Welcome Antioch Baptist to Mount Horeb

We would love to welcome back to Honduras Pastor Joey, his wife Stacey, Garry and Tammy, Raymond, Kim and her son Ryan and their neice and cousin Leah, Deanna, Derek, Becky, Bill, Donald, Kenny and Chris.  We are grateful to God they chose to come back and serve beside Mike and I here in Honduras by sharing the love of Jesus Christ door to door this past week.  Please note planning an evangelism team is not an easy task.  There is alot of preparation which goes into this one week in Honduras.  Pastor Joey shared with me one evening.  They have been prepping, planning and prayer for these six days since the beginning of Janurary.  They met once a month as a team preparing their testimonies, practicing speaking with a translator and preparing an amazing week of VBS for the children of Iglesia Bautista Jehova LLireth of Manuel Valladares of Choluteca Honduras. As you will read later in the blog they did so much for these precious children.  The community was truly blessed but the North American team left more blessed.  Thank you God for Pastor Joey leading and preparing this team with what turned out to be one amazing week.

This was their first visit to Mount Horeb.  They enjoyed the quietness of the morning and the sunsets in the evenings.  They loved the Honduran cuisine provided by our very own Ingrid who is so faithful to her job at Mount Horeb.  They were most impressed with the workmanship of Manuel and Ruddy who were on duty each evening for twelve hours.  They were blessed with some time as a church family to get to know each other better whether be through devotionals or just sitting being still in the presence of our Lord.  Thank you God for allowing this team at this time to come to Mount Horeb and serve their Lord in such a mighty way.

Last Minute Prep and most Importantly Prayer

Each day the team prepared the night before what materials they need for VBS and evangelism.  But the most important tool they carried with them each and every day was PRAYER.  They gathered at Mount Horeb and prayed.  Once arriving at Iglesia Bautisita Jehova LLireth they prayed up again.  This team was relying solely on the power of the Holy Spirit this week to bring the lost to Christ.  They were only the hands and feet of Jesus, God did the rest.  They not once gave them self glory for their work here in Honduras this week.  God was glorified on ever salvation and rededications this past week.  They loaded up those back packs with spiritual tracks, evangi-cubes, and Bibles to go out into the streets of Manuel Valladares.

Off We Go

The team headed out through an area we call Manuel Valladares.  People were out and about doing what they do each day as the team rode through to find the church and village God had called them to this week.  People riding their bikes to their local jobs or going to the market to locate work for the day so they can feed their family.  Pulperias were busy selling morning snacks to the locals.  It was busy as usual in Choluteca.  But today was bringing a different twist to their day and the next five days.  They might encounter some North Americans and Honduran brothers and sisters out and about sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. I remember one evening during devotionals  Deana shared how a family they visited along this roads did not know the story of Jesus on the Cross was a true story and Jesus died for their sins.  So today if you are reading this and you as well do not know the story of the Cross and how Jesus was persecuted for you and for me, well Yes He Did!!!!!  He sacrificed his own life so that you and I can have eternal life and we can be called the child of God.  So please today if you are reading this blog and you do not know this Jesus who gave His life for you, please find a pastor or someone who you know who knows this wonderful man called Jesus and receive the greatest gift of all JESUS!!!!!

Meeing Our Church Family

As each team member entered the front door of the church after being greeted with warm welcomes from outside the church doors they were getting excited about what their week was going to become.  There was so much love and compassion immediately from this Honduran church family and from the North American team.  The Holy Spirit was in this place.  Everyone felt the unity of each other fairly quickly as Mike introduced Joey and team.  The pastor's wife apologized for her husband Alberto for not being there but praise God he has a job.  There was numerous church members there which was great since we had five different groups to go out but also they do not have work or took off of work to serve their church family.  How many of us reading this today would take off of work to go evangelize with a bunch of folks you have never met before for God's kingdom work?  What an inspiration this church family was to all of us who took out six days of their week dropping their family chores to go door to door to share the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Please realize this North American team of 15 have been preparing, prepping and praying for eight months as well as these Hondurans who have only been praying for this day to come.  They went out this first day with complete strangers even the translators except for Meida and how God took each one of these people of two different nationalities and languages and used them to go spread the good news that Jesus is alive and wants us all to become a child of God.

