5 Things I've Learned in Honduras

There is no substitute for learning the language.  

In my ministry, it would be impossible if I didn't know Spanish.  This seems like an elementary concept, and I suppose it is rather basic, if you want to disciple people in another country, you should be able to speak their language, but I have seen that it is often easier said than done.   I don't mean to say that it is difficult to learn a language because it's physically difficult, even though it absolutely is.  To learn an entirely new vocabulary and verb structure, to refine your speech to the seemingly endless nuances of  Spanish, and to adapt formal, classroom Spanish to informal, street, natural sounding Spanish is all part of the frustrating road that eventually, after much headache and embarrassment, leads to fluency.  What I mean when I say that it is difficult to learn Spanish is that as new missionaries come to the field energized, eager, and motivated to begin reaching people for Christ, it is difficult to slow down for 6, 12, 24 months to learn a language.  It can seem like a necessary evil to get through before the real ministry can begin.  However, I'm convinced that taking time to learn a language and a culture are just as much part of ministry as sharing the gospel precisely because of the fact that the gospel can't be shared and discipleship can't happen until the language and culture are learned.  I have missionary friends who have been honest about their struggle with this period of waiting until the ministry they came to do can actually begin.  I have been impressed and encouraged, however, by their realization that they must concentrate on language and culture if they want to be effective reach people for the gospel.  That's not say that God can't use someone who doesn't know the language, God can do what he wants through whomever he wants, but on a practical level, there is no substitute to knowing the language well.  


There is no substitute for community.

If being part of a bible-believing community of friends that walk alongside you to for encouragement, correction, and discipleship is important in America where there exists all the comforts of home, then I'm convinced that it's importance is intensified on the mission field where there is uncertainty, insecurity, unfamiliarity.  After a month of being in Honduras, this need became glaring to me.  Fortunately, God blessed me with two other missionary families who too felt the void of community in their lives.  Since then we have met every week to share a meal (and always dessert), a time of worship through song, a time of bible study, and a time of extended, intentional prayer.  This group has been invaluable to me so far in Honduras, especially since I'm here alone.  I can't believe for a second that the Christian life was meant to be lived alone, but rather alongside other bible-believing, Christ-imitating, God-honoring Christians.  I believe that remains true, if not more so, for life of the mission field.  


There is no substitute for prayer.

I can't improve of the words of John Piper here.

"Life is war. That's not all it is.  But it is always that.  Our weakness in prayer is owing largely to our neglect of this truth.  Prayer is primarily a wartime walkie-talkie for the mission of the church as it advances against the power of darkness an unbelief.  It is not surprising that prayer malfunctions when we try to make it a domestic intercom to call upstairs for more comforts in the den.  God has given us prayer as a wartime walkie-talkie so that we can call headquarters for everything we need as the kingdom of Christ advances in the world.  Prayer gives us the significance of frontline forces and gives God the glory of a limitless Provider.  The one who gives the power gets the glory.  Thus, prayer safeguards the supremacy of God in missions while linking us with endless grace for every need." 

Life is war.  We must fight daily to pick up our cross because, some days, it's just so heavy.  We must fight daily to be lovers, not cynics, because I'm tired of you calling 'culture' what the bible calls 'sin.'  We must fight to trust that God is working in the heart of the person whose salvation we weep for.  I've found that these fights are best fought face down begging the limitless Provider for significant frontline forces to continue on.  


Satan really, really hates it.  

This is exactly why life is a war--because Satan wants nothing more than to distract us from pursuing God.  If he can't strip me of my salvation (and he can't) then he'll strip me of my will to tell others about it.  A week doesn't go by without me or someone I know experiencing events orchestrated by the devil himself for the sole purpose of discouraging us.  Marital issues, sick children, issues with immigration, attacks on ministry, theft, disruption of Christian unity, loneliness .  Satan is creative in his attacks, but our God is effective with his counter.  He is sufficient to provide care, healing, and protection  from the attacks of the enemy.  It can be exhausting having to constantly absorb the punches from the devil, but if he doesn't deem me worthy of punching, then I'm probably not much of a threat to begin with.  So punch away.  

I'm not meant to do this alone.  

