Living up to the name!

Yesterday was my first time taking some of our boys climbing. It was awesome to see these teenagers get so excited about climbing! They have never done anything like this so it was awesome to get them out of their boxes and get a little uncomfortable. These kids walk the streets everyday and pretty much fear nothing, but when they got about 15 feet off the ground, I thought they were going to pee in their pants. I chose three kids who have shown some leadership qualities in our mentoring program but who still need a lot of guidance. We were able to relate trusting in the rope to trusting in God and having to let go of our problems sometimes trusting God to take care of us. It was Gus' birthday, so we all went out for pizza after climbing with one of the other teachers and replenished our bodies with grease and soda. It was the perfect day!

FH

The above picture and following pictures are a glimpse into our work on the island!

Fe Y Amor, Hasked ran up to me the other day with the biggest grin on his face and started examining my wrist. The next thing I knew he was holding his arm up to mine and giggling like a school girl!

French Harbour boys, trying to look hard

This is Jarvick, he has been hanging out with me for over a year and is really close to my heart. He can be one of the toughest kids to work with because he is all over the place all the time but he has a great heart and has come along way from constantly begging and hitting everyone he sees.

This is Ricardo on the left and Drestin on the Right. They are both 14 years old and have just received their reward for completing their first month of tutoring/mentoring. The first full month a kid comes to our program they get a soccer ball and every month following they get $2.50 which they can choose to save and put in the "bank" or take it that day.

This is Denzel, enough said.

Most of these boys have been written off as a waste of time or a threat to people on the island of Roatan. They spend most days begging for food and looking for something to keep them occupied. Many of them are can't read, have nothing to eat, and sleep in unreal environments. One of the families I work closest with has 8 people living in a one bedroom home; no running water or refrigerator. The community these kids grow up in is saturated with drugs, sex and violence which is inescapable but these kids have not been ruined. They are still full of life and the Lord is changing them. He is calling them one by one to rise up and become the leaders their community needs. I pray that God will continue to guide us as we pour into their lives. Join me in prayer for these kids and the community of French Harbour in Roatan Honduras.

Honor roll!

If you have been following my blog, you will remember the 4th grade girl we supported to come back to school this year. Her name is Alison and she is one of the sweetest girls I know. Her parents have worked exemely hard to pay for her to go to my school. They own a vegetable stand that they run out of their house and her dad picks up odd jobs wherever he can. The first two weeks of school Ali was not here so i asked our principal where she had been. I was made aware that her parents were 6 months behind on payments from the year before and that Ali would not be returning to school. I was extremely bothered by this becaus i know the environment Ali lives in and i can forsee where she will end up without a positive environment to push her forward and mold her into the woman God wants her to be. My mom, dad and many friends pitched in money to support her education this year which has blessed that family in crazy ways. When we sat down with Ali and her dad 8 months ago to tell them that Ali could come back to school without worrying about payments for this year or the debt from last year he burst into tears. He told us how hard he has worked to get her into our school and about ceasless prayers for God to provide for them financially. Ali had the biggest smile on her face and it hasn't faded since. The third quarter just ended and Ali ran up to me at the end of the day yesterday with a giant grin. She looked like she was going to explode with excitement as she yelled out, "I got on honor roll, I got on honor roll.". English is not her first language so she often struggles to keep up in reading and writing so this was a huge accomplishment for her. I was so proud to see her recieve her award this morning and i am so thankful to God and everyone who provided for her this year. Thank you!

The Lord, He Is My Provider

I am a part of many projects here on the island that desperately need funding. We have started a mentoring program that meets twice a week at a local church. We provide, reading education, character education, love and a dependable meal to kids that have to beg for most of their food. I was shocked when I told a 6 year old kid that he deserved a reward for coming to mentoring and he asked for a box of corn flakes and milk. The program is run using an incentive system where the kids are rewarded for coming consistently each month. We are up to 30 boys and growing every day. Please support us to buy educational materials, rewards and food. Other projects are ever changing but include things such as painting houses, buying school uniforms for kids to go to school, providing other school supplies, supporting micro-enterprises by giving people loans to start business'. We have assisted one family in starting a linen business, she buys linens from the mainland at a low cost and can sell them here on the island for a profit. I would love to help one family start a business making pinyata's and also help some of the street kids start a bicycle repair business. Support Kendall and I as we strive to serve God and the people of Roatan. Everything that we have been able to do has been financially started and sustained by family, friends and our own investments. Thank you to everyone who supports us in the things God has called us to.