Stacy's devotional the first night was spot on for the week ahead.  She shared two words similar but very different too.  Lost and Loss.  She asked the question what is different about these two words.  Ryan shared one has a T and one does not. The word loss is an emotion temporary or what we left behind. The word lost simply means we all know someone who is lost, who does not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  She challenged her team members to seek out someone this week who is lost and needs our Lord and Savior.  We need to reach out to folks who are disengaged and we need to make the most of all situations.    Don't be so busy in your task of doing the cube and miss the opportunity  to share the gospel with all who need to hear it.  WE need to all let go of ourselves and let God do what He has called all here to do serve HIM.

Welcome Five Teams of Prepared Missionaries

All their hard work for the last eight months will now pay off.  They arrived at the church along with their translators, Meida, Joel, Alberto, Luica and Fernando to a church family ready to go out and hit the street serving their Lord in their very own community.  There was a lot of church members there to greet them on their first morning of evangelism.  This was great and also very sad as well.  These folks did not have a job to go or either they put it on hold this week to work for their Lord.  This church has a very special place in Mike and my heart.  Fifteen years ago we came down as a team and help finish the construction of this church.  So when we pulled up to the church the welcoming of our friends of many years was heart warming to say the least.  Pastor Alberto is blessed to have a job praise God so his wife willingly help orchestrate the entire week for the team. We circled up and prayed as Mike introduced Pastor Joey and his team.  Pastor Joey shared the team was here to work along side of the church family and do whatever they could to help meet the needs of the church and community spiritually.  Pastor Joey shared he will break his team up into five groups with one translator for each group.  At this time the pastor's wife send her folks to the different groups where they were ready to start their week.  All this work was fixing to fall into place.

Five Groups Ready to Spread the Gospel

One of the team's the first day was with Chris, Kim and her son Ryan along with her was a young lady named Blanca and the translator, Luica.  They got to know each other and shared some prayer concerns and how they would work together on this first day.  Blanca shared with us she was helping raise her sisters and her own child while helping her father who is in a wheelchair due to an accident at work.  He is paralyzed from the hips down.  Yet Blanca took the time this week to assist her church and the North Americans in reaching her neighbors for Christ.

Pastor Joey, Stacey, his wife and their niece Leah was on another team and they got so blessed with Joel as their translator along with some other ladies of the church.  They as well shared what needed to get done today and where they were heading out to in the community, sharing prayer concerns for each other and within the community they were about to embark on.  As they discussed and planned out their day they all circled up and Pastor Joey with the help of Joel opened their day up in a prayer of many prayers this first day.

Raymond, Derek and Deana were joined by our sweet friend of many years, 22 year old Melissa and her mother and one more young lady.  They were assisted by a very amazing godly young man age 17 Fernando who worked with Raymond all week.  They circled up and discuss how they were hoping for their day to unfold and bring salvations to the Kingdom.  Deana's first time on an international mission trip and first time sharing the gospel was excited and ready to put her training to work in this little community God placed her this week. There was also a very quiet young man in this group named Melvin who worked hard all week for his church and community.  Deana and Derek are dating and what a better way to start out a relationship than by going out sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Garry and Tammy returned friends to Honduras got excited when they found out Meida was with them on this first day. They also had Kenny with them and some ladies from the church.  They gathered at the front door as they were heading out the door and prayed up their day and what God had in store for their team as they started walking down the dirt paths of Manuel Valladares.  The pastor's wife joined them as they headed out to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and encourage this church family.

Bill, Becky and Donald headed out with their translator Alberto along side a very shy man of the church and a young man named Tony.  He is the brother of Melissa. How awesome it is to have a whole family out sharing the gospel from this church.  This Honduran mother has to be so proud.  Along with the was the pastor's wife who was energetic and ready to bring the lost to Christ.  They talked for a while trying to get to know each other and Becky was reaching out to Tony sharing with him and showing him the evangi-cube, one of their tools for evangelizing with this week.  They prayed up and finally got their day started going out the church turning right and then turning left down an amazing day of sharing the gospel.