I have so enjoyed my time in Honduras thus far and I look forward to the remaining seven months, but it has been made strikingly clear to me that I am not meant to do this missionary thing alone.  I am thankful for this time here alone, but there is still a sharp void in my life and ministry.  I anticipate, not so patiently at times, the day that I can serve alongside Laura, my fiancée.  If I ever needed more affirmation that she was the one I ought to spend my life with, these last five months have absolutely confirmed that.  



As I am nearing the half-way point of my time in Honduras, I want to thank those of you again that have partnered me financially and prayerfully.  I covet your support as I would not be here without it.  I feel blessed and privileged to be able to partner with people from all over the United States as we mutually work to carry out Christ's last words to us on earth:

"Por tanto, id, y haced discípulos a todas las naciones, bautizándolos en el nombre del Padre, y del Hijo, y del Espíritu Santo; ensenándoles que guarden todas las coasas que os he mandado, y he aquí yo estoy con vosotros todos los días hasta el fin del mundo."
Mateo 28:19-20.

The Harvest

"Go and make disciples" is what Jesus commanded us to do.  We are to "teach them to obey everything that [He] has commanded."  

Discipleship is our task. 

But what do you do when it feels like you're discipling a brick wall?

What do you do when you find yourself saying to God at the end of the day: "I've told them!  I've done my part!  Now hold up your end of the bargain!"

A farmer wants to yield a harvest.  

That's why it is difficult to hear one man I'm discipling tell me about his indifference toward remaining faithful to his wife.  

That's why I'm brought to tears when one man tells me that it's not sin, it's just cultural, to impregnate a 16 year old girl out of wedlock and then have no intention of caring for her or the baby. 

 

That's why it hurts to see the confused look on his face when I tell him of my intentions to never cheat on my wife.  

That's why it is painful when he asks if I think the 13 year old girl that walked by is hot, then when I respond with an emphatic 'No!' he says, "Oh yeah, it's because she's too young for you right?"

So, what do you do?  You hold fast to the fact that even the farmer, no matter how well (or poorly) he sows, can't produce the harvest.  He has to wait and pray...wait and pray for God to send the rain because without the rain, even the most well sewn seeds will burn up.   

So here I wait and pray.  I pray that God would replace the word "cultural" with the word "sin."  I pray that God would pulverize the notion that it's okay to follow parts of the Bible religiously and then ignore others.  I pray that God would create examples of faithful, covenant-honoring husbands and daddys out of my friends.  

But most of all, I pray for the harvest.  

The Last 6 Weeks: Upside Down

Last week, during a time of prayer with some fellow missionaries, a friend of mine mentioned that, as Christians, we live in an upside down kingdom.  What he meant by that was that if the way this world operates and what the people of the world strive for is our default (and it is-- Romans 3), then the way God operates and what he expects of us is the opposite of the default--its upside down.  I loved that imagery, so I decided to do a little research.  I began to scour the Bible for evidence of our kingdom being an upside down one.  What I found was that no part of God's kingdom operates the way our world does.  What is valued in God's kingdom is scorned by the world.  Likewise, what is held highly by the world is seen by God as polluted garments. 

For example, take a look at a few people that God used in Scripture that, in today's world, would not be considered the best and brightest: 

• God used a doubting murderer in Moses to lead His chosen people out of bondage in Egypt and eventually to a promised land.
• God used Abraham, a liar and a doubter, to be the father of many nations, out of who's bloodline would come the savior of the world. 
• God used Rahab the prostitute in the line to bring about the savior of the world. 
• God strips down Gideon's army to 300 men to defeat the Midianites with an army of tens of thousands. 
• God used an adulterer and murderer in David to be the king of Israel and to be included in the line of Christ.
• Jesus build his church on Peter, the rock.  A prideful, ignorant, wishy-washy rock. 
• Jesus spent his entire 3 year ministry with 12 ordinary, obviously flawed men.  12 men who, after repeatedly being told of Jesus' coming death and resurrection, were shell-shocked when he died and resurrected.  Jesus then left the advancement of the early church in their hands to either succeed or squander. 

Read these saying from Jesus and take note at how upside-down they are:

• "Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
• "...unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven."
• "But many who are first will be last, and the last first."
• "...for I came not to call the righteous, but sinners."
• "...follow me, leave the dead to bury their own dead."
• "Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life..."
• "But if anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also."
• "If anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak"
• "...love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

The life of Jesus itself--upside down:

• "...foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."
• "...even the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve..."
• "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone..."
• The savior of the world enters Jerusalem triumphantly…on a donkey.
• Jesus, a Jew, as he is passing through enemy Samaritan territory, stops and ministers to a provocative Samaritan woman.

