Spare Change

Wow, what a day.  It has been a fast paced and long day, but one that included traveling to Honduras and our first opporunity for mission.

First off, Praise God for what I would call a perfect set of circumstances for our travel this morning.  While I wasn’t all that excited about a 4am wake up call, our flight to Houston and then San Pedro Sula both were on time and with NO complications.  Both flights were smooth and no one in our group (we had a few first time flights) had any troubles.  We made it to the school/church we are staying at and everyone got settled in! It was truly a blessing to find free wireless access available and the opporutnity to check in with my wife and kids!  Thanks be to the Lord for creating whoever came up with the idea of Skype!

After a quick bite to eat, the group headed off to Las Casitas, which is an all girls orphanage that we will be visiting a couple times during the week.  Tonight our mission was to bring some dinner, hang out and love on the girls, followed with some worship and devotional time.  On Tuesday, we will be heading back to spend more time, plant a number of trees, and let the girls get their hair and nails done!

As for tonight, I can’t even really describe what my feelings and thoughts are.  We entered a room the size of a very small gym, which was crowded with over 130 girls primarily ranging from ten to 16 years of age.  Our group came equiped with a few soccer balls, which were quickly put to use.  The girls immediately swarmed each of us, ready to find out our name, give us a hug, and take a few pictures.  To say I was overwelmed would be an understatement.  We had girls wanting us to kick a futbol, play keep away, or just sit and talk.  They wanted to know how old I was.  If I was married.  Did I have kids?  And all of this was done through broken spanish and the help of translators.  By the end of the night, I felt like I had met 50 kids and hugged 75.  I had juggled a soccer ball, held a 2 month old baby, and played keep away with others.  It was an incredible night one, and if it is a example of how this week goes, then I am going to be complete at a loss of words! 

Here are a few pictures from our night!

“Beef” also know as Eric Bowman, did an unbelievable job on worship.  He sang three songs in complete spanish and it was amazing.  The kids led us in “Open the eyes of our Heart Lord,” and he did just that.  Here is a quick video of Spanish Beef!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkBqOAKeaAE