I have also been spending some quality time with all of the boys on the property, particularly Rony. In case anyone has forgotten, Rony is 19 and is the oldest out of all of the boys. This past week he shared his testimony with me, and it was such a beautiful story of redemption. He has just recently (about 3 months ago) fully accepted the Lord as his savior, but he has come such a long way in his life. In the past, Rony was in 18, which is one of the largest and most dangerous gangs in Honduras. He used to use multiple drugs and alcohol daily and was in such a place of frustration and anger in his life. Through Tony's street ministry a few years ago, Rony was introduced to the Lord and now is dreaming of becoming a pastor. In order to preserve his story and his privacy, I will leave it at that, but he is truly a miracle of God. It is even more miraculous that he told me everything in Spanish and I followed along the entire time. God is great! After he shared his story with me, Rony prayed for me for about 5 minutes and then I for him. It was such a powerful night for both of us and our relationships with each other as well as with the Lord.
I have also been spending a lot of time with Ariel and Anderson as well. Anderson (7 years old) and I had some solid bonding time the other day when he got a splinter in his foot and no one else could understand him to get it out. I was the only one around who speaks Spanish, and he was so frantic and in pain that everyone else was clueless. The only thing we had around to remove it were finger nail clippers, so it was a rough 10 minutes for him while I poked and prodded in his foot. It eventually came out and he gave me a HUGE smile and whispered 'se fue' which means 'it's gone'. Anderson is usually a small terror because he has so much energy and he always wants to joke around and fight people, but since that day he gives me significantly more hugs and significantly less bites & punches. Ariel is the shyest boy on the property, but I have really been trying to get to know him more as well. Last night we had some bonding time because he had to sit on my lap on the bed of a truck for about 20 minutes. And with that... more street ministry from last night!
Last night we all rode down to La Kennedy in order to do street ministry at one of the intersections. We fit 22 people in the bed of a truck and about 8 people in the cab (hence Ariel sitting on my lap)...Woo! Earlier in the day we had cut out little messages and taped them to candy, so we handed those out to people in their cars while part of the group sang songs and held up signs. It was so awesome to see the Lord working through everyone as we all were crazy and shameless on the street trying to make people smile. We even ended up going into restaurants and singing the song we had prepared...and we didn't even get kicked out of anywhere! It started raining about 20 minutes into our ministry, but everyone stayed out all night and we all had high spirits the whole time. There were even four boys to which we have been ministering in La Kennedy that found us and started to tag along. Three of them were on thinner most of the time, but one of them, Bryan, chose to go inside with us each time and actually did not do thinner for the whole night. I think he MAY have even sang a little. :)
I am so excited for this next week of work on the property and continuing to build relationships. God has shown me so clearly the power of prayer here in Honduras, and I know he will continue to grow me throughout this trip. I am continuing to wake up at about 6 each morning to sit on the prayer wall and just be at peace with Him for a while. Pictures! (In order) Rony, Olivia and I; Ariel, Amalia and I; the prayer wall
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