Step By Step

Starting last week, this idea for a blog has been starting. We are all children of God and He is walking with us each moment of the day.

One Saturday this month we all went to Katlyn's host home for a birthday party for her host mom. We noticed that Katlyns host sister, Katlyn, Brynne, and I all had similar shoes on. So us being the girls that we are, had to take a picture to remember this:

We were visiting a village to see the buildings that have been built for the people there. As we were spending time with one of the men that lives in one of the houses, we noticed his shoes.
For some reason, this man has left an impact on me.

At the one ministry that we were helping at in Choluteca, they were showing us where the men were making cement blocks to make buildings out of. They are in an open field mixing the cement and framing the blocks in the hot sun. They are wanting to build a shelter to keep some of the sun away during their work day. This is what I saw when I was walking through:

This is when we were helping at an orphanage (the same area that they made the blocks). This particular day we had brought water balloons to play with the kids. This is one of the little guys standing on a stone as he was trying to reach the water source to help fill the balloons.



And at the end of that week we stopped off at the beach. I knew that I needed some time to process the past week. It was a different experience than what we were used to and the weather was so different than what we are used to here in Tegucigalpa. Jim asked me if I wanted to go take pictures, because that is what I enjoy doing most to help process. So I started walking through the sand, down the beach and wherever I could see something new. And then came the point to turn around and go back to the group. In the sand, this is what I saw:

This reminded me of the "Footsteps" Poem.

 

And then came today. We were at our ministry for this week (construction) for about an hour when the pastor asked Brynne and I to come with him. Not being able to catch everything he was saying, we didn't know exactly what we were going to do. So we asked Sonia what the pastor had said, and he had asked us to help go pick up Yoni.

 

Yoni is a 19 year old man that one year ago got shot and is now paralyzed and in a wheelchair. We met him yesterday for the first time. He came to the worksite (which happens to be the local BIC church) and he spent time watching, reading his Bible and listening to the Worship music that was playing. So today, we went to pick him up from his house. Brynne, the Pastor and I went into Yoni's house and had to lift his wheelchair over a step that was one foot high and outside. When we got outside, the Pastor had me push Yoni's wheelchair down the dirt road to the church. I don't know if Yoni will ever walk again on Earth. I know that he is praising God no matter what situation he is in.

 

I want to get to know Yoni more, to ask how he really feels.

 

I know there's more to this post, maybe another day I will add on to this.  Always remember that God is with you no matter where you are or what is going on in your life. You also have brothers and sisters in Christ.

 

-Nikki

 

Psalm 23

1The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
²     He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³     he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

 

• Pray for my new friend Yoni. Pray that even though we cannot speak the same language, that we can form a friendship in Christ.
• Pray for our team as we will be needing to leave Honduras next week to renew our Visas. Pray that everything will be fine and that we will grow even closer to God in our next half of our time here.
• Pray for those that when things get rough, that they will remember who created us and who is walking with them every day.

 

Día del Amor y la Amistad

Happy Valentines Day! I'm sure love is on everybody's mind today so I thought I'd blog about it too. Plus Br gave me the idea so I guess I should thank her.

 Well, if you haven't heard we spent the last five days in the hottest city in Central America, Choluteca. We spent most of our time at the local CNI (Clinica del Nutrición infantil) hanging out with kids and trying to burn some of their energy. Unfortunately, they ended up tiring us before they were even remotely out of energy. On the very last day at the CNI we decided to have a piñata. At the time it sounded like a great idea, but in the midst of the chaos of screaming and yelling we all regretted our original plan. At one point I had all of the children lined up against the wall as best as I possibly could, sending them one by one to the piñata for their turn. One girl, who had already had her turn, walked up to me and tried to tell me that she hadn't gone yet. I told her that I knew she already had her turn and she looked me in the face and said "MALA." I turned right back to her and told her to sit down. She refused. I asked again. She refused again. This time I demanded that she sit down. She repeated herself, "MALA!" I didn't hold back and I'm not proud of it. I said it right back to her, "MALA." 

On the way home that evening Brynne and I were listening to her ipod. I heard the following lyrics:

"In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will dieAnd where you invest your love, you invest your lifeIn these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will dieAnd where you invest your love, you invest your life"

At this point my mind went directly back to the situation from earlier that day. In that moment I didn't love her, I didn't even like her, but maybe she needed love in that second and I kept it from her. If I'm not investing love into people's lives, what am I investing? If even a "missionary" doesn't show God's love, what kind of example is that? The song continued...

"Awake my soulAwake my soulAwake my soulFor you were made to meet your maker"

I realized that I don't even know how to completely love God, so how am I supposed to show his love? My heart's cry this week and for the weeks to come is that God awakens my soul. In Matthew it says, "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all your soul and with all of your mind." I need to learn what that kind of love is and I pray that God will reveal it to me so I can be an example to others.

Sending love and hugs!
-Kate

Time and Time Again

Just two short weeks ago, Nikki spoke to us about time. It's funny how things repeat, because that is what God's been speaking to me about, too: time.

Ecc. 3:1-8
For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die. A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal. A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh. A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones. A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching. A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend. A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate. A time for war and a time for peace.

This week was our time to speak, our time to love, our time to laugh, and even our time to cry. It was a good time. Our STEP director Vicky came down to visit for the week. We've been showing her the life. ;)

Next week we go to Choluteca to 'entertain' children at a Nutrition clinic and orphanage, so this week has been our preparation time. We're working on puppet shows, skits, and activities for the kids. And we've also gotten to spend time with Vicky, a good friend for all of us.

