Meeting!!

This past Saturday we had a meeting at camp where we all met up and discussed the plan. We got a really long 60-page packet of information that I have yet to read (good thing I'm going to be spending 40something hours in the car over the next week!), but I now have a better idea of the game plan for the week!!

We have to be at the airport early early early Sunday morning, and land in Honduras around noon. It is a 2 hour drive to the camp that we are staying at. Sunday night is devoted in order for us to get all of our stuff in gear and make sure that we are all keyed in on what roles we are playing and missions we are accomplishing for the week.

Monday-Thursday morning, we are breaking up into 2 "teams" and each team will build one home for a family. Then in the afternoons we are going into a local village on Monday/Wednesday and an orphanage on Tuesday/Thursday. We are essentially taking Cho-Yeh to those kids and running activities, playing alpha/omega games, doing Bible studies, and just getting to hang out with the children. TOTALLY exciting!

On Friday we get to go sight seeing, and are staying at a bed-and-breakfast near the airport, then on Saturday we will be leaving to come back to the States. It's going to be a fast week, but I couldn't be more excited!

It was SO good to be able to be in one room with all of the other people who are going on the mission trip. We shared our excitements, our fears, our nervousness, and what we are looking forward to, and it was great to see that everybody was kinda feeling the same way. We have a GREAT team going, and we are all looking forward to getting to know each other more too.

One of the Bible Study skits that I am in is a skit that I saw for the first time when I was at Cho-Yeh as a camper. It is VERY moving and powerful, and I still remember the emotions that I was flooded with when I was watching it. I am excited to be able to perform this skit for the children, and give them something that moved me so much when I was younger. Here is a link to the skit that we will be performing (all though we are changing it up so it won't be so heavy and depressing, but more applicable to younger children's lives).

It's going to be a great week!! Our 4 major prayer goals right now are for 1) The families of the homes we are building. 2) Safe travels to/from the airport and Honduras. 3) The children in the orphanage and the village. 4) The hearts of all those who will be on the mission trip. Please join me in especially praying for those specific needs as this trip is just around the corner!

ONE MONTH!! :)

In one month I will be beginning the Lord's work in Honduras on our mission trip! WAH! Cannot wait!

It seems like everything is getting pulled together, our plane tickets have been purchased, we have registered with the Honduran Embassy, we have raised quite a bit of money to sponsor ourselves and help pay for the projects we will be doing. It is really exciting to see how everything is working together to spend the 21 of us out to do Our Great God's work!

"When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest fields"" - Matthew 9:36-38

The Lord has called the 21 of us to go out into His harvest fields and be His workers. We couldn't be more blessed to have the opportunity to GO and be the Lord's hands and feet. We are getting very excited, and we are all down to counting the days left. Until then, we are surrounding this trip in prayers. This week, we are focusing on praying for each other, and that we will all be spiritually ready when we depart. It's easy to get caught up in the Christmas frenzy and become comfortable during our break from school. We leave just a week and a half after Christmas, and it is crucial that we don't let the presents and the festivities take our mind off of Our Jesus and our reasons for going. It's not for us to be glorified, but for HIM to be glorified!

36 Days!

WOW! I cannot believe in just 36 days I will be in Honduras starting a wonderful week filled with serving Our Great God! I cannot believe how quickly it is coming -- it seems literally that just a short while ago I was on the phone asking my parents if it was okay, sending in my deposit and thinking how crazy far away 4 months would be. Well... three of those months have already gone by!

The Lord has been providing and preparing me in so many ways for this trip! First off, He allowed my family and friends to join in on this trip by helping sponsor me in going and by becoming my own little prayer team! The fact that I have those people in my life who are so supportive of me and believe in me and what I want to do when I'm there is so reassuring and gives me so much confidence. I am so thankful that God has blessed me with such awesome people in my life!

He has also been teaching and breaking my heart in more ways than I can count, especially in the past couple weeks. It all started out when I got to work with a few foster children at the elementary. My heart hurt for them, and I loved getting to see them and spend individualized time with them each week. I also read a book entitled "Kisses from Katie" (READ IT- SO GOOD!) that broke my heart a little bit more for all the children in the world who don't have families and who don't know what love is. That has become a passion of mine, and I am trying to find all the ways that I can help these precious children out. Orphans and foster children have become a passion of mine (One of my campers from this past summer was adopted officially by her foster care family when she was at camp -- talking with her this summer might have been what really started this passion). God has been preparing my heart and growing this passion inside of me, and I cannot wait to play and teach and LOVE on those precious precious children in the orphanage when I'm in Honduras. God's beautiful and perfect sons and daughters! Cannot wait!

