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As I am sitting here in the wonderful Miami International Airport, I reflect on the past sixty days.  The last time I was here, I will admit I was scared to death. I had no idea what I had gotten myself into.  As we landed January 22nd, Pauletta looked at me and said, “Welcome home Andrew, welcome home.”  Ha. Now lets talk about being slapped in the face and brought into reality!!  That days seems so long ago in my head, but really is not. 

One thing that made things go smoothly was that I felt at home, that I was not thousands of miles away from family and friends.  That feeling gave me peace that I was in God’s will.  Oh, and if anyone who has been to Honduras thought that the toilet paper was bad, you must have never been to the Miami International Airport!!! 

Thank you for all your support and prayer over the past few months. I can definitely tell people were behind me!!  Prayers are still much needed as I discern what God has in store for me next.  God Bless.

While here, I have thought about and found many things in my life. I found one thing here that I had been longing to find for quite a while, and that was a mentor. For the past ten years, I have struggled with having someone not family related to talk to. I had no one to show interest in helping me grow and mature in my faith. My faith and walk with God were lacking all the way from middle school to college, but I had a fire to grow in my walk and faith. It has been hard for me to let go because of the element lacking in the life of my family and myself. I still carry resentment to this day.

While I was at college, I found those mentors I had been longing to find: Darrell Hillhouse and Jim Pratt. I learned so much from these two men in the short time I have known them that I was able to realize when God was talking to me. I had not realized how much they had challenged me to grow until I was here and looked back on the past few years and saw that they are truly mentors.

Since being here, I have another mentor that I have known for a few years but God crossed our paths once again, and that is Rodney Walls. The encouragement, words of wisdom, and advice made me search for God and look for Him in sometimes the weirdest of places. God has blessed me with some great people to have as mentors in my life, and I know they will be there to help me along the way. It is amazing how God works, and I cannot wait to see what lies ahead of me.  My heart does not want to leave tonight, but hey, it’s just the beginning of the next step of the journey!

For my final blog I have taken excerpts out of a paper I wrote this last week.  In the paper, I discussed four things that I have learned or experienced while being here. 

Devotional Time

How important is a devotional life? All my life I was trained to have a special time each day to have God time. I have been guilty of not whole heartily doing that in the past. Since I started this journey back in the fall, I made that a top priority. Having a devotional time and intimate time with God is crucial for a successful ministry and for one to keep the faith and keep trucking on. Sometimes God just throws a scripture or a reading right at your face, but sometimes we have to seek Him out to see things clearly.  Rodney has always used the illustration, if our personal reservoir is empty, how are we going to minister and meet the needs of the ones we were sent to minister to? When one sets aside a dedicated time to truly focus on God, He will be there waiting to bless you and speak to you each time.

Prayer

The power of prayer. Prayer is, in my thinking, the most powerful tool on the mission field. In saying that, it’s not just the prayers of the missionaries serving but of the support team they have backing them at home. I know that I had tons of people praying for me daily, and I could feel that. Just when something happens or you’re not feeling the greatest, you get a little “umph” from something you see, read, or hear.  I long for a prayer life that is equal to the house parents.  I know that it is possible, if I truly seek God.  On November 17, 2008, Brother John Culbertson preached my grandmother’s funeral. He made a wonderful statement about my Grandmother; he said, “When Joyce prayed, she prayed the Spirit down.” She prayed and knew that God heard and answered the prayers of a faithful servant. After saying all of that, I know when God’s people pray for each other that God hears the desires of their hearts and comforts the ones in need.  I hope and pray that one day someone will say that about me.

Love

The things that I have seen here will stick with me forever. A dead body on the side of the road, the smile of a child that can melt a heart, the little boys at the tollbooth, and then the orphanage. These sights among many others have rocked my inner being and have changed who I am. Experiences such as these confirm without a doubt that missions is where I need to be. The one thing that has hit me the most, and I feel so helpless in helping, is Franklin at the orphanage. He just needs love! When I was here in August of 2010, a friend of mine, Mat, was slapped in the face with what it was all about, and it was Love. Franklin just needs love, the love of a human to care for him and to see that he is taken care of. Then I think, he already has a person who loves him, and that’s Jesus. The same One who came to the cross to die for my sins and show love some two thousand years ago, also loves the little special needs boy at an orphanage in Honduras. Seeing that has changed me the most.  Seeing these things has increased the desire to tell and show people about the love of Christ.  “Now that I have seen, I am responsible.”

