Finish Strong

Our last day of clinic was absolutely amazing. By now, the team had the flow of people running through smoothly and even though we had worked long, hard days, we had an energy and determination to finish strong.

The most amazing thing about these mission trips is the overwhelming presence of God. The type of undeniable presence that reminds you that God is awesome and working in the lives of His people. Impossible acts were performed through a team of people, from various areas and professions, that God used for His glory. Not only were we used by God, we were forever changed by God. We came not only to serve, but were molded more into people God can use wherever we go.

Watching the Hondurans watch the team, I know that God was revealing Himself to their hearts and they also will be forever changed by what they saw and heard this week. We may never see the results in the individual lives of the people we grew to love this week, but I am confident that we will hear about God moving in Honduras in the future. God is going to bless this country and bless these people.

Of all the overwhelming moments of God Thursday, the one that gripped my heart to the core was a woman who came to they eye clinic around lunch time. The whole time I was testing her eyes and finding the ‘perfecto’ pair of glasses, I kept noticing the look in her eyes. I saw a look of sadness and I kept patting her arm and giving her an encouraging smile. Just as she was about to go, I felt I needed to do more so with Cristina Lindsey’s help, I talked to her about the things going on in her life. Turns out I was able to relate somewhat to her problems and share how God had carried me through similar circumstances. She seemed encouraged as we prayed for her and offered her hope and power that comes from Jesus.

As I think about the strong finish to the incredible week, I know we must apply this to our lives at home. Sometimes, we don’t have a clue what we are doing, but if we serve with a willing heart, God will guide us and give us the strength to FINISH STRONG.

The Eye Team

The HEART of God

We arrived at a new community ‘Betel’ yesterday morning and walked up the mountain and down into a valley that would be our work site for the next two days. The houses and living conditions were obviously less than what we saw in San Manuel and their church was built of bamboo slats, but the people were smiling and happy. It was a beautiful peaceful place and we felt the presence of the Lord as we stood in a circle and blessed ground before we began to work.

God continued to amaze us in eyeglass clinic, as person after person seemed to have impossible readings and difficult prescription needs. We had found a crate of glasses that hadn’t been entered into the computer inventory yet and a smaller box within labeled ‘unknown glasses’. We decided to take the crate with us just in case. It seems that most of the glasses we needed were in that crate which multiple times were matched not by the advanced computer technology we had, but by God. When the computer said there was no match, we went to the crate, said a prayer and inevitably pulled out that “perfecto” pair.

God had placed many pairs of glasses in the ‘unknown glasses’ box that were exactly what someone needed, but he saved the best for last. After we returned to the team house, Teresa brought some of the faith home children to us for eyeglasses. The glasses for one of the boys at faith home, Jesus, was in that box. He looked very handsome in the glasses that were sent just for him.

As we waited for the trucks to haul the supplies back up the mountain at the end of the day, some of us took advantage of the free time and played with the children of the village. We had the best time playing and laughing with them. We didn’t always understand each other, but laughter and smiles and love is universal in every language.

There was a moment in the middle of they busy day, that I just stopped and tuned out the noise and looked around. Through the crowds of people and busy team… I saw God. He was in the hands of Chris and Jeneen, as they lovingly examined a scared child. He was in the voice of Lisa, as she not only worked her triage station, she talked to the people about becoming a Christian. He was in Cristina and Melissa’s face as they fitted a young girl with reading glasses. He was in Scott’s arms as he supported an older lady and moved her through the clinic. He was in the eyes of the Hondurans as they watched the team not just do a job, but be the hands, feet and HEART of God.

....BUT GOD CAN!!!!

What a truly awesome day we had yesterday! I can’t even begin to describe the way God moved throughout the clinic, especially in eyeglasses. The eyeglass team started our day with extreme prayer that God would guide us so that we could touch the lives of the Hondurans. We even blessed the eyedrops that we had to distribute. We jokingly called them ‘Holy Eyedrops’ but we sincerely prayed that God would touch the lives of whoever we gave them to and that they would see God’s love and share it with everyone they meet. We so desperately wanted to be able to meet their needs, knowing that sometimes we would not be able to…..but God could.

There was an older gentleman who had cataracts so bad that we couldn’t get a reading on his eyes. We both tried and wanted so desperately to give him something that would help but no idea what strength he needed. I prayed “Lord, help us to give him something to help him see” then reached in one of the boxes and pulled out a pair. He put them on and immediately started smiling from ear to ear and raising his hands in the air. He said they were ‘perfecto’. We couldn’t ever have picked the right pair…..but God could.

 A young girl who they told us couldn’t even read because she never could see well enough to learn in school seemed to be quite a challenge. She never smiled as we tried multiple times to get her still enough to get a reading and then kept shaking her head as we pulled out the computer matches. I don’t blame her. The glasses were hideous and none seemed to help her vision. We finally found a pair that looked nice for a young girl and asked her to look at the words in my bi-lingual Bible to see if the letters were clear. She proceeded to read the English side of the scripture perfectly! We asked did she know how to read in English and she said no. Then we told her that she just did. The entire family said ‘wow’ and were smiling and chattering about it. We’re still not sure how a little girl who everyone thought couldn’t even read, not only did, but did in perfect English. Maybe she couldn’t…..but God could.