The saying "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the called" has seriously been so true in my life! I knew that He wanted me going to Honduras on this trip, and at the time I had no idea what I was doing and didn't have any passion out of the ordinary for this beautiful children who don't have homes and families. He sure has grown that inside of me!!!

I cannot wait to see what else God is going to teach me in these next 36 days before I leave!!

God of Justice

I ran across this song today and LOVED it! So excited to be serving Our Awesome God in HONDURAS in January!! Fill me up and send me out!

"God of Justice" by Tim Hughes. Go listen to it, and then try to tell me that you don't want to go travel the world and be Christ's hands and feet!!

Shields

"Prepare your shields, both large and small, and march out for battle!" --Jeremiah 46:3

After what might have been one of my worst days at A&M yet, I skipped water polo and snuggled up under a blanket with my Bible, devotion book, and journal and was ready to have an amazing quiet time that would refocus me on what was really important-living for our awesome God!

I really wasn't expecting to get anything Honduras related out of my quiet time today, but once again what I was expecting wasn't what happened--God went WAY above that! Not only did I calm down and refocus on God, but he revealed to me this awesome little verse that would begin my intense preparation for Honduras!

In 55 days I will be in Honduras. CRAZY! If I were to have to get on that plane right now, I would be feeling so inadequate to be Christ's hands and feet. I'm nowhere near as ready biblically and spiritually to be missioning for our God as I want to be in January. But this verse showed me exactly how I need to be preparing. Preparing my shields, both large and small.

Some things seem obvious when it comes to mission trips. These "large shields" - such as patience, biblical foundation, a flourishing relationship with Our Lord. Those are the things that I have been caught up with trying to prepare myself for. But in reality, those are only part of the things that are needed in order for a mission trip to be successful. We also have to have "small shields" - love, joy, compassion, humility, a servant's heart, and a commitment.

It are these "small shields" that will ultimately build into the "large shields" that I have been focusing on. Starting now, I will be focusing on encompassing these smaller necessities that don't seem as crucial as the bigger "shields". But in reality, without these small shields, our larger shields are just big flimsy shields. Yes, they have the size to protect you, but they aren't made with the correct materials. They aren't going to do much unless we have the small shields building them up! Combined together, it is these shields that will be essential for our work to glorify our Father when we are in Honduras! The large shields aren't enough by themselves, and neither are the small shields. We need them both!

Tomatoes, Flour and Eggs

Tomatoes, Flour, and Eggs! That's how Camp Cho-Yeh likes to raise money for mission trips!!

Yesterday at Chovember Fest (it's a Fall Festival type thing that Cho-Yeh puts on for campers in the Houston area once a year), there was an obstacle course that was set up for everybody who was going on the mission trip to run through. Here's the catch. All of the campers and their families could purchase tomatoes, flour bombs (panty hose filled with flour), water balloons and eggs to throw at us as we ran through it!

Kristen, Carley and I ran through the race together, which was a hoot in itself because we are best friends and all uber competitive. I managed to get through the race pretty clean, and was pretty excited. Boy was I in for a surprise! All of my campers had saved all of their ammo for when I got done, so that they could pelt me when I wasn't expecting it. Yep. I was disgusting to say the least. I had eggs and tomatoes woven into my braid and in my ears. I looked like a pancake with all of the flour that was caked onto my skin. It was disgusting. But so much fun at the same time!!

I think we ended up raising about $500 for the mission trip!! It was a huge success!!

Here is a picture with me and my campers after they had finally exhausted their ammo. This is also after I then rubbed all of the disgustingness off of me and onto them that I could.... What fun :)

Sponsoring

I am amazed at how awesome God is about providing for this mission trip!! SO many incredible stories have come out of the sponsorship letters that we sent out. He is SO faithful about providing everything that is necessary for us to fulfill His will! We find out in about a week and a half how much total money was raised, but the fact that God is at work already on this trip is so incredible to hear. I have never been so sure in my life about how God wants me to spend some of my time!!

He won't leave them either!

This morning I was reading out of Jeremiah (I'm still slowly working my way through that book!) and found a passage that I LOVED!

