Sunday, July 1, 2007

Discovering the Heart of God -- Kin

The Children's Hospital: Friday

I was the last person to get on the bus after making sure everyone was out of the Hospital. I bounced on after playing with an energetic group in the broken bone area of the Hospital with Jordan, Ron & Zach. The kids there were laughing and we were having a blast with them! I was not prepared for what I saw next as I got on the bus!

We had asked our group to not cry in front of the people in the hospital. If they saw something that broke their heart they were not to respond with tears but rather to remember they were there to cheer and comfort those who were afraid and overwhelmed. They had carried out their mission but the bus became their refuge for heart break!

As I got on the bus and told our driver we were all present, I looked up to see tears flowing out of everyone's eyes.

Caleb & Kyla had been the last of six students that had visited the burn unit. They had to put on special steril clothes in order to enter. In their last room they talked and prayed for a fourteen year old boy who had been hit by and dragged under a big vehicle. The dragging had taken off most of the skin around the left side of his waist area. They said he was smiling but it was a hard sight to see. The other kids in the burn unit were in bad shape also. Slowly each tear filled eye poured out how their hearts had been overwhelmed by the sad condition of the patients there.

Here is a picture that will ever be burned in the eyes of Lacey, Elizabeth, and Donna. They went in a room to share gifts with and pray for a woman whose 3 month old baby was deathly sick and had been so since birth. The woman told them that since she had not expected the baby to live she had not yet named him. There they witnessed Caleb Townsend reading a spanish Bible to this woman to bring her comfort. As he read the woman began to cry uncontrollably.

It seems it was Elizabeth's idea for them to read scripture to her, Lacey selected the passages to be read. Donna encouraged them to make their idea happen. And Caleb, who is really great at saying spanish correctly, who began to read. God's love filled that room and lifted that dear discouraged mother. In their tears I could hear their cry for help for this family.

Eddison took his group to the chemo unit. There mothers, dads and children enter the outpatient treatment facility for their chemo treatment. Jerry said the room was filled with sadness and gloom was on everyones face. After our group had been in the room about 15 minutes Jerry said that it was as if the gloom lifted like a morning fog! Everyone began to smile as our group took toys around and Eddison stopped with each family to offer up a prayer! The whole experience had still been very taxing!

Ron Swan is wonderful at speaking spanish and he headed up the third group. They went to the respiratory unit. Kids under hoods, struggling to take their next breath gave this group their undivided attention. Jordan juggled with his sticks and entertain the crowd as others pulled toys out of their back packs. Luke had brought down his brothers clothes which were given out to many of the boys there. Their smiling faces said it all!

At our evening devo everyone poured out their heart about the Hospital. Truely this small band of brothers and sisters had been Jesus to the people of Hondruas! Thanks for your prayers. Kin




Saturday, June 30, 2007

The Precious One Gets A House -- Sandy Spiceland

Thursday - June 28, 2007
Today we built the baby a house. When we completed the house, we celebrated with a baby shower and a house warming party. We gae the family a beautiful rug for their new wood floor and many food items.
We gave the baby new blankets, diapers, shoes and several outfits, and 3 stuffed animals. The precious tiny baby girl slept through the party, but her mother and father rejoiced and praised Gof for their new house and for the shower gifts.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

Day Three - I Was Hungry! Kin Ellis

In Matthew 25 you can read about the day of judgement! The sheep & goats are seperated! The
dividing factor was did you 'give to the least of these!' Today we packaged enough food to feed 5000 people a meal. That's 200 bags of rice, beans, flour, sugar, spigetti, sause, and some other stuff. One packaged black trash bag full of this stuff will feed a family of four for five days.

We loaded our cramed, packed trash bags and went to 'El Canon'. Just a little village that has somehow managed to attach itself to the side of the hill that we climb in the bus to get to Villa Gracia. Students went in groups of four to distribute the food to the homes! Kyla watched a lady start to cry when she gave them the bag of food! Each group talked in our evening devotional about how they saw Jesus in the lives of the people that we gave food to!