There were a multitude of stories that just touched our hearts throughout the day and we were able to send everyone away from our station happy and blessed. We had just packed everything up and were discussing how awesome the day was, when triage said they had one more patient for us. A little 4 year old girl who had injured her eye and needed glasses. We looked at each other and discussed how impossible it is to read a small child’s eyes and had very few child glasses, much less any that would just have prescription in one eye. We didn’t want to mess up her other eye and besides we had already packed everything up and it would take a long time just to set the computer system back up and it was dark. But we knew we had to try. The little girl sat down scared of the machine as I leaned in to try to get a reading. We said a quick prayer for God to calm her and take control. After only one try, we got a reading and one possible match for her. I dug through the mound of bags and found the specified pair of glasses. A little larger than we would like for a child, but adjustable. They were clear glass for her good eye and an exact match for her injured eye. We put them on her and instantly had the biggest smile I’ve ever seen. She told us everything was clear! The odds of fitting her with glasses were off the charts and we KNOW we couldn’t do it….but God could.

We have seen the hand of God, we have felt His overwhelming presence, He has increased our faith and strengthened our spirits and today as we prepare for another day in the field, we know that we can’t do anything……BUT GOD CAN!!!!

The Mountainside

Today was our first day of clinic and we were in the village of San Manuel where we had an awesome view as we set up tents on a rocky edge of the mountain. The clinic consisted of Medical, eyeglasses, pharmacy, and hospitality packs. I was a little apprehensive this morning, because in the past I have always worked in children’s church and am very passionate about being a part of sharing God and worshipping with the Hondurans. I attended eyeglass training a few months ago in Louisville, so this trip I am running the eyeglass portion of the clinic. I was feeling overwhelmed as we hooked up all the equipment.

I was lost in thought, when a lady came up and tapped me on the shoulder. It was one of the women from Emanuel where we distributed shoes yesterday. She showed me that she had on her new shoes and then introduced me to a couple of young boys who had some eye problems that she wanted us to look at.

The eye clinic was actually pretty cool. To see their faces when we found glasses that helped them to see, was awesome. They would smile from ear to ear when I handed them my bi-lingual Bible and they could read it with their new glasses. There were a few patients that we could not help due to cataracts or turned eyes and that just broke my heart. We tried to accommodate them with what we could, but most of all we did our best to show them God’s love.

Our primary purpose for this trip was to share Christ with the Hondurans. Something I know, but I had to really work to remind myself of that today instead of being absorbed in the technical part of the eyeglasses ministry. Hmmm, funny how our mission at home is so similar to the mission I’m on this week. How often do we get absorbed in everyday life and miss our primary purpose?

What an awesome day! I can’t wait until tomorrow to go back to the mountainside!

Blessed Feet

I woke up early this morning with anticipation. “Today’s the day we deliver shoes!!”  We arrived at Emanuel early and got to visit with some of the people before the church service began. Such precious, sweet people! The worship service was overflowing with people from Emanuel and the surrounding communities, as we worshipped the Lord in a mixture of Spanish & English. You could feel God’s presence in abundance and a woman went forward to be saved.

After the service, we spoke to the people about how they had touched our hearts in February and that many people from the United States had been praying for them and had sent a gift for them. We told them that the shoes they were receiving, should serve as a reminder that they had ‘beautiful feet’ and they should go forward sharing God’s love with the other people of Honduras.

The excitement on the kids faces as they took their turn picking out their shoes was so cool! As I fitted one little baby girl with pink sandals, I picked up her foot to discover it was covered in mud. I frantically looked around for something to wash her feet with and found nothing. So I took my bandana and spit on it and cleaned her feet. I know some people will think that is pretty disgusting, but didn’t our mom’s do that to clean our faces when we were little? Anyway, the mom smiled at me, so I hope that meant it was acceptable.

Distributing the shoes took quite a bit of time as word got out and the line grew. I stepped away from the crowd for a moment to catch my breath and take in the scene. I saw our team working together as if they were born to distribute shoes and the Hondurans walking away with smiles on their faces and new shoes on their feet. An older woman stopped and proceeded to tell me her life story and about her husband who died of some kind of tumor. All I knew to say was I was sorry. She hugged me tight with tears in her eyes and thanked me for the love that we had shown to her people.

As for a perfect ending to the shoe distribution, the boys that I had first noticed the barefeet of in February,(the ones sitting on the bench in my pictures), appeared just as we were finishing up. Jeneen and I gathered various sizes and got them fitted with some shoes. They were still smiling and waving and looking at their NEW SHOES as we drove away in the bus.

We went to be a blessing to the people of Emanuel today but, we went away as the ones who were blessed.

We have Shoes!!!

After a long day downtown, picking out and negotiating the purchase of shoes, I definitely will never look at shoe shopping the same again.  It was long and tiring and a bit confusing at times, but so much fun! It was evident that God had His hand on this project. We got such good deals, that not only did we purchase shoes for the village of Emanuel (as originally planned), we also got enough shoes for the other two villages we will visit this week AND beans and rice to distribute to Emanuel.

Tomorrow the rest of the team will arrive. It’s gonna be an awesome week!

As the Journey Continues.......

As I started the drive to St. Louis for my flight out to Honduras, I was once again excited for the Journey ahead. The beginning of another amazing adventure in which God would reveal Himself to hundreds of Hondurans as well as our team that is going to serve them.

It’s hard to believe how much has happened since I returned from Honduras in February. I can’t even begin to relate all the ways that God has been working behind the scenes through so many people to accomplish His plan. A plan that not only is evident in my community in Piggott, Arkansas, but to people across our country as well as Honduras.  God has provided the means for us to distribute shoes to the Hondurans in Emanuel as well as minister through this Medical team to two other villages.  Gonna be Awesome!!!!

So now as we head out on this journey with God, I realize it’s not a new journey. It’s a continuation of the journey we began in February…..or perhaps the moment we said “Yes” to God and started our Journey with HIM.

Keep us in your prayers as the Journey Continues…….