Vicky's coming also brought us a listening ear; she gave us all our time to lament. I honestly did not know where I was or how much I had to say until I started talking. I don't hate it here, quite frankly I love it, but this is the longest I have ever lived in a city in my life and it's getting old. You throw in the back problems and you get a pretty cranky Kristen.

Lamentations 3:7
He has walled me in , and I cannot escape...

The city can press in at times, its vastness its own prison. At times like this I'd climb on a horse and go for a run, or hit the track and enjoy the freedom of moving and working and pushing myself. But I can't run anymore. I can't jog anymore. I am constrained to walk, and even that doesn't feel very good. It's disheartening, but then I came across this:

Romans 5:3-5
We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character, and character strengthens our confident hope of salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

Endurance. That's a word that sounds familiar. I used to build up my body's endurance with every step, every mile. Well, now is my time to train and grow, and build endurance again, but this time in another way. It's time to exercise my spiritual muscles. Being physical is easy, I've always been a brute, but being weak is hard. It is in our weakness, though, that He is strong.

Well then, LORD, grant me the strength to be weak.

I need not worry, I believe he's teaching me, that's why I am here. Lamentations 3:22-24 "The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, "The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him.'''

and on that note:

Psalm 119:50
You promise revives me; it revives me in all my troubles.

Habakkuk 3:17, 18-19
17 Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty,

-Even though I physically can't do it all anymore, and I miss the open spaces-

18 yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!
19 The Sovereign LORD is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as the deer, able to tread upon the heights.

-Kris

Our lovely Vicky is leaving us today. Please pray for her safe travel. :)

Cuando Ames

     We spent this week working with seven of my favorite human beings at la Casa de Esperanza (House of Hope), a children's home for abused and neglected kids. Our time there consisted of hours of soccer, gaga ball and keep-away, drawing requested pictures of trading card characters, dancing the robot, waltz, and Thriller, making bracelets, playing guitar, letting them win there way out of English class and use our cameras to take millions of pictures...and un montón de piggy back rides. Cuando Ames
     I can't believe we were only with those kids for two weeks and I can't believe how much they opened up to us in such a short time. Day one, they were too cool for school and could point out infinite flaws in any one of us. They didn't want to play games. They didn't want to show us what they were drawing. Some of them didn't even want to talk to us. By the end, they would beg to play gaga ball (and Temple Run). The last day, I left with 4 drawings from the kids. I was actually allowed to read, copy, and share a poem written by the oldest boy (15), Henry (pictured below):

Cuando Ames

Cuando ames, no digas, "te amo," si aun no sabes amarte a ti mismo. Cuando ames, entrega todo lo que a ti quisieras que te den.
Cuando ames, no juzgues y digas lo hago porque te quiero.
Cuando ames, aconseja con el corazón y no con la mente. 
Cuando ames, no le des la espalda ni digas que lo haces solo. 
Cuando ames, no mantengas mentiras por mantener una amistad. Cuando ames, recuerda que en la amistad, no hay mentiras.
Cuando ames, nunca dejes de decirlo si el corazón te lo pide. Cuando ames, grita tu amor y expresa tus sentimientos y emociones. Cuando ames, entrega todo lo que el corazón te dicte y nunca retengas nada.
Cuando ames, da gracias a Dios que puso lo mas hermosos sentimientos en tu interior. 
Cuando ames, recuerda que el amor es libre y limpio y que solo corazones llenos de gozo se pueden dar. Cuando ames, no reniegues de tu amor ni maldigas el sentimiento.
Cuando ames, dedícate amar y a cuidarlo. 
El amor no llega todos los días.

Cuando ames, que tu voluntad y tus fuerzas te acompañen y que el amor recorra cada milímetro de tu sangre.

(My English translation)

When You Love

When you love, don't say, "I love you," if you don't know how to love yourself the same. When you love, give everything you would want to be given to you.
When you love, don't judge and don't say, "I do this because I love you."
When you love, take advice from your heart and not from your mind.
When you love, don't turn your back and don't say that you're doing it alone.
When you love, don't maintain lies to maintain a friendship. When you love, remember that in friendship, there are no lies.
When you love, never stop saying it if it's what your heart asks of you. When you love, shout it out and express your feelings and emotions. When you love, release everything your heart narrates and never hold anything back.
When you love give thanks to God that he put the most beautiful feelings inside you. 
When you love, remember that love is free and clean, and something that only hearts filled with joy can give. When you love, don't let it become bitter and don't hate the feeling.
When you love, dedicate yourself to that love and to taking care of it. 
Love doesn't come around every day.

When you love, your will and your strength accompany you as the love runs through every millimeter of your blood.  

     If it's possible for your heart to dance, I'm pretty sure mine did when I read that. How incredible it is to see a 15 year old boy with so much love to pour out to his two biological brothers, to his 14 brothers and sisters in the house, to the helpers who stay at the home with them, to four gringas who come to hang out with them every day for two weeks, and to all his brothers and sisters in Christ who he alluded to in a different poem he shared with me. And you can see it too. In his eyes, in his smile, in his brotherly rough-housing, you can see how deeply Henry loves. I've been asking God daily to teach me how to love like He loves and help me to do so. Then I read that poem.
     Wow, talk about God speaking through people! I'm still trying to figure out what it means to love, what it looks like and what it feels like, and I can see God revealing pieces to me little by little. It's incredible. It's terrifying. It's amazing. And it's heart-breaking. To say goodbye to those kids yesterday was as hard as it was to say goodbye to my best friend when she went to college. And that was hard. But it's a part of love. It's the part of love that absolutely sucks (for lack of a better word), but it's necessary and makes every second worthwhile.
     It was such a blessing to meet, hang out, and fall in love with those kids over the past two weeks and a humbling reminder of how much I have to learn--especially from children.

--Brynne