, so Ill try to upload them later and post them!
- sam
Yesterday Ashley, Kelsey, Sara, JT, Jen, Teresa and I went out for the day. We went to the Mariott for lunch, and did some shopping. Then we headed to Nueva Oriental to give them the money from our group to sponsor 10 sweet kiddos for a year to go to school, and to feed them, the people weren’t there though, so I guess we’ll have to go back later in the week. Darn. ;) Then we went out to Good Shepard which has become one of my favorite places here. The way this home is run, is truly amazing. They have 230 some kids there, and they are so well behaved. It’s a beautiful place. I got to see my new friend Michelle again! When I first got there, I had the picture of me and her in my hand, and one of the kids said “Michelle?” and I said “Si!” So he took me to her Casita, and I waited outside for her..when she opened the door she had the biggest smile on her face and ran to give me a hug, she is soo sweet. I had also brought her a bracelet, which she loved. I loved being able to spend some more time with her, she’s awesome. As we were getting ready to leave, I hugged her and she said “I love you” {in English!} which brought tears to my eyes, again. After saying one of the toughest goodbyes, we headed for Tony Roma’s for dinner. Then we came home.
When we got here last night it was almost bed time, so I went in to help lay the girls down for the night, and when I walked into the room, Maryuri sat up and looked at me with the sad eyes, that she knows makes me melt, and reached for me to come get her{which again, she knows works every time } So of course I went and held her for a while, and laid down in her bed with her, and so she thought it would be a good time to have one of our tickling matches, and I really shouldn’t have let her do because it was bedtime and all, but it was so stinking cute, so I let her get away with it, just this once. ;) So we played for a few minutes, and it was precious stuff. I think she might have me wrapped around her little finger.
Today Jen took Kelsey and Sara to the airport, Ashley isnt feeling to good, so JT and I took the kids to church along with Teresa and Matt and Nicole..that was an experience...Someone kept giving Maryuri suckers as she roamed the church throughout the service...i think she had a total of 7! But the kids for the most part behaved well for us. Which was good. Tonight is our usual Sunday night dinner with Nathan. Im excited. Hes a really cool kid. He is working for us as a translator, and its been nice having him around. He has been through a lot, a lot of christians have repeatedly told him that everyone is going to Hell. They pick out certain verses in the bible to back them up, and leave out the rest. The other day he asked Jen why we hadnt told him that, and she had to explain to him that he couldnt just read certain verses of the bible, that he had to read all of it. So we are all reading John and Romans with him right now. Its good stuff. Ill let you all know how tonight goes with him.
- sam
Me and Ash
Me, Ash, and Kelsey
Me, Ash, Kelsey, and Jen
So last night all of us, and by all of us I mean me, Ash, Kelsey, Jen, JT, Sara, Nathan, Teresa, and Gina, went to La Creperia for dinner and a fun night out. So heres a few pics from that. Tonight we are all going out again for dinner and then to Santa Lucia for a devo with the group that is here. Ill post more pics from that later, and a few more of the kids and such.
He finally smiled for me!
Katty on the swing.
Me and Francisco!
2 girls that live under the bridge in Teguc.
Me and Derek
A baby at Nueva Oriental
The Honduras Planners!!
Monica Dancing
Me and Erica and a girl at a build site.
a little girl on our build site.
This is the plastic house that we rebuilt...
....and the inside of it.
Still more to come!
Heres a few more pics. :)
Me and Francisco today at the birthday party.
Me and Maryuri after bathtime and an intense tickling match. haha
The sweetest smile you'll ever see.
Me and Francisco playing on the couch.
Me and Fernando.
me and Summer yesterday morning.
One of the babies at Nuevo Oriental. She was soo stinkin cute.
Me and the Grande momma/Tia/big sista. haha
Hannah, Anna, and I at Santa Lucia
Me and Yovani here at Casa.
Ok, I still have a few more pics I want to put up, but im exhausted. So maybe Ill post them tomorrow.
As many of you may have heard one of our guards, Santos, passed away last night in the hospital. He had been sick for a few weeks, and they dont know exactly what happened to him, and probably never will. He left behind kids and his wife, so if you could please pray for them, I know they would greatly appreciate it! Also pray for everyone here at Casa, today was hard around here. Jen and Ashley left around 4AM to go to the hospital to be with the family. So it wasnt an easy day, very exhausting all around. Tomorrow is the funeral, so it wont be much easier tomorrow. Your prayers are greatly appreciated!
- Sam
Here are the pics that I promised. There will be lots more, so stay tuned!
Me, Donna, Anna, and Summer at the Jesus Statue the morning that they left. :(
Mario being crazy yesterday when we were playing outside.
