June 17th, Our Second Day at Colonia

We got to Colonia today ready to go...and so were the people! We had more that yesterday, but we were fired up! We started off the medical ministry with sharing the gospel in relation to their need for medical healing and and the healing that The Great Physician can provide to those who choose Jesus as Lord. Several stood in with a requrest for prayer, but no one wanted to say what their need was. They are a very proud people. We only know that their needs will be met and their prayers will be heard. Medical already had many people ready to go when we got there! The medical team and their interpreters were awesome today! There were so many people and the team just rocked! I don't know how they did it.

The pharmacy was amazing and took care of so many people! These ministries are such a blessing to the Honduran people. It is a chance to heal the physical need while showing them there is healing for the spirit. Tracts were handed out at all of the ministries as well as prayers, love and mighty hugs!

The Carnival team spent much time with the children today. There was face painting, tatoos, ballons, a parachute game, bean bags games and a lot of kid tossing! Debbie Neely was doing fingernail painitng, Les Neely and Jim Hawkins were doing tatoos. Kevin Nely was face painting. You should have seen some of those girls with painted fingernails, tatoos, stickers and face paint on all at the same time! They were nothing but smiles. How wonderful it is to see a child light up when love is lavished upon them!

Later on we decided to stop and made baloon headwraps for the kids. We had such a blast with them. They didn't want to leave our side. So, we decided then to go and place games like the parachute game which was a great hit for the kids. We played a home-made bean bag game that they went nuts over! And finally, we played hackysack. Have you ever seen 13 ten year olds get into a circle and play hackysack? Well, if you did you would never forget it!

One child in particular touched one of our team member hearts. Jim Hawkins was blessed to have this one little girl be his first hug in Honduras. She helped him set up the games and held his hand all day! And if that was not enough blessing to witness from the heart of a child, the children came out in the rain with him as he flipped them and tossed them around. They never left his side and gave him many hugs. He and Kevin Neely stayed out in the rain with them flipping and spinning the children! Jim and Kevin were later offered a pineapple from her mother out of gratitude! A pineapple is a great offering of gratitude for these people don't have much.

After the kids wore Jim and Kevin out...and the rain finally stopped, the teams closed up. On our way to get on the bus, there was a homeless man that came up to Jim, Kevin and Miguel. The man had been heavy in drinking and had fallen away from Christ. He came to Miguel and because he knew him from the streets, the man opened his heart. He wanted to be restored and strengthened Jesus. He was so sorry for all of the drinking and the way his life was being led. Even though he knew Jesus, he could not shake the drinking. He asked us to pray for him to be restored and asked for a bible. So, Kevin, Jim and Miguel started to pray for the man and he fell down broken by his life and poured out tears with great release! He fell crumpled to the ground crying and asking Jesus for forgivness.

We were all in awe at how Jesus touched this man and used us, strangers through obedinece, to be a door of opportunity for this man to come home to Christ. After some powerful prayer we got up and he hugged us still crying and praiseing God. We got chills! We left in awe at what God had done for this man that we may never see again until we meet in heaven.

That night the team went out to eat and Gary Clark and I (Kevin Neely) went back to the church to continue discipleship teaching. We arrived and quickly we arranged the church chairs into teaching circle because I wanted these wonderful people to see me, not as a pastor, minister or missionary as they wanted to, but just a restored man of God that loves Jesus as much as they do. We broke the ice as I picked on them for yawning at me and we began the teaching. I went through the understanding of God's doors of opportunity and ourselves become a door that God openes to bless others and reveal the love and the Good News of Jesus Christ.

I could feel God's Spirit leading me to deliver to them on the fly what they needed to hear. I barely looked at my notes. It was a powerful teaching setting and the members of the church had me teach two hours again this night! Praise God for their Hunger for the Word and a desire to become a more devoted disciple in Christ. I was honored just to be in their with them.They wanted instruction from the Word and most importantly to them, an application to guide their their lives to grow in.

The people of Honduras are so hungry for teaching and the gospel. There are many pastors that are voicing to us in a need for teaching and teachers. They desire deeply for the leaders to be raisied up. They have a heavy heart for more resources to build deep faith into their disciples.

Jim Hawkins wanted to say that he was blessed from a testimony from Daneille Schroeder. She had spoken during our after ministry share time that she admitted to being frustrated today. She had no interpreter. And just when she was getting ready to quit due to frustration, an interpreter showed up at her side that she never would have had and she was so thankful that God sent her as help. Later on she told Jim that she is not the type of person to open up and speak like that because she is shy, but she felt God told her to say something. This is coming from a lady that was just re-baptised and was here in Tegus the next week! How might the Lord works! I am so proud of my sister!

This would have been posted last night, but here it is now! If there are any type-o's I am sorry. It is 11:30pm here,I am using a Spanish keyboard, and spellcheck doesn't work on English.

Buenos Noches! :)

June 16, Our First Day Working in Honduras

After a few delays and setbacks, we made it safetly to Tegucigalpa on Sunday afternoon. Be sure and ask Todd about his status with Continental Airlines when we return. We had a relaxing supper at the Hotel Excelsior and caught up on our sleep. Monday morning we headed out to Colonia with our dental and medical equipment, toys, eyeglasses and expectant hearts. We had a great day working in Colonia, helping the local people with much needed services. I was quickly trained in the pharmacy, where I had never worked before, but enjoyed helping fill the prescriptions for the approx 225 people that the doctors saw. Todd fitted about 150 eyglasses with the help of a translator and the worship leader of Ministerio de Coshecha de Jesus. Nelson extracted over 30 teeth, Danielle cut hair nonstop all day, and Les and Debbie made over 150 people smile with a family photo for them to proudly display. Others worked with the local church members and played with kids, assisted with various ministries and prayed with people. Kevin led discipleship training at the church tonight with a blended message for non beleivers as well as church members and leaders. Tonights teaching discussed the relationship between a rabbi and a disciple that would strengthen our relationship to Christ by reflecting His life with our life to touch and save the world, one life at a time. It was to reveal the potential that was within them, that is also in all of us, to become all that we can through Christ, as we see the world as God sees it... in need of love and His Son. And they will know Him through all of us who choose to follow Him seriously as a disciple. The response of the congregation was amazing. They praised God, and raised their hands and professed understanding of Kevin´s teaching, which broke Kevin´s heart with joy. He looks forward to teaching again tomorrow night, and he prays that lives will change and lives will be saved, and Christ will be revealed.
We have a short but full week planned. Tomorrow we will return to Colonia to continue what we started today. Wednesday we are headed to San Matias to set up the very first medical clinic ever in that area. Thursday we plan to go to the dump area to feed and minister to people who live there.
We have an exciting week ahead of us, and look forward to seeing what God will do as we serve Him as His hands and feet in Honduras.