Donate Here

Praises:

Two weeks ago at then end of mentoring, we gathered together to pray. I explained that we have been buying all the food with our money and we are going broke so we need God to provide for us. I asked a 13 year old boy to pray for God to provide. Pablo said, "God, give us food." I added "please," and he responded with an "Amen." The following day I called a church member who had expressed interest in helping with the tutoring and she asked if she could provide food for every day of mentoring!!!!! It was awesome to go back to mentoring the following day and share that God has answered our prayers. I know what we are doing is important simply by Gods faithfulness in provision. He is so good!

New Life

I rarely know where a blog post is going until I start. Sometimes I have no words and I just sit here staring at a blank page, other times I just list the things that are happening around me, sometimes I pour out my heart and right now I am just explaining the process. I could tell you about all the things that have happened over the last two weeks, its been kinda crazy, but I'm not feeling that right now. I will try to give that type of update soon. So I want to share a little about me, the world and God. I had an awesome opportunity to stand embracing Juliana (we just built her a house) while a mission group gave her a life changing gift that will help her start her baking business. Juliana was crying, the group was crying, everyone was praising God and I was translating. Later that night, I was debriefing with the group and every person shared their life altering reactions to the earlier experience. When they got to me I was completely honest with the group and I told them "I was happy for everything but I didn't feel anything and I'm not ok with that." I left that night and prayed for the Lord to soften my heart and allow me to feel what He is feeling for the world around me. The next 24 hours was packed with feelings of pain, brokenness, and frustration. I was thinking about the family situations I work within here, the kids who have no support, the people who are being abused around me, and the fear that many people live in. Then to top all of off, I was sitting in traffic next to a dog on the street who was abandoned, filthy, hungry and had a broken leg that was literally dangling from skin. No one was going to take care of this dog, no one even acknowledged its existence and I was overwhelmed with how dark and lost the world truly is. It was a heavy day and I felt extremely burdened by all of this. Be careful what you pray for. That night Kendall and I were sitting with a sick girl, Maricela, from her Children's Home at the hospital. We were sharing with her the story of Peter walking on the water to Jesus when she stopped me to tell me about her encounter with the Lord. She said, "one night I was sleeping and I had a dream. Jesus came to me in my dream and told me to go to church the next night. So I went to church where they were having a conference and I received a new life. I left and was a new person." Amen, Amen, Amen!!! I let that process for a minute and the Lord spoke to my heart. He said, "you can't fix all of this but I can." God doesn't want us to be burdened by the darkness of this world we do need to feel the pain and brokenness just to know what is at stake and the reality of the battle but we also must be celebrating in Gods plan and his goodness. God doesn't need us to do this but he has given us the opportunity to be a part of this amazing story. He offers us a role in the most amazing story ever written. God is good, he gave Maricela new life simply because he loves her. This world is full of corruption, injustice, pain and other sucky situations but God carries that burden. Ask God to show you his heart and to open your heart to truly feel the world around you. It will stir you to jump into his plan to rescue the world. He wants all to have new life!!!

Movin' Dirt

We built a house!! Thank you so much to everyone who supported. Juliana and Daniel are ecstatic about their new home. Every time we talk about it all she can say is "Gracias a Dios", "Thank you God"!!!! We had a group of college students from Virginia helping us build as well as some volunteers from REI who came down to work with Dwellings. It was awesome to see the family getting in the dirt with us to dig, lift the walls and hammer the nails. Thank you for making this possible!

The first wall

Break time

Working together

The family's new view!

This is the mother Juliana and one of her daughters

I am sorry I do not have a picture of the finished house uploaded on my computer yet but you can look at a lot more photos at this link:

Pictures

Much love

Bam!!

I am so thankful for the body of Christ. I have been spiritually dry lately, running on fumes. As you can see from the last post, I am blessed to be a part of many good things but in doing so I have been neglecting my time with the Lord. I got to speak about our mentoring program at church tonight to try and recruit some support. It was good to share with the congregation but more importantly it was awesome to be in God's presence. It was so good to be refreshed in worship and prayer. I was super grumpy this morning and i felt so bad because Kendall had to put up with my bad attitude but tonight the Lord brought cleansing and peace. I praise the Lord for every moment I spend in His presence. I don't understand why I continually pull away from Him or neglect him when I know that is where my fullness dwells. I pray for God to call me near and fill me with a desire that only he can quench. I pray the same thing for you. Get alone with Him.