Beauty Personified: My experience in Honduras

Some of you all might not know, but I went on a mission trip this summer to Honduras. I LOVE mission trips, this was my third one. My first one was to Africa last year, and that completely turned my world upside down. I knew God gave me a heart for missions and serving and once I had a taste of missions, I wanted more! So this summer, a couple students from my school, and a couple students from Lindsey Wilson made the Honduras team. The other day, my very talented friend, Ronnie Freeman, (S/O to World Rebels!) finally made the video from our trip and it made me very sad and happy at the same time. Here are some of the things I learned...

People with nothing are sometimes the happiest. We worked on a house while we were there, and all these little kids would find us and play with us. One of my favorite kids was Mario. He was so bad but so funny. I remember talking to him one day about his family and school and I asked him if he liked school and he said yes. Then he told me that school starts at 8 am but he gets up at 5 am every morning. I was confused by this because I knew he didn't get up early to primp before school...but he proceeded to tell me that he has to do chores and help his mom because she is sick...she has cancer. He also said he had to walk an hour to school. At that point, my heart broke. This little boy was 10 years old and had a younger sister and they had to be the parents of the house by selling things to get money for the family and doing all the chores, because his poor mother was sick and dying. It hurts to know this and know you can't really do anything for him. Even though all of this was going on, Mario and his little sister never let it show. They were the happiest and most loving kids. His little sister was always hugging somebody! This is a great example of rejoicing in your trials. I know they are just kids and maybe they don't understand fully, but these kids aren't your average 10 year olds, they had to grow up fast and are wise beyond their years. I often think about them. And while I know that all the things I have are blessings from God and how God wants to bless us, I often wonder how I would be if I had nothing.

Me and Mario :)

Mario and his sister

This was the funniest little girl...Her name is Nixi and this was her favorite face!

We loved the Nixi Face too.......... :)

You often think that you are going to bless people on mission trips, but in turn find that the people there bless you so much more. My mindset when I go on mission trips always is that "I can't wait to bless all these people." And while that is true, I always leave with my heart full and blessed even more. You learn so many things by just giving and sharing love. While we were down there we went to a landfill and fed a bunch of people and gave them clothes and shoes. These people lived in the trash. I even saw one man digging through the trash to look for food or clothes. There's nothing like seeing a little kids smiling face, knowing that they are going to be able to eat today. There's nothing like seeing a little boy have his first pair of shoes ever. And there's nothing like seeing the joy that comes from a parents face, knowing that their kid has clothes to wear now. Those things just don't compare with some of life's biggest moments.You leave feeling so much closer to Jesus because in a way, you can relate to Him. You see why Jesus loved the poor so much and why He hung around them so much. I can imagine He felt the same when He helped these people.

The kids running behind our bus at the landfill because they knew we had food for them.

The best way of sharing the Gospel with someone is by showing them love. While we were working on this giant cement house, a boy named Javier was helping us. Construction was his job. While we were there, we hung out with him, talked to him, joked with him and just loved on him. Around the last couple days we were in Honduras, he started asking questions about us. He said he could tell that there was something different about us, and he wanted what we had. He said he had never met a group of young people who would pay money to come to Honduras to help them. Eventually, some of the missionaries and students that went with us started talking to him about Christ, and he accepted Christ into his heart. I remember congratulating him that day and looking into his crying face and thinking, "this is why we are here." We didn't do a lot of evangelizing on this trip like I thought we would. On my previous mission trip in Africa, we went to different houses and shared the gospel a lot with different people so that is what I was expecting here. But I realized that just by showing love to people, their lives can be changed. Even with the little kids, we had a big field day with them and we played games, colored pictures, made crafts, and shared the gospel with them through the craft and all of them loved it, they had never experienced that before. Time is the best gift that you can give someone, because it is something that you can never get back. These people were just so appreciative of our time, and I never really understood the meaning of it until I got back. One person on our trip said one night, "what did the Honduran people do to get us to come here?" and we all said, "nothing.." Then he said, "it makes me think about he gift of salvation. We didn't do anything for Christ to come on this earth and die for us. It was a free gift. Kind of like our service to these people." Man, am I ever thankful for my salvation. I'm so thankful for this experience and the humility that the Honduran people taught me. They will always have a piece of my heart.