Sunday, April 24, 2011
Friday, April 22, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Back to the typical American life
Well, here I am. I've been back in the states for about a week now. Tonight I have been snowed (or rather 'iced') in since about 6 pm and it just keeps coming down! I took a look at my bedroom when I got back and kept thinking how much it could use a good cleaning so tonight is the perfect night for that!
I started with my closet. First sorting out the clothes I do and don't wear and then out of the ones I do, the ones I should not! ha. This is typically a good feeling for me. Once I get everything all cleared out and organized I always feel much better. Tonight has been different. Tonight I look at piles of clothing and feel physically sick.
You see less than HALF of the amount of clothes I want to keep take up an overflowing 3 large laundry baskets. It would be a safe guess to say all of my clothes could easily take up 10+ baskets. I am not kidding when I tell you, I had no idea I owned this amount of stuff. I had things so tightly packed in my closet it was ridiculous.
It's a very typical thought, when I talk about Honduras people always say something to the affect of "We have so much here in America". It's a thought I've had many times, especially while I'm in or right after I get back from Honduras. That's really all it's been for me though, a thought.
Tonight, I look at my 3 overflowing laundry baskets and I see a small one room house with a family's combined amount of clothing equaling less than that.
How I long to be there. Thinking that I will be giving away the other half of my clothing there just seems so insignificant right now.
After my short month of serving in Honduras, I think I have just grown acustom to a more simple life. I'm overwhelmed by all the things I see in my room. In Honduras I had only what I could fit into my carry-on sized bags. (Which for me, is more than most but still!) When I woke up and got dressed my main thought was not of how I looked it was how I could serve Jesus more that day. Why is that so much more diffcult here? He is the same God no matter what country I am in but my life has so many more distractions around here. I have never thought of clothing as a distraction until now. I never realized how worrying about how I look in a certian outfit here differs from how God wants me to spend my life. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that I feel everyone needs to give up they're cute clothing and dress like slobs all the time in order to please Jesus. Trust me, I have kept my fair share of nice clothing tonight and I plan on wearing it all still. I am just saying, to stop worrying. If we could stop over thinking how people will view us, if a shirt makes us look too fat, if a pair of pants don't fit just so, if your hair doesn't lay just the right way... then maybe we could see each other how God sees us. How God created us, beautiful, just like Him.
I started with my closet. First sorting out the clothes I do and don't wear and then out of the ones I do, the ones I should not! ha. This is typically a good feeling for me. Once I get everything all cleared out and organized I always feel much better. Tonight has been different. Tonight I look at piles of clothing and feel physically sick.
You see less than HALF of the amount of clothes I want to keep take up an overflowing 3 large laundry baskets. It would be a safe guess to say all of my clothes could easily take up 10+ baskets. I am not kidding when I tell you, I had no idea I owned this amount of stuff. I had things so tightly packed in my closet it was ridiculous.
It's a very typical thought, when I talk about Honduras people always say something to the affect of "We have so much here in America". It's a thought I've had many times, especially while I'm in or right after I get back from Honduras. That's really all it's been for me though, a thought.
Tonight, I look at my 3 overflowing laundry baskets and I see a small one room house with a family's combined amount of clothing equaling less than that.
How I long to be there. Thinking that I will be giving away the other half of my clothing there just seems so insignificant right now.
After my short month of serving in Honduras, I think I have just grown acustom to a more simple life. I'm overwhelmed by all the things I see in my room. In Honduras I had only what I could fit into my carry-on sized bags. (Which for me, is more than most but still!) When I woke up and got dressed my main thought was not of how I looked it was how I could serve Jesus more that day. Why is that so much more diffcult here? He is the same God no matter what country I am in but my life has so many more distractions around here. I have never thought of clothing as a distraction until now. I never realized how worrying about how I look in a certian outfit here differs from how God wants me to spend my life. Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that I feel everyone needs to give up they're cute clothing and dress like slobs all the time in order to please Jesus. Trust me, I have kept my fair share of nice clothing tonight and I plan on wearing it all still. I am just saying, to stop worrying. If we could stop over thinking how people will view us, if a shirt makes us look too fat, if a pair of pants don't fit just so, if your hair doesn't lay just the right way... then maybe we could see each other how God sees us. How God created us, beautiful, just like Him.
Monday, January 17, 2011
A New House with a Tear Soaked Floor
Tears and sweat covered the floor. A woman stood next to me crying out to Jesus. Heads were bowed and hands were either holding each other or lifted high. We had just finished building a house. This is normally a time when the only tears shown are ones of joy. Today was much different.