Becky's devotional the first evening was spot on for this first day.  She shared how this was a very diverse group aging from 17 to 81 years old.  They had new Christians on this team and one who had been a Christian for 63 years of his life. God designed this group with His handiwork.  God made them all unique but brought them together as one.  Becky shared how he designed us just like He wanted us to be at this place and time. Becky shared two very good Bible verses about her devotional which were inspiring to us all for our first evening of sharing about our day evangelizing.

Serving

This year coming to Mount Horeb for the first time was a change for this team as far as their different job duties.  But as I have already shared this team came flexible and ready to serve their Lord while staying on Mount Horeb.  They had cereal each morning and was able to sit around and prepare for their day ahead while some of the team cleaned up the kitchen dishes. Everyone pitched in to do their part.  Sunday morning they cooked a huge breakfast as a team.  Everyone pitched in to clean up their breakfast dishes while Pastor Joey was preparing for his sermon this Sunday morning.  Chris was in charge of making the water and Gatorade coolers each morning.  Becky, Tammy and Stacey made the sandwiches each day for their team.  Everyone helped clean up the supper dishes each evening.  This team came to serve at whatever capacity God called them to do.  This team brought lots of joy to Mount Horeb while they were here and we are forever grateful for them.  Thank you Antioch Baptist Church for being you.

Preparing to Evangelize

The first morning prior to going out there was few of our team members going over last minute details.  Kim and Stacy were great mentors to Deana who is a first timer on this team sharing internationally.  Remember this team had been preparing for eight months for this day.  They met once a month practicing, preparing and praying.  The day has come where they have to put their practice into action.  It was so sweet seeing Deana and Derek working together on their plans for their day ahead once Kim and Stacy were finished working with her.  I was so impressed and proud of these two young people starting their relationship out sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ with each.  They marked and went over several scripture verses they were planning on using as needed each day.  Derek had done this one time before so he was amazing how once they got out into the village he allowed Deana to share the evangi-cube for the first time and what an amazing job God did through her and how once she did it the first time, each time she shared it became more natural and flowed beautifully.  This is how the Holy Spirit works when we allow the Holy Spirit to work and as we are obedient to God's calling for our lives.  Thank you Deana for getting out of your comfort zone and allow God to use you in such a mighty way all week.

Devotional and Choir Practice

Each evening God blessed Mike and I with some amazing devotionals.  Kim shared one evening about simply being still and being in the presence of God.  This week this campus will offer us the many opportunities to be still.  We all live a fast pass life style and here it is so different.  People in Honduras set great example of slowing down and enjoy life without all the fluff involved. Mount Horeb is a place for all of us to refuel.  Quiet time is a gift from God, why don't we take full advantage of this gift more than just in Honduras. We cannot fill up another person's cup if ours is empty.  Search and find the joy of Jesus in Honduras this week.  

Mr. Bill shared how much easier it is to share the gospel here than in the practice session.  Why is that he asked?  The people here are so receptive of hearing the gospel unlike back home.  Some even shared they never open the door to others when they come a knocking.  The Hondurans open up their homes to us, bring out chairs and offer us coke while we set and shared the gospel each day.   We need to rely on God totally for sharing the gospel and understand the Word which can only come from being in His Word daily.  The Wisdom of God's Word is how we apply what we know to others. The only way we can do all of this is through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Raymond's devotional was on GOD!  Yes simply how well do we know this God we are talking about this week to the Hondurans.  He followed behind Mr. Bill's devotional the next evening and talked about how much knowledge do we have of God but no understanding. First of all Raymond shared about prayer.  As we all pray to we ask God for boldness or strength?  Who is God? Do we have a personal relationship with God? Raymond shared about how Job was faithful to God through good times and the bad times.  He had a strong personal relationship with God. Who is God?

God is sinless but men are sinners.

