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.

Preparation and Prayer

Amy, Isaiah, and I will be leaving Saturday morining to drive to Louisville in order to spend 2 very short days with the team and then we will all fly out at 6:00am EST from Louisville and will arrive in Tegucigalpa, Honduras around 1pm CST. We will be traveling with a team of 15 people and all of us need your prayers while we are gone. Those on the team are:

Rich, Amy, and Isaiah Barnett
Wes and Stephanie Vittitoe
Jason and Laura Vanarsdall
Matt and Christianna Van Hooreweghe
Jeff Vibbert
Cathy Bond
Ida Butterworth
Susie Grom
Eddie Baker
Colin Britt

God has done some amazing things already and the enemy has opposed us at every step so far and therefore I am excited about what is going to happen in the next week or two. There are a number of things to be praying for:

  • Pray for safe travel and the health and safety of the team which also includes our missionaries, interpreters, cooks, pastors of the local churches and church members that will be withh us during some of our time there.
  • Pray for the men leading the Leadership conference that they will be vessels of God’s word and that the lay leaders that will be in attendance will find the value in the teaching.
  • Pray for hearts to be broken for the gospel and that all who profess faith in Christ are genuine and not led astray.
  • Pray for the families left behind that they will be at peace with their loved ones gone and pray that they are surrounded by Godly people to fill the gap.
  • Pray that each member of the team realizes why they are on the trip, which is to honor God with our lives and with our servants and give us all a servants heart both while we are on the field and beyond.
  • Pray for those who did not go this time that their hearts may be softened to the possibility the next time an opportunity arises.

The team will return on January 16 and while we will be exausted and ready to get home, it will also be bittersweet because if it is like any other trip we have been on, we will be heartbroken when we leave that we could not do more.

Perhaps the greatest prayer comes in the weeks that follow any mission trip and that is that those who went on the trip will not simply flip the switch on evangelism and revert back to a bench warmer, not that they are now, but the reality is, people tend to do far more for the ministry of the gospel on trips like this than they do daya to day in their regular lives. My prayer is that the person I am on the mission field is the same person I am in any field, but especially in my own community. This is also my prayer for the team, that they will doscover the simplicity of the gospel and will tear down every wall or barrier thay have placed between them and truly serving God through evangelism.

5 Days to Go!

Seems like it has been a while since we have posted anything to the site, but it has been a while since we have been out of the country and a lot has transpired. Amy, Isaiah, and I have taken on our first church as the Senior Pastor and family and while we are now in West Union, Illinois, We look forward to the time we will still share on the mission field with our friends from Kings Baptist Church in Mt. Washington, KY.

The three of us will be heading for Louisville, KY Saturday morning to spend 2 days with friends and the team before we wing off on Monday morning to Comoyagua, Honduras once again to see what God is going to do with the faithfulness of our team.

Please be in prayer for us as we will be on the field from January 9th to the 16th. There are 15 of us traveling and it will be my encouragement that each of them post something while we are away. I will try to put as many pictures up as I can while we are gone so those of you at home who have either helped financially or through prayer can be a part of the adventure as well.

Just 5 Days to Go!

Goodbyes and Packing

It’s already over.  🙁   We overcame jet lag, adjusted to light switches, woke up to a huge grass hopper over my bed, learned at lunch not to fill up on the soup because there’s more coming and so many more stories that are waiting to be told!

Right now all of us are back to the house packing and spending the last moments left with our translators and hosts. Earlier today was the hardest part of the trip, we had to say goodbye to the kids at VBS and what was even harder was saying bye to the youth staying at the camp we’ve had VBS at. Those were the ones, about twelve of them, who we really got to hang out with and know this week.  They’ve opened up so much to some of us and it’s hard leaving knowing what they’ve gone through and going through now.  Please continue to pray for these young adults even as we come home. Pray that they will accept Christs gift of forgiveness, some feel they don’t deserve it because their parents have left them. Pray that they will find and put their hope in Christ, for we know that in hard times, even when it seems as if the whole world is against us, we have that hope in Him… these kids don’t have that but are seeking affection from someone, pray that they will seek the love of the Father who is perfect and will never let them down.

Can’t wait to share more when we get home but now it’s back to packing.

Planning for the Future

As our team finishes up with their last VBS and then gets ready for a visit to the gypsy village, Johnny, Keith, Claudiu and I are discussing plans for future trips. The emotions I know were high today as our team said goodbye to many of the youth that are helping with the VBS from the local orphanage.

Tomorrow they will have time to shop for souvenirs before we head off to Budapest for the night so our travel day on Wednesday will not be as long. A few of us have succumb to either the water or the food but between Joey’s blueberries and the Imodium I found at the Farmacie in Baia  Mare, we are doing ok. Just pray that we are back to normal before we get on the plane.

I look forward to seeing my home again and my son, but there is still one more service and one more day of ministry plus who know what the future will hold.

More Pictures

Didn’t have time to blog last night but wanted to be sure to share some more pictures this morning before we get going. I stole Amy’s camera so if you have looked at the previous links you may want to look again especially for the traveling T-Shirt.

Anyway, here are the new links…

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/Romania2010Day12?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/Romania2010Day4?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/Romania2010Day5?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/Romania2010Day6?feat=directlink

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/Romania2010Day7?feat=directlink

Enjoy

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!

Working to Exhaustion

It is 5:37 p.m. at home while it is 6 to 7 hours here. We have been very busy. We have been having fun with the kids and enjoying fellowship with other believers. I gave my testimony to a group of teenagers the other day as well as giving it today in church. My heart is broken for many reasons. If for some reason this does not make sense, it is because I do not have enough sleep.

Another wonderful day in Romania!!

Wow – there are no words to describe what a wonderful day it has been, although I will try….
God is so wonderful! Yesterday I was asked to give my testimony and I said no, I was not comfortable doing that. Well, I should know by now to not say No to something for God. This morning as I was getting ready to read my bible I just happened (or more accurately, God led me to) begin reading Psalm 139.
Psalm 139 vs. 4 – 6
4. Even before a word is on my tongue behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
5. You hem me in, behind and before and lay your hand upon me.
6. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it.

Through the verses there I was lead to give a brief testimony in Church this evening. All day I knew this is what God wanted from me – complete trust and surrender to Him. As much as I like to talk, I do not like to speak in large groups. I was very nervous about having an interpreter and speaking to people from a different culture. It all worked out good. The biggest thing I learned from this today is something that I also shared in my testimony….it is beyond my comprehension to know that since the moment I was conceived God planned for me to be in Romania at this time in my life, however, who am I to question the Creator of everything?

As I said before, this has been a wonderfully blessed day. I came to Romania prepared for the younger children from the villages and orphanages to capture my heart. I thought I would not be able to handle being with the the majority of the time here because of my own children back at home. I was not prepared for the joy, blessings, and breaking of me that would come from being with the “teenagers”. That is what we refer to them as, but they are a group of boys and a few girls that grew up in some of the oprhanages from here. They are helping us with VBS and things here. They are wonderful and have stolen my heart!!! They love taking pictures so I have attached a few. Please be praying for these special kids. They know about Jesus, but they do not have a personal relationship with Him….keep them in your prayers….They are wonderful and I will miss them a lot when we leave…

Valerie

To Adam: I love you forever!
To Austin: I love you berry much!
Love, Mommy