The last 2 days in Honduras

Wow! I cannot believe that I am now already back in the States. I feel like the trip flew by way too fast!!  Well the last day and a half in Honduras were great! Our day Friday started off nice and early at about 5:40am, which is when the boys day starts.  It was really the only day that I actually got up with the bell that rings to tell the boys to get up and head to breakfast.  After getting my bag all packed and ready to go I headed down to hang out on the front porch of the conference center so that i could tell all of the boys good bye as they were heading to class.  It was sad having to leave so soon.  We left the farm about 7:30 and headed towards the Maunuelito Project (I probably mispelled that) which is in Talanga that takes kids off the streets of Tegucigalpa and transitions them into living in houses and starts them on a path of education.  We got there and took a quick tour of the school and then headed off to the Valley of the Angels (which is a Tourist City, even said it on the sign entering the town). We had lunch there and then did some souvenir shopping. (I bought a hammock which I am pretty stoked about!!) After shopping until we dropped we headed on in to Tegucigalpa to the Guest House at the World Gospel Mission offices there in Teguc.  We got all settled in and then went off to dinner at Asado El Gordo where we proceeded to eat way too much food!!  Went back to the guest house and had a final little debriefing and devo time and then got ready for bed.  Saturday morning started off nice and early as I woke up at about 5:40am and couldn't get back to sleep so I got up and got ready.  We had some amazing cinnamon rolls and then headed off the the air port.  The rest of the day was pretty uneventful which is always a good thing when you are traveling internationally! We arrived back in the States at about 4pm Central Time and back to Midland about 10:30 and back here in Artesia about 1:30am this morning. Although this is the freshest trip on my mind at the time I do really feel that this was one of the best if not the best mission trip I have been on.  God's presence was so undeniably present and His voice was clearer to me than it has been in a while!  It is amazing how God shows up in ways in your life that you never expect!  My friend Brent sent me a text about 2 weeks ago telling me that as he was praying for me that he really felt that God was starting to work in a new way in my life and he was right, because God is definitely more actively working in my life right now! It is so cool and so inspiring to know that when we live according to God's will and purpose for our lives how He provides all that we need to live!!  I am pretty physically tired right now, but emotionally and spiritually I feel so rejuvenated and ready for God to continue the work He has started in my life!!  Praise be to THE ONE TRUE GOD!!
Standing Amazed at my Savior
sg

The Final Day Here at El Sembrador

Well today has been the last full day here at El Sembrador.  This makes me kinda sad :-(.  Today has been another full day!! We finished up what we could on the boys dorm this morning and then had some time to talk and visit with some of the boys before lunch which is always fun! I am enjoying trying to talk with them in Spanish and vice a versa. The conversations are slow, but they are definitely fun!! I feel that I am picking up more and more of it.. too bad I have to leave tomorrow. I guess I will have to practice more when I get back home to the States.  We had lunch and after that we headed over to El Carbon a community that is right across the reservoir.  There we were able to interact with some of the children there as well as a few adults.  We sang songs in Spanish and also played games! I didn't get any video but I did get pictures as well as recorded the singing!  It is such a blessing seeing the joy in the faces of the people here!! Oh yeah, I almost forgot!!  I got to impersonate a monkey for the kids (and adults) 3 times because they were trying to guess and Sherry (one of the Missionaries here)also needed a picture of it.. good news though, I did not break any toes!!  After El Carbon we walked back over to the school and then got ready and headed to Catacamas where we walked up to the Cross there and then went to a store there in town to get a few things for a couple of the boys that we took with us into town.  On the way back here to the school I sat next to David (Daveed) and we talked about our families and lives he is a little bit older than some of the boys here but he is trying to finish up his studies for high school to move on.  It was fun trying to talk with him! (Thankfully Sherry was sitting in the seat in front of us so that if either of didn't know how to say a word we would ask her, as well as refer to the book I bought in Houston.)  After getting back from town they had the conference center set up for dinner where they had prepared steak for us and a few of the boys served us supper.  I felt so completely humbled by their hospitality and was blown away by the love showed to us by them.  I ate way too much at supper but it was quite amazing! We did a little bit of shopping here at the little store here in the conference center and settled up our snack bar bills.  Then after dinner we played some more futbolito!!!!  I know that I will be incredibly sore tomorrorw but we had a great time playing with and interacting with the boys again playing futbol!!  After that Jerry and Sherry Murphy the Missionaries here shared with us their story of how the came to be here at El Sembrador!  It once again was inspiring!!  I am sad to know that we are leaving tomorrow and am looking forward to the day when I will get to come back here!! It is bittersweet for sure.  I dont think I will be able to blog tomorrow night, but will finish up blogging about my adventures here in Honduras as soon as I can.  This has been a great experience for me and truly cannot wait till I get the chance to come back! God has shown me so much!! I came here tired and worn out physically, mentally, and emotionally and was honestly not super excited about having to be gone for another week.  But God has been more than faithful and has been at every turn and with me giving me rest and energy and refreshing and rejuvenating my heart and spirit. I might be physically tired when I get back to the states but I do know that God in His infinite power can take care of that! I know also that God has refreshed my spirit and given me a greater desire to run hard after him! 
Gracias a Dios (Thanks be to God)
sg

Day 5 I think????