Unity.  We need unity in our churches, associations, denominations, and as a whole for Christianity. Ministries cannot operate to their full potential unless the BODY of Christ is working together.  It takes different people to make up different parts, and they must work in unison.  UNITY - that’s something that over the past few years I have learned is crucial to expanding the Kingdom of God.  When there is unity, mighty things can be accomplished.  Joshua did not know what was going to happen when they blew those trumpets after walking around Jericho seven times, but the people were in UNITY.  When we are united in God, those walls and obstacles are going to come crumbling down.

I have a lot of mixed emotions running through my head about things going on in my life and the world around me.  I honestly feel that I will never be fully satisfied with working in a regular job.  God has given me a passion and desire to work in missions, and that’s what I want to do.  I experienced UNITY in worship with fellow believers today at its finest.  I have never heard “It is Well” sung with more passion and umph.  I thought the roof was going to blow off. 

I wish missions was just as easy as going and doing, but its not.  Funds must be raised, and  sacrifices must be given.  I’ve got the Uhaul packed, and I’m ready to go – I am now just waiting for the directions on where to go.  Will I miss things about the safe comfort of home?  Yes, but what is awesome about this is that I recently just closed a big chapter in my life (college), and now God and I can paint the canvas for an entire different journey…a journey I never thought I would be on.  The journey has only begun.

Someone once said, “Just think: you’re here not by chance, but by God’s choosing. His hand formed you and made you the person you are. He compares you to no one else – you are one of a kind. You lack nothing that His grace can’t give you. He has allowed you to be here at this time in history to fulfill His special purpose for this generation.” That statement was on the front of a card I opened this week, and it just spoke to me. I am not here by chance: God had already paved the way for me being here.

We had a team on the ground this week, so everyone was busy getting things done, including myself, but God has a way of saying, “Shut up, sit down, and listen.” Sometime during the week, I heard the song “At the Cross.” I just couldn’t get the song out of my mind, and one night I just focused on the words to the song: “At the cross, at the cross, where I first saw the light.” I honestly believe God wanted me to think about where I have come from and where I am.

It was a Wednesday night in June 1996 where I saw that light, and ironically it was at the foot of a cross. If you have never been to my home church, we have a wooden cross hanging in the baptistery, and it was at the foot of that cross at about 9:30 that I saw that light. The last lines of the song say, “Here, Lord, I give myself away, ’tis all that I can do.” Fifteen years later, here I am in Honduras serving Christ the risen Savior. Every step of faith in God and all the people who have helped me along the way have gotten me to this moment in history to fulfill the will of God. I don’t know where my next fifteen years will take me, but hey, I had a blast during the past fifteen, so the next can only get better. It’s only the beginning!

Week five has come to a close, but not without excitement and new things. Last Sunday at church, the worship for me was in its purest form. It was nothing special: it was just God and the people who have left a known and secure life to serve the Lord in a distant land. I do not know the church members’ stories of how they got here, but I know we have something in common and that is a calling upon our lives from the resurrected King of Kings.

One thing that might surprise you is they are not all from the United States. Some are from Russia, the Philippines, and maybe other places. They all have something unique to offer in service to the Lord. Here I am a twenty-one year old new college graduate trying to make a difference in a foreign country where people with so much more experience are already serving. What can I bring to the table and offer in a foreign place? Well, let me just tell ya what I can do. I can be a student (once again) and learn from the other missionaries but also be a leader and show others that the future of the ministries on the mission field looks bright. I can listen when they just need to talk.

I will admit I know very little about what it takes to live and serve on the mission field. But I know that I have some of the finest examples of missionaries to learn from here at Faith Home and people from my home church. In the short time I have been here, I have learned so much from the people here, and sometimes its nothing monumental but maybe just how to act in certain situations. I hope that one day I can have the faith and knowledge they have.

