This is long, but worth the read about my trip.
As I reflect on my week in Honduras, I feel happy and overjoyed. I miss being there and having to get back into my "normal" everyday life. The week was busy but it was great and rewarding for me and the team as well as for the people we served. God calls us to be servants, as he was a servant to others. Today at church, I was taught that Jesus served many and call us to serve. To serve the rich, the poor, the sick and the desperate. So the clinics we had in Honduras, we saw many people. But, you see, it is not about the numbers of how many we have seen, but the lives we touched by showing God's love and mercy. One story sticks out to me. I did not experience it personally but one of the other nurses did, Jen. Greg (our leader missionary there), asked if she would go with him for a house call. When Greg asks you to do something like this, the first thing you think of is "what are we getting into!" But he only has the best thoughts for the people there. So you trust God and go. Like we did setting off from Louisville in a plane to a different country. So Jen went and this is Ruben's story.
Ruben had a girlfriend in a different village. Last October, he went to visit her and her ex-boyfriend shot him which left him paralyzed. He has been bed ridden ever since. Since he has been home, (which I am not sure when he got home from the hospital), he has been in his bed, not taken out of his dark room. He is depressed and getting bed sores. And oh, he is only 20 years old. So our team went to visit him. Give him and his family medical care. His sister has been taking care of him and doing a good job of it. Meily, our translator and a member of our team, witnessed to him, prayed over him and with him and told him about the love of Jesus. He accepted this love and Christ. If he was the only one to accept Christ that week we were there, then it was all worth it. God has a plan and we do not know his plans, but we know the ending!
So, my trip may have been for me to go and do the clinics, but my JOB was to witness for Christ. And I was just a small part of our mission. With all the parts together (leaders, drivers, nurses, workers for pharmacy, and the pastors), none of this would have been a successful trip. I take comfort knowing that Reuben came to know Christ and will grown and learn more in his love for Jesus. So I rejoice and so should you. Every year this trip and the people I encounter change my life. I pray I have made a difference in their life too. I was reunited with some old friends and made some new ones. The reunion next year will be glorious (in part because Olympia will have her baby!).
So I just want to say a big THANK YOU, to everyone who supported me financially and prayerfully. God truly provides and and he loves us all.
Will you answer the call to his will?
"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms." 1 Peter 4:10
Love to all,