This is Daniella she is such a sweet girl..but has been in some tough places. This girl has been through more than many of us can even begin to fathom. But she sure can be a sweetheart.
The next pic is a 4 year old girl in Hospital Escuela who was in the malnourishment ward. She probably weighed 10-15 lbs. maybe. She was so tiny, and fragile..it must have hurt her to even move..she just layed there. The second pic is a baby named Christian at Nuevo Oriental which is a feeding center and a day care. They feed 300 kids every day in a tiny tiny building. They run a day care center because in this community it is very unsafe for parents to leave their kids in their house by themselves all day, which many parents do so they can go to work to earn enough money to maybe buy something for dinner. Most of these kids eat lunch here, and that is the only meal they get every day. On Tuesday of our trip we got to help serve lunch to these precious kiddos.
This is a little boy at Nuevo Oriental..We had been playing all day and so I was pouring some of my water into his mouth.
Tonight Jen, Jt, Ashley, Sara and I went to dinner at a place that closely resembles a bar to meet with an 18 year old boy to have dinner and a bible study. This has become a weekly tradition here on Sunday evenings at 7:00. So when we got there we sat down and ordered our food, and let me just go ahead and say that the room was filled with smoke, and a few drunk men. Anyways, Nathan showed up, and I realized that I had worked with Nathan on our build site on Friday, so anyways, we were all talking and have a great time, laughing our heads off. A little bit later I had been talking to Ashley, and I turned around to see that Jen had her bible out and had just started reading a story to Nathan, and I sat back and listened for a little bit, and then Nathan started to ask some really deep questions, REALLY deep. He talked about how it didnt make sense to him that God could just keep forgiving us when we sin all the time. And as I sat there listening to him, tears filled my eyes. We talked about how we can continually grow, and even though we sin God still loves us, and how he is molding each of us into who he wants us to be, and we just have to be willing to let God work through us. This humbled me in soo many ways, he was a great reminder to me of so many things tonight. He is such a sweet, sweet boy, and he is so obviously seeking Gods face in his life. So there will be more on this story next Sunday night. But in the mean time, please pray for him, he could truly use some prayer.
My new favorite time of the day here at Casa is bedtime! Tonight when we got in the kiddos were just about to head to bed, so Kelsey, Jen, Ashley, and I went in to lay down with the girls. I layed down with little Marjuri, and she just layed on my shoulder as the 4 of us sang a few church songs, and before we knew it they were all sleeping. These kids are so precious, and tender at this time of day. It was lots of fun.
I should be able to get some pics up in the morning before my shift starts!
- sam
Well I am finally at Casa and loving every single minute of it. The kiddos are awesome and sooo much fun. This morning the group left around 11:30, and it was a lot harder to see them go than I had imagined it to be. Lots of tears, Im pretty sure every single one of them would have stayed if they could have. Im already missing everyone. We had such an awesome week. But it is a blessing for me to be here, it really is.
The week was amazing to say the least..God blessed it in soo many ways. The group worked very hard and represented Jesus well. I was very proud of our group. We had prayed for opportunities to arise while we were here for us to be a blessing, and God gave us many opportunities! One quick example..we were supposed to go build a house on Tuesday..but welcome to Honduras, the wood didnt show. So some of us went to Nuevo Oriental{a feeding center} and a man came and asked us to build a house for his friend, not for him, but his friend. He was such a humble man, and a sweet sweet guy. So he showed us a plastic 7 x 7 house on the side of the mountain where 7 kids were living with their parents, with one mattress and the youngest child in the hospital with pnemonia because when it rains their mattress became submerged in the water, there for this one year old baby was very sick. So the next day we got the wood and part of our team built a mansion for this family...ok it wasnt a mansion..but compared to what they had it was pretty close. We also bought them 2 sets of bunk beds and a hammock to put inside. The family was thrilled, and it was an awesome day. Its really cool to know that one more family has a roof over their head, beds to sleep in that wont get wet, and a place that they can really call home.
Ok I have TONS more stories to share...but I think some of us are going to go out to dinner here in a bit. Hopefully Ill get some pics up tonight or tomorrow!
- Sam
We are about 18 hours away from leaving for Columbus to head to Honduras! We've been waiting for this since October and I cant believe the time has come! Im getting really excited! God has already amazed us in soo many ways, and I cant wait to watch what he's going to do with our group in the next couple of days! Our group has been blessed in many ways..we have soo many opportunities on this trip! I would ask that you all pray for us as we travel in the morning, and that we have an amazing trip, and that we will be completely used up for the Glory of God!
Ill post more, and pictures from the trip when i get to Casa De Esperanza!
- Sam