A Ministry a Long Time in the Making

This morning we started with devotions led by Shawnee. We then got to go to 2 different communities to do "FIESTAS." These are little dramas and games done for the kids of the community in a mass evangelism attempt. We then invite them to come to Sunday School and also target some of the adults that come out to see what all of the commotion is about.

We made up for the lack of pictures yesterday I think and they will be uploaded soon. We found out yesterday while we were at the hospital that there was an uprising at the prison that we were going to visit and 3 men were killed and 2 others were shot in the fighting and were brought to the hospital we were in. Terry has decided that visiting the prison today was not the wisest thing to do so we are going to an "old folks home" (no direspect intended). We may however visit the prison yet this week.

We leave soon so we will blog more later.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/OpenEyesHondurasMission2008Day40?authkey=60sWhN_63HE

On a brighter note from the earlier post, we found that Frosty's from Wendy's from Honduras are much better that in the US. See the pictures for pricing. For our son Isaiah, I have even taken a picture of the "Baco-nater" sign so he can see that he can eat anywhere.

I have posted the few pictures that we had for today at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/OpenEyesHondurasMission2008Day3?authkey=55SPlKQ5ZLk 

We have an off night tonight, but we will begin nother day bright and early tomorrow with "sin-box" fiestas. We are then slated to visit the local prison and then I am preaching for the first time at an outdoor worship service. Lord willing I will not fumble over my tongue.

Keep us in prayer.

Written by Rich

Hello! I am in the midst of a grueling game of Scrabble so I can't type long. We are having a wonderful trip and God is working both in the people of Honduras and in us. God is good. The gospel is powerful. Pray that we remain faithful to what He has sent us here to do.

 written by Brad

Well, Brad just won the Scrabble game...  I just lost Waitmon's pen.  But Shawnee had it in her folder, what a relief.   Today was great.  We went evangalizing in the morning.  Our team was a little slow to start, but we got the hang of it and the last house we went to was a Catholic  woman and we were able to lead her to Christ, with the help of our awesome interpreter, Pamela.

 written  by Amy

Today brought us to a point in the trip that some feared. We visited the local hospital. It was built in 1934 and it appeared that nothing had been done to it since. The women were in one section of the hospital, the men in another, and the children in yet another. But unlike what we think of when we think of a hospital, all of these groups were in common rooms together with absolutely no privacy. The care was merely a number of people that administered medicine at the proper time, but otherwise there was nothing.

There will be no pictures of this other than the ones that reside in each of our minds and maybe of the outside of the building. We felt it would be intrusive and unjust to take pictures of peoples suffering. We should all praise God for all that we have and not take simple things like antibiotics for granted. The next time you feel like complaining when someone is trying to place an IV in your hand rmember to be thankful to have it and also to be thankful for the one who administers it.

I will post pictures later of what I have. Remeber to pray for us, especially tomorrow, because even though we have had a difficult day today, tomorrow we will be in a prison. We pray that God will give us the strength to endure.

Writtn by Rich

Day three began with another breakfast of fruit and something that resembled a burrito but it tasted like funnel cake with cheese. It was muy bien. I don't have pictures from this morning because we spent the morning door to door speaking with people about Christ. I am please to announce that the team witnessed and aided in the conversion of 15 people to Christ.

We gave out candy and New Testaments aand a lot of candy. I don't have a lot of time, bcause Brad, Waitmon, Ronnie and myself are off to the radio station were Brad will be preaching and I will be singing on the radio.

I hope to have some pictures later.

Today was an awesome day!  I could not help feeling so guilty for all that we have, these people have nothing.  But they are some of the most gracious people I have ever met.  This morning a group of us went to help with Sunday school at The Rock of Salvation Church.  There we over 125 children there, we got to be part of the service.  Waitmon and I also got to speak with a youth group who was meeting outside,this group isn't counted in the 125. They were talking about respect, and no one was complaining they were very intent and involved in their discussion.  I told them I was very impressed with them and that in the United States respect is something that has fallen to the wayside. They have made more of an impression on me than I have on them. The interpreters are great -without them we wouldn't have a clue what was going on.  This afternoon we went to take money to a family who have 19 children and at least 7 adults living in two houses.Tonight we went to an outside service in a barrio, Rich did a great job singing and giving his testimony and Bro. Brad gave a good message from Matthew 25: 31-46. 

Written by Angie

I don't know that I can add a great deal to what Angie said, the children were wonderful this morning and loved having their pictures taken.  The service this evening was one of the best I have ever attended.  As Angie said, the people here are very gracious and attentive.  During our share time this evening, I mentioned that that we in the U.S. have so much materaially and yet have so little of what we could have spiritually because of our focus on those things and the rushed lifestyles we live there.  On the other hand, the people here have SO  VERY little materially. However, those who have claimed Christ have so much.  The church workers we met with today are dedicated to an extent we can only dream/imagine of being. I can only guess what God has in store for us the remainder of the week. 

