Author: cbond

Off to a Great Start

 

Dani and Iosif

Sweet little Claudia loves getting her picture taken

 

We’ve got a break now before supper, which is smelling quite yummy by the way, so I thought I’d take a moment to blog. It’s been a busy day and I’m getting a cold, but it’s been great so far. We did a mini VBS and I loved going around with the camera to let the kiddos see themselves in the flipped-around screen. There were six sweet little girls from a children’s home who came to the VBS. Two of them ran and gave hugs to us as we walked in the door. Mr Matt received the most hugs I think : )
One girl, Claudia, smiles all the time and loves getting her picture taken. She’s adorable. After the VBS we drove up a crazy hill riding in the back of a pickup truck to a big group of kids who come everyday to the building to eat. It’s part of the Open Eyes ministry to feed them and make sure they at least get one good meal each day. I sat next to two hyper little boys named Dani and Iosif and it was even better than at the VBS when Wes started the Bible story and all us extra adults dropped down on all fours and started baaing. lol. The kids loved it, Dani and Iosif laughed especially hard at us! Who knew being a sheep would be so much fun. Susie had a really good time with it!
We didn’t get to stay too long, but long enough to do the Bible story, serve them lunch, and get to know a few names and tell them “Jesus te ama” (Jesus loves you) The kiddos chased us down the road as we left. I wish we were able to be with the same kids more than once, but at least the girls at the group home we saw again.
After lunch we went to visit the children’s wing at the hospital, which was heartbreaking. We prayed over one girl and her grandmother, Evolith if I remember correctly. The girl was 11 months old but tiny because she has a chromosome disease and the doctor’s didn’t expect her to live past 6 months. The grandmother was a believer and told us she was blessed to have Evolith for a few months more already. It was a blessing to see her faith. We handed out stuffed animals, Bibles, tracts, and prayed with everyone in the children’s wing.
Then we went and bought pillows at the “Gold Plaza” of Comoyagua, which we took to Pastor Robert’s children’s home and the little girls were so excited to get them. It was a sweet time there, though I so wish I knew more to say to them. I wish Eddie Baker was right in his thinking that Romanian and Spanish were the same (he didn’t realize the typo at the top of the handbook page with phrases in Romanian and Spanish that it was just the same words with “Say it in Romanian” at the top instead of Spanish because the booklet wasn’t complete. lol) But I know we are shining for Jesus here, through our translators help we are sharing the Gospel, and also through the smiles and hugs and stuffed animals. Maiklet has lots of friends here 🙂 It’s been an awesome first day and it’s not even over yet. Until next time I have a chance to blog…

-CB

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the same but different

Honduras is a beautiful country, as we drove from the airport at the capital we took pictures of the mountains and rolling landscapes. We also drove past several housing projects that reminded me of the gypsy villages in Romania. Actually a lot here has reminded me of Romania, that was the thought I had as we were on the plane and as I first sawthemountains in the distance. Amy says, ‘Honduras is the same, only different.’ It’s great to havethose little inside jokes with fellowmission team members, still living on two yearslater. I’m looking forward to this week with such a great group of people. Serving on this team is an honor,and Im looking forwardto diving in tomorrow. Nowit mightbe close to bed time, 3:30 this morningcame way too early. Buenos noches.

Because of His Great Love

Today was a busy day at church! Great to see the Barnett’s again, and it was a day full of learning and fellowship (including a platypus! lol) After the evening service we weighed the last of the totes and piled them in the big red trailer and headed home to finish any last minute to-do lists before the morning. As I was wrapping up at home, I read again what Alison had written in the mission journal she gave me.

“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘ Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?’ And then I said, ‘Here I am. Send me'” – Isaiah 6:8

And what I wrote earlier this week in a journal entry…

“I know whoever we meet this next week will be a great opportunity to share Christ’s love with them. I pray that God grants us safety, endurance, boldness, and a passionate love for people that can only come from heaven.”

LOVE >> from Heaven to Honduras
…through the hearts and hands of 15 Kentuckians…

Because of His Great Love,
CB

Open Doors to Open Eyes

God opens doors in ways we’re not even expecting. Take this mission trip for example…

I was at church this past Sonday morning and John Hedberg told me to come up during announcement time in the youth to show me a text message on his phone. There was an open spot for the Honduras mission trip next week. Plans began to unfold and by that same evening I was officially part of the team. I’m super excited to join such a wonderful group of people to minister to the people of Honduras alongside the Open Eyes Mission efforts there. I wish I had more time to brush up on some Spanish (I’ve been spending my foreign language brain powers on Romanian lately) but I know God’s love crosses all language barriers and I look forward to how He will use us next week.

Our time has gone by so fast.

Even though I’ve meant to do this a couple times already, this is the first time I’ve been able to blog since joining the team in Romania. I was so excited the first night (I can’t remember what day that was) when we finally pulled into the driveway at our house here in Finate. It was a long sleepy drive with Achim and Pastor, especially since the GPS was locked on the airport for an hour. But I was greeted with hugs by the few close friends who stayed up till 2am when we finally got there. It was a reunion I’d been looking forward to for a long time.

This week in Romania has been both difficult and joyful and heartbreaking and rewarding. Our time with the teenagers at the camp has been the highlight of my trip so far. It’s hard to grasp all they’ve been through and I want to be able to make everything right in their world but I can’t do anything but be their friend. I feel like they’ve really opened up to us and now tomorrow is our last day. I wish we had another week to hang out with them. A few of them are believers, but the culture of the orthodox church makes things complicated for them to grow in their walk with God and their life story has been rough. We’ve been able to encourage them in Christ and just be a listening ear when they need it. That alone was worth me coming. The other night I felt drained and like I didn’t have anything left to offer after traveling for a month and a half, but I was reminded that He has me here for a purpose even if I can’t always see it right away. Being friends with these guys is a big part of it and it’s so worth it.

Random thoughts:
-“Thank you” and “My name is” both include the sound cows make (although here in Romania, they suck in to moo)
-our translators are some of the coolest people in Romania
-riding with Achim requires a strong trust in God
-Spiderpig is dead, let’s not talk about him anymore
-Alison is now 14!
-the creeks here are amazing and everyone just jumps in!
-hayrides bring out the redneck in people, nomatter what country they’re from
-I’m so going to miss these kids!
-nomatter where you want to go in the country, you can always get there in “30 minutes”
-Pedro did the Mexican Hat Dance and lost his sombrero (over and over in slow motion)
-Romanian donuts are the best!
-Joey needs to eat more fruit so he can get big and come back and marry a Romanian girl
-sometimes smiles, highfives, and thumbwars are the only ways we can say we care about these kids, but it works!

Saying goodbye to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland

Hullo from Glasgow, Scotland! Our three weeks in the Western Isles of Scotland has been both challenging and rewarding. God is gracious and provided us with many opportunities to speak with the Gaelic Scots throughout our time there. The people there are so friendly, but don’t see their need for God and the church. Pray that the seeds we planted will be grown until they come into a relationship with Christ. I’m looking forward to meeting up with everyone and joining in on what God is going to do in Romania this summer. Only a week or so left!