Now you know what I can do in a foreign country, but YOU can do something as well. You can pray, and I don’t mean one of those “bless those people in a foreign country” prayers. I mean personally know them and call them out by name in prayer. I can tell ya, I can tell when someone is wholeheartedly praying for me, and it’s a feeling that cannot be described. One of the most rewarding things you can do is step out of the comfort zone and go on a one week mission trip somewhere. The things you see and the things God reveals to you will change your life. We all have something to bring to the table; we just have to seek God’s guidance on where we need to be.

I have been up since 4:00.  It is now 5:30 Sunday morning in Honduras, and darkness still covers the valley.  I stepped outside a few minutes ago and heard the rooster crow, and I began to wonder what Peter felt that night in Jerusalem some 2 thousand years ago.  Jesus had foretold that Peter would deny him 3 times before the rooster crowed that night.  Peter denied Christ that night three times before he ever knew what was happening, yet Jesus had mercy and forgave Peter.  It’s weird the things that come to my mind since being down here. 

This week has been special.  On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to visit Nueva Esperanza, a government orphanage located outside San Pedro Sula.  It is supposed to care for 125 children, I believe, but the day I was there it cared for 135 and at sometime near 170.  The first child I encountered was Franklin.  He ran up and hugged Teresa and me as we walked down the 2nd floor corridor.  These children have so much love to offer someone, and if just for a second I was able to receive that child’s love and show him love back, this two-month journey was worth it. 

Teresa and I made our way to the nursery.  The walls were lined with cribs, and there was a row in the middle of the room as well.  The majority of the cribs had two babies in them, with a few having three.  We stayed in that room for probably ten minutes, and all the while I was thinking, “What future do these children have in a place like this?”  Yes, some of them will be adopted or placed in places like Faith Home, but what about the children who have special needs?  Will they be picked? 

Franklin is a special needs child, and my heart hurts for him and what his future might hold.  When he turns eighteen, will he be turned out in the streets to fend for himself or will he receive one of the most precious gifts an abandoned child can receive: a home and people who will care for him?  I don’t know these answers but I know the person who does, and I can pray for Franklin and intercede for him in the throne room of God, that one day he will know the love of having a family.  There is a song that comes to my mind, and the first line says, “I saw what I saw, and I can’t forget it,” and then the last line of the song says, “Something on the road, changed my world.”

So, week three has come to a close. Time has flown by so fast since I landed on January 22nd. I have seen 82 kids enjoy the rare treat of swimming, visited the Mayan ruins of Copan, witnessed the Spirit fall in a church service on the side of a mountain, sorted hundreds of flip flops, and heard the songs and praises of the children drift up the side of the mountain to the throne room of God. I have seen smiles that can melt a heart, and I have seen the purist form of humbling yourself before God in prayer.

On Tuesday nights, the missionaries worship with the children. This time I just observed, and I was truly blessed. As soon as we got to the chapel, the house parents and children started to arrive. After talking with them for a short minute, the house parents began going to the altar to pray. By the time the service had started, I am pretty sure all of them had knelt in prayer. Shortly after the service had begun, one of the house parents came in. He was running late from trying to get some of the kids rounded up. As soon as he walked in the door, he went straight to the altar to pray.

In the States, we have the kind of mentality that we do not go to the altar until the end of the service, if we do at all. The house parents’ prayer lives are awesome, and I had not really thought about this until Rodney and I had talked on Wednesday about how the house parents pray. Later that night, a song came to my mind entitled “Re-discover You” by Starfield. In the second verse it says, “I wanna learn to pray the way David prayed.” When David humbled himself and bowed to God in prayer, God blessed him. 

Rodney had once said the house parents do have a prayer life to be envious of, and I whole-heartily believe that. I also believe there is something about kneeling at an altar and humbling yourself before God that brings a peace. I think the house parents have the same idea. The man who came in late could have just as easily sat down in a seat and prayed, but he did not. He went to the altar and humbled himself before God.  I guess what I am trying to say is I’m challenging myself to ramp up my prayer life.  Let’s learn to pray the way David prayed.

