Property ministry, La Kennedy, teaching, etc!
We are continuing to work around the property doing random
little projects like planting trees, using machetes, and working on the
gardens.
Thursday was our last day of teaching at our local school
because next week will be filled with One Nation, One Day. Although our
schedule was pretty sporadic with teaching, I am so thankful that it was one of
our ministries. The kids were so grateful to us for giving them our time! On
Wednesday, my student Wilfredo asked me to translate a phrase for him. Of
course I was more than happy to do that, but I my heart was filled when the
phrase he gave me was, ‘Siempre te recordaré cuando tú te vayas.’ In English: I
will always remember you when you leave. Wow! I didn’t realize the impact that
I was making there because I had been sort of putting it on the back-burner. It
was really awesome to see that he was so thankful for me being there. The teacher even asked for my name so that
she could find me on Facebook. It is pretty awesome the connections that were
made just through forty minutes of teaching each day.
And, por fin, La Kennedy! We have been making huge progress
in La Kennedy in the past couple of weeks, even amidst all of the trips, but
not necessarily in the exact way that we had been planning. I had personally
been talking a lot with Jose and Caesar, but the past couple of weeks I have
been drawn to someone else as well. Most of the kids that live down there are
there because they have either been kicked out of their family or because they
don’t have a family and have found community there instead. One of the boys there, Oscar, lives there
because all of his family is there. He has two sisters, a brother, both of his
parents, and 5 nieces and nephews in the community. Unlike most of the other kids there, Oscar is
never on thinner and is always sober. He
is one of the most polite kids I have ever met, even though he is a little bit
shy. Because he is so different than any
of the other kids, God has really put Oscar on my heart. I have talked to him a lot about
participating in One Nation, One Day, and he is super excited about it! We have
also talked with Tony and are considering bringing him to the property within
the next couple of weeks for a few days. Oscar’s 16th birthday is on
Sunday, so we are bringing a huge meal with a big cake for him. I am so excited
to see how God will continue to work through Oscar and to bring him closer.
There have been some ups and downs with Caesar in the past couple of weeks as well. He came to the property before we went to Gracie’s and it went really well! I think he mostly just enjoyed being able to relax for the day and have a safe, clean place to sleep. Tony even brought up to him that it would be possible for Caesar to be discipled in august by a Guatemalan pastor that will be here for a few months. God has worked through Caesar so much in the past few weeks, which has been so great! He is really excited about working with Alejandro (the pastor) and starting a new chapter of his life. Unfortunately, Caesar also had a couple days where he just really wasn’t doing too well. I have realized that part of street ministry means being there for everyone during the bad days and not just the exciting, get-to-know-you weeks. Working in a community where drugs are so prevalent means that people are going to slide back down and regress every once in a while, too, even if it’s people that you think are progressing rapidly. Rather than getting down on him for not being his usual self, I sat with him for a while and we talked about how life. At the end of the day our whole La Kennedy mission group went in and prayed for him, even Carlos! It was so inspirational to hear everyone praying individually for Caesar, especially since it switched back and forth between English and Spanish every other person. Seeing Caesar’s face at the end of our prayer really hit home and convicted me. He was so thankful for us and kept blessing us before we left, and God put on my heart even more that this ministry is exactly where I need to be right now. After that day, Caesar was ‘back on track’ and started to focus more on the future and what he is doing with his life from here on out. I am so glad that we were there for him while he was unhappy for those few days; I know it strengthened our relationship as well as his relationship with the Lord.
There have been some ups and downs with Caesar in the past couple of weeks as well. He came to the property before we went to Gracie’s and it went really well! I think he mostly just enjoyed being able to relax for the day and have a safe, clean place to sleep. Tony even brought up to him that it would be possible for Caesar to be discipled in august by a Guatemalan pastor that will be here for a few months. God has worked through Caesar so much in the past few weeks, which has been so great! He is really excited about working with Alejandro (the pastor) and starting a new chapter of his life. Unfortunately, Caesar also had a couple days where he just really wasn’t doing too well. I have realized that part of street ministry means being there for everyone during the bad days and not just the exciting, get-to-know-you weeks. Working in a community where drugs are so prevalent means that people are going to slide back down and regress every once in a while, too, even if it’s people that you think are progressing rapidly. Rather than getting down on him for not being his usual self, I sat with him for a while and we talked about how life. At the end of the day our whole La Kennedy mission group went in and prayed for him, even Carlos! It was so inspirational to hear everyone praying individually for Caesar, especially since it switched back and forth between English and Spanish every other person. Seeing Caesar’s face at the end of our prayer really hit home and convicted me. He was so thankful for us and kept blessing us before we left, and God put on my heart even more that this ministry is exactly where I need to be right now. After that day, Caesar was ‘back on track’ and started to focus more on the future and what he is doing with his life from here on out. I am so glad that we were there for him while he was unhappy for those few days; I know it strengthened our relationship as well as his relationship with the Lord.