"This is what the LORD says, "he who appoints the sun to shine by day, who decrees the moon and the stars to shine by night, who stirs up the sea so that the waves roar - the LORD Almighty is his name: Only if these decrees vanish from my sight," declares the LORD, "will the decscendants of Israel ever cease to be a nation before me." This is what the LORD says: "Only if the heavens above can be measured and the foundations of the earth below be searched out will I reject all the descendants of Israel because of all they have done," declares the LORD." --Jeremiah 31:35-37

After reading that I couldn't help but feel all warm and fuzzy inside. At this point, Israel hasn't been following the Lord and have been rejecting Him essentially. But, God doesn't give up on them. This is pre-Jesus, before all of our sins have been paid for, and yet God still isn't forgetting about Israel, and still loves them enough to call them His people. Our God won't give up or leave us either, even after all the not-so-great and downright ugly things that we do.

This is one of the messages that we will be carrying when we go to Honduras. They too have a God who loves them, and who cares about each one of those precious little children. Those children have been through rough times, but the God who loved Israel in the Old Testament loves them too! He won't leave them either, just like He will never give up on us! What an awesome message that we get to carry and spread when we are serving Our Great God in Honduras!!

First Profit Share!

Whoooooo!!! We had a profit share tonight at Froyoyo (it's a frozen yogurt place off campus), and I think it went pretty well. We get 25% of whatever we sold tonight (in other words, whoever we brought to froyoyo). We think we had about 40 people come in the 2 hours we were there, which would be about $160. So we would get $40. Which once we divide it among the 10 of us Aggies that it was benefiting it won't equal out to much at all I'm just now realizing. BUT, we raised a bunch of awareness for what we are doing got some additional prayer support!! We are definitely going to have to advertise better for our next one!

It was fun though getting to see those of us from A&M that are going all in one place! Makes the excitement even more!! Didn't know that was possible :) we are all WAY excited to be serving the Lord in Honduras in a few short months!!

Night-and-Day Difference

"But you are the ones chosen by God, chosen for the high calling of priestly work, chosen to be a holy people, God's instruments to do his work and speak out for him, to tell others of the night-and-day difference he made for you—from nothing to something, from rejected to accepted." -1 Peter 2:9-10 (MSG)

This is what Honduras is all about! We are going to tell hundreds of children and their families about Our God, the God that has made a complete 180 degree turnabout in my life. The God that has relentlessly taken me back time and time again. The God that sees past all my imperfections. The God that never gives up on me. The God that knows my flaws, and uses them to bring Him glory. The God that will never let me down. The God that has made a "night-and-day difference" for me. The God that has brought me "from nothing to something" and "from rejected to accepted".

That is what we are going to be doing that week. Loving on kids, and bragging about our God. It's something we should be doing everyday, in every situation. There is no opportunity too small for Our God to use. It doesn't take a huge mission trip out of the country in order to bring our God glory and honor. All it takes is a willing servant who will let the Lord in and a few seconds, and God can do miraculous things. He can, will, and does make "night and day" differences each and every day. He turns all of us who deserves to be nothing, who deserve worse than rejection, into people that are "somethings" and who are accepted. That's not the world, that's God.

"Follow You"

"Follow You" by Leeland

"You lived among the least of these
The weary and the weak
And it would be a tragedy for me to turn away.

All my needs You have supplied.
When I was dead You gave me life.
How could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow You into the homes that are broken.
Follow You into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.
Follow You into the World.

Use my hands, use my feet
To make Your Kingdom come
Through the corners of the earth
Until Your work is done
'Cause Faith without works is dead
And on the cross Your blood was she'd
So how could I not give it away so freely?

And I'll follow You into the homes that are broken.
Follow You into the world.
Meet the needs for the poor and the needy, God.
Follow You into the World.

I give all myself.
I give all myself
I give all myself... to You.

And I give all myself.
Yes, I give all myself.
And I give all myself... to You."

Such a GREAT song!!

"Through their message"

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be on, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world known that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me" --John 17:20-21, 23

