First Day of Door to Door Evangelism

DSC04093The team witnessed 21 professions of faith and was able to pray and encourage a few others. Praise God the trip has already been worth the effort put into it because even one person has come to know Christ! Today was amazing to see my 12 year old son Isaiah brave up and share the gospel with a family. Totally Cool!GEDC0119

Stephanie, Beth, and Ida are practicing the Yu are God Alone to sing at service tomorrow night and we are leaving in about 30 minutes to visit the hospital and the shopping. Since there are 5 guys and 5 girls, I think there are mixed feelings about the shooping, but it should be pretty cool to visit an open-air market, plus I have some soveineers to pick up for Tom and Joey so it is a must for all.

We will blog more when we have the time. Keep praying for us because it is working and people are being saved. My prayer is the momentum that has been started here will spread to everyone when we return.GEDC0109

What no internet?

We have been blogging in word, patiently awaiting the return of our internet connection. I have a feeling with the power outage it has taken out the host end of the connection because I have checked everything in the house, so we are blogging in Word so we can upload them later. Hopefully no one is worried. The team, I believe based on our share time last night, is beginning to have their eyes opened to perhaps one of the purest form of worship that they have ever experienced and it is good to see them interacting.

Today is our break day. We will be doing door-door evangelism in the morning and then visiting a hospital this afternoon and then they are going to take us to town to the open air market to do some shopping. I’m thinking I may come back to the hacienda (house) and rest instead of shop, but then that would mean I would have to let loose of the money to Amy and I am not sure I want to do that.

It is 6:15am here (7:15am there) and the sun is just now coming up of the mountain (or those from Tennessee would call it a hill), the roosters graced us by waiting until 4:30am before they began their hour long tribute to the sun.

We all thought about Joey last night when the band stepped on stage, they even had a five string bass that the man played like a regular electric as fast as he was pickin’ it at times. Tony would have been impressed. Oh and Tony, you would have envied the drum set, I counted 7 toms and 5 cymbals, the only thing missing was a second bass drum.

The team is beginning to wake up for breakfast so I will end this session, but it is always nice to hear laughter this early in the morning. Too often in our busy half of the hemisphere we wake to hustle, bustle and rush that we neglect our joy. As Paul in Philippians 2 said, we are to complete his Joy and be Glad and Rejoice in the work that we have been given because everything that we do should be done for God’s glory.

Rich – 1/11/10 – 6:21am

“No ameis al mundo, ni las cosas que estan en el mundo. Si alguno ama al mundo, el amor del Padre no esta en el.” 1 Juan 2:15

“Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in Him.” 1 John 2:15 Today has been an amazing day. This morning we went to church and 8 people were baptized!!! The people are so welcoming and everyone freely worships. Tonight Wes and I testified and it was an awesome church, you could really feel the presence of the Lord there, it was so wonderful. I said a few things in Spanish when I started and the people there seemed to really like it. Wes shared about his life and his wreck in 2008 and people seemed to really be touched by that. Afterwards a girl named Rachel came up and talked to me and she said she was really blessed by my testimony and that blessed me just by here telling me so. So far this trip has been nothing like I have expected but everything much more than I could imagine!! Glory to God, Gloria a Dios!!!

Sunday night      10:15pm

Jesus Is The Only Way

‘’Red, yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight…..’’ This song played in my head when I attended an open air church this morning. There were people from Switzerland there, as well as the Hondurans, and us.  It is awesome to know that God is omnipresent. We come from different cultures but we as people have the same needs.  Jesus is the only One that can fulfill those needs.  John 3:16 says “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him may not perish but have eternal life.”  The Honduran Christians were so open and welcoming. Even though I didn’t understand most of what was said, love was spoken universally; through hugs and warm smiles.

I observed 8 new Christians being baptized in a small swimming pool on a 50 something degree day. One adult being baptized was from Switzerland and the other 7 were Hondurans. God is very active here! I feel privileged to be able to be here and serve the Lord! I was able to give my testimony during the service.

I have a nice home to stay in, comfortable bunk bed, and delicious food. There are 2 homes here in the compound within block walls and razor wire on top. There is a security guard here at certain times. We have 2 guard dogs waking us up in the night plus chickens crowing in the a.m. Mountains surround us.  Good night all! We are going to the hospital tomorrow. Thanks for your prayers!

Sunday night     9:50 p.m.

Sunday Service, Great Lunch, and No Power

8 Being Baptized

8 Being Baptized

This morning went well. We were able to witness 8 baptisms in very cold water. Thank God from brother Duard and warm water. It was a little chilly today, around 55 and the water temperature was probably about the same. It was also interesting that we came to Honduras to meet people from Switzerland. Their son was one of the people being baptized today.

