What I Didn't Know I Needed

The other day I had an epiphany.  A moment in time where I realize there was a deep need in my life that was being filled that I had no idea needed to be filled before that exact moment.  Something I didn't know I needed.

Let me back up and state the obvious.  If you KNOW me, you know I HATE asking for help, HATE feeling like I am inconveniencing someone, and HATE feeling like someone has taken on something that I should be responsible for.  Yeah yeah, sounds like pride to me, too.

That being said, our teammates and our situation sometimes give us no choice but to rely on one another and live life in community in a way I can honestly say I have never experienced.  It's humbling and beautiful.  It's a picture of the body of Christ functioning the way I believe He intended it to function.  I didn't know I needed a life lived together.

It's a steep learning curve.  Learning to ask for help.  Learning to accept help when it's offered. Learning to offer help and invite people in. Learning to be vulnerable and show your faults.
Learning to love and show grace to others regardless of theirs.  Learning to truly live together in a true sense of community.  Not always easy but so necessary.  So necessary I didn't know I needed it until it was being fulfilled by my brothers and sisters in Christ whom I also call my teammates.

Who do you live life with?  Christ died so that we may one day live with Him again in Heaven.  I feel blessed that I already have a taste of that here on earth now!  

“God has prepared for Himself one great song of praise throughout eternity, and those who enter the community of God join in this song. It is the song that the “morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy” at the creation of the world. (Job 38:7). It is the victory song of the children of Israel after passing through the Red Sea, the Magnificat of Mary after the annunciation, the song of Paul and Silas in the night of prison, the song of the singers on the sea of glass after their rescue, the “song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb” (Rev. 15:3) It is the song of the heavenly fellowship.” ― Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Life Together: The Classic Exploration of Faith in Community

Global Church Advancement

For the week of January 27 through January 31st, Adam will be in Orlando, Florida for the Global Church Advancement Conference.  The week is spent attending workshops and seminars to train up church leaders from multiple organizations and denominations in church planting.  The goal is to learn how to start, grow, and multiply Gospel-centered churches.  Since our role as missionaries with Mission to the World is to be church planters, this is the perfect conference for Adam to attend.  

For a quick (3 minute) peek at last year's conference, click here.  

The GCA training curriculum is characterized by being:

1.  Biblically-Sound (integration of biblical and theological truth into practical training)

2.  Missiologically-Contextualized to the focused culture (one size does not fit all)

3.  Educationally-Effective (adult learner-centered VS teacher(ing)-centered methods)

4.  Competency-Based (training based on knowledge, skill and character competencies)

5.  Character-Focused (primacy of developing character over mere knowledge & skills)

6.  Outcome-Based (training accountability through objectively measurable results

From http://www.gca.cc/

Building Site

Since mid-December, we have held three mobile medical clinics in a tiny 150 square foot, single room, kindergarten schoolhouse in Las Delicias.  This building and surrounding area have been offered by the people of the community for use by our ministry.  The Honduran school year starts in February, so our use of the building will end soon.

The one room kindergarten

With the help and knowledge of our teammate, John Clow, or as we call him "the construction guy," plans are underway for a possible covered area beside the kindergarten for community and ministry purposes.  Here we will be able to conduct future clinics, ESL classes, kids club, Bible Studies, and church services.

We are currently looking at estimates of the cost of supplies as well as meeting with the "patronato" (think city council) of Las Delicias in order to take the next steps correctly and with their blessing.  The people of Las Delicias have expressed their desire for this area to be well used!

John doing what he does best: Measuring. Planning. Building.

A bigger glance of the area

Nice to Meet You

Or as we say, "¡Mucho gusto!"

We are settling into our days here in La Ceiba, Honduras and finding our rhythm with the tasks of daily life, starting a new ministry and making our new house a home.  We are more than thrilled that the Lord lead us to work in the community of Las Delicias and we are enjoying the time we are spending there. We have hosted three clinics, played multiple games of soccer, hung out with women at the river as they wash clothes and dishes, and been invited into homes for coffee and conversation.

We are motivated to build relationships and share the love of Christ.  That is our focus every day we are in Las Delicias.  We won't lie.  Being immersed in a culture and a language that isn't our own creates some awkward moments but we love the people and we love how the Lord uses our inabilities and imperfect Spanish to make Himself known.

Pray for our time in Las Delicias and that there would be community!

