A God Sent Addiction

Please keep la Familia Morazan in your prayers:)

2010-02-19T22:00:00.000-08:00

I come to each of you asking that you keep a very special Honduran family in your prayers. This family brings so much effort and Godliness to our mission team each year, we have grown to love each one of them like they are our own relatives. They have such a special place in my heart and it breaks my heart to see the mother of the family, Celpha sick. Celpha had stomach surgery a couple years ago which brought about some complications such as infection etc. My Tio Walter visited Celpha and her family recently. Celpha has lost a large amount of weight (needless to say, she didn't have any weight to lose before). Unfortunately, Celpha's family cannot afford the medicine that she needs.

Celpha is a very hard working woman and a very important asset to her family. The warmth of her smile and love that she has outpoured to my family as well as many others has been overwhelming at times. I think back on many times within the past 6 years of working with her family when I sit back to watch Celpha as she helps my mama understand what a spanish speaking person is trying to tell her (mama gets lost when the Hondurans start speaking really fast:) or the times when Celpha ties over 100 food bags in half the time it would take for Americans to do the same job. Even the times when I feel like I just adopted Judy-Debbie (the youngest daughter of the family) for the 10 days I am in Honduras working because I play the role of a typical mother to her...the loving, the disciplining, and of course...the spoiling, Celpha will sit back and watch with a smile of love and thankfulness plastered all over every expression she makes.

The Morazan Family is love and they have a true heart for God. So I ask that you take a little time out of your day to say a prayer for Celpha and her family. If you would like to give financially to the Morazan Family to help purchase the medicine and treatments that Celpha needs, please do not hesitate to contact myself and I will be more than happy to direct you to doing that.

This is the most recent picture of Celpha, her husband, and their youngest child, Judy-Debbie.

*I will update this within the next couple days with a "before" picture of Celpha as well as a couple pictures of their family.*

Make a difference today and make a change in someone's life forever.
Heather:)

Missing my second Home

2009-10-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

Many people have the mind set that after a certain period of time, everything feels normal again. You forget things and move on in life. We fill our lives with so much "stuff" that we don't take the time to reflect on those in our past, in our future, and in our present.
After hearing that Walter won't be able to come to the States right now because of the political unrest in Honduras, I've missed that country more than ever. After looking through pictures of my little kids in Honduras and the friends....more like family, whom I've made over the years in Honduras, homesick for Honduras is an understatement. More than ever I just want to pick up a little, dirty, skinny,adorable child to hug on them, I want to be able make a housekeeper at Hotel Clarion smile by simply saying "buenas dias", I want to see the smile of a family who is getting the gift of food/clothing, I want to hear spanish everywhere I go, I want to see how God is using those in poverty to spread his love. I miss their compassion.
Please be praying that things will get back to normal in Honduras very soon, as well as the safety of everyone there!

Honduras House Build 2009

2009-09-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Emely:)

Honduran friends who worked on the house

Some of the crew!

This summer has brought many changes, both positive and negative, one of the biggest disappointments was not be able to travel to Honduras. Because of the political unrest in the country, many of you know that we had to make the decision to cancel our annual mission trip. It didn't seem like anything good could happen out of cancelling this trip however God really knows how to make things happen threw any obstacle. Our mission team decided to send down enough money for our Honduran friends to build a house for a family in desperate need. My dad talked to Walter Goodwin the last week of August to find out that they had the house done! Below is the email sent out by my dad,

"Walter left a message today that they completed the house late Wednesday! They wrapped it up by having a devotional with the family who were very happy and appreciative to our Brigade for helping them out. Photos of the project should be coming soon.

Walter said all of the workers did a great job and that they had a great time working and serving together. I think it also helped to build some teamwork among our Honduran friends from 'different' places.

In fact, they celebrated the build by having the much anticipated rematch between Felipe's and Walter's soccer teams. Walter said they are getting better and that Felipe's team only beat them by two points this time around! (instead of the 20+ points they beat them by last year.)"