God is Holy but men are unholy.

God is righteous but men are unrighteous.

God is perfect but men are imperfect.

God is loving but men are hateful.

God is the truth but men are liars

God is Almighty.

God is Eternal.

God is Yaweh.

God is Jehovah.

God is Shilam.

Raymond shared so many more but honestly I could not keep up with him.  He was sharing so much about how awesome our God truly is. We cannot control anything.  God is the only One who is in control of everything.  Like Kim said the other night in her devotional we need to be quiet and still and listen to what all God has for us as individuals. We need to let God lead us on life's journey this side of Eternity.  If we want to make it personal God is our maker and if you are a believer He is your Redeemer. Amen y amen.

Chris shared the "The Creation Story".  He took a different twist to this well known story.  He read several scripture verses out of Genesis 1 and there was a phrase shared in every one of them. "It was good."  But in the last scripture there was an extra word added, "It was very good."  Chris then shared from 1 Corth  how Paul spoke of us all having many parts.  This week we all have used many parts,, gifts to share the gospel.  This group of fifteen have become a family this week who worked very well together .  At the very beginning of our training we were all very nervous.  As we continued to practice the nervousness went away and by the time we got to Honduras God had prepared us for what He had called us to do.  So he asked the team as we finish up tomorrow in Manual Vallares evangelizing are we going to be able to say "It was a very good week."  I do believe so. The Sovernity of God formed this team and accomplished what He wanted done. Chris also led the team in choir practice on Saturday on the front porch of the North American dorm.  What a beautiful sound going across those mountains.

Tammy did an amazing job sharing about one of my favorite words "Joy".  She asked her team where do you find joy.  They all said in the Lord.  Scripture says " I am the Truth," Jesus is the light of the world  Jesus is the Way the Truth and the Light.  Tammy shared how she say a lot of joy this week.  How we may go back home with our hearts full of joy and others will not understand but Tammy said that is okay, we have each other in this circle. We came down here eight days ago as acquaintances now we are a family and we are the only ones who saw the many blessings and joy we saw this week.

This week was one definitely full of joy, quiet time, getting know God better, finding out how awesome God is, God's wisdom and His great love for us all.

Our Staff is Awesome

As we arrived at the church the first day immediately our staff for evangelism was ready in place. Tino was our quiet partner this week who watched over their materials and the vehicles while the team was out sharing the gospel.  Tino sat right there at the church and watched over all the details of his surroundings.  One day Pastor Joey shared how Tino came to where they were and picked them up and brought them back to the church and yes they may have been a little early but Tino heard how far out they were and chose to go and bring them back safely to the church. Meida reached out to Blanca immediately because of how relationship with Blanca and her family over the ten years here in Honduras.  Meida was just who Blanca needed at this time.  She opened up immediately to Meida about her mother leaving the family and how now she was the head of her home.  Fernando our new translator and friend was standing there getting to know Raymond and just being very special.  Joel is our blessing always.  He was right there available wherever he was needed.  Alberto was our gentle giant who spoke softly but spoke volumes when he spoke of God and his relationship with him.  Luica was such a bundle of joy this week.  We got to eat lunch with all of them on the last day and they were most definitely a great team for this week.  Their love for their Lord radiated in their words and their actions.  Thank you God for sending just the right Honduran staff for this evangelism team this week.  The spiritual chemistry was absolutely perfect in your Name Heavenly Father.  As Mr. Bill shared one evening it was not anything we had done but all of God's doing. Amen y amen.

Families Evangilizing Together

Welcome to Honduras for the very first time, Derek and Deana.  They are dating and chose to start out their relationship by serving their Lord.  I am not sure how long they have been dating but what a beautiful to continue their relationship is putting Christ Jesus at the center of it.  They worked the first day together but Pastor Joey seperated them as they went out with different teams.  Raymond shared one night during God moments how Derek led the lesson Daniel and the Lion's Den for the children.  He prepared prior to coming to Honduras.  But Raymond said his commitment to study the night before he was to share was so impressive.  Derek was so commited to doing his best for his Lord. He was being totally obedient to God with what he had been given to do.  Derek shared Deana had not felt well that day but she helped him with all God gave her through the power of the Holy Spirit and she finished strong all for her Lord. One day Derek was in a house with his team and a young man started following them and joined them at this house.  The lady was not interested but the boy who was following them wanted to read the tract Derek was holding and sharing.  As they prayed with this lady and was heading out of her home, this young man took the tract and slid it under some books in on this lady's table.  During one of the times Deana shared the cube God allowed this person to receive His Son Jesus Christ through the obedience of Deana coming to Honduras.  Thank you both for giving your all to this week.  Thank you for helping finish the "Lord's Supper Puzzle".  It is ready to be framed and hung in the multi-purpose building.

Welcome back Garry and Tammy.  They have been to Honduras several times sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.  They started out together the first day with Meida but as the week progressed they went with other teams as well.  It seems Garry and Tammy always get those complicated orders.  Interestingly on their last morning they came back sharing how this gentleman challenged their faith.  He asked them are you truly Christians?  They were with this man for one hour and at the end of this visit the man confessed he was a believer of Jesus Christ and knew where he was going when he died.  Their first day they by the power of the Holy Spirit and their obedience to God was the hands and feet of Jesus and led four family generations to Christ.  There was a lot of sickness in this community which gave Garry and Tammy opportunities to pray and encourage this people their is hope in the healing power of Jesus Christ.  Tammy was most happy to get her fresh fruit daily while in Honduras.  This is such a treat for her each time she comes.  Garry and Tammy saw Mount Horeb when only the gift shop was built.  They were in awe of the magnitude of facilities God has provided for the Hondurans.

Welcome back Pastor Joey and his wife Stacy and Pastor Joey's sister, Kim.  This year Kim brought her son, Ryan and Stacy brought her niece Leah.  We all have never been more proud of two young people as we were of these two all week.  Each evening they were both always a God moment for someone.  One day Leah was able to share the evangi-cube with a teen age boy of the village.  This had to be an awkward attempt but not for Leah.  Her team shared how she shared with him in confidence about her Lord and Savior. Leah was asked in church Sunday to share in the scripture reading.  She also taught a VBS lesson one day as we.  Ryan as well shared the gospel with boldness every day he went out there. Ryan had a joy about him which was most definitely contagious.  Both of these young people saw joy in what these people did not have.  They both wished they could take this joy back home with them.  It does our heart good to see two seventeen year old coming to Honduras to share the gospel and teach VBS lessons.  They told the story to the children through a skit or simply shard the story.  They prepared way in advance for this week.  They both had great mentors in their family members, Pastor Joey, Stacy and Kim.  I want to say you all have done a great job and we thank you for bringing these two very talented and gifted young people down here to share Jesus with young people their own age. What a testimony for all young people?  If you are in God's Word even at the age of seventeen and are obedient to His calling God will use you.  You are never too young to serve your Lord.

Cornhole

Each evening after dinner and cleaning up the dinner dishes the team played cornhole.  The first evening the team was on Mt. Horeb Stacy said "oh man we got cornhole". Cornhole has become a fun and competitive sport at Mt. Horeb.  Our staff also have become quiet good at cornhole.  This sport is a wonderful means of building relationships amongst the team members throughout the week with team work and means of laughter and pure joy.  It is a great release mechanism from all the stresses of our daily lives.  Thank you God for the game cornhole and the many many blessings it has brought us over the years.

"For the body is not of one member but many."
1 Corinthians 12:14

Worship Service

God gave us a day of worship and praise unto Him after two days out in the field.  The team was ready for a day of Sabbath Rest.  The service started out with some amazing praise hymns led by  Pastor Alberto on the electric keyboard.  This music definitely got us prepared for worshiping our Lord. After the hymns of praise Blanca opened up the service in a Word of Prayer.  Leah was asked to help with the reading of God's Word out of Proverbs 10:1-18.  Job well done Leah. After scripture reading there was more praise and worship through some beautiful hymns.  The North American had a couple of praise hymns as well.  The last one they sang the entire church joined in clapping with the North Americans.  Once they got through singing half of them left to go to Sunday School with about 100 children. 

