Week 2-Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos

At the beginning of the 2013-2014 school year, Ms. Mewshaw (the principal at Edison) announced that the school would be sponsoring three kids at a children's home in Honduras. Obviously, I loved this idea. It is my dream to someday take a group of students to Honduras; until that happens, though, I appreciate that when I talked about Honduras, my students have some sort of link to the country. Two years ago, I visited the children's home, Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, and delivered gifts to the three kids that Edison sponsors.
This year, I was thrilled to returns to NPH to deliver even more gifts (Ms. Mewshaw does not do "a small amount of gifts.") First, let me tell you about this ministry. On the property are many regular classrooms, technical classrooms (sewing, cobbling, auto-mechanics, and cosmetology), a farm sufficient enough to provide all the produce, eggs, milk, and cheese, enough homes to provide shelter for over 400 children, an elderly home, a home for people with AIDS, a medical clinic, and place for everyone on campus to worship.  It is the ministry's policy that siblings should not be separated from one another, and once the kids are old enough, they must work a year at NPH and then the ministry will pay for any additional schooling--even medical and law school.
The three kids that Edison sponsors are the perfect kids for Edison. Anyi (pronounced Angie) is this feisty, sassy girl who was appreciative for the many gifts that were given to her. She is in the home for girls who need a little more guidance. I think she would fit perfectly with many of the girls at Edison.
Alexis is a quiet teenage boy who loves soccer. He recently just went to El Salvador with the NPH soccer team to compete in a large tournament. Alexis was thrilled to be receiving a new soccer ball. Edison is filled with talented athletes who take competing seriously. He was timid around us, but I knew that he was excited for the gifts that he could share with his friends.
The last person, Gerson (pronounced like Harrison), was actually off campus because he needed a time of "reflection." Basically, Gerson is ornery and needed to spend some time away to get his life together. If there is anything Edison has, it is teenagers who act a little wild as they try to figure out this whole life thing.
Each time I am at Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos, I think that it all started with someone's dream and God's blessings. God is faithful. Dream big.

Week 1

I arrived in Honduras last Tuesday and hit the ground running. By Thursday, we were hosting a group from the Morgantown Church of Christ. With this group, we built a house for a family of four (in less than three hours!), distributed 150 school uniforms and bags of necessary school supplies, worshipped with the Breaking Chains church, passed out sandwiches on the streets of downtown, met some babies and passed out baleadas at Hospital Escuela (side note: it is not the best idea for the preacher's son and an elder to be the ones selected to pass out food in the maternity ward!), and hung-out with the kids at Didasko. It was a full five days.

Throughout my different trips to Honduras, I have helped build several houses, but the one on Friday was a completely different experience for me. The Morgantown group worked with another mission team from Ohio. With so many people, it at times felt crowded. There were many times when I was not sure what I should be doing because there simply was not room for everyone to be working on the house. It was during one of these times that I noticed David, whom I live and work with here at Mountain Top Ministries, walking around with a small group of people from the other team. These men had decided that it was important to speak with those around the build site about Jesus. Unfortunately, none of these men knew Spanish, so David was called over to translate. These men prayed for healing for the chronically ill, asked young men about their relationships with God, and prayed for renewal and a restoration of hope in the lives of those they met. One young man rededicated his life to Christ right there in the middle of the road.

I joined this group halfway through. We met a man who was just riding his motorcycle by and was interested in what we were doing. David was busy translating for another person, so I was asked to translate. Understand that my Spanish is rudimentary at best, so I felt totally inadequate for his job. However, with God's help, I managed to carry the conversation for several minutes. Finally, David was called over to finish the job. The man became overwhelmed by the love and concern that was shown to him. By the end of the build, this man was asked to say a prayer over the family and their new home.

The day was good. A family of four had a home. A teenager had a renewed faith. And a man who was simply curious about what a group of gringos were doing experienced that love and concern of God and His people.