God Bless,

Kenny

As some of you may know, I have been pretty homesick throughout the first few weeks at Lipscomb University in Nashville,TN however I think I'm becoming more homesick for Honduras than my home in Ohio! It has been so difficult to not be able to see our family in Honduras but it is even more difficult to think about all the people who aren't getting medical care, food supplies, daily need items, or the exposure to God because of many mission teams not being able to travel to Honduras this summer. However, it has been awesome to see how God has worked out certain situations such as a house getting built amongst all the disappointment.

We serve an amazing God and I'm beginning to see that instead of trying to plan everything out on my time and expecting God to follow my lead, if I step back and let God go first, He will make things happen for the good in His time:)

Make a difference in someone's life today!

More pictures soon:)

Only 4 Months..

2009-03-12T19:30:00.001-07:00

In four short months our mission team will be leaving for yet another life changing trip to Tegucigalpa, Honduras. There aren't even enough words to describe how anxious I am getting to go back home to Honduras. Last year I had the opportunity to fly over by myself in order to work out of Casa de Esperanza as well as spend time with some of my family over there. Needless to say, I have been having an extremely rough last couple weeks. It is very disappointing not be getting packed right now in order to leave. Although, July will be here before I know it. Every time I walk past a picture in my room of my little kids in Honduras, my heart aches for them. I have to stop and ask myself, why am I drowning in my weaknesses when these kids have literally...nothing. Their daily job is to beg on the busy streets of Tegucigalpa, in order to have food for their families to eat. Many of these people don't have enough clothes in order to wear a clean outfit everyday even. But, I am concerned that I might have just worn the same outfit last week sometime. It is sad that myself, as well as many others get caught up in the material world and tend to forget to thank God for the blessing that he has given to us. One thing that has really impressed me about the Hondurans is the faith and strength which they have in God. They rely on God to get them through because they can't even afford to buy the "material attractions" that distract us. Although the economy is tight and jobs are being lost, don't lose hope! God has told us that he will not given us anything that he knows we cannot handle. Please take time today to pray for all the Hondurans, our mission team as we get ready for our trip, and all those who have/need hope in God.

missing my second home:(

2008-08-28T15:14:00.000-07:00

Me and one of the cutest little boys ever!

Recently I have a lot of time spent by myself and as boring, not fun, and depressing as that can be its finally given me time to reflect back on my time spent in Honduras this past July. You never relieze what awesome family and friends that you have until you've been away from them for awhile. After the 3rd week that I was in Honduras in July I began to wonder if I still had the same passion/addiction for mission work that I had 6 years ago when I first began going but as I've been thinking about it a lot recently I think my addiction has increased but at the same time it has changed. I no longer look at the people in Honduras as stranger but as my family.Instead of viewing my mission trip as a "work" trip its become more of a family reunion. If only I could love like the Hondurans, and be thankful like them. If only I could put all my trust and faith into God like the Hondurans do. I've learned so much from them but don't feel like I've practiced enough of what I've learned. Please continue to pray daily for the Honduran people.

How can you show God living in you to someone else?

I will post pictures from this summer's trip on here as soon as possible.

My little girl, Judy-Debbie and me!

Why Am I Here?

2008-07-16T20:07:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of our week, my Dad asked our team the question "Why am I here?". As our week has gone on, I have kept this question in the back of my mind but to be honest I have been pretty discouraged about a few situations so I didn't really know how to answer this question. Last night after dinner with my family and Bethany at El Corral, I finally got my answer. I couldn't help but notice how God placed this certain situation right in front of me. My mom, Bethany, and I didn't eat all of our meals therefore I got a box so that I could give our leftovers to 2 or 3 kids that we had seen sniffing glue on the street corner by our hotel earlier that day. Unfortunatly when we got to where the boys were standing earlier in the day there had been an accident therefore the police were standing all over the street. The boys weren't there because the police would have taken their glue if they had seen them with it. The glue is used to take away their hunger pains. Anyway, I was pretty disappointed since I didn't get to give away my food but then out of the corner of my eye I saw 2 younger boys sitting on the Burger King sidewalk. We called one of the boys over to where we were standing and I handed him my bag of food. The way he reacted you would have thought that we gave him gold. He stood there and kept saying thank you over and over. As I watched the boys eat their meal my heart broke for them. I can't imagine living in the poverty that these boys are faced with everyday, I can't even imagine eating food from a complete stranger off of the street. It wasn't 5 minutes later that the same little boy came back over to me and told me thank you again for the food and he told me how it meant a lot to him for me to give him the food because his mom didn't have enough money or food to support his family. That period of time opened my eyes and my mind. I am here to help give hope to kids like the boy that I gave my food to last night. Many times I ask myself, Why did God place me on Earth to live in the U.S. with all the material resources I need or want, an awesome family, a well paying job, and great friends, why didn't God choose to place me in a poverty-stricken country such as Honduras? I don't know that I will will ever be able to answer that question but I do know that God placed me on this Earth to provide hope and a future for those that don't have any hope. God has given me the talent for mission work and I know have come to the realization that God has placed me at the spot where I am in my life right now and I need to use my talents to the best of my abilities when he places the oppurtunities in front of me.
Thank you for all the prayers that you all have prayed for our mission team!
Please pray for a safe trip for our team as we begin to fly out tomorrow and Friday.

A success!

2008-07-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

Today has been another successful day for our team! We bagged and handed out about another 200 food bags for Nueva Jerusalem. Our VBS team also did a few lessons with the kids while we were in Nueva Jerusalem. We had lots of kids for that. Our construction crew is almost done with building the 2 houses. They have the roof, floor, and a few windows to finish up tomorrow. They have made a lot of progress this week. The dental team saw about 200 people and the medical/doctor team saw about twice that amount. The water filters are going to be assembled in the houses tomorrow as well.
Yesterday my Dad had the privilage of baptizing one of our very good Honduran friends', Marvin. He has been wrestling with the decision of giving his life to God for about 4 or 5 years and yesterday he made his decision of putting God in control of his life so that was an awesome part to add to our trip.
It's unbelievable but tomorrow is our last day working together as a team. We have a group of our team leaving on Thursday and 8 other people flying out of Honduras on Friday. This trip has definatly opened my eyes and our team has been able to touch the lives of many, many Honduran and American people.
Continue praying!
Buenas noche!

God is Good!

2008-07-14T20:54:00.000-07:00

Ok I'll start with Sunday:
We went to Nueva Jeruselem for church. Our team built a church in this village about 5 or 6 years ago and since then they have expanded their church building to twice the size and also they have added a classroom for the kids. We did Sunday school while we were there also. Durning church I got to hold the cutest little 2 month old baby girl named Jaime. It was hard to give her back to her mom when we left! After church we went to Casa de Esperanza which is the childrens home that I stayed at while I was here in March. It was good to see the little kids again and it was definatly a happy moment for me when they remember my name and that I came in March. With all of the people that stay there at Casa, they remembered me! God definatly placed those children in my life to show me that I am a special child of God and that I do have a purpose in life.
Today we bagged up another 200 food bags and went to a village to do VBS and hand out food bags. Bethany and I went out to pass out tickets with a Honduran preacher, Felipe. It was really neat but very sad seeing the conditions in which these people live in. As we walked to their doors we had to walk underneath their moldy smelling laundry to arrive to their one room house, some made of concreate while others were made of only string and plastic. It was so awesome to see how thankful and excited that the people were once they recieved their bags.

I will post more about the construction team and medical team tomorrow.

God is doing awesome things here in Honduras!Keep praying!

I will also try to post pictures tomorrow, the internet is really slow here at the hotel and I havent had enough time to download the pictures on here yet!

We made it!

