Praise God!

Tonight, after tucking the boy I have been working with into bed, he told me that he wants to accept Jesus Christ!! I sat on his bed with him just holding him in my arms as we both cried. I told him that a lot of my friends and I have been praying for him to accept Christ. He wants to pray tomorrow morning with me and another volunteer who had a great gospel conversation with him a couple weeks ago. Please pray that his heart remains open and that nothing would prevent him from becoming a child of God tomorrow. I am so overcome by the goodness and power of God to answer prayer and save the lost. Indeed today He has shown me again why He came and died, why we celebrate Easter today. He came so that His magnificent love might be poured out upon undeserving sinners, so that we could be forgiven and adopted into His family forever to the praise of His Holy name.

I can't thank you enough for your prayers, I am overwhelmed by how God has answered them.

Please Pray...

Please pray for the boy that I have been working with. We had a great day the day after I posted about him, but since then it's been really difficult. God has been working on me a lot regarding patient and being ok with this boy hating me at times and throwing fits. Yesterday afternoon I  was really struggling having patience with him, so I cried out to God to help me and particularly to give me compassion and love for this boy when I have absolutely none left of my own.

He has been answering that prayer in some powerful ways lately.

Yesterday and this morning I found out a bit more about this boy's past, which includes maternal abuse and a public orphanage (they have terrible reputations here). But again tonight after a long and difficult day today with him and a lot of stubbornness around bedtime I wasn't very full of patience and love. Tonight he was refusing to sleep and so was singing at first about how boring his day was then ended up singing some Christian songs (he loves to sing). I was sitting outside with another volunteer when he began to cry really loudly. This isn't unusual for him, he cries very often. I waited at first thinking it was because he was trying to get attention/bother me (because he was angry) so hoping he would stop but then he started crying out my name so I went to see what was wrong. When I entered his room he was really scared and said that he had heard a voice talking to him at his window, he immediately threw his arms around me and buried his head in my arms (only a little earlier he had been really angry with me). 

Immediately God flooded me with love and compassion for him and a real sense that there was a spiritual battle going on.

I sat with him on his bed and reassured him over and over that I was there and that God was there with us. I prayed over him God's peace and protection and prayed against any evil that was near in the name of Jesus. I held him, sang to him like my mom always did when I would get scared at night and told him I loved him. On my way back to the volunteer house I prayed outside his window with the other volunteer as I promised him I would.

I know our God is the Almighty God, and that for those who are His own nothing evil can harm them. Tonight God woke me up to the spiritual battle in this boy's life. There is a battle going on for this little boy's soul and for some reason God has chosen me to enter into this battle, to stand in the gap. This boy believes in God but I do not know if he has surrendered to Him, if he has genuine saving faith. Please join with me in praying for his soul to be saved, and for God to guard his mind, heart, body and soul in the name of Jesus Christ. Please also pray for me that I would not lose sight of the spiritual battle, that God would give me all sufficiency in all things in Christ Jesus for what He is calling me to. 

New adventures...

This morning I met with the volunteer coordinator about my new responsibilities (aka adventures) since the boy I have been working with is starting to transition out of the clinic. The meeting went well. For one I will be helping out some in the medium girls house--in the mornings and at lunch time. I've already become friends with several of them, they are really sweet (age range is typically around 8-13 years old I think, but there are many exceptions). I will still be tutoring the boy I've been working with in the mornings and taking him to the medium boys house in the afternoons/for dinner. Spending time in the medium boys house lately has been really fun. The boys can get into a lot of trouble but they can also be really sweet and are always entertaining :) 

I also asked the volunteer coordinator if there are any needs in the school right now, which led to talking with the school director. And he has assigned me to be the reading teacher in the Elementary school! A little while back they had reading groups, but the woman who was leading them had to be switched to the office so there hasn't been anyone to lead reading groups for the kids lately, so that is what I'll be doing! Starting after Easter (the kids get next week off from school for Holy Week), I will be starting reading groups for grades 4, 5 and 6. I spent some time in their library today looking at their collection of sets of books, they have about 10-12 sets of books, all of which are Spanish versions of books originally in English (e.g. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe: El León, La Bruja y El Ropero and My Side of the Mountain: Mi Rincón de la Montaña). The selection is not bad but when considering different levels of reading that narrows the selection down quite a bit for each level. I am already considering using some of the money I have raised to buy more books. As far as other chapter books that kids can check out from the library there are only a couple other shelves full, which I would also love to do something about. 