Perhaps the most upside down about the Kingdom of God is that he himself would become flesh and subject himself to the evils of a world he created so that we could commune with him eternally:

• "...but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
• "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life."
• "But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..."
• "Christ redeemed us from the law by becoming a curse for us..."
• "...Christ Jesus, though being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped..."
• "...he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant..."
• "...being found in human form, humbled himself and became obedient to death, even death on a cross."

If the kingdom of God is truly as upside down compared to our world as Scripture makes  it out to be, then there are huge implications for our lives.  It's clear that since we are a part of this world and naturally bent toward it, we must make conscious decisions each day to pursue the upside down.  If we pursue things of this world, we scorn what God wants.  If we do not daily pick up our cross and follow Christ, then we will pick up our pride, our checkbook, our corporate ladder, or our trophies and follow the world. 

It's not easy, it's not popular, and it's certainly not natural, but God operates upside down.  Jesus lived upside down.

And if we want to be a part of his kingdom, we must be upside down too.

The Last 6 Weeks: People, Not Projects

I love projects.  I love the challenge of having to design and redesign and configure and construct something that, afterwards, you can look at and be proud of.  I guess that's one reason why I got into construction.  Typically, when I am faced with a project, I devote everything to it.  I spend my free time thinking about whatever it is that I'm working on.  I'll forget to eat.  I won't even stop to go to the bathroom.  This was the case with my most recent project.  I was assigned the task of building the cabinets in a new house that is being completed here on campus.  This house will be a revenue producer for the seminary as missionary families rent it out for years to come.  The first guest arrives in a week and a half, so we're in crunch time.  As I began to prepare to build cabinets, I spent an entire day measuring, investigating, designing, redesigning, and planning for how I was going to build them.  Every time I was in my kitchen cooking or washing dishes I would take mental notes about my cabinets and apply it to my design.  If I was in the middle of dinner and had a thought enter my mind about them, I would get up and investigate immediately.  I was consumed by cabinets before I even began to build them.   I tried to schedule my progress about a week in advance so I would know what I could expect to accomplish each day.  If I wasn't already locked in to what I was doing, once the actual construction began, I most certainly was.  Any distraction was too much.  If I couldn't have a conversation with you while I was working, I would rather it wait.

Pause.

Rewind four and a half months.  I'm at my last small group meeting before I leave for Honduras.  They ask me what is one thing specifically about which they can pray for me.  I respond with the following:

"I tend to get really focused on projects that I'm doing, so I guess my fear is that I will neglect the people and relationships for the sake of whatever project I'm working on.  Pray that I'll focus on the people, not the projects."

Play.

Fast-forward back to cabinet-building week.  As I'm in the thick of it, in walks Lenin, my neighbor and the pastor of my church.  He has a favor to ask of me.  A dentist friend of his has agreed to do some much needed dental work for free  for a teenage girl in our church, Nulbia.  Lenin tells me that he is unable to take her to her appointment.  (As he is talking, I know what's coming.  In my head I'm thinking, "please don't ask me to do it, please don't ask me to do it).  He asks me if I could take her.  I hesitate, smile, grit me teeth, and tell him that I can.  I confess to Laura as we're going to pick up Nulbia that this is really hard for me and I would, honestly and selfishly, rather be working on my cabinets.  She knew that and promptly reminded me of what I asked for prayer about four and a half months ago.

So long story short, I took Nulbia to the dentist, had a nice conversation with the dental assistant while waiting, took Nulbia back home, and proceeded to work on cabinets.  Apparently, however, I wasn't quite done learning my lesson.  I had to take Nulbia to the dentist again the next day, and the day after that, and one more day the next week.  With each trip, and only by the grace of God, my mind eased more and more knowing that she was more important that a cabinet.  You see, Nulbia is in the class that I teach at church.  She is one of the few Hondurans who will occasionally participate in the lesson.  She is rather shy and doesn't usually speak unless spoken to, so even though we sat in silence for most of our trips, the few conversations that we did have only helped to strengthen our relationship.

There was a time that I considered a wooden box to be more important than a human being.  