I think today is day numero five here in Honduras!  It has been one amazing day!!  It has been a day full of all sorts of blessings and God showing Himself to us as a group through the people here in Honduras!!  Today was the first day we had no rain delays during our work day which allowed us to get a great amount of work done!!  The tiredness has now gone and I am feeling rested and rejuvenated each morning (well after 2 cups of coffee each morning!!). During work as well as in our breaks we are getting to interact with some of the boys which is always fun! I am slowly picking up some Spanish and able to communicate on a very limited level with the boys but it is a great joy! I can truly say that I am falling in love with this country and the people of Honduras and the people here at the Escuela El Sembrador!!  At the end of work today Tory and Meg started playing with a few little girls who are children of some of the people who work here at the school.  They didn't know any English and Meg and Tory have very limited Spanish but they played with them for a good hour to hour and a half! It was great to see them interact with them! The girls even came to church tonight with us and it was great to see the little girls look at Tory and Meg and Kacy (one of the girls from West Virginia) with much adoration and joy! The joy of a child is so contagious!! Tonight during church they let us lead the singing for the night!! We picked some songs that the director Christian helped us pick that he knew in both Spanish and English so we were able to sing the verses in English and the Christian would lead them in Spanish!! It was such an amazing time of Worship!! It has been so great getting to Worship my Lord and Savior in so many different ways as I have traveled this summer!! Christian the director also spoke tonight and had another guy named Mark translate for us so that we could hear what he had to say as well! What he said hit me deep and was more confirmation on what God has already been speaking into my heart!  The night ended with us getting to play Futbalito with the boys!!! It was great fun although I am pretty sure I wont be able to get out of bed in the morning...  It was so much fun and although we didnt really score that much we had a blast interacting with the boys in their niche!!  Today has definitely been the highlight of this trip and possibly my summer!! God is so amazing and I just cant wait to see what else He has in store for the rest of this trip as well as the rest of this year!!  Continue to pray for El Sembrador and the boys here.  Tomorrow looks to be a great day as well and I will tell you all about that tomorrow night!!  Blessings to you all!!
Still in awe of my Amazing Savior!
sg

Dia 4

Wow! I cant believe the 4th day has come and gone already! The week is flying by way too fast! I really wish I could stay longer!!  Today was another rainy day here in Honduras! We truly hit the rainy season this year! We did get quite a bit done despite numerous rain delays today on the dorm we are painting.  The work day started off with some nice sunshine which caused us all to sweet more than any person should!! Haha! My shirt was definitely soaked and I was pretty ripe by lunch!  This afternoon started off with a lil sunshine, but then we started to hear a little bit of thunder and before long there was a nice torential down pour for a good 20 minutes or more!! In the midst of this rain Jake and I decided to go and jump the road that had turned into a river, which was fun and then Jeffrey joined in too.. then we decided that it would be more fun to go run a lil bit more through the rain and then we proceeded to slip and slide through some grass, this was great fun but I soon realized that it was just 2pm and the sun would probably come back out and we would still have 2 hours of work to do in sopping wet clothes, this made me think that it was not so much of a good idea, but... it was pretty much too late by then.  We finished up work for the afternoon with some more sunshine and then had a wonderful supper!! (they feed us good down here!!)  Tonight we were blessed to hear the stories of a guy named Jeremy who is a volunteer down here as well as a family, but I cannot remmeber their names... Anyhow, both of their stories were very inspiring stories, stories of people taking seriosly the Word of God in their lives!!  I cannot express how good of a time we are having down here in Honduras!! The team has been so great to work hard as well as connect with the boys here!  We have also gotten to work with a group from West Virginia and are building relationships with all of them as well which is also great!  We also got to sing a little bit more tonight with some of the guys here at the school as we are practicing to help them lead a few songs tomorrow night for their Wednesday night Church service!!  I am really excited about the connection I know that God will allow us to have in worshiping with them tomorrow night!! Continue to pray for us and willing attitudes to serve and listen to the voice of God as He reveals Himself to us through the people we are encountering this week! Praise be to Lord who has blessed us with this amazing opportunity!!

in awe of the one who gave it all,
sg