Please pray for my preparation for these reading groups, there is no set curriculum or even guidelines for them so I get to create it all. I am really excited about this, I loved reading as a child, love discussing books and love the chance to be creative. I feel so blessed that God has opened this door for me, I feel like there couldn't be a more perfect job in the school for me. My hope is that the children I work with will come to love reading, that it will open up for them new ways of thinking, expand their imaginations and speak to them eternal truths in a powerful way. Stories are one of the most powerful modes of communicating truth, indeed our Heavenly Father is the greatest Author of the greatest story of all time. Please pray that God would work through these reading groups to reach these children. 

I still have a strong desire to work with the older girls in some fashion. Unfortunately volunteers are not normally assigned to the big girls house because they can be really hard to work with and there is a lot of need with the younger kids. I am hoping to talk with one of the leaders of the discipleship program here soon to see if I can get involved with that though, so please pray for that. I also would love to start a praise dance group for the older girls, which I need to talk with the volunteer coordinator about. 

Above all please pray that God would be leading and guiding me in all these things. I can be quite a dreamer and want to do everything, but most of all I want to be where God wants me to be. So I pray that He would simply not open doors that are not meant to be opened.

Thanks so much for your prayers and support!   

Prayer Answered!

Thanks to everyone who prayed last night and/or today for the boy that I am working with, we had our best day today since starting potty training! He didn't cry or throw a fit about it at all and we got to do school work too! Because of this I got to buy him a couple treats at the snack shop. Thank you so much for your prayers. Tomorrow the schedule will be changing, he will be spending his days in the toddler house in stead of the clinic, though he will continue to spend the nights at the clinic. I will potentially still tutor him some in the mornings and might still be taking him in the afternoons to visit the medium boys house where he typically lives. I am meeting again with the volunteer coordinator tomorrow to figure out my longer term responsibilities here.

Please pray that this boy would continue to cooperate and be potty trained soon even though he won't be in the clinic. Please also pray for my meeting with the volunteer coordinator tomorrow. I am excited to see where God wants to put me, it's been a surprising adventure so far!

First Week...

One of the first things I learned from the other volunteers here is that here at Emmanuel you become everything and anything you ever dreamed of being…or didn’t dream of being. I didn’t expect that statement to come to define my life here so quickly but indeed that pretty much summarizes my week. This week I have been a nurse, a physical therapist, a custodian, an occupational therapist, a seamstress, a teacher/special Ed. evaluator, and child psychologist. In other words I have been a MOM.

Last Monday, I was supposed to meet with the volunteer coordinator to discuss my skills and interests and so figure out my responsibilities here. But before that meeting could even happen I was woken up and asked to come help out in the clinic. A couples days before I got here an 11 year old boy had both of his heels operated on (because he has walked on his heels since he was a toddler) and was staying in the clinic. They needed someone to help take shifts watching him. As the day unfolded I was eventually assigned to him for the time being. And an interesting time it has been.

Each day I learn something new about this boy. For one, he is 11, in second grade and doesn’t know how to read or write. The teacher in me screams this is not ok. I can’t spend 9+ hours a day with him without trying to do something about this. So I have been testing him on a variety of areas regarding letter names, letter sounds, writing, reading comprehension (when read aloud to) and math understanding. I am pretty sure he has dyslexia at this point. So a few days ago we started school in the clinic! For math we’ve counted and organized beans, worked on learning his letters by playing letter memory, letter bingo, and some letter games I found online, we’ve compared and contrasted Honduras and the USA for social studies, watched a YouTube clip on deep sea creatures and had him invent his own for science and I’ve read aloud to him for literature and had him answer comprehension questions. He has really enjoyed this and it has been fun for me as well.