When I was working the Alumni Retreat at Cho-Yeh this weekend, this was a Bible verse that was read on the opening night, and I instinctively thought of Honduras. Our mission trip is being surrounded in my prayers as we speak--prayers for us, prayers for safe travels, prayers for the Hondurans. All of these things are important, but it seems so easy to be focused on praying for ourselves when we are praying for the mission trip. I catch myself all the time praying that I will be able to get the paperwork completed and finalized, that I will be safe while I'm there, that I will be effective, that I will be able to pull the money together, that I will have fun... That is how selfish we are today! This trip is NOT about me. It isn't about any of us that are going. It is solely about God and bringing Him the glory while sharing His beautiful message with those that don't know Him. No where in there am I needed. God could send anybody on this mission trip, if I wasn't going then He would send somebody else. He doesn't need ME to go. Therefore, although prayers for ourselves is important, what is MORE important is the prayers for the people who will be primarily effected by our efforts. The children, the employees at the orphanage, the families of the homes we are building, the people we will encounter at the airport, you catch my drift. That is what my prayers should be focused on. I am not the fundamental puzzle piece in this trip. That spot belongs to God, and then to those who we are going to serve. Therefore, join me in prayer for the people of Honduras, that our words may not be of us but rather that God will speak through us so that His beloved children in Honduras will be able to draw near to Him and understand the abundant life that we are given through Him. That they will feel the love that they may have never experienced, and know that the love comes from Jesus Christ. That God will (because we have faith and know that He can!) move mountains in Honduras and start a ripple that will turn into a wave to spread His love throughout that orphanage, community, and country!

God is big enough!

Every Thought

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ"
-2 Corinthians 10:5

I read this passage this morning and loved it! Another translation puts it like this, "We use our powerful God-tools for smashing warped philosophies, tearing down barriers erected against the truth of God, fitting every loose thought and emotion and impulse into the structure of life shaped by Christ". WOW! In essence, that is what our lives should look like everyday. We are supposed to break down anything that stands in the way of letting others know Christ, and sometimes (and by "sometimes", I mean ALL the time) that means breaking down ourselves to where others can tell that we are living 100% for Christ. All of thoughts should be centered around Christ, how gigantic does that sound? How many billion things do we think about in a single day? Lots. And the Bible says that each and every thought should be centered about the Lord. Even trying to think about what that would look like blows my mind. Every thought. I can't even fathom it, and I think that's a good thing. I don't want to be able to understand the Lord (but that's a totally different blog post for some other time).

This is huge at camp, and is going to be crazy huge in Honduras. We are not in Honduras for ourselves, we aren't going to be there for our friends. We are going to be there to spread the Word of our God and bring hope to so many people. In order to do that, our every thought must be on Him. There's a chance we will encounter conflict (if not in Hondruas, it will happen in our world), and we will have to demolish and smash everything that is not of God. We will have to be totally in tuned with God to have the strength and ability to do that.

Therefore, we start to pray now. Our thoughts aren't just supposed to be completely on God when we are at church, or on a mission trip--it's a daily thing. There's no better time than right now to begin to learn how to do this and be intentional about it!

Love Is A Verb

"Love is a verb- just do it" -BJ Higgins

"love" itself is going to be HUGE when we are in Honduras. Not only are we going to be loving on kids constantly and showing them Christ's love, we are going to have the opportunity to show these orphans a love that they may have never experienced. Can you imagine being a child and not knowing what it was like to be loved? To be held and comforted, to be rocked to sleep, to be hugged and played with? That breaks my heart knowing there are kids out there like that, and it also excites me knowing that I will have the chance to provide that for these kids.

Love is not just something that you say, love is very much an action. Christ demonstrated love every second of His life, from the way he spoke with his disciples, to the way he handled the markets in the temples, to the way he healed Bartimaeous (the blind man) in Mark. Love isn't just a phrase. We can demonstrate love in every second of our life, in every word, every action, every situation, and every response. LOVE. It's a verb. Just do it!

"Made In Honduras"

Maybe I'm kinda obsessed right now.. When I was putting away my laundry, I found that one of my shirts was made in Honduras!

Heart For Honduras

Welcome to Heart For Honduras! This blog is essentially for me, so that I can document the preparation of the next 4 months leading up to Honduras, and then the trip itself.

I wil be going on a mission trip in January 2012 with Camp Cho-Yeh to Honduras! We are going to be building 2 houses for families who are currently homeless, and will be holding a children's camp for over 300 orphans. We will be gone from the 8th-14th of January.

Today, I was reading out of Jeremiah 1, and fell in love. There were a few verses I especially liked, then one that hit me hard.

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (Jeremiah 1:5)

""Do not say "I am only a child" You must go to everyone I send you to andsay whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you" declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, "Now I have put my words in your mouth. See today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms...to build and to plant"" (Jeremiah 1:7-10)

"Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them" (Jeremiah 1:17)

This is my journey of "getting myself ready". Join me as I intentionally pray over the next 4 months for the children who we will impact in Honduras, the families who will receive the homes we will build, and the 20 of us that will be on the trip.