FIRST IMPRESSIONS, SECOND EDITION

Here are some additional insights into the impact that God is having on the lives of our team members

SECOND EDITION

It has been a great two days at the brigade site. I am impressed at how well people from such different backgrounds, age groups and experiences work together so well as a team. We have bonded together and have such fun doing our work -- it is amazing. Only God can do this type of thing in such a short period of time. God has given me little ones to help me not miss the one I left in Cary, my precious Audrey. I miss all of you at home. Thank you so much for letting mom go this year! ~Love Jane (aka Janelle Snyder)

I came to Honduras expecting an experience, but truly having no idea what I meant by that. Well, this has certainly been an experience; however, more than anything, it has been a blessing. It’s probably no shock but I have spent the majority of my time with the children. Not only are they adorable, but they are the most patient, kind, funny children I have ever met. At first I was extremely frustrated by the language barrier that separates us, but with time we have come to understand each other even though I can only mumble five or so words in Spanish. I was extremely touched when we left our first site today and two children (who had come to the brigade on both days) chased me down the street so they could hug and kiss me. This was AMAZING because the girl was the first person we talked to on Monday and the last to see us off on Tuesday. I have also dabbled in evangelism, and through God I was able to fumble my way through it and was blessed by each of the people that I spoke with (probably more than I blessed them). Yet, the highlight of the day (and I can probably speak for Brittany, Diane, and Susanne as well) was a little blind boy who sung “Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord” (in English). It is impossible to describe how AWESOME SPECTACULAR TOUCHING this was, but hopefully with the help of a video that may make its way around it can be partially experienced. Hehe… Needless to say he brought us all to tears! I’ve already written way too much (like always) but I want to say I love you Mommy (wish you could be here too! you are coming next year no matter what because these people are meant to know you and you to know and talk with them). Also mom I am hoping to learn Spanish!!!! Can you teach me when I get back? Love you so much! Shayna I miss you loads! Hope your permit testing went well. MJ ( I hope my mom told you to go to this site) Love you!!! I’m thinking of you tons even though I said I was going to try to not. I just can’t help it!!! P.S. Did you get your license? Lol. People need the computer so tata for now….. Miss you all, but Honduras is THE BEST! ~Hayley

I will never be able to hear “Open the Eyes of My Heart Lord” again without openly weeping, but Brittany should be the one to share the details. Just know that God reveals Himself in amazing ways and when we are not always prepared to be completely blown away. Evangelism has been a humbling experience as always. Don’t stop praying for the Hondurans we share with and for our team. There cannot be too much prayer. I miss you all. ~Love, Diane B.

The theme of this week for me so far can be found in Jeremiah 29:13 which states, “And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” God worked in my life today more ways than one…but two of the ways I would like to share with you. As always, I entered evangelism with a little hesitation, hoping that it wouldn’t be a complete flop. However as always, I felt stupid for thinking so… there is no doubt that God was sitting by my side. I prayed this morning that God would give me the words to say, and there is no doubt in my mind He was by my side every second. I sought God, and I found him. Second thing – I’m sure you have all ready about little boy who sang “Open the Eyes of my Heart Lord.” Well let's just say, to make this quick, God opened the eyes of my heart and once again, I found him. Okay one last thing – to give a woman her first Bible which she now can read for the first time because she received glasses…thanks Lord! Thanks for praying for the team! Love you Mom, Kristine, Peter, and Charlie (and Gunnar too!) See you soon! ~Susanne

Skip here again. I'm going to cheat (a bit) and add a second day's worth of thoughts as I sit here at 5:30AM adding photos to the blog to go along with the incredible stories above. Ryan and I have been having some side conversations as we float throughout the brigade site - adding help and prayers where needed (him) and looking for the right lens and composition (me). We've both been convinced that the Hondurans have something we lack, and two words have come up fairly often: joy and humility. Humility can be hard to define, so I'll stick with joy right now. Joy - as in finding pleasure in the simple things, as in a positive acceptance of what we have now. Happily, some of that joy comes out when we're here (a blessing of the Hondurans to us), and I'd like to comment on some of the joy I saw today. Not the joy of the Hondurans, but the joy that WE found today in the Hondurans and in the simple gifts of God. Today, I saw the joy of those laughing WITH the children whose lice-infested hair they washed. I saw the joy in the eyes of a doctor as he provided a pair of glasses with just the right prescription to a woman who had never had a pair of glasses and couldn't see two inches past the end of her nose. I saw (and felt) the tears of joy as a blind boy sang "Open the Eyes of My Heart" to those who had just prayed for him. (Crud, I'm blurry right now just thinking about it - and yes, you're waiting on me to get back to my primary computer to get the video off the camera). I saw the joy in the eyes of somebody holding a five month old baby, a baby still showing the marks of an intense umbilical cord infection. And I saw the joy of a young lady dancing in the oh-so-welcome cooling rain, pirouetting to the laughs of the children. And quite selfishly, I felt the joy of being able to walk around with a bunch of cameras capturing the smiles, the tears, the laughing, the crying, the rejoicing and the praying. And of course, the joy.


Wednesday is a "day off" as we visit the children at The Ranch. Pray for safe travel and for a renewing of our strength for the second brigade starting Thursday.