2008-07-10T21:35:00.000-07:00

We made it into Tegucigalpa last night around 7:30 or 8pm. Due to the airport being closed in Tegucigalpa, we had to fly into San Pedro Sula then drive 4 hours to get to Tegucigalpa.It was a lot of traveling in one day and I think everyone was pretty tired once we got to the hotel. In Miami's airport God definatly found a way to start my trip out on a positive note. Bethany and I were in the bathroom and this lady came over to us and asked if we are group was christains because she could tell by the way we acted. She then asked us what we were going to be doing while in Honduras and when we told her she said thank you for helping her country over and over then she stood there, in the bathroom, and hugged us. It is such an awesome feeling to know that we are making a difference in peoples lives, even when we might not know it.
It is so good to see all of family and friends here. I have definatly missed them! Today we went to the warehouse and then ran errands most of the day. The rest of our team still hasn't gotten to the hotel yet, they probably won't be here until around 12:30am. Their plane had gotten delayed in Miami therefore they didn't make it into San Pedro Sula, Honduras until late. Tomorrow will be a busy day since it is the first day of work. I will blog about that tomorrow night hopefully.Please continue to keep our team in your thoughts and prayers. Pray that our eyes are opened and that God will work in unimaginable ways!

2 more days

2008-07-06T16:58:00.000-07:00

My family along with a few other people from our mission team leave fpr Honduras in 2 days! It is hard to believe that it is almost time to go back to my second home! As overwhelmed as I am feeling with all the packing that I still have to do, I can't wait to see all of our family and friends in Honduras as well as see what plans that God has in store for me over the next few weeks.

One of my favorite quotes that exactly encompasses our trip to Honduras is:

"In a contagious world we learn to keep our distance. If we get too close to those who are suffering, we might get infected by their pain. It may not be convenient or comfortable but only when you get close enough to catch their hurt will they be close enough to catch your love"

-John Ortberg

2008-06-28T05:52:00.000-07:00

This video is one that highlights my trip that I took in March. It was another awesome, eye opening trip for me. I had many new experiences while on this trip. I flew down to Honduras by myself, I stayed at an orphanage where I didnt really know anyone but have come to love so much, I stayed with my Tio Walter and Tia Marlin. It was neat to experience the Honduran life in a little different way when your one of the only Americans around at some points. Since I've been home, 5 of the brothers that were living at Casa de Esperanza have been taken back to live with their parents. Please pray that their parents will be strong enough, both finanical and emotional to continue to take care of their boys. 2 new kids, Doris and Johnny (I think that is his name!) have come to Casa since March. These kids touched my life more then you could think, I love and miss each one of them so much!

Also, in the video, it says that in July we will be working with the Neil Howard Clinic. Due to finanical and other problems, Neil Howard is now closed, although we will be working with Walter Goodwin at Ambassadors for Christ.

10 days until we leave!

Why?

2008-06-27T05:57:00.000-07:00

Throughout the past few days I have encountered a few situations that have made me ask "why am I so blessed?". Why did God give me the amazing family and friends, a nice house to live in, a well paying job, a nice car..the list could go on. Along with this question, why do I have it so nice while a majority of the people in the world live in a house made of metal, not knowing when their next meal will be. God did bless me with the material aspects in life but I too often find myself being caught up in the material addictions which doesn't leave much room for the spirtual addiction. That is one thing I love about the Hondurans, their faith is unimaginable. They live in such poverty but their trust and faith in God is something that I have all to often fallen short of. My Tio Walter that lives in Honduras always says, "trust God". It seems so easy to say and so hard to do but really how hard do we try?

Be the change you wish to see in the world.

11 days until we leave for Honduras!!

2 weeks!

2008-06-25T19:16:00.000-07:00

Time has gone so fast! 2 weeks from today, my family will be in Tegucigalpa, Honduras! This year our mission team consists of about 32 people from Ohio and Florida. We will be doing a lot of work with a village called New Jerusilum and we will also be doing a lot more mobile clinics this year. Please keep our mission team in your thoughts and prayers as we prepare to be the hands and feet of God to the Hondurans in a couple weeks!