The begining of the journey

What an amazing adventure preparing for, going to and returning from Honduras has been! God continued to show himself at every step of the way. I hope that through these stories you too will see God’s mighty hand in our lives, our team members, supporters and the Honduran people.

The Day We Leave

As we were packing and preparing Josh and I decided to run out and grab a quick bite to eat. We had given his set of keys to a friend who was watching our house. As we shut the door we realized we had grabbed only his set of keys and were locked out!! Suitcases, passports everything for our trip was locked in the house. It was about 5pm and we needed to head to the airport in about 3 hours. We frantically ran to the manager’s office, normally gone, and caught the maintenance man on his way out for the day. Praise God that we were able to get back into our apartment!

As we gathered at the airport we were sent off by all the family members of the rest of the team. Our team of 19 plus about another 18 family members we gathered with excited energy. The check in could not have gone smoother. As we visited one of the airport attendants took care of all of us in such an orderly fashion, with no standing in line. I guess that’s an advantage of leaving at 12pm! As the time arrived for us to head through we were immensely blessed as the families prayed over us and sent us off. I loved the bigger connection of all gathering together for God’s purposes. We felt the love of everyone else’s’ family as our team became a family for one week.

Rule #1 of Missions Trips is Flexibility

After an uneventful flight, with little sleep, we landed in Houston for our 3 hour layover. We were all blessed to grab some grub, relax and play cards before our next flight. It didn’t take long to notice that Pastor Aaron was out of sorts, not his usual laid back, carefree self. His ears had not popped on the decent, resulting in pain, which later led to a numbing sensation in his ear and side of the face. He sought medical advice at the airport and after some prayer and consideration he decided to stay behind and go to the hospital. This happened minutes before we boarded. Money, instructions and farewells were exchanged. Our leader was not headed to Honduras with us. Later we found out that he had a double ear infection and his one eardrum was close to bursting. Praise God that he decided to stay! Later we also learned of God’s protection. Aaron had not meant to bring his own personal debit card, as he had the church credit card. Turns out he ended up needing the card at his hotel in Houston; the church credit card had been passed along in order for us to rent the vans. Coincidence or God plan?

Honduras and "Where's Bob?"

Landing in Honduras was eventful. Apparently the airport is one of the most dangerous due to the mountain you have to angel around, the close proximity of buildings, short runway and cliff at the end! If you are interested here are some videos to give you an idea!

Example number one

Example number two


But we landed! After getting through customs we were ushered through a crowd of people and were being given hugs and hellos by all the Micah boys. Our bags were loaded into a truck and we were taken to lunch at the mall. It was all a whirlwind, or what I like to call controlled chaos.



Loading ALL the luggage



We had a quick pit stop at the hotel and then were off to see the Christ Statue. We were going to walk through the city park and admire the 65.5 foot tall + 12 meter pedestal statue that looks over the city. The city was breathtaking, we could see the landing strip, the soccer stadium and the streets were we would spend some of our time. The statue was also amazing. We got close to the statue as we all huddled under it when we were struck by a terrific rain storm, right when we reached the top of the hill. But we soon realized that we were missing Bob, one of our team members.

Some team members had more fears and hesitancy about this trip than others. Bob was one of those. One common fear was that our stomach would not be compatible with the Honduran food. Well, Bob had his fear realized as we were driving to the park. Upon arrival he hopped out and ran into the woods, without much notice. As we were in route to the statue Bob was on his way to relief. Because of the rainstorm our drivers decided to move the vans closer to where we were so we wouldn’t have to hike back in the rain. (This was not Portland rain people- it was torrential downpour!) When Bob emerged he noticed the vans were gone, but Brain’s truck was still there. He thought about walking to where he thought we were, but didn’t really know how to get there. He decided it best to just stay put. Meanwhile we were still huddled under the statue and as the rain subsided we had an impromptu devotional and geared up for the week ahead. Those of you who know Brain Wiggs, know that he is not short winded, so we were up there for awhile (maybe 45mins). As we got excited and revved up, Bob was anxious that we had completely left him. He attempted to talk to the park guard to ask if he should sit and wait or start to walk. With his limited Spanish and hand gestures the answer he received was “si”  Finally when we loaded the vans to head back to the Micah house, Jamie (Bob’s son) let us know that we really had to find his dad. Brain drove around in the truck looking for him and found him on the road we came in on walking back toward the city! Day one and we had lost one of our members! Thank you Jesus for keeping him safe, and letting us find him before he reached the city! Later that night, I took Bob up to the balcony at the Micah House. I had him look up to the hills where you can see the statue towering over the city and told him; “Bob, I want you to meet Jesus. You were lost, but now you are found!”