Today Jen, Jess, the boys and I headed out to help the Mi Esperanza board build a house. The site we built on had a large extended family who all live in the same compound. It was quite the hike to get there from where we were able to park! The Mi Esperanza women were great to work with and we had the house mostly finished in just under 4 hours. We all were slightly patting ourselves on the back for how quickly and nicely we had done it.
It was one of the hottest days I've built in. As the last few pieces of the house were being nailed up, Jess and I sat inside the house to get away from the sun. I was visiting with a few Honduran boys when we heard yelling all in Spanish outside. Jess asked me what was going on and I, not paying too much attention, thought the women must just be excited that the house is done. As I listened in more I quickly realized it was angry yelling and men were yelling too. I looked outside to see 4 men dressed pretty nice accompanied by 2 police men.
The men said that their boss owned all of that land and they should not have built there. The family had papers of their ownership of the land but sadly, in Honduras, sometimes those papers mean nothing. Especially when the men seemed to be from money where they could afford a lawyer. The yelling went on for quite some time and we decided it best to hurry and get out of the way.
I stayed inside and the mother of the family came in sobbing. Jess and I hugged her and tried to console her as best we could. I looked over to see one of her sons who was probably about 13 years old hiding his head in his shirt crying. I went over and held him as he wept. He had worked so hard with us all day on the house. He was soaked with sweat from how hard he worked and now he was soaked with tears.
As yelling still went on outside, we gathered the family to pray inside as we always do after a build. Luvin prayed and did so quickly so that we could leave the family to figure out the property issue. I was humbled at what came after his quick prayer. One of the Honduran women was praying at the same time as Luvin. After Luvin was done she went on. It was the most heart felt prayer I have ever heard in my life. It was completely in Spanish so I couldn't understand much but I could sense God with us. With almost every word she spoke a tear fell to the floor. She gave thanks to God and praised him over and over again. When most would be asking for more of God, she praised Him for what they had and we all felt Him near.
It was humbling to realize as we wanted to leave them to figure things out, they put their trust in God to figure it out. God is in control, siempre (always).
Spoken in the woman's prayer today over and over.. "Gracias a Dios! Jesus es Senor!"
('Thank you God! Jesus is Lord!')
This is some of the walk to the house
The beginning of building
Isn't she precious!?
Some of the famliy
Today Jen, Jess, the boys and I headed out to help the Mi Esperanza board build a house. The site we built on had a large extended family who all live in the same compound. It was quite the hike to get there from where we were able to park! The Mi Esperanza women were great to work with and we had the house mostly finished in just under 4 hours. We all were slightly patting ourselves on the back for how quickly and nicely we had done it.
It was one of the hottest days I've built in. As the last few pieces of the house were being nailed up, Jess and I sat inside the house to get away from the sun. I was visiting with a few Honduran boys when we heard yelling all in Spanish outside. Jess asked me what was going on and I, not paying too much attention, thought the women must just be excited that the house is done. As I listened in more I quickly realized it was angry yelling and men were yelling too. I looked outside to see 4 men dressed pretty nice accompanied by 2 police men.
The men said that their boss owned all of that land and they should not have built there. The family had papers of their ownership of the land but sadly, in Honduras, sometimes those papers mean nothing. Especially when the men seemed to be from money where they could afford a lawyer. The yelling went on for quite some time and we decided it best to hurry and get out of the way.
I stayed inside and the mother of the family came in sobbing. Jess and I hugged her and tried to console her as best we could. I looked over to see one of her sons who was probably about 13 years old hiding his head in his shirt crying. I went over and held him as he wept. He had worked so hard with us all day on the house. He was soaked with sweat from how hard he worked and now he was soaked with tears.
As yelling still went on outside, we gathered the family to pray inside as we always do after a build. Luvin prayed and did so quickly so that we could leave the family to figure out the property issue. I was humbled at what came after his quick prayer. One of the Honduran women was praying at the same time as Luvin. After Luvin was done she went on. It was the most heart felt prayer I have ever heard in my life. It was completely in Spanish so I couldn't understand much but I could sense God with us. With almost every word she spoke a tear fell to the floor. She gave thanks to God and praised him over and over again. When most would be asking for more of God, she praised Him for what they had and we all felt Him near.
It was humbling to realize as we wanted to leave them to figure things out, they put their trust in God to figure it out. God is in control, siempre (always).
Spoken in the woman's prayer today over and over.. "Gracias a Dios! Jesus es Senor!"
('Thank you God! Jesus is Lord!')
This is some of the walk to the house
The beginning of building
Isn't she precious!?
Some of the famliy
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