Pastor Joey and Meida stepped up to bring the message from God's Word. The scripture is coming from Mark 5:13-16.  Pastor Joey shared how a lot of our visits this week resulting in a lot of excuses why your community is not in church.  It is the very same way back home in the states.  But as Christians we are suppose to be the salt of the earth.  Salt back in Jesus' day and today is a very important mineral.  Salt has many uses, it perserves meats, keeps things from going bad and from rotting.  Jesus taught is disciples that the world is decaying and it needs salt. Followers of Christ should preserve themselves and the world they live in.  If we were to remove Christians we would live in a very dangerous place.  Our world needs our Christian influence to help prevent all the corruption in our world.  Number two reason for salt is it brings seasoning to our food.  Our world would be bland without the Christians in this world sharing the good news.  People can only have true peace and joy in Jesus Christ.  Not anything in this world can ever bring us complete joy and peace.  Only the blood of Jesus Christ can ever do that for us. Your church as well as my church back home can offer a hurting world this joy and peace.  The only way we can do this for our dark world is through the power of the Holy Spirit.  Our life, our testimony should be hopeful, even in the bad times.  Jesus is always there with us in the good and bad.  How does our testimony radiate our faith in Jesus Christ in the bad times as well as the good times.  Number three salt brings thirst.  Salty food makes us thirsty.  Christians in the world and others should be thirsty for the joy of Jesus.  The unbelievers out there should be jealous and ask why are you so joyful all the time, even during an unforeseen circumstance. Other examples of salt is salt should make contact.  Salt on your shelf in your kitchens will not do any good.  It has to be used.  We need to get out into the world and give out this beautiful salt of Jesus Christ.  Just a little bit of salt make a huge difference.

Also when you don't use your salt  become inactive in your local church or quit reading the Word or have time along with your Heavenly Father who loose the saltiness of the Word of Jesus.  When you loose contact with others in the faith you loose your faith.  Be very careful what you watch on tv or your smart phones this can also pollute your heart and mind.  

There is another thought: light of the world.  We live in a sinful world and darkness is corruption.  A dark place can be very frightening to someone who is afraid of the dark.  Also a dark place is a good place to hide your sins. We hide from the light of Jesus which reveals who we truly are.  Again one others meet you they should want to come to church with you and hear about this Jesus who brings light into a dark world.  Church family we all need to reflect the light of Jesus .  Light repels the darkness.  Christians allow themselves to be the light of the world.  They will remove dishonesty and reveal immorality.  The light in the darkness gives us a sign of hope.  We need to speak truth to one another. Example is a lighthouse will warn you in time of danger.  We need to be that lighthouse in the lives of our fellow Christian friends so they will not fall into the trap of this dark world. Just remember the moon is not always full.  It has to work to become full each night,  We need to prepare daily to be this light in a dark world.  We as believers need to walk the walk and talk the talk of Jesus Christ. We as Christians need to live out the light of Jesus in love to all people  We can bless others and also glorify God with our daily lives.  We need to live out our faith boldly and not secretly.  Share our faith in Jesus Christ with others.  My question to all of us today sitting here are we having an influence in our community, homes and churches.  Please do not dare to be different, we need to be different and radical for Jesus Christ.  We need to be the salt and light of this world. Finally, Pastor Joey shared, "Lord use me today."

This sermon today was from a dear lady we built a home for eight years ago who confessed she had not been in church simply because she could not walk.  Pastor Joey and his team one day visited this sweet salt and light lady of her community named Rheana. She shared her story with them about her health concerns.  They prayed over her and her inability to walk with any strength at all.  On Sunday morning for the first time in a very long time God gave her the strength to make it to church and she had to walk quiet a ways to get there.  First of all she gave God all the praise and honor and glory.  Lastly she shared she gave thanks to the team who prayed over her days prior because all the medicines she had tried did not make her feel as good as she does know and she gives God praise for the prayers the team did over her life earlier in the week.  All Rheana needed was some hope and encouragement through prayer.  So the salt and light showed up at Rheana's that day and to God be the glory!!!!

