I'm Home
Getting home and completing the story of a trip is no easy task. After experiencing 11 days of God moments, memories, and incredible situations, it's difficult to sum it up. I'll bullet point a few stories and events.
- We distributed approximately 22,000 books to students in Choloma, Honduras.
- More than 4,000 people attended our GodMan presentations throughout the week.
- We sweat more than 15 hours a day.
- We ate at the same buffet 8 times. (the owner was so happy he gave us t-shirts and clocks)
- I swam through a cave in the Caribbean Sea.
- I watched US students fall in love with missions.
- We saw incredible miracles take place in front of us.
- Here's A Story from Liz McMahan's xanga http://www.xanga.com/LittlegirlinHiseyes "God had been called upon in that service for salvation, for healings, for repentance, and for the return of a grandson, that had been kidnapped on June 7, the felons requesting millions from the poor family in return. The pastor asked me to pray for them. I have no children of my own, and I didn't even have the words to say, so I remembered in Romans 8:26 to pray in a way that only the Spirit understands. God will hear. For a half of an hour, I prayed with the grandparents of an 11 yr old boy named Richard. I fully expected God to cause those men to carry that young boy through the church doors at that moment. So much so, I kept looking to the entrance. Nothing. After a while, we got off of our knees, stopped crying, and it was as if God said now wait. But the Pastor wanted me to pray more. I was frustrated with God at that moment. We have all authority in heaven, what about the power of Jesus' name? This could not be God's will for that boy to suffer harm. We stopped praying and waited. Nothing. Meanwhile, an old lady asked me to pray for her right leg which was in grave pain. She moved with a walker and cried out it hurt so bad. No wound, just unexplainable pain. God did not heal her then. Why not? I went to bed asking the team to keep praying for Richard and went to bed, not questioning God's power, just asking about His motives for waiting. I couldn't sleep much. The next day we went to the same church, danced and praise God with more energy and when it was all done ( 8 kids scattered around me ) the Pastor said someone had a testimony to tell. He pointed at the Grandparents that were in my row of seats and said that Richard had been found last night!!! I kid you not, I stood up and shouted, "Sweet Jesus, that is so exciting!" Then I sat down because everyone was looking at me. They went up to the front, and started telling how he had been tied up and blind folded to the back of a non moving bus. Someone in the town had found him and returned him to his parents LAST NIGHT!!! They called me and we hugged and cried and praised God more! Amazing, God is simply amazing. He had indeed used His power to return the boy to his parents as we wept for his life.
I thank God for his faithfulness during the entire trip. Again and again I lived in his faithfulness, survived by his faithfulness, and ministered by his faithfulness.
Update# 3 Honduras
Today was a teacher's strike in Choloma. We could only do three schools. Although a few schools missed out because of the strike, our team got some needed down time from the heat and hard work.
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Friday is a very full day. We have 15 school assemblies and three GodMan presentations scheduled. We will be with more than 7,000 students tomorrow, as well as all the people who attend the three GodMan presentations.
Update #2 Honduras
It was hot today. The internet said 95, but a teacher today said it hit over 100. It felt like you stuck your head in the oven to see in the pizza is ready yet. Everything is hot, the schools, the vans, the bedrooms until about 3 a.m....then it's freezing (go figure).
Needless to say, today may have been the toughest day I've experienced in a log time on mission trips. Dirty, hot, scorching sun with no shade, and tiresome.
The teams did great, but we are zapped of everything. Tonight's rest will be good. And, because of a teacher's strike, we will start a little later tomorrow (7:30 a.m. in stead of 5:45)
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Memorable moment: We were at a GodMan presentation tonight in the middle of Honduras Nowhereland. The van drivers got lost, I was alone in a truck with a pastor who doesn't speak much English, and I had no idea where we were or when I would see the rest of my team. The pastor's cell phone was dead, and I leaned against the truck hoping two white vans would come down our dirt road that use to be a train track.
Anyway, finally everyone arrived and we passed out movie invitations to the few homes in the area. Students didn't invitations to this GodMan because it was too far from any school we were in. Although it was suppose to start at 6:30 as the ticket said, at 7 p.m. there were a handful of people. At 7:15 we just decided to begin the presentation. By 7:30 it was pack (250 people) and there were no chairs left for anyone to come in and watch the movie.
There were three boys who stood outside the door...looking in, but would not come in. When we tried to bring them in, they refused because they didn't have any shoes. No shoes.
Book of Hope Missionary Liz McMahan (
click for Xanga) heard them say they wouldn't go in because they had no shoes. She, without a moment's hesitation, took her shoes off, put them on the dirt road next to the boys, and told them they could have them to go into the church. One boy refused, but another went in barefoot right along with Liz. This is Jesus stuff. Take off your shoes and offer them to someone who has none. Wow.
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No pics tonight, I don't have my cord with me.
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Love my family...tell them all hi for me. I saw a huggies bath wash soap commercial in spanish tonight and realized how much I miss them.
UPDATE #1 Honduras
MONDAY NIGHT I sit in out room late at night with the sounds of Spanish TV in the background. Our local friends helping us this week love to watch TV very loud, very late at night. And since the World Cup Soccer is in full swing, I am being educated about Latin America’s favorite pastime.
Being in a new culture is always fresh and exciting. Today we were finished with schools early enough to walk the neighborhood and pass out invitations to tonight’s GodMan presentation. Being the leader, and a little more willing to experience new things, myself and three others decided to get coconuts and papayas out of a roadside tree. After our 15-year old female translator climbed a wooden latter into a tree to find out she was not tall enough, a local man came out of his house with a machete. At first I though we were in trouble for climbing his tree. Then I found out he was going to help us get some coconuts.
