Pacto Con Dios (Pact with God) through the return trip ~by Andrea

Our last weekend in Honduras proved to us that we were able to experience yet another form of culture shock after being in the country for almost five months. We were able to go to a spiritual retreat that is hosted by the local BIC church for people of the church.

It was a very intense weekend. The first reason being because it was full of sessions where we were listening to Spanish and trying to process everything that they were saying. Even after five months its still hard to understand a speaker speaking to a group. Another reason being because of the packed full schedule. We were not allowed to have watches, so I have no idea how much, or little, sleep we got. It was also very intense because of the spiritual aspect, and the many ways that God spoke into our lives and hearts at many different levels.

Also, on behalf of the team, thank you so much to those of you who sent us encouraging little notes, they were a huge blessing to each of us. And thank you Rachel for orchestrating that. It was a great weekend, and God definitely moved in many ways, seen and unseen.

Our last days in Honduras-- On Thursday we had a day full of mixed emotions as we were able to spend the day with our host families, and then in the evening we had a party to say good bye to our friends. It was encouraging to see around fifty people show up. As the evening came to a close we were able to share with our friends the impact they made on us, and also them to us, and then they prayed over us and we were able to pray for them. It is amazing how God works in ways we don't expect. Then after the party we stayed over at Rachel's and headed to the airport in the morning. It was so great to be sitting at the airport and see some of our friends and some of the host families walk in to hang out with us and wait till we need to go through security.

We left Teguz around 12:30pm, and then arrived in Baltimore around midnight. We were picked up by Mike Holland and arrived in Harrisburg around 3am Saturday morning. Now we find ourselves at HDC for the next two weeks, and after that...only God knows.

Some photos of us and our friends at our going away party.

Let Me Introduce You to... (by Karen W)

My Good Friend Tony Javier

Tony is 20 years old and has incredibly strong will. Three years ago on June 19th, Tony dove into a river a very talented could-be professional soccer player (literally) and was brought out parapelegic. I have been learning Tony's story little by little while doing my best to teach him seventh grade subjects. Tony is so open and willing to share about his life it surprises me. Every Mon/Wed/Fri I have been tutoring Spanish, Science, Social Studies, and a Holy Spirit devotional. It's a bit funny that I'm so-called "teaching" him his own language, among other complicated subjects, while I'm barely speaking Spanish myself. God has been very gracious in my ability to communicate and be understood and Tony is, thankfully, very patient with me.

The beginning days were challenging and awkward as we just started to get to know each other and were figuring out the best way to teach/learn without us both being completely bored. At times I really didn't understand what the homeschool books we were using were trying to say. Their quality isn't quite up to par. Some days we mostly just chatted about whatever came to mind; music, movies, everything under the sun. I asked him a lot of questions and I was thankful he felt comfortable doing the same. Tony showed me his drawings, he is a really great drawer--he just has to use the pencil a different way.

Tony is also a Christian, praise the Lord. He knows and understands a lot about the Bible. His favorite book is Revelations and he believes the church needs to talk more about the coming future. But Tony doesn't get a chance to enjoy fellowship with other believers. He told me he believes he is the only Christian in his family. He and I have talked a lot about spiritual things, conversations I'm very grateful for and I know have been a blessing to him as well.

Though our (Josh teaches on Tues/Thurs) "purpose" was to teach, we have realized that more importantly we were meant to be there to give him some companionship. Tony has had a very hard life, and his paralysis is only just one part of that hard life. I know that the Lord will use each hardship for His glory and purpose because God works out everything for the good of those who love Him. I believe with all my heart that the Lord has really powerful plans for him. I can see it so clearly. Join me in praying for his healing and that the Lord would use Tony as a prophet of His word.

"Delight yourself in the Lord

and He will give you the desires of your heart."

Psalm 37:4

(Tony's favorite verse)

If you are interested, Micah house posted a great blog about Tony. Please click here and scroll down to the April 4th post titled, "Tony's Triumph". This is picture of Tony and Karen during a class in his dining room.

AFE- Amor, Fe Esperanza- Love, Faith, Hope (by Andrea)

This past week I spent my time helping out at AFE. AFE is a tuition-free Christ-centered school for children who live in or near the city dump. The school has been open for about the past five years, and has been giving children who wouldn't otherwise have the oppurtunity to go to school the oppurtunity to recieve and education. I think that it is a wonderful ministry that gives kids an education in academics, as well as a wonderful way to learn about God, the source of all love, hope, and faith.
Upon arriving at the school on Monday morning I found out that they didn't have a kindergarten teacher anymore, so I spent the mornings teaching 2-6 children things like the alphabet and how to write their numbers. It was a challenge to try to keep the children's attention, and try to find creative ways to teach them in a way that they will want to learn.
After Monday afternoon there wasn't much for me to do after classes, so I traveled back into the city with some of the other teachers to visit some of the other ministries where some of the other team members was helping out at for the week. I was able to visit CEDER, and spend some time at the Micah House (see previous blogs for information on these locations).
Thursday evening we had the oppurtunity to take Toni (he is paralyzed from his waist down and only has limited use of his arms) to visit the Micah House, where a bunch of his friends live. Because of being paralyzed he has minimal oppurtunity to get out of his neighborhood, so it was a special treat to be able to visit his friends in the city. Josh works with Toni teaching classes and commented that, "It was such a blessing to see him in a state of complete joy and fulfillment. Karen said the next day in her class with him, they didn’t do too much in the way of bookwork because he just kept talking about that precious night. This is a situation in which the goal was to bless him, and we were blessed as well, in a way I can’t express."
It was a wonderful oppurtunity to allow God to use us and bless us at the same time.