That's a hard sentence to write, but it is a true admission from the chief of sinners.  I am indebted to God for his undeserving grace that forgives me for believing the lie that my projects are more important.  I am indebted to God for his transforming grace that reminds me daily that construction projects and houses and cabinets are a means to an end, not an end in themselves.

I don’t expect this to be the last time I need that reminder, but hopefully, by the grace of God, I can continue knowing that people, not projects, are why I am in Honduras.

The Last 6 Weeks: "Absolutely"

I've taken a hiatus from writing for the past month or so.  I have had visitors here in Honduras for this month, so I decided to take a break.  I missed it though.  Last Wednesday, after I returned home from dropping off my visitors at the airport, I sat down and began to write in a journal and I wrote, and I wrote, more than a few thousand words worth after it was all said and done.  I'll spare you the three thousand words all at once, so in order to summarize the past month, I'm planning on putting up a  series of short posts over the next week or so. Enjoy and stay tuned!

I have failed to mention thus far who my visitors were this past month.  My girlfriend, Laura, came to visit and stayed the entire month.  For the last week of her stay, her dad, John, came too.  I suppose the most important thing I have to share about their stay was that although Laura came to Honduras as my girlfriend, she left as my fiancée.  Yes, I proposed, in Honduras, on a mountain.  I had purchased the ring before I left for Honduras and had been planning the proposal since about last October.  I'll spare you the story, but it's all on Facebook if you're interested.  Instead of the proposal story, I'm going to share with you a play-by-play of sorts.  If you choose not to proceed in reading, let me warn you, there's some pretty embarrassing stuff in here that I can assure you, if nothing else, you'll get a laugh out of.


August 2009: I see Laura for the first time.  I arrive late to my first small group meeting of the year just as Laura is introducing herself to the group.  For some reason, I hear her say that  she is studying engineering (I heard wrong).  Clearly I was interested from the start.

February 2010: Laura is invited to play on the women's Ultimate Frisbee team at Auburn.  I was a part of the men's team, so when she saw me at practices, she would greet me with "Hey, friend!"  She has a way with words.

April 2010:  Laura and I find out that we will be attending the same concert in Birmingham.  At the concert, Laura sees me, and during intermission, comes to say hey.  She was very awkward, but I remember what dress she was wearing, so….three points for Trey?

May 3rd, 2010: End of the year small group party. I ask Laura about her engineering degree.  She's studying nutrition.  Embarrassing.  Our small group leaders found out that I play guitar and asked me to play a mini-concert for everybody.  As it would turn out, all the guys left and I'm left playing to 5 girls.  (I would later admit that I was secretly playing to her and didn't care all that much what the other 4 thought).  Laura helps me carry my stuff out to my car afterwards and we talk for 20 minutes.  Later that night, I ask her out (I swore I would never admit this in public, but here goes nothing) via Facebook chat.  If that's not embarrassing enough, here's roughly how the conversation went:

Laura: Hey, friend!
Trey: Hey! What are you doing?
Laura: Studing
Trey: Well good luck.  Hey I have a question: I have some chicken in my freezer that I need to eat before I leave for the summer.  Would you wanna come over and help me eat it?

Embarrassing and awful.  Yes.  But she said yes, so….sue me.

May 6th, 2010:  Laura comes to my house for dinner.  I believe I thoroughly impressed her with the dry chicken, canned green beans (something I found out later that she doesn't like), and burnt dinner rolls that I served.  My sister comes by my house to sign a Mother's Day card.  She is so shocked that there is a girl in my apartment with me that she writes "happy birthday" instead of "happy Mother's Day" on the card.  Laura and I talk until 4 in the morning in my living room.  She leaves when I tell her that I have a final exam in four hours (which I got an A on by the way).  We depart with a authentic, youth-group-approved, awkward side hug.

May 8th, 2010:  Laura invites me to attend a dance recital with her (not exactly the way to my heart, but I obliged).  We go to Cracker Barrel afterwards and played paper football (I won).

May 14th, 2010: Laura comes to spend the day with me at my grandmother's place.  We didn't exactly define it then, but retrospectively, we picked this date as the day we began dating.

May 15th, 2010:  I leave for North Carolina for the summer while Laura stays in Auburn for classes.  What a great way to start a relationship with three months of separation! '

Labor Day, 2010: I tell Laura that I love her.  I had told her before that I wouldn't ever say "I love you" to anyone that I didn't intend on marrying.  Foreshadowing.