 Adam doing intake at the mobile clinic (held in a small building that serves as a Kindergarten classroom)

Michelle explaining dosages and the purpose behind medications

Asher being swooned over

We've discerningly been sharing these Manna Packs with the neediest in Las Delicias 

(read more here about a whole TON of food being donated)

Some of the beautiful faces we are hanging out with

Some kids washing themselves, dishes, shoes and collecting containers of water in the river

Adam making friends through soccer

Asher hanging with Mom by the river talking to some kids and women.

His sweet face shows the joy we all have when we are there making new friends!

Las Delicias

…continued from our December newsletter.

As we shared with others about our experience in Las Delicias, we usually got the same response.
"You went into Las Delicias?"  "I've heard it is dangerous."

We got scared. So we continued our search.  We went back to communities we had written off.  We explored communities we'd never been to.  But something kept drawing us back to the children and the chicken coop house of Las Delicias.  Eventually, we went back.  Then again.  This time we talked with people and even toured the streets with them.  We left with phone numbers of community leaders.  Later I (Adam) met with those leaders and discussed our hopes and prayers for Las Delicias.  We returned with our children and were introduced to the community.  A crowd gathered to hear from us and to express their desires for their community.

Las Delicias is one of the largest communities in all of La Ceiba.  In all, there are more than 1,200 families which could equal as many as 10,000 individuals.  We will focus our efforts on one of the poorest and least served parts of the community consisting of 315 families.  Many families have 8 to 10 people in the home.

We are excited to get to know and serve the people of Las Delicias.  Please pray that God would lead us in building relationships across language and cultural barriers.

Community Search

Our official role with Mission to the World (MTW) and Team Honduras is church planting.  We are searching for a community with the purpose of building relationships, discipleship, and identifying a national to be a pastor  to his own community.  Our team has already identified three nationals in three communities in La Ceiba.  Church plants are underway!

                                                        Pastor Jesús in Armenia Bonito

Pastor Isreal with our team leader, Mike in Danto

Pastor Ovidio with our teammate, Mike in La Fe

We started our search with a broad tour of La Ceiba.  We drove through close to a dozen different communities that were possibilities.  From there we have prayed and talked and prayed and talked some more.  We have narrowed it down to 4 or 5 communities.  This week we are out in communities interviewing leadership (business owners, school directors, and patrinatos (think "mayor" of the community)) to understand each community's needs and if we would be welcome.   

 "We believe that God's grace, demonstrated to us in the radical love and sacrifice of Jesus Christ, has the  power to transform our world.  Our mission is to build church-planting movements, whose energy continues to grow far into the future, long after we may be gone  to transform our world. Vibrant, nationally-led churches around the world will grow and multiply, transforming the culture around them."

Mission to the World's Vision Statement

In Joy and Sorrow

This week has been interesting, to say the least.  We are suffering some culture shock, without a doubt.  The poverty here will challenge anyone's worldview.  I have shed some tears in utter disbelief of what I am seeing.  And there are plenty of things here that are just plain different than our own culture AND the culture of Costa Rica where we just spent a year.  Our children's adjustment is just as confused yet vital as ours and takes some time and care.  And then, I could make a laundry list of things have have been less than pleasant, the top of the list being our house being broken into again and all our Wii games stolen. (Yes, someone came over the razor-wire fencing and robbed us through the bars that protect all of the windows.)  Some definite sorrows in the mix this week.

There have been some joys, too.  The main one being we continued to search for a community in which to start a ministry and the Lord was faithful in helping us see clearly.  We still have some leg work to do to narrow it down but are thrilled that we are moving in that direction and closer to making a decision.

We don't have to look hard to see the blessings in all of it.  There is evidence of growth in our marriage through hard things and conversations as well as the fun and new adventures, too. The strengthening our faith is produced through the perseverance of the less than desirable circumstances. We are becoming versed in how to love our children better.  We are also learning how the Lord loves the poor and more of His perfect character. 

It's not hard to realize that we had such an easy life in the States and how I couldn't see that then.  I watch pictures flash by on my screen saver and know we had so much nice stuff, so much comfort, so much ease. Safety is relative but it seemed like we had that, too.  I know it was not in vain to give it up, not for loss.  I know we are here in His perfect time for His purpose.  I have more verses posted around the house as idiot reminders than I did before.  I have to because otherwise my sinful mind and heart forget and go back to the easy, the "safe," and the comfortable.  

God is indeed good.  He is my home. He is my fortress. He is my treasure.  I want to treasure Christ more than any Wii game, than any earthly possession, than any stability, than any certainty of my children's safety, than any ease that I sometimes crave.  This week, I am seeing and worn down by the fact that there is a cost. But that too is ok because Christ bought me with the greatest cost.  He suffered 
more than I am suffering for.