To God be the Glory, forever and ever, Amen!

By the end of the day tomorrow, God would have allowed me to work on four house sites this week. I have been sick, throwing up, pooping my guts out and yet He has given me the strength and the courage to continue to help. The best part about building a house is, at the end of the day, when its all said and done and the person who you built the house for is standing there, with big tears in their eyes saying, "To God be the glory," or "My God I thank you for this house," or the best one of all, "God, you have answered my long awaiting prayer for me and my children, thank you."

God is faithful... if you look deep enough you will find Him everywhere. Its so cool!
God is faithful and the people of Honduras continue to show me how little faith I have, compared to their lives of faith. God, may the Glory always be for you, forever and ever, Amen!

I said to myself, "Self, get out of the freakin way!"

From the issues here in Honduras, to the economic unrest in the states, sometimes it all just gets overwhelming. However, isn’t it comforting knowing that our God is always there?!? This what we are always told, taught and what we all want to feel. Sometimes its hard though and I guess that is our human side coming out. The side that wants to be able fix the problem or issue right away and the side that can’t always come to the rescue. This is troubling for most of us, mostly me. I hate not having enough money to help everyone all day, everyday. I hate not being able to go and buy tires for our truck and worrying everyday if the tires will last. I hate not being able to go out and build houses everyday of the week. I hate not knowing where the next amount of money is going to come from or how much it will be.

But God is faithful, this much I know. Whenever you need someone to talk to, He is always there. When you need some guidance and direction in your life, He is always there. God is always there. I know that I shouldn’t stress and worry about money , I know that Our God has and will always continue to take care of what He has called me to do. God is always faithful, there is always enough money (just enough, which means it is coming from Him, he knows every need and every cost), there is always enough ways to serve the poor and needy. His grace and His actions are all sufficient. I just need to learn to be still and know that He is God and that I am not

Saul, playing with my camera

Maria's, sisters pre-mature baby

Antonio :)

The last two days :)

God is always, always in control! He allowed us the last two days, to rest, clean, organize and most importantly pray. God opened the doors for a small group of people to fast for a twenty-four hour period, praying diligently for this country that we have come to love and adore. 

During this time at home, during the crew-few hours, we have sat and talked about religion, God, Jesus, family, friends, governments, Obama and Hillary. :) It has been a growing experience for us as a family and I thank my God for that. However, I am also heavy hearted b/c people are still fighting, people are still hurting and people are still starving.

If you sit back and think for a minute, you start to wonder who  is really getting the "worst deal" out of all of this. Its the little naked man that you see walking the streets everyday, huffing glue to kill the hunger pains and just escape life. It's the little boy, born at 5 month 3 weeks, because his mother was dying of "Swine Flu." The people most effected by all of this is the exact people that God has called me here to serve! "The dying, the cripple, the mental, the unwanted, the unloved-- they are Jesus in disguise." - Mother Teresa 

God is faithful! Here are some pictures that I took, over the last few days :)

Police lined up in front of burger king, right in front of the grocery store Mas por Manos (the grocery store I normally shop at ) Mel, (the former president),is literally a block away in the Brazilian embassy.

Reminds me of people preparing for hurricanes in Florida!!! People waiting for gas!

There is graffiti everywhere!

 more police outside the grocery store

Well... I just don't know where to start...

Lets start from a new beginning! After some much heart tugged, tear jerking months in the states i returned home last thursday! God is so good and has allowed me to come back and serve the people I love so much.

After coming in and seeing "my boys" (and shedding some tears) we talked about what happened while I was gone, only briefly. It was late at night and I needed some sleep. I knew the days ahead where going to be some trying times. The house is still standing after leaving the boys here, alone for a good portion of the time so that was a good start. After some time in the house I noticed little things here and there broken, nothing major or anything to worry about. After I started looking closer I noticed that someone (Eduardo) decided to paint the rocks in the back yard blue. BRIGHT BLUE!!! I noticed that the front door, window, has a nice hole in it and is cracked in several places. Carlos showed me that "bugs" have eaten some of the wires in Jen's desktop computer. (However those bugs sure clean up after-themselves and sure do make nice clean cuts in wires).  God is faithful, however and after much prayer and crying at night, I found the silver lining today after talking with a good friend.

Karen Vaughn, Asst. Director at Casa de Esperanza and her husband Dorian, preacher a Santa Ana Church of Christ, me today to talk about things while I had been gone. Karen informed that about two weeks ago she was sitting in church and in walked these eight or nine thug looking boys to church one sunday morning. These boys live in the Cucui Homes where Carlos, Eduardo and Saul used to live. These boys that came into the church are rough, hard heads. They love to party, drink, into drugs, stealing, beating up people, just a rough bunch. Karen told me that for the past two weeks they have been coming on Sunday mornings, and Dorian, her husband, has been studying with them during the week. 

On my way home, I was telling Carlos about it. He told me, yea I know poppi, I told them a long time ago, that if they wanted to change their lives, they needed to love God. Carlos then told me that a few weeks ago that someone that the group knew as a whole was killed in Tegucigalpa. When they called Carlos to tell him he said that he was upset but decided to take an opportunity for our Saviour and talk about Him! The following Sunday, the boys where at church he said, with tears in his eyes. Today as we went to visit his friends there in the Cucui homes, i was worried. God showed me that I need let Him handle it and not I. Let me just tell you, it made this poppi proud today and with tears in my eyes I thank you all for allowing me the opportunity to help the people of Honduras, especially these three young boys. Times are trying right now, believe me, however God is ALWAYS Faithful! 

School projects...

Carlos and Eduardo both attend a technical school run by USaid and a Catholic organization here in Honduras. The boys school had a contest last week among the classes to build an altar to the virgin Mary. Now I know that some might have an issue with this but we sat our boys down and discussed Catholicism and Christianity. It was just a fun project for them to work on together and see the results once you work as a team. Every evening for about two weeks Carlos stayed after school to work on this with his friends... It was pretty awesome! 

The Altar 

Carlos and his teacher

There where several angles on the floor. They were made out of saw dust!!!

I know... I know...

Ok, I realize that it has been a long, LONG time since I have bloged. Life just gets so busy it is crazy!!! From getting up in the early EARLY morning to going to bed at 11 or midnight, life is just crazy. But its a good crazy!!! I love what God is allowing me to do here. From being a poppi to three great boys, serving people in the communities, visiting the sick in the hospital, preparing for several great groups of people and forming relationships with people in the dump, life is great.

I am starting to realize that serving people is great, however, forming relationships with people is what I believe its all about. While the Belpre group was here I met a  boy at the dump. He stuck out like a sore thumb. He had on nice clothes and a bright clean white t-shirt. I noticed him when we first arrived and then noticed him again throughout the time while we were there. After about 30 minutes of feeding people, I went over to talk to him (in my broken spanish). We got to talking and I figured out that he was there to look for old and broken electronic parts for his grandmother, who he lived with. I took his phone number because he said that he was interested in helping us serve his fellow Honduran people. For some reason today, I saw this young man in the middle of the city. I tried to get his attention but I guess that he didn't hear me. I pray tonight that God allows me to meet up with him again soon. God just keeps putting people into my life and the more time we spend together, just talking about life and telling stories and listening and caring, I feel as if we are getting closer and closer to God. I believe this is what ministry is for me (as of now). Helping grow and form relationships so that people can see Christ through me. Me being here in Honduras isn't about me, its about the glory God receives. Of course sometimes I struggle with this, however, I am reminded of it every day. That this is all for God.  My prayer tonight is that God is glorified in everything we do here, not matter what the cost may be.

"Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth."
1 John 3:18  (NIV)