"You are the salt of the earth."

Matthew 5:14-16

Fish Fry and Fellowship

On the last day Mike and I got blessed to join the team for VBS.  But prior to VBS the Honduran staff got a special treat, a fried fish plate.  This was a huge sacrifice for the church to prepare this meal for the Honduran staff.  We were blessed to be able to be there for this very special time and allowed us to say thank you individually to each of them for a job well done.  The team sang praises of each one of them all week.  First of all I want to give God all the praise and honor for this past week and how well everyone worked together to glorify our Heavenly Father.  The chemistry between the two cultures blended very well together and God was exemplified through the entire week.  Halleluiah praise His Name.

"For it is by grace you have been saved through faith - and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God."
Ephesians 2:8

VBS

This team came in with numerous large pieces of luggage numbered in order of their usage in the week ahead.  This team has spent the last eight months preparing not only to evangelism but for their afternoon in VBS with these beautiful children.  Each day they gathered in the church after their lunch break to around 150 down to 100 children ready to learn and share about Jesus.
This group was assigned or choose a Bible story which they all told not read from the Bible.  They came prepared to share the stories in a way of bringing it alive for the children.  After the story on some days they did a puppet show for the children based on the Bible story just shared.  Mike and I were so blessed that day to be there for this event.  This day it was about the rich young ruler as you can see by Kenny and Derek's costumes.  They took VBS to another level of awesome.  The Honduran translators were awesome right along with them.  They did a coloring sheet and a craft as well each day.  This group of children were so very blessed to have such an awesome blessing from this group of people who gave these children their very best.
One day they did Feeding the 5000, The Good Samaritan, The Creation Story, Daniel and the Lions Den, I believe one day was the Prodigal Son and of course The Rich Young Ruler.  We can not say thank you enough for how you all took your hard work and blessed those children and I want to give God all the praise and honor or this entire week.
At the end of the puppet show and the Rich Young Ruler there came out of no where a mad scientist whose name is Raymond.  I shared with Raymond in the gift shop that afternoon I never knew he was such an amazing actor.  Long story short and quiet hilarious one, Raymond picked two assistants out of the audience to help him with an experiment using water Clorox and red dye.  Raymond used the two young men to help him do the experiment.  The words I am putting down on this blog cannot describe how precious this all process truly was that day.  I laughed until I had tears running down my cheeks.  These children will never ever forget this day and why our sins are washed as white as snow.  Thank you Raymond for making this so real for all of us.
This week as it came to an end there was 40 salvations and 40 plus rededications to Jesus Christ.  They were able to pray with so many of our friends we have had for many years here in Honduras. Blanca's father received prayers for he and his family.  I cried when Tammy and Garry shared how they prayed with one young man in fetal position with the disease of seizures.  How they encouraged Manuel Valladares and Igelisa Bautista Jehova LLireth with the future of their church and witnessing to their community.  On the last day our very special friend Melissa age 22 was able to share the gospel with the evangi-cube along with many others of the church family.  There was one home visit on the last day with a team, Melissa's mother, I believe shared the cube and led a lady to Christ.  This was a huge impact for this church family for a Honduran to lead a neighbor or even an acquaintance to Christ.  This will be away for Melissa's mother to disciple this lady when she starts her walk with the Lord.  On the last day there was very few homes to visit as this team of five groups had covered the entire community.  But Stacy's team saw two girls walking in the street.  Stacy and team stopped to share the gospel and one of those young ladies that day received Jesus Christ.  It made me think of the Second Coming, where one will be left behind.  As you are reading this today I hope you know this amazing man called Jesus who came to this earth and sacrificed his life for sinners like you and me.  Do not get left behind when Jesus comes again!!!

Thank you Antioch Baptist Church once again for a great week sharing the love of Jesus with all of us.

"I thank my God every time I remember you."
Philippians 1:3