A lot of people have been asking how Honduras has changed me or challenged me. There are so many stories and ways that I saw God and I could talk about those for hours, but there were a couple things that stood out to me the most. These things that stood out were more like reminders about how great our God is.  One of the things that stood out to me was how present God was the whole entire week in everything I did. Just look at the creation of the island and you can see God’s presence. Being asked how we saw God every night in debrief really changed my perspective and after a few days I didn’t have to look for it anymore, I just saw it. God was so present through the people. The ladies that took us visiting were so open about their faith in a way you don’t see in the U.S. and it made me want to be like that. I think I was also feeling like I was starting to go through another dry spot in my walk with God (not getting much out of devotions, not feeling all the feels,getting tired of youth group, etc.) and being on the island reminded me of His presence which is such a big thing for me and that dry feeling went away. 

Another reminder that I got hit with was the power of prayer. After Teresa’s prayer for shoe boxes and the Lord fulfilling that in full, it was such a powerful moment. It showed His presence again and the power of prayer. After we came to our senses and prayed before kids club the second day, the difference that it made was insane! Like why did we not think about praying on the first day. Then throughout the week the prayers that we prayed over people and prayers that I saw answered was such an encouragement. Sometimes I think I forget how powerful prayer is and not to give God limits on what He can and can’t do. Then I noticed that when I was at home one night doing my devotions and praying I prayed about the silliest thing. In the middle of my prayer, I stopped, laughed at myself then was like, no God can do that why am I laughing, and prayed for it again. I think I forget how God cares about everything, even the small things and I tend to limit His power. 

Another thing that stuck out to me was how it took so little to love like Jesus. We didn’t have to do anything huge except hug a child that needed love. I had a girl that just grabbed my hand, sat me down then put my own arm around her and just sat like that. All she needed was some love and that’s all I needed to do to show Jesus. It was just so simple (simple is profound) but they don’t get that type of love which breaks my heart. I had kids that I didn’t even know come up to me and just hug me. I had kids just wanting to sit beside me rub my arm. I had kids tell me they loved me as we were playing when I just met them. It was just sad to see that these kids don’t get this love all the time when all you have to do is hug them and tell them you love them. 

The last thing is this experience helped me confirm what I am doing with the rest of my life. I have always wanted to go into early childhood education. Having a mother that does that, I see everything she does and I knew what I was getting myself into. I have always loved kids and enjoyed teaching them when I teacher aid. But being able to teach kids in Honduras about the Bible was so amazing. I loved every minute of it. I had multiple people come up to me and tell me that I have a talent for teaching and it really helped me confirm that this is what I want to do. I would love to come back and teach Honduran kids someday but we will see where the Lord takes me from here. There is so so so much more I could write about but I don’t even think it was supposed to be this long. 🙂