May 2011:  Laura graduates from Auburn.   I leave for South Dakota for the summer while Laura leaves for Uganda.

August 2011: I return to Auburn for my senior year and she moves back to Birmingham.

May 2012:  I graduate from Auburn and move to Birmingham.  Until this point, we had spent more time apart than we had spent together.

December 2012:  I spend about a week lying to Laura while I'm preparing to purchase her ring.  In case you were worried, she forgave me for that.

January 27th, 2013:  I leave for Honduras for one year.

April 27th, 2013:

May 10th, 2014:  Laura and I will get married.

Church

Well, as promised, here is the second installment of recent Honduras updates.  Our church doesn't have a name.  In fact, when people ask where I go to church, I'm kind of at a loss for words because I don't feel like I attend a church.  I feel much more like I am a part of a local body of believers, a small body, but a body nonetheless.  So, the body of believers of which I am a part meets in a small house on the outskirts of town in barrio Calan.  The majority of people in this area are very poor.  None own cars, making it difficult to attend a regular church in town somewhere.  Most live without electricity, clean water, ample food, and security.  For example, the sister in whose house we meet makes 600 Lempiras  a month as a maid for a large house nearby.  That's 30 bucks a month.  As is the case far too many times in Honduras, she is a single mother with 5 kids--her  husband was murdered a few years ago.

As it goes, this is the story of many people in my church.  The majority demographic are widows with anywhere from 1-5 kids, all living on scrap income, trying to make ends meet.

For all the sadness and poor conditions that I could tell you about, that's not what I want to focus on, because that's not what they focus on.  These people are growing in Christ.  I can't say that all are believers in Christ, but for those that are, I see them growing in the likeness of Christ, and for those that aren't I see them growing too.  They are committed to prayer and meeting regularly and tithing.  I would say that over 60% of the Hondurans that attend are illiterate, not a very shocking statistic considering that most, since a young age, have worked just trying to support their family, eliminating the possibility of attaining a formal education.  I am proud to say that I am a part of this local body of believers.  Their commitment to growing in the likeness of Christ inspires me each and every week.  I want to share a few stories of recent happenings with people in this body.

Hermana Candida is a single mother with a little girl. (By the way, hermana or hermano means sister or brother and is very common to put in front of names here, just so you're aware).  She lives about a 45 minute walk from where we meet on Sunday mornings and Tuesday evenings prayer, but she is always the first to arrive.  I have seen more growth in this sister in the past few months that anyone else.  She, like many, only attended school through the third grade and never learned to read.  Determined, however, hermana Candida taught herself to read using the Bible.  She now reads very well.  He is always the first one to volunteer when a reader is requested.

A few weeks ago a thief broke into hermana Candida's home and stole almost all of her plates and dishes.  The next week, the thief returned….to ask for forgiveness.  He felt so bad about what he had done he had come to return what he had stolen and ask for her forgiveness.  Hermana Candida, in response, told him: "No.  If you had to resort to stealing them, you probably needed them more than I did anyway.  Why don't you just keep them?"  What did Jesus say again, something about "if they steal your shirt, give them your cloak too?"  Talk about Christlikeness!  This story made me beam with pride over her growth in Christ.  How many of us Americans, after having something stolen from us, would suggest that the thief keep what he took if he offered to return it?!

Hermano Geraldo is probably closing in on 80 years old.  He lives with his elderly wife in a house just up the hill from where we meet.  He attends faithfully and is always ready to share, as we do every week, what he is thankful to God for.  A few weeks ago, at our weekly Tuesday afternoon prayer meetings, we prayed that he would find a job.  Two days after praying that evening, he found work.  In fact, he didn't even go looking for it, but the work came looking for him.  I guess that's just God saying, "Hey, look what I can do!"

These are just two examples of the ways that people in my church are growing to be more like Christ.  I would ask that you continue to keep this body of believers in your prayers.  Pray that they would, despite their circumstances, trust that God is faithful to provide all of their needs.  Pray, also, that they would realize the call to follow Christ and do so with their whole life.

As always, stay tuned for more updates soon….

Jr.