We have also been continuing to go to a parking lot in La
Kennedy on Saturdays in order to serve the community and talk with them for the
night. True to form, we usually take
either a pick-up truck or an 18-wheeler downtown so that everyone on the
property is able to go. I will
definitely miss feeling the wind in my face as we zip down the hill on our way
to do ministry for the night.
One of my big ‘God-moments’ in the past couple of weeks came
in a very unexpected way. Tony had sent
one of his cars in to get fixed a while ago, and it was finally ready to be
picked up one day that we were going to La Kennedy. Rather than having someone else come down on
a bus to pick it up, he asked one of us if we could drive it back. For whatever reason, I was the only one who
had brought any of my stuff that day, which meant I was the only person with a
license...so I was able to drive the car home! I was a little bit scared at
first considering that Tegucigalpa is super dangerous to drive through, but I
figured it couldn’t be that much worse than Chicago, so I gave it a shot.
Everything was going fine for a bit and we were all enjoying the American-ness of driving in a car with friends again. Randomly, before we had even made it to the bottom of the huge stretch of hill that leads to the property, the car started to stall. I pulled over to the side of the road as soon as I felt it stalling, and I was able to turn it off and start it again pretty easily. Unfortunately, that happened 2-3 more times during rush-hour traffic before we reached the hill. We started to make it up the hill eventually and I just finished saying that the car was doing well when it stopped again; however, this time it didn’t start back up. So, I am driving a car with 4 other girls and we have stopped on a busy hill at about 7:00 at night. Of course we were all a bit freaked out, so we all said a haphazard prayer that the car would start again. Within a minute of ending our prayer, a woman walked out from one of the side streets and asked if we needed help. Of course we did, so she walked away and came back with a man on a motorcycle. I got out and talked to him about what had happened and he opened the hood to check everything out. He honestly just fiddled a bit with the battery and then told me to try the car again. We all crossed our fingers…and it started! He closed the hood quickly and we took off up the hill. Not 3 or 4 minutes later, it started to stall again. I pulled off again and had just started to turn the car on again when he came up behind us; he had been following to make sure we made it home! Luckily, the car started that time and we made it home after a few more stalls. While it may sound so simple that we made it home, it was truly a miracle. None of the girls knew anything about cars and we had zero experience with driving through Tegucigalpa other than that day. This man on the motorcycle truly was our guardian angel for the night. God is so good!
Everything was going fine for a bit and we were all enjoying the American-ness of driving in a car with friends again. Randomly, before we had even made it to the bottom of the huge stretch of hill that leads to the property, the car started to stall. I pulled over to the side of the road as soon as I felt it stalling, and I was able to turn it off and start it again pretty easily. Unfortunately, that happened 2-3 more times during rush-hour traffic before we reached the hill. We started to make it up the hill eventually and I just finished saying that the car was doing well when it stopped again; however, this time it didn’t start back up. So, I am driving a car with 4 other girls and we have stopped on a busy hill at about 7:00 at night. Of course we were all a bit freaked out, so we all said a haphazard prayer that the car would start again. Within a minute of ending our prayer, a woman walked out from one of the side streets and asked if we needed help. Of course we did, so she walked away and came back with a man on a motorcycle. I got out and talked to him about what had happened and he opened the hood to check everything out. He honestly just fiddled a bit with the battery and then told me to try the car again. We all crossed our fingers…and it started! He closed the hood quickly and we took off up the hill. Not 3 or 4 minutes later, it started to stall again. I pulled off again and had just started to turn the car on again when he came up behind us; he had been following to make sure we made it home! Luckily, the car started that time and we made it home after a few more stalls. While it may sound so simple that we made it home, it was truly a miracle. None of the girls knew anything about cars and we had zero experience with driving through Tegucigalpa other than that day. This man on the motorcycle truly was our guardian angel for the night. God is so good!
This upcoming week is One Nation, One Day, so we will be
occupied with that for the majority of the time. We are continuing to go to La Kennedy so that
the ministry does not just drop off during our final days here as well.
I am not sure that we will be able to get internet again, so I won’t be able to post about One Nation until I have gone back home. Please pray for our last weeks here so that we can finish strong and make the most out of every second that we have left. Also, keep our hearts in mind as a lot of us leave a place that we now consider home. I know it will be a rough day when we leave on the 26th, so all of your prayers are greatly appreciated!
I am not sure that we will be able to get internet again, so I won’t be able to post about One Nation until I have gone back home. Please pray for our last weeks here so that we can finish strong and make the most out of every second that we have left. Also, keep our hearts in mind as a lot of us leave a place that we now consider home. I know it will be a rough day when we leave on the 26th, so all of your prayers are greatly appreciated!
Thank you so much for following me on this trip! I apologize that the
blogs have been a little inconsistent, but I will definitely be doing a wrap-up
post when I get back to the states. Have a wonderful weekend!
Sorry pictures have been so sloppy. It's really hard to do pictures with the internet here, so I figured it's better for them to be imperfect than non-existent. =]
Below: Worshiping on the property.
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