This week and what it has meant to me, wow…where do I start?  The first day, Rodney told me that missionary life isn’t just plowing through the jungle, finding a tribe, and converting them to Christianity. That may be the way it is for some missionaries, but at Faith Home it is different. Here, we have an orderly way of handling things. We are an established mission and have the respect that comes with that. Faith Home is about winning souls for Christ, but on top of that, it’s about gaining the trust of the nationals and showing them what the love of Jesus is all about.

I feel that one downfall of American missionaries today is that we go, we tell them about Jesus, they convert, and then the missionary moves on. Here, it is so much different. We are here, and we are not going anywhere unless the Lord leads. Here at Faith Home, we can watch a young child grow physically, mature spiritually, and become an asset for expanding the Kingdom of God. All the while, we as missionaries are being examples to the children, and for that matter even the house parents know that they can count on the missionaries for advice and to be an example of how to live Godly lives.

The house parents are truly godly people. I knew they had to be great people to do the job they do, but they are so much more then I thought. They have as much or more of a loving spirit than the children. I speak very little Spanish, and the house parents speak very little English, but somehow we communicate. I was very nervous about going into their territory and working with them, but they were so welcoming and hospitable. Catalina taught me how to make tortillas. I know she was thinking, “This dumb American thinks he can make tortillas,” but she was very patient and took the time to teach me how to make one the right way. I only made a few, and they were in no way comparable to hers. I guess just how they accepted me and took time to teach me how to do things really surprised and impressed me. I am really speechless as to how God lets us communicate and the compassion he gives people.

First off, I would like to thank everyone for his or her thoughts and prayers.  It has been a great experience getting here, and I know the best is yet to come.  I arrived shortly after 1 P.M. on Saturday, January 22nd.  I spent this first week with the team I originally signed up for.  During the week, we concentrated on getting the school prepared for the new school year.  Most of the men worked on re-roofing one of the school buildings as well as the baños (restrooms), while the rest of us painted, cleaned, and organized school supplies. 

On Sunday, we worshipped in the English-Speaking International Church and then went out for dinner at a local restaurant.  After lunch, the team went to the wood factory in El Progresso, and I went with the missionaries to the grocery store.  That was an experience!  The store was very busy.  Andy and Rodney helped me figure out where things were and how much things cost.  On Monday, we took the entire campus to a pool in El Progresso.  This is the only time in the year the kids get to go swimming.  The kids had a blast.  I walked on my knees with kids on my back most of the day, and when I got out of the pool, the fronts of my legs were hairless.  It was a whole day outing, including lunch on the grounds.  We got back to Faith Home around 3 o’clock and quickly went down to the school to start the cleaning, painting, and roofing. 

Tuesday was the first full work day.  All hands were on deck working at the school while two of the team members did in-service with the teachers.  That night we worshipped with the kids down in the chapel.  This is always an awesome experience, and what excites me most is that I get to experience that every Tuesday night for the next two months.  On Wednesday, we headed back down to the school to finish everything.  All of the work was finished around 1 o’clock, so everyone rested and played with the kids. 

On Thursday, we distributed rice and beans in a small village on the side of a mountain.  While there, we had a church service, and people accepted Christ as their Savior.  Friday was a free day for the team.  The majority of the team went to Copan to tour the Mayan ruins.  It was about a four drive but well worth it.  We had an amazing lunch in a restaurant there.  On Saturday, it was time to say good-bye.  During the past week, I really had not thought about me staying two months until today when the team was getting their tickets and heading to airport security.  Pauletta and Shannon were the last ones to head to security, and they kept hugging and talking to me.  Robyn was like, “Ya’ll are gonna have to go before you make him cry.”  Tears had started to swell but never flowed.  The whole time I had a smile on my face because I know this is what God has planned for me. 

As I sit here tonight in the house, I think back on what has happened in my life and the journey that is laid out before me.  It’s scary (I won’t lie), and I ask myself, “What have I gotten myself into?” but I know HE knows the future.  2 Corinthians 5:7 says, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.”  Please continue to pray for the core missionary team and me. 

In Christ’s Love

A.J.