poco a poco

Thank you sis the boys love their new footwear!

A Little Ketchup

I feel like I have been going non-stop since I got back to the island but I have been enjoying all of it. For the first time I felt like I was coming home when I got here. I have been able to spend some great time with the other teachers, my students, and other local kids in the community. It has been great to reconnect with everybody. The boys from French Harbour came over to our new apartments a few weeks ago where we fished, hung out and ate a couple of meals, one of which was their fresh catch of snapper. It was awesome to spend the afternoon catching up with the kids I built relationships with last year. These kids are the same ones I was tutoring in English last year and who God has really laid on my heart to pour into. There are about 15 of them total that I am blessed to know and love. They live in a really negative environment full of poverty, drugs and violence but they are incredible kids full of joy and just ridiculously fun. I will be writing soon about more plans God has laid on my heart to impact this community, he is leading a group of us into something much larger than ourselves and he is in complete control.
The new community of teacher is incredible, everything has been “seamless” up until this point. We get along great and have already been able to pursue the Lord together through some struggles. I showed up a few weeks late and I feel like I have been welcomed back into a group that is truly living in unity, grace and love for each other the way that Christ called us to. The second night I was back on the island, we decided to go down for a swim in the lagoon next to our apt.’s. It was so good! The moon was bright, the stars were out, the water felt great, there was plankton lighting up green around us every time we moved, the conversation was real and we worshiped the Lord. I love being in a place that you know is right. Thank you Lord for that moment. We also had a couple days off of school last week and had the opportunity to travel to the mainland and visit the Mayan Ruins in Copan. That again was an awesome time, I could say a lot more about that but you can just look at a few of the pictures below.


School has been great, the boys soccer team is up and running with the first game this Thursday, the girls Volleyball team start with their first game on Tuesday, and the girls soccer team starts practice this week. Things are coming together really well, we got over 20 soccer balls donated this year and uniforms for half price so we are finally looking like a team. Thank you for the support. My classes have been good as well. I am only teaching PE this year so I am trying to invest more of my free time into building relationships with the kids at school and preparing so that I can free up time outside of school. We are having our first youth group meeting in two weeks where things have worked out for us to have a former NFL player come and speak to our kids about the Lord. I’m pretty stoked about that! Keep us in your prayers, my plan is to also start a guys bible study after school once a week so pray for the Lord to open their hearts.

Ali.

So a ton has happened in the past 2 weeks. I returned to the Island on the 29th of August and hit the ground running. We started classes the next day and soccer practices start this week. We already have three boys soccer games scheduled, a boys volleyball game and a girls volleyball game. Hopefully we will be able to keep this pace. Classes have been going very well and I am crazy excited about everything at the school for this year. We have a lower enrolment because of financial struggles with many of our families but the students that are here are responding well to the new teachers and me. It has been laid on the hearts of my mom, another teacher (Jessica) and myself to support one girl in returning to the school. Before I came back my mom said that she wanted to support a student at our school by paying half of their yearly tuition ($1,000). I was very excited about this but didn’t know which student she should support. After a few days of being back, God laid a 4th grade girl on my heart who I hadn’t seen at school. I called and asked my principle about her and why she hadn’t returned. Her name is Alison, she is in the 4th grade and incredibly smart. Her parents worked very hard to keep her at our school but were not able to pay the tuition halfway through last year so she was 5 months behind and did not return to school this year. As far as we have heard she is not going to school right now and helping her mom who sells vegetables at a small shop. There is a lot of potential in Alison and even if she does begin going to the public school, she will not be challenged and most likely fall through the cracks. The next day I went to school and one of the other teachers pulled me aside to tell me she had friends from Charleston who wanted to support a student at our school and she wanted to know if I had anyone in mind. Its so exciting to see the ways God lines up his will and provision for us, all we have to do is step out and follow him. We set up a meeting with Alison and her dad to tell them the good news. As we sat in the principles office yesterday and told Alison’s dad that our friends in the states wanted to support a student at our school and we decided that student should be Alison, he began to cry. He told us he has been praying for this with his wife and his church as well as how hard he has worked to keep Alison in our school because it has always been his dream to have her in the best school possible. I love to see the Lord glorified in our obedience. Thank you to everyone who is praying for and supporting us here. There are other students like her who need assistance to continue their education in a place that will challenge them and provide opportunities for higher education. Our school costs about $200 dollars a month, if you would like to be a part of supporting Alison or other students to attend this school or one of the other bilingual schools on the island, let me know or send a check to my address. Include a note that says what it is for. I may post things like this often with different opportunities to support the people of Roatan. I am not just trying to drain people dry but if the Lord lays it on your heart to give than we are told to give. These are just specific situations that I am presented with so I want to present y’all with the same opportunity. Much love!