I'm watching words appear on my computer screen one letter at a time right now, but I'm disappointed with their ability to communicate.  My vice is that letters and commas and diphthongs and contractions and dependent clauses and  paragraphs don't afford you the ability to see, smell, touch, or taste.  Fortunately, we, as humans, were cleverly designed with a little thing called imagination.  If you haven't used yours in a while, take it off the shelf, dust off the cobwebs, and fire it up.  If you happen to be one of those people, perhaps the graphic design or artist or daydreamer type, that oft takes advantage of the creative little idea generator we call imagination, then consider yourself ready for our little exercise.  Here's how it will work:  I will use the aforementioned forms of written communication and you must promise to use that ole' imagination to see, smell, touch, and taste what I'm talking about.  

¿Cheque?

Bueno.

I'd like to introduce you to someone.  We'll call him Jr.  Jr. is a mason.   He, like many others in Honduras, have a 6th grade education.  There's not much motivation to study past 6th grade to educate yourself to get a good job when there are no jobs.  Unemployment is crippling Honduras.  He began working with his father upon graduation, and has since become a very capable mason.  Jr. is 17 years old; he lives with his 7 month old little girl and his mujer (Not his wife, just his 'woman.'  Cultural translation: baby momma).  Being in construction myself, I found myself often crossing paths with Jr.  When he was hired as the mason for a housing project on campus where I live about two months ago, I had a feeling that it wasn't by chance.   I felt confident that God had placed him in my life, literally two doors down, to disciple.  The only problem was that I happened to be trapped--trapped by my own comfort zone.  God, however, was not surprised by this; so, as I sat in my house eating a nice turkey sandwich and bell pepper for lunch one day, God sent Jr. to me.  If I was going to be trapped by my own comfort zone, God was going to send the very thing that kept me in my comfort zone to yank me out of it.  Funny how that works.  That day, and every day for the next week or so, Jr. knocked on my door just before lunch time and invited me to eat with him and his helper.  

Who's discipling whom, again?

God has since made sure that I don't even remember where I put my comfort zone.  That's probably because when Jr. shattered it into a million pieces, there was no hope of putting it back together.  However, every time I start to lay bricks again around myself, trying to re-construct my cozy comfort zone, my mason friend who "I'm discipling" walks up and destroys them with a quick invitation to lunch.  (I very carefully chose the wording for that sentence.  Please feel free to praise God for the irony).  

In all seriousness, however, Jr. and I have had wonderful conversations over pollo and Coke at lunch (Not really pollo [chicken], just a sweet bread.  But calling it  pollo, I suppose, makes them feel better, so I follow along).  We've talked about Christ's sacrifice on the cross.  We've talked about the radical love that God has shown us.  We've discussed the Lord's Supper, baptism, the end times, the great flood, and other religions.  He's much more curious about the things of God and Christ and the Bible than I would have imagined.   I guess that along with destroying my comfort zone, Jr. has taught me a lesson in not judging a book by its cover.  Again, who's discipling whom here?  

Jr. has a working knowledge of God and Christ and the Bible, but his past experiences with religion and "Christians" seem to be hindering him from moving forward.  The conservative evangelical church here sometimes seems to have a hint of legalism thrown in (Christians can't drink, smoke, dance(?), listen to non-Christian music, or else….) that he has bought into, and because of this, I fear that he doesn't completely understand the concept of the grace of God.  Of course, I don't want him to think that the grace of God is a license to drink or smoke or dance(?) or listen to non-Christian music, I just want him to understand that abstinence won't save him--only the grace of God will.  On the flip side of that argument, abstinence is by no means a bad thing, but when it becomes a qualifier to being a Christian, it's just plain blasphemous.    My prayer is that God would finally and noticeably grip his heart with the Gospel of which he is already aware.  I long to see him embrace the grace of God, fall in love with the Word of God, and intentionally engage people for God.  Would you join me in praying that for Jr.?

I am thankful for God giving me a gentle kick in the pants to engage in this relationship (Really, it was more like a not-so-gentle push off a cliff without me initially knowing that he had already fitted me with a parachute [i.e. the Holy Spirit], but since you're already using your imagination, you get the point).  I know this post was a tad tongue-and-cheek, but please believe me that my passion really is to engage people in Honduras for the gospel of Christ, even if my flesh want's something different.  This story is only more proof of Satan's disgust of my being here and his (feeble) attempt to minimize the impact of the gospel that I carry.  Would you join me in praying that he continues to grow disgusted of me?  

I had planned on updating you on a few different things that have happened over the past six weeks, but for the sake of your imagination, I believe I'll break it up into segments.  Be on the lookout for more to come!