But…

Another thing that I learned pretty quickly is that this boy is not potty trained. He has worn a diaper his whole life. At first I heard that he had a medical problem but he recently went to the doctor and this has been denied. So just a few days ago I started trying to train him to use underwear. I could use a lot of prayer for this. It has not been going well so far. I know that he is most likely afraid of this change and I’ve spent a lot of time encouraging him and providing incentives but I have also learned that he can have a terrible attitude and terrible behavior when he has to do things he doesn’t want to do so I have also had to be very strict and had to discipline him a lot. Please pray for strength to both be encouraging and loving but also strict and hold fast to discipline. To all you mothers out there, I am amazed by you—and I think that will only grow during my time here. Unfortunately this potty training business has prevented us from doing much school work lately (for example this morning he spent about 2 hours bathing himself and going to the bathroom because he was crying and moping the majority of the time). I don’t know the root cause of this boy’s delayed potty training. I was talking with a friend the other night and she mentioned to me that often when kids are older and have this type of issue it is linked to abuse. I don’t know this boys past, all I have is the present, so please pray that this boy would feel God’s love through me, in my encouragement, my discipline, my forgiveness, and my effort to do what is best for him. 

First few days…

I arrived safely to Honduras on Tuesday and spent the first 3 ½ days at Casa Hogar (the children’s home I volunteered at this past summer). My time there was a really sweet time with the kids. We had fun playing soccer, watching soccer YouTube clips, dancing, doing hair, and just talking. Here are a few pictures from my time there…

Little girls doing my hair…

Watching soccer clips…

This is Mirza who is a beautiful young girl with a great heart for the Lord. We got to spend an afternoon just talking one-on-one about life and God. She hopes to be a doctor someday and to be a missionary in Israel.

On Saturday I met up with a group flying into Tegucigalpa traveling to Orphanage Emmanuel.  So I have been here at Emmanuel for a day and a half.

Highlights:

The church service today was awesome. God really spoke to me through the songs and the sermon, reminding me again that this narrow road that God calls us to is one of daily surrender. He also reminded me of His faithfulness and that I can trust Him with all the unknowns in my life.

Though I didn’t know any of the kids yet today, no one remains a stranger here for more than 2 min. Right after church some young girls befriended me, and I spent a couple hours hanging out with them, telling them stories and talking with them. Later in the afternoon as I was going for a walk and passing by the little boys cabin, a little boy called me over which led me to hanging out with a bunch of little boys for a while which led to them singing for me. Wish I could upload the video but the internet is a bit too slow right now. 

These are the little boys :) 

Later in the day I spent a bit of time with the babies, they are so precious. The children here have already been such a blessing to me, God has shown me His love for me through them in a beautiful way today. Indeed if only we could all be like children. I have so much to learn from them.

Low-lights:

Attempting to cook slow-cooking rice and dried beans tonight. Though I spent some time working on my cooking skills while I was at home (successfully actually) I didn’t quite fully prepare myself for cooking Latin American style. Haha. It’ll come :) 

Prayer requests:

Tomorrow I will be meeting with the volunteer coordinator to figure out what my responsibilities will be. Please pray for this; I have many things I would love to do, but most of all I want to have a willing heart to do whatever God calls me to here.

For my transition to Emmanuel becoming a new home for me. For the relationships I will form with the other volunteers I’m living with (there are 12 at the moment) and with the children and staff.

For the children that I know will be a blessing to me and I hope through God’s love to be a blessing to as well. Pray that they would surrender their lives to God and experience the transforming power of the gospel.

Thank you for all your prayers, love and support that have gotten me here!