Harrison Johnson
4321 Poplar Creek Ln.
High Point, NC 27265

Gracias a Dios

This is an exerpt from my journal on the night I flew back to the states in June, I pray that God will touch your heart the way that he has touched mine:

6/16/10
Lele, 16yr. old boy who is deaf and mute
Richie- 12yr. old boy, special need (maybe autistic)
Travis and Pablo- 13yr old and cannot read

"I feel like I am being drawn to not only the disadvantaged but the disabled. Lele (deaf and mute) wants to learn to read, Richie wants to write his name, Travis wants to read and no one else is going to do it. God equip me, equip us! Again I say I will go wherever you send me and do what you want me to do. You may have to hit me over the head with it but I will go. Thank you for going before me. Jesus came for those who were sick, he came to bring peace and the sword, He came so that we may have life to the full. He came to give prostitutes, thieves and fishermen a chance. Jesus helped people out of the dirt. God help me to follow his example. I don't know why I was born into a middle class white family and Richie was into the drug infested slums of Roatan. I don't know why Judas was the one to betray Jesus. I don't know if God chooses who receives salvation and who doesn't. I can't answer these questions, but I know that Jesus never turned anyone away. He loved and offered himself to Anyone who came accross his path. Lord I cannot stop the tears right now. My heart is broken for those boys in Roatan. I have no idea what your plan is or where you are going to take us. They need role models, they need education, they need food, they need safety and they need love. You brought them into my life and I am depending on you to walk us through this. Every step, Poco a Poco. God, you love Richie, Pablo, Memphi, Bebe, Travis, Tommy, Jarvick, Ken, Gus, the donut girls, Lele, they are your children. Bare with me in my frustration and anger God. I hate their situations, I hate the darkness and sin around them. Bring Freedom! God please."



God is doing some amazing things on the island and I am honored to be a part of it. I am nothing special and in all honesty I feel like I fell way short of what God called me to this past year but I walk in His grace just like you. I cannot wait to see the ways God moves this year. Please join me in prayer, you are at the front lines of the battle when you come before God. "The prayers of the righteous are heard," thank you. If you would like to support in the purchase of more sports equipment, school uniforms, food and other miscellaneous costs that come with serving on the island you can send a check to the below address. I am blessed to be supported by the school so any money that comes my way goes directly to projects on the island. Thank you and Much love

- Harrison
rhjohnson44@gmail.com

Harrison Johnson
4321 Poplar Creek ln.
High Point, NC 27265

Community

The summer is coming to an end and I am preparing to head back to the island (home). Many things have taken place this summer including a lot of amazing experiences with the Lord. He has revealed himself to me in ways that I never would have imagined and I have seen him moving in the lives of people all around me. It has been an honor and a blessing to be around this. If you would like any details or just some testimony of how great God is, shoot me an email. I am enjoying my last two weeks here in the states and really trying to soak up some quality time with friends and family before I go back to the island for God only knows how long. This year is going to be completely different than last year and I cannot wait to see the ways God is going to move. When I decided to stay another year, God gave me comfort in knowing that he was going to build great community and fellowship on the island. God has led some amazing people down to work in the school and at other places on the island, I am so excited about this community that is already chasing Gods heart. Orientation has already started with the new teachers in Roatan and I got this email from out principle tonight,
"Hey Harrison!!!
Boy you have missed some amazing devotional time with the new staff!!!!!!!!!!!!! IT HAS BEEN POWERFUL!!! It´s like you can breathe God in when we get together to sing and pray. Can´t wait to have you here with us."

Glory in the Rockies!

Most of you know that I love the woods and for the past few years I have spent my summers working for a Christian wilderness camp. This summer I was given an incredible opportunity to work for an organization called Solid Rock Outdoor Ministries. I was invited to come out and guide a trip with my old boss from the other camp I have worked at. Even though it was a volunteer job, I couldn't turn down the opportunity to work for an organization that is in the same class as NOLS and Outward Bound. So I just returned yesterday from WY/CO, here is a little rundown of the trip.
I arrived in CO on the 21st where I spent some quality time with a friend from college then drove up to Laramie, WY. Luke and I prepared for our trip for the next two days and I got acquainted with how things are run at SROM. Preparations include, planning the backpacking rout, safety assessment, packing food, preparing spiritual application for the week and thinking through all other logistics. Our group arrived on the 23rd from Oklahoma and we hit the trail in the Wind River Range of WY the next day. I was blown away by the maturity of these seniors in high school and the ways that God was already moving in their lives. We got to spend 6 days in the Rockies taking in God's creation. There was a lot of hiking, literally a trillion mosquitos, great conversations and interesting meals. One day on the trail we did a solo with the students. This means we spread them all out across the mountain side and they have to spend the entire day alone with nothing but their bible, notebook and water. It is meant to give them an opportunity to remove distractions and seek God. As we called them all back we had set up three stations for them to rotate through. First, one of the youth pastors prayed over them then the other youth pastor washed their feet and last Luke and I served them communion. It was an awesome opportunity for us to serve and honor those students. Many of the students left encouraged after this week and amazed by what they realized they could do. Some of these students had never even been camping and now they were cooking their own meals setting up tents and hiking 12 hours straight. It is awesome to watch someone push themselves to a point they didn't know they could. And even better is to see someone doing that in a community that supports each other the way that Christ intended.
After the trip I went back to Ft. Collins for a couple of days and again was able to spend some great time in Christian community. The people of Colorado are just a different breed, everybody's trying to change the world, I love it!

First We Fish