Our group overlooking Tegucigalpa (minus Bob and Aaron)



The Micah House



Dinner on the patio at Micah



The Micah house is the home to fifteen young boys, ages 13-19 plus at least one staff member that stays with them. It is a safe haven for the boys who have grown up on the streets or in impoverished homes. The Micah Project strives for the boys to become Christian leaders through discipleship, formal education and opportunities to serve others who are in need. The goal is to support these young men as they learn to “act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with their God” (Micah 6:8). While we were there the house was always abuzz with energy. There were often people on the patio playing soccer, wrestling or engaging in some other lively activity. In the den the boys can chill out by watching movies, and often someone was playing guitar or talking as well. The kitchen was busy with several amazing women cooking amazing food for MANY people. It is hard to find a quiet space amidst the small rooms. Which is why it will be amazing once Micah 2.0 is built!! The Micah project has the money to purchase 7 acres of beautiful land . . . once they are finished jumping through bureaucratic hoops! The land will allow them to have more room, maybe a separate school room, a place for the technical school, where the boys learn wielding and carpentry, staff housing, and lots of room for the boys to run! Plus the land is located in a small community, unlike their current inner city location. This would help to safeguard the boys from the draw to go back to the streets, hopefully keep the Micah house and van from being vandalized and in addition be a blessing to the community and these boys are strong and hardworking. Please pray for Micah 2.0 journey, and the teams that will go to Honduras to help build this dream into a reality.



Micah Staff admiring the 2.0 land and dreaming about the possibilities



An Answered Prayer

Ana Reanos is an amazing women who has taught and cooked at Micah since the beginning. She has two young children that she raises in a very dangerous part of Tegucigalpa. Her continuous prayer has been to keep her and her family safe. Her other concern had been that she would no longer have a job once the Micah house moved, because she could not travel the distance out to the new site. Putting all her faith in Jesus she put it all in His hands and prayed. We were privileged to be a part of Ana’s answered prayer! Our big project while in Honduras was to clear land, digging an “L” shaped hole and creating the foundation and building up a retaining wall that will become Ana’s home. Our team was honored to present this gift to her, as she had no idea about this plan. It was an emotional presentation for all of us. She was overcome with joy and thankfulness. Denise, a team member, described it as one of those moments on a show like extreme home makeover or Oprah; the difference being this was a God moment!

Jesus, you're my firm foundation

 

Day 1 of foundation; The Men

 

Since we spent so much time at the construction site, it became a theme for us. Our lives are so similar to a construction site. Our duty, along with the Micah boys, members of the community and a construction crew was to first attack the ground with picks and shovels and remove all the unstable soil and rock. Similarly, Jesus chips away at the dirt, and rock and obstacles that stand in the way of us truly knowing and having a relationship with him. The remaining hole was filled with stone and cement creating a solid retaining wall that Ana’s house would sit on. In 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul tells us about foundations; “by the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other that the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Christ is the bedrock in which our life and character is built upon. Without this solid foundation all will crumble. Paul continues to discuss the importance of the material that we build with, noting that it will be tested. How important it is to build up our life with healthy solid materials, but it cannot be done when Christ is not the first layer. What a powerful metaphor this became for all of us on the trip and in our lives since being back.





Picking away the unstable ground

Removing Rock

What we finished in our time there

Chad showing off how wide the wall is. Chad is 6'5" (?)

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