The worship was great. The pastor of this church is also affiliated with Compassion International so their financial support is good and they even had “wall-music” this morning. That was great because we were able to sing along as well, at least in our Kentucky draw pronunciations.

We got back from the service and Fanny had pork steaks and potatoes for us. I swear I am bringing here home with us. Amy would agree. I then realized we had no power. There is some pretty good wind today and I guess it knocked something out so I have been hand-writing my sermon and for those that know me, I type for a reason. Thankfully we have power and all is good.

No Keith we cannot put a pool in the CLC

No Keith we cannot put a pool in the CLC

It is always amazes me how God works out the details. We opened all of the totes this afternoon and everything that was donated fits well with what we are doing all week. Tonight we are going to be at another church at 6:00pm and then tomorrow we are going to go door-to-door in the community (get out the walking shoes).

I am hoping for a good nights rest before the choir of rooster’s all crow yet again in the morning. But our rule for the week along with part of my sermon tonight which comes from Philippians 2 is that we will do all things without grumbling or questioning so may God be glorified even when the rooster’s crow.

The rest of the team is in the back playing a little basketball this afternoon which gives me a little peace in order to finish my sermon preparation so I will have them blog more this evening, barring no more power outages. I look forward to seeing what God will do this week.

Rich

Early to Rise

Honduras 2010 - Day 1 076

It is now 5:00am KY time. Pastor Keith should be proud of me. It is 4:00am here so I may go back to bed though. We thank everyone for their prayers and their support. Today will be our first ministry day. We will be leading at 3 different church services. We have a fairly lengthy break between which we will use to go through all of the donations that we received.

The team got their first experience with Fanny’s cooking yesterday and I would say they were all quite pleased. Pastor said he usually loses weight on mission trips, but that’s because he hasn’t had Fanny cooking for him 3 ties a day.

As I was preparing last night for this mornings sermon I was struggling with it, but I realized that in my haste I was trying to use a sermon that I had previously prepared and just fit it to Today. About a month ago I had chosen all of the scripture for this week and on Friday when the pressure was on I chose to ignore that list. God reminded me in a mighty way that he is in control and not me when I opened Philippians 2:1-11 and within an hour had a complete sermon pour through me. I don’t think I have ever type that fast before. Now I just have to fix Arlene’s PC so I can print it out.

Honduras 2010 - Day 1 077

Today, as you are reading this blog, remember that in everything we do, we should not do it for ourselves, but we should do everything for God’s glory and to honor Him.

For those prayer warriors, I could use some for my back. Last night was difficult hetting to sleep, but I am determined to ignore the pain and praise God through it.

It is a little cold and quite windy this morning but it is a far cry from 12 degree so I’ll take it.

Well the rooster is crowing so I am either going to get up or go back to bed, either way I’l blog more later.

Rich

Dinner Day 1

Dinner Day 1

Long day but exciting times….

Hello parents, family and friends,

After a long day we finally made it to Honduras. The flights were long not the part in the air but the whole travelling and in the airport… once we got here we went to Burger King, I was starving because we hadn’t ate anything since 5 this morning. We then had a 2 hour ride to Comayagua.. the view was beautiful and there were mountains all around, the air was cool but it was def. better than KY weather. Once we arrived at our mission house where we are staying I was very happy it reminded me a lot of the camp retreat house at Cedar Ridge KY (some of you will know what I am talking about!!).. anyways then we ate dinner which was prepared by awesome local girls that help out here and were so sweet but don’t speak English so I had fun trying some of my Spanish out… by the way the food was AWESOME!!! Well now after a great hot shower I am not writing you all and hope you are doing well, tomorrow we are going to church and I am super excited about that. Tomorrow night Wes and I are suppose to give our testimony so please pray for confidence and strength!!! We love you all and goodnight!!

Stephanie

We are here!!

finally we are here the land was not a big deal not nearly as bad as I heard. we are here and settled after 13 hours of traveling.  the weather here is great it is so beautiful here. the temp is about 70 degrees and the sun was out. we are all set up and ready to share God’s word with the people of Comayagua.  The conditions here are not great but somewhat of what I expected. Seeing the children digging through the trash as we drove down the road will break your heart. Contuine to pray for our group and all the things that God has in store for us.

Day 1 – We Have Arrived

Honduras 2010 - Day 1 017The Internet connection is a little slow, but I will see if I can work my majic this week to speed things up. We had to de-ice in both Louisville and Atlanta, but it is a pleasant 70 degrees and beutiful in comparison. We are in Comayagua Honduras. We are looking forward to a great trip. Travel day went smooth and all of the totes and luggage made it safe as well as the rest of us. I will try to upload pictures as soon as I can, but I will put a few of them now. Some of the others will also blog later. For all of those at Kings we are praying for you as I know you are praying for us.

For Joey, we miss you and you are still part of the team whether you are in KY or C.A., keep the faith brother.