Written by Waitmon

Tonight's service was a witness to me that the church is not the building, but the people. We were in a house church where pastor Nixon, in his US Flag tie, welcomed us graciously.

Brad preached once again and did a wonderful job and I think the team was challenged by the message as much as the people present.

I made the mistake of trying to sit in one of the plastic lawn chairs that was used for the congregation. Against my better judgement I tried and as usual snapped the chair. At least I did not fall flat on my back, and I was more thankful that Brad didn't miss a beat and kept on preaching.

We finished the evening with a time of sharing and as you can tell, blogging, about our day and the experiences each of us had. We all came to the agreement that we take too much for granted and we need to focus more on what is most important to us, Jesus Christ.

That is all, so Buenos Noches from Choleteca.

Don't forget to check out the rest of today's pictures by either the link below or to the right.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/OpenEyesHondurasMission2008Day21?authkey=aSGPRy9CnPQ

It is now 3:10pm in Choleteca. Amy did a wonderful job on her testimony and Brad was awsome with what he spoke of this morning. God dwelled in the church this morning as did a Gecko. Sorry though, you won't save money on your car insurance, but 2 people saved their sould by accepting Christ.

The other halsf of the team went to a different church wher we will be in a couple of hours. They shared that there were approximately 175 children in Sunday school with them this morning and they all were grinning from ear to ear as I am sure was the team.

We assembled back at the hacienda for lunch and half of us went throught the totes that we brought and half went visiting with David. I chose to remain behind to sort totes and to update you on our status. I will have somone else blog about their experience this morning at Sunday school. I will also report later on our service tonight.

Continue to pray for us as we are for you in the 7 degree weather as I saw this morning. It is 87 here with a real nice breeze, but I don't want to make you jeolous, unless that makes you want to come here on mission yourself then all power to you be jealous.

Well, I must study now for tonights service. I leave you with a link to pictures as we have them thus far. You may also access them via the links on the side.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/OpenEyesHondurasMission2008Day2?authkey=54NfWB2wv6c 

en el nombre de Jesus Christo, via con Dios.

Good Morning from Choleteca Honduras

This morning we had morning devotions led by Amy. We had fruit that was not tainted by yellow dye no.5 and it was awesome. We have a only a few minutes before we leave for the morning worship and Sunday school so I thought I would add a few pictures for you to look at, but since this is a free blog, there is no direct upload, so follow the link below to the pictures of our trip. This afternoon we will spend some time mapping them and putting captions to them as we go. This way you can be a part of our trip as well.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rbarnett73/OpenEyesHondurasMission2008Day1?authkey=_WU0EV-Uqks

Many thanks to all who made this trip a reality for today it begins. 

This evening I am going to encourage eveyone to add something to the blog so check back daily for updates.

Today was a long, exciting, tiring, and a few times, scary day. We left the campus of Southern Seminary this morning at 3:30am. After a brief, almost non-existing nap from 1am until the phone rang at 3:00am to remind us to get out of bed. This explains the reason why it was tiring.

It was exiting for me because 1) this was the first time I had flown anywhere since I was two years old, and 2) because this was both Amy and I's first mission trip beside the All-State youth choirs of my youth.

It was scary at times, because as a person who has worked for many years in the roadway design industry, I have never seen 5 vehicles occupy a 2 lane road at the same time without them being on top of a carrier or without a fatality to speak of...until today's drive from Tegucigalpa to Choleteca. Three hours of winding roads throught the mountain passes can make even the most road warrior of us panic, but to do so whil traffic is passing 2 wide around a curve makes you respect just how much God is in control and allows me to be thankful that we survived.

We have arrived! We made it through customs with no big ordeals, Praise God! I did however forget that I had a pocket knife in my backpack that I got for Christmas and forgot to take out of the bag. Thankfully they didn't tag and bag me. The lady allowed us to remove it and give it to one of our friends that was not going on the trip.

Terry and Arlene are extremely gracious hosts. We all have beds :) and wonderful cooks who prepared a fabulous meal for our first night. I can't wait to see what's planned tommorow.

As far as ministry... tomorrow, Brad, Amy, and myself are going to be leading a worship service. Brad will preach, I will sing, and Amy is giving here testimony all through the use of translators. The rest of the group will be leading Sunday School for about 100 kids. Pray or us that we all will be empowered by the Holy Spirit and can see a great miracle this week.

It's late, I'm jetlagged and I am going to bed. Watch here for more tomorrow. I will also be posting pictures as well.

Hasta Manana