Honduras, part III

These are a few pictures of some of the kids at the orphanage in Honduras that I mentioned in one of my previous posts. I also had a couple videos of some of the kids playing games, being read to and coloring with the girls that went on the trip, but as I guessed, I am having some technical problems with those. I'm not really sure that I have a whole lot more to say about the orphanage or the kids there, but I do have something to say about the man that runs the orphanage.

There is a man, along with several women who attend specifically to certain children, who runs the orphanage. After hearing him talk and listening to what he had to say about the kids that are at the orphanage, the things that are wrong with each of the kids, the life expectancy of each of the kids and then him going into detail about how each of the kids ended up at the orphanage (for instance, one of the boys with muscular atrophy he randomly came across (but as he and we both agree was more like divine intervention) was left to die up in the mountains by himself after his family deserted him), I came away thinking this guy was a super-hero or something.

Not to say that this guy shouldn't or isn't considered a present day hero (he's def. one of mine), but rather he is an incredible man of faith. I guess that's what it looks like when your faith and your actions are one in the same. I guess that's what the scriptures mean when they say that faith without deeds are dead. I guess that's what a life looks like when people say that they submit their will and life to God and His plans... and they mean it. It kinda reminds me of the time that Ron was speaking at a church meeting/luncheon and he said something like how alot of churches (and he wasn't speaking directly to this church or any other specific church and neither am I, but the fact of the matter is that not all, but some churches or at least some people are this way) want to minister and help those in need.......just as long as it's still in their church parking lot so that things don't become too uncomfortable for them or as long as those in need come to THEIR church to receive whatever it is they are in need of or looking for or as long as it doesn't require some life-changing, "over the top" act that would make them seem "socially unacceptable" or maybe even a little crazy. My point is alot of times people, myself included, say that we submit out will to God but are we really ready for God's will to be done? What if God's will for you is the same will that God has planned for this man I'm speaking of? Would you be ready to have God's will and your faithfulness to God's will lead you to open up an orphanage for physically and mentally handicapped children? Whether in the U.S., Honduras or any other country for that matter?

In my earlier post I said that if Jesus still walked the earth in the flesh like he did years and years ago that he would be at places such as this orphanage. In 1 Corinthians it says, "Now you are the body of Christ and each one of you is apart of it." We are called to be the body of Christ. Those who say they are Christians are representations of Christ in the flesh. Because of followers such as this man at the orphanage in Honduras I know that Christ does still walk this earth. My hope is that each of us that declare we are Christians, or followers of Christ, would be willing to live just as Christ himself did, which sometimes may be a scary. Last time I checked Jesus was usually doing some things that were pretty heavily scrutinized by those who observed from the outside looking in and chances are that if we follow Christ we might endure some pretty heavy scrutiny as well, especially if we decide to submit our will to Him and then actually mean it.

In a book I recently read, Irresistible Revolution (which I highly recommend), the author uses several scriptures all speaking about how we are in the world, but not of the world, about how we are to be strangers to this world, even about how Jesus was coming into a world, made through Him, yet world still didn't recognize Him. He goes on to write about how alot of the things that Jesus did were socially unacceptable, such as hanging out with tax-collectors, prostitutes, sick people and the poor. This is the Jesus that we follow. My guess is that if you hang out with people like Jesus used to, the world is probably going to look at you a little differently. But, just as Christ said it Himself, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."

My encouragement is that we would do as this one man in Honduras has done. We submit our life and will to Christ and then back it up with our actions. I have tried my best to follow His calling for my life thus far, my hope is that I would have a renewed and strengthened faith now and in the future and that you would also pursue Christ's will for your life. Once we do this I think we might start to get some odd looks and people questioning our actions in pursuing Christ's will for our lives, just what we want, right?

honduras, part II

Today is Monday. It is 11:00 am. Again, I just walked from Predisan to use the Internet. Meanwhile, the nursing students are doing much of the same as they did on Friday. According to the schedule it looks like this whole week will be much of the same for them. Most of their time from here on out will be spent working at the "Good Samaritan Clinic", which is the larger medical clinic of Predisan.

Today is really hot. It's depressing to think and know that my shower this morning was worthless after the first 10 minutes of being outside. I am starting to wonder what the point of showering really is, seriously. I can completely understand why many of the people here don't shower on a daily basis. Not to say that I am considering going long lengths of time without showering, but rather I no longer question why people here don't shower as often. It's kinda like brushing your teeth and then eating a full pack of oreo's without anything to drink. It's kinda like, why bother? I'm sure family will get a kick out of that comparison seeing as how up until the 4th or 5th grade I only brushed my teeth once a day, haha. Anyway, today is hot.

Saturday we spent most of our morning at the orphanage for the disabled children. Again, it was pretty powerful stuff. I think that it will end up being my best experience of this specific trip to Honduras. Jesus is all over that place. I can't help but think of a song that I have recently become obsessed with by Todd Agnew. It's called, "My Jesus". Towards the end of the song he says, "My Jesus would never be accepted at my church, the blood and dirt on His feet might stain the carpet." Powerful statement. Along with this statement I can't help but think that rather then be at church or large assemblies of people Jesus would be in places like this, being what God says he is, love. These kids are unbelievable. It's so weird how so many of them can't even talk or control all the bodily functions, move their arms, legs, or necks to turn and look at you. But if you get on their level and look them straight in the eyes you can truly see them trying to communicate with you. Again, I can't help but think that if Jesus walked the earth today, he would be in places like these.