He hacked at the tree and got four or five coconuts down. His wife came out with another machete and chopped the ends off. We sat in front of this tiny two-room house and drank fresh coconut juice. It was warm, and not very good, but an experience I enjoyed for the novelty of it.
Our translator spent a few minutes talking about coconuts, and then the lady went inside to get something for us. She came out with a plate of homemade coconut candy cookie bars. All the warnings of “do not eat street food” rushed through my mind. But not wanting to offend, and enjoying the experience, we ate….and we liked.
Tomorrow may be a day of diarrhea, but today is a day of new adventure.
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We are in the city of Choloma doing our ministry, just north of San Pedro Sula. Tonight we showed the GodMan for the first time. It was excellent, and it was effective. We advertised it all day in the schools. Our three groups did three different showings of the animated story of Jesus. Combined, there were 1,600 people who viewed the movie. At my venue, more than a hundred children and adults responded for salvation. It was amazing. People are hungry for God in this city.
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We are in a training room at the hotel every morning at 5:45 a.m. for pray and devotions. Then a 6:20 breakfast and load the vans at 7 a.m. The days are long, but packed with God moments where children and youth are hearing the truth about Jesus, and realizing they can have a personal relationship with Him.
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I preached Sunday night at church. I had a message prepared from home, but the pastor announced to the church Saturday night I would be speaking on the Second Coming of Christ. Well, good thing I’ve seen Thief in the Night…so opened of Thessalonians and Matthew and preached on Sudden Events that Change Lives. For such little preparation, I believe God gave me a good message for that night.
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Now that we are in Choloma doing ministry, there is one restaurant we eat at. It’s a Christian owned all-you-can-eat buffet serving incredible food. Well, looks like I’ll have to hit the gym as soon as I get home.
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Love and miss Joy and the boys. Wish you were here. Have a great week.
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TUESDAY
I forget that most American kids have never seen true poverty. I’ve seen the one-room wooden homes that have no door and a few slats of wood for a roof. I’ve seen the raw sewage in the street or the river. I’ve seen the babies running around naked because they have very little clothing.
But today I watched a team of high school students slowly get off a van and wonder where they were at. Why is the school so run down and dirty? Why is there no electricity? Why is everyone looking at us…even more different than the other schools?
It was true third-world poverty. The children had no shoes. The babies had no diapers. The house next to the school only had a dirt floor with a wood-fire stove. A one-year-old was running around with a box found in the trash and the brothers and sisters were sitting along the road starring at us.
I talked to the team about third-world poverty and told them to look around and appreciate what they have at home. It was our last school of the day. They spent some extra minutes playing with the neighborhood children. They took pictures for memories. Then, as boarding the van, they asked if we were going back to the hotel now that the last school was finished. I looked at the two kids sitting on the edge of the road, nodded my head yes, then climbed in a truck for departure.
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Schools were good today. One school of 600 elementary students were so chaotic we sent them back to the classes until they could calm down. We finished this crazy school and then moved on to a school of 26 students. It was awesome. A small school sometimes is more moving to the heart than a student body of 800.
Why do we like huge crowd if ministry is more effective in smaller groups?
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Health…everything good. Coconut cookie doing fine (see Monday post)
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Talked to Joy today from a internet/telephone café. It cost one dollar for 20 minutes…wow! Cheap. It’s right next to our lunch buffet place, so students can call home more often, now.
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Plans for tonight: No late night ministry so we are at hotel to rest for a big day tomorrow. Pizza, pool, and a movie on a big screen. We are calling it REST here…I’m sure some of you reading this is rolling their eyes saying…tough trip. But we are up doing devotions at 5:45 a.m., eating at 6:20 and on the road at 7 a.m. And it’s hotter than….hot.
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Evan Courtney's group from Macomb
SATURDAY
I stood and watched eleven girls dressed in blue and yellow dresses dance during a full set of praise in worship in a special Saturday night revival service in Honduras. The girls were praying as we entered the church 30 mins. before service. Then they danced and worshipped. It was authentic. It was genuine. It was a nice cultural experience. And it was the beginning of a wonderful night at church.
I preached Acts 3:1-8 when the begger was healed at Gate Beautiful. After talking about the power of God and the potential for Him to work tht night, our team of 32 lined across the front to pray with people from the church. Several came forward for salvation, then a floodgate of people opened for prayer for the miraculous. I can´t explain all that happed, but God's presence was real, powerful and evident. It was an early church of Acts experience. Signs and wonders..the real New Testament stuff.
It´s always exciting to go to another country and trust God to move. Our expectation level is ten fold. We WANT God to move. A lesson I need to learn every day, every Sunday, every time we gather as the church.
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All in all everyone is healthy and doing fine. We are meeting wonderful people from Honduras. My friend Dennys is here....a great time. (He´s the one I took a picture with near the ocean on my October 2005 trip.)
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Joy... I love you and miss the family very much. Tell the boys Hi and that I love and miss them. ALSO...So much for the diet in Honduras. I had a cheesburger and fries from Wendy´s tonight. Pizza will happen too this week. But the good news is it´s low 90s and feels like 102 in the shade. MUGGY and SWEATY. So although I may eat a cheeseburger, I´ll sweat off 10 pounds this week.
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Goodnews: this is from our hotel where we got access to the internet. I´ll post again as time allows.
Honduras para Christo!
- Travis
HONDURAS 2006
Trip Dates: June 15-25
Stay tuned for updates...