After lunch we headed to a day care set up by the last first lady to take care of very poor children. What a blast we had meeting and playing with the kids there. The food that had been so carefully gift wrapted was carried to the day care to give out to each of the 74 families represented there!

God is Good! -- All The Time!

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Early in the Morning -- Chad Caldwell

6/26/2007
Every morning (depending on when you wake up) You have the option to go to a place called the cliff. And literally, its a cliff. If Ii were to fall it would be a good 20 - 25ft. before I hit something, then i would roll and probably not stop for a good hundred feet. But if you were to look past the the danger of the cliff, through the trees, and over a house or two; then you would see something that is absolutely breath-taking. Something that I know I don't get the chance to wake up to every morning. A view of houses, villages, trees and mountains. Its like driving through the Appleacion Mts. on your way to Pigeon Forge. And you get to the top of many ridges and there is a place that you can pull opver and take a picture. Well that is what we can wake upto every morning. And that to me is definitely worth waking up at 6:30am compared to 12pm, like back at home. Details about the day we have before us: eat breakfast between 7 - 8am., have a devo at the cliff at 8 am, be done, packed for the day, and ready to go by 8:30am. Arrive to a lot of dirt around 9 and work to build a house ti'll about 4pm. That is our details in a nutshell. Details about our day are yet to come.

Shutterfly Pictures Of Each Day


Go To: http://www.shutterfly.com/ User Names: honduras@campusyouth.net Password: torch


Pictures of each day will be posted there!
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers! Kin

Our Proposed Schedule:
Monday: Travel/Visit Nueva Oriental/Move into Villa Gracia
Tuesday: Build a House in Santa Anna - Visit Mi Esparanza Children's Home
Wednesday: Food Distribution - Go Downtown Tegucigapa - Play with Poor Children in Day-Care Facility
Thursday: Build a house in Nueva Oriental for Sandy Spiceland's Teenage Mom & Baby of 5 weeks
Friday: Visit to Children's Hospitals, Blind School & Special Needs Children Facility
Saturday: Carnaval at Didasko Children's Home - Take Teens from Los Pinos to a Movie
Sunday: Eddison Preaching at Los Pinos - Valley of Angel's Visit & Devo in Santa Lucia
Monday: Santa Anna: Mi Esparanza Children's Home - Special Projects
Tuesday: Nueva Oriental: Girls vs Guys in House Building Competition (2 Homes Built)
Wed & Thursday: Roatan
Friday: Travel Back to Atlanta

Day Two: A Normal Day! -- Ed Shim

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Today was a normal day. The youth group woke up and ate a normal breakfast of pinapple, watermelon, mango juice, pear juice, fresh orange juice and if we had room cereal.

After breakfast we had a normal devo. We stood at the edge of a cliff, overlooking the Honduran mountains, the city of Tegucigalpa, and the misty horizon. Praising God. Whether for His grace or the view, I will never know.

We left devo for a normal ride. To say we were going down a mountain 25 mph, doging people, cars, and buildings is an exageration, it was more like 70 mph! Our 25 foot bus mysteriously became a crotch rocket weaving through traffic. Andy Hubright, our fearless leader said, "it's only close if you can reach over the window and slap them." This was normal to him?

We got off the bus and began our normal work day. We built a house. In 6 hours a man finally has a home.

This was a normal day. How can this be normal? Because this is Honduras!











Monday, June 25, 2007

The Precious Ones -- Sandy Spiceland


Today I held a 17 day old baby. She was so tiny; I guess she weighed about 5 pounds. She is the daughter of an eighteen year old girl. The baby, her mother, and two other women live in a ten feet by ten feet house. Ther house has a dirt floor and holes in the wall and a tin roof. Praise God we will build these women a house during our stay here!

Sandy Spiceland