Saturday afternoon we went to the closest thing to a Honduran country club that I have ever been to. Don't get me wrong, it's not like I was getting it confused with Oak Tree or some other upscale facility, but it was nice. We ate lunch there and participated in some ropes course type things. It was alot of fun.

Sunday was a very relaxing day. Sunday morning we attended church with the two boys I mentioned in my previous blog, and their family to church. There was a special mothers day celebration, complemented by several performances by children, such as dancing, mimes and skits. They also named a "mother of the church", which was neat. Add all of this up and it was a 3 hour service, haha. Needless to say, The Iglesia de Cristo wasn't worried about beating the other nearby churches before the lunch-crowd hit. We ate pizza at the only place in Catacamas that has pizza, Texaco. I am not even kidding when I say this either, that is the best pizza I have ever had from a gas station. Not to say that it could battle Hide-Away, but it could go a few rounds with Pizza Hut and Lil Ceasars. We finished up the day riding around town with Doris, the founder, along with her husband, of Predisan, making "pastel"(cake) drop-offs for mothers day. It was a fun afternoon of meeting families and locals.

Hopefully today we will be able to visit the caves, a local attraction. I guess that's about it for now. I might be able to get in one more update before I make it back to the states on Thursday. Also, stay tuned for lots of pictures and maybe some videos if I can figure out how that works. Probably going to hit up Ron for help with that aspect. Until then, goodbye.

Internet in Honduras?

Turns out they have Internet cafes in Honduras now too. The irony can be found in the fact that Internet is available here now and so many other "necessities" are lacking...is quite ridiculous to say the least. This coming from an individual who has both Internet and pretty much all the other "necessities" that I could ever want/need. Anyway, here is an update of the happenings thus far during my trip.

We arrived Monday, around noon, to Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. Upon landing and going through customs we hurried to grab our luggage and catch our ride to Catacamas. Once everyone was in the cars and about to head out I was asked to exchange some American currency for some Honduran limperas. This is when I discovered one of the first reasons that I was supposed to be on the trip as the only male. After receiving nearly $240.00 in cash, mostly $20's and $10's, I was escorted around the corner to deal with 2 or 3 Honduran men (not to mention the 4 or 5 other men who were working nearby shining shoes) to exchange currency with. Just for the record, twenty dollars gets you 277 limperas, trust me, I know very well now. Needless to say, my mind and heart were both racing.

During our 3.5 hour car ride we stopped once or twice at some roadside stores to get snacks, drinks, banana bread and "coca" amongst other things. About 45 minutes before arriving in Catacamas one of our cars was dealt a flat tire. Hooray, I discovered the second reason I was on the trip as the only male. Amanda asked me to stay with the driver of the car, a 55 year old Honduran man (Spanish speaking only, of course) while two other Honduran men went to retrieve another tire. Awesome. So the rest of the group loaded into one car and I stayed behind with the Honduran man. Alriiiiiight. Every single Spanish vocabulary word that I knew was used within the first 45 minutes of our 3 hours together. To make a long story short, it started pouring rain, we got another tire, we got drenched while putting the tire on, while jacking the car up the jack actually slipped out from underneath the car and almost fell on the old, Honduran man, we secured the jack(which isn't the same as car jacks in the states)and finally got the tire on. Then me and the old Honduran man drove into Catacamas and met up with the rest of the group.

That was Monday.

Tuesday was more or less an orientation of Predisan, the medical clinic that the nurses were going to working at several days. We also got to go to an orphanage on the outskirts of Catacamas. It was an ophanage for physically and mentally disabled children. This is the same orphanage that my parents and two of their good friends visited while they were here a short time back. My parents insisted that I tell Amanda that we needed to visit the orphanage when we got a chance, so I did. I won't go into it much because writing it on here won't do it justice or give you anywhere close to the idea of what this place or these children are like, but I will say that it has been my favorite thing on my trip so far. Which is tough to say because I really would like it if places like this one didn't have to exist, but they do. I have more to say about this place and these kids later, so there will be more to come at a later date...just a teaser.

Wednesday morning we got up bright and early, thanks to the hundreds of roosters going nuts, at 5 a.m. and headed to the mountains. The nursing students were going to a clinic located 3 hours up, around, and into the mountains to give physical assessments, check blood sugar levels and alot of other technical things that I don't know much about. We stayed the night in the mountains at a small camp about halfway back down the mountain. Thursday, yesterday, morning we traveled back down the mountain about an hour and stopped at another clinic and the nursing students did much of the same as they did at the previous clinic. During most of this time I played with kids, talked to our drivers and these two young boys, Timothy and Samuel, who were our interpreters. They are brothers and were a huge help to us and alot of fun too. Because of previous trips to Honduras I was well aware of the fact that wherever the "gringos" go, the kids will follow because they know we carry goods, candy. I came well prepared this trip because I planned on being the only one who knows to bring candy, for the most part I was right. I now have two nicknames in Honduras, the "candyman" and "Justin", as in Justin Timberlake (long story). Oh yeah, after the first day at the medical clinic in the mountains we were taken to the river to clean up/swim. In spanish the place that we swam is called, "The Devil's hole". Hmmmm. Samuel and I were pretty much the only two that got in. There were also two little boys that were swimming nearby and they joined us is a cannon-ball contest. I will post pictures of these two boys later but just to give you an idea of what one boy looked like, we called him Mogley. He had on a little speedo. He was really funny too. When I asked him what kind of animals live in the river he said, "serpentes, pescado y cocodrilo". Even if you don't know spanish I think you can figure out two of the three of those animals. If not, let me help....that's snakes, fish and yes, crocodiles. He started laughing though, probably when he saw my facial expression, and said he was "being funny" about the crocodile part because they only live further up the river.....great.

Today, Friday, the nursing students are working at Predisan. It is located about a mile and a half from where I am staying at Amanda's house. So, because I can't really do much "nursing work" I decided to walk back to Amanda's house and see if I could locate her son's bicycle to use to go to the Internet cafe. Which brings you up to date. This afternoon we are going to one of the schools to play games with the kids, introduce a Bible verse and implement a game that relates to some aspect of living a Christian lifestyle. Tomorrow we are going back to the orphanage I mentioned earlier to take them some gifts and to spend the afternoon playing and interacting with them.

If you have been keeping up with my previous blogs you know that I don't edit, proof-read, or spell-check much before I post....but I have a feeling that because of the length of this blog, some of you spell-checking, grammar tighty's are going to freak with this one. Have fun and I will update when I can....

Voy a Honduras

I will be leaving for Honduras in t-minus 6 hours. I was asked to go with nursing majors from Oklahoma Christian University and I gladly accepted the offer. I have been to Honduras twice, but not since high school. I am very eager to go again and hopefully see some individuals that I met several years back. Honduras is really where it all started for me. The "job position" I have now is greatly due in part to the people and events I experienced during my previous trips. I am not going to lie though, I selfishly love going to Honduras and being around the people of that culture/country.

In the past I participated in building walls/sinks/fences, attending ophanages, putting on "mime-shows", and playing games with kids, but this time I am not exactly sure how I am going to be used. It could be as simple as carrying supplies, setting up camp or just having a male presence with a bunch of female, nursing students. Regardless of my responsibilities I am sure that God has some divine appointments set up for me even before I arrive.

In my down time I look forward to reading the book "Irresistible Revolution". I have heard some pretty powerful comments about this book and have been told that I need to read it, so I will. I will be staying with a women that many of you are familiar with, Amanda. So, this trip may be a little different then in the past, I might have access to a computer. Don't count on it, but maybe, just maybe I will get around to a blog. I will return the 17th, Thursday. I ask that if you can find some space in your already packed prayer list that you fit me in somewhere. Pray that God would bring people to me and that I would approach people who are in search of something they lack. Whether it be forgiveness, mercy, love, a helping hand, food, clothes, prayer or simply a person to talk to; I pray I that I would be available to be offer that specific something.

Gracias por adelantado por tus rezos. El dios te bendice y permanece templado para las actualizaciones... (don't worry, I had to look up some of those words too)

Summer Schedule

Monday - 1-3pm Rock Island hangout (middle school/high school)

Tuesday - 2-5pm Rock Island "Movie Day" (middle school/high school)

Wednesday - 2-4pm Underground hangout (elementary)

Thursday - 6-8pm Rock Island Bible Study (middle school/high school)

This is our schedule for the summer. Given the nature of our ministry and previous attempts at all out schedules chances are that something will change on this schedule at some point. If something does, we will let you know.

Obviously, the days with "Rock Island" or "Underground" hangout (all but Tuesday) are times that we have scheduled at our buildings. But (such as this past Thursday when we went to the Arts Festival downtown) opportunities come up throughout the week that we like to pursue in order to give our kids a chance to be outside of the Rock Island building. We have learned that it is during these times that we are really able to get to know our kids best. I say all of this just to communicate that something WILL change with this schedule. So don't get your feelings hurt when you show up for the Thursday night Bible study and we are no where to be found, because chances are we are off doing something really cool and fun without you (just kidding).

Also, we have hopes and dreams of the Tuesday Movie Day becoming an event at the dollar theatre. Again, this is to give the kids a chance to not have to spend one-hundred percent of their time inside the building. If you are interested in sponsoring a day at the movies one Tuesday, or one Tuesday a month, or team up with someone else you know to sponsor a day at the dollar theatre then email, call or come see me, Ron, or Chandy.

We are looking forward to a very eventful summer full of camps, movies, fellowship and learning more about Christ. If you interested in helping with anything this summer, whether it be coming down to make snacks, make dinner, do a craft, attend a movie day with us, or anything else (and I seriously mean anything else, we are open to suggestions) then contact one of the three of us. We look forward to hearing from you.

(405)232-7696 - Cross and Crown Mission

lwhitmire@hotmail.com - Luke