There are times in life when God allows us to experience Him in ways that will forever change our lives and our mission trip to Honduras was one of those times!  My Newsletter, which normally consists of two articles, “My Ministry” and “Me & My Donnie," will be combined this month because this trip impacted both my ministry and me & my Donnie.

     On August 9, 2008, a team of 40 people from our church, Genesis Metro, left for the country of Honduras to minister to children and begin the building process of Promise Home, an orphanage for abused children.  The visionary, Bill Hayden (pictured below with Donnie) purchased 150 acres to not only house these children, but to teach them about the love of Jesus and educate them in many areas.  One thing Bill has done is create a tree farm and nursery where African Palm trees are being grown to sell the palm oil for bio-diesel which will help the orphanage be self sufficient.

     Our mission was two fold, therefore there were two teams:  A Vacation Bible School Team and a Construction Team.  The VBS Team was to minister to 5 different schools in 4 days and the Construction Team was to build a perimeter fence around the property and various other necessary projects to get this orphanage underway!

     The VBS Team taught Bible school from 8:00am to noon and from noon to 3:00pm they held a soccer camp which the children LOVED! Just shy of 1000 children and their teachers accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior and one 70 year old lady walking by the school overheard the Gospel being presented to the children, walked in and said "Christo, I want Christo" and kept pointing to her heart!!!  Our team led this precious woman to the Lord, “So the last shall be first...” (Matt 20:16).  I get tears of joy just sharing this with you.

       The Construction Team was AMAZING as well, and yes, I am partial to this team as I was the only girl until Indy joined us on the last day and we ROCKED! God worked miraculously within this team by multiplying the labor of our hands in ways Donnie and I have never seen done on a construction site before.  We all worked together like we were a team that had worked together for years!  Few had construction skills, most had little or none and you would have NEVER known it!  In the extreme heat and humidity, through lightening and torrential downpours, this team never gave up!  I don't think I have ever been more proud of My Donnie in my whole married life. He ran this team like a champion for Christ and they loved and respected him and every evening during worship and share time they honored him.

      I have never seen the evidence of God's miraculous Hand moving like it did in Honduras!  On the 5^th night into our trip, after hearing of yet another miracle, our Pastor threw up his arms and said, "UNCLE!!!"  Those of us with him, just laughed and cried because we could so relate!  It was as if we were saying, “God, I don't think we can handle anymore, but PLEASE, BRING IT ON!!!" It was so exciting to pray about something and then literally stand by and watch it come to pass!  Whether it was for a father’s salvation or for God to stop a bus with no brakes in a mudslide, it happened right before eyes!

     It got me thinking...Why is it that it seems God moves more in a third world country than back here at home?  I believe it is because while in Honduras we were completely dependant on God to bridge the language barrier, to protect us, to equip and empower us to make a difference for Him in lives of the Honduran people.  Our dependence on Him in a foreign land changed the desires of our hearts to be more in line with His Will and it increased our faith to pray with confidence and then to wait in expectation!  Psalm 37:4 tells us to, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” And John explains that “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His Will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15).  Since I have returned home, God faithfully reminds me that He is the same God here in the US as He is in Honduras...it is me who is different! Lord, help me to be as dependant on You here in the land of plenty as I was in Honduras! May the Lord increase our dependance on Him as we live out our daily lives in such a way that we see His fingerprints everywhere, and at the end of each day cry, "Uncle!"