One day left, one day, ONE DAY!!!

What?

Just a little while ago I was freaking out about what to pack, what shoes to buy, learning how to pitch a tent. And now I'm procrastinating packing for the last time by writing a small blog.

I could write a blog that talks about what to bring on the race for future racers... I could write about all the crazy moments... about the grossest things done... about my amazing O squaders, that I'm watching crack up right this moment! I could write about how "you know you're on the world race when..." and I could try and summarize what the Lord has done in my life and in ministry to try to share with you all this time has meant.

It's not possible to describe all this year has meant or been about. I know I'm closer to God and have a better relationship with Christ. I know I have memories I will never forget and I could never be done telling stories. It's sweet.

All I can do now is ask you to continue your prayers. I'm scared and happy to go home. Scared and excited for what God has now! Scared and excited to continue seeking Him with all my heart, soul, and strength. To bring life and revival to Saginaw in the name of Jesus.

The plan for now, the question most asked at debrief and most pondered and prayed about this past month. What to do now that I've traveled the globe and seen the Lord in amazing ways? Well, I have no idea. Right now, I've been accepted into graduate school and am excited about it. Then after that, we'll see what God has.

My plan is to continue to worship in ways God wants me to, with all of my heart soul and strength. To be like David and dance before the Lord, without a care in the world about who is watching, or what they are thinking. It does not matter what my friends, acquaintances or others will say about me. What matters is my God. I need prayer for continued strength in that, and to continue in my pursuit of not fearing man, but fearing God.

This year has been life changing and indescribable. 

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING MY BLOGS, PRAYING FOR ME, PRAYING FOR OUR SQUAD, AND YOUR AMAZING SUPPORT! IT MEANS SO MUCH TO ME! LIKE I SAID THERE ARE NO WORDS TO DESCRIBE MY FEELINGS AND THOUGHTS RIGHT NOW. BUT I FEEL VERY LOVED!

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW, PRAISE HIM ALL CREATURES HERE BELOW, PRAISE HIM ABOVE YE HEAVENLY HOSTS. PRAISE FATHER SON AND HOLY GHOST!

Psalm 150:

Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens.

Praise him for his acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.

Praise him with the sounding of the trumpet, praise him with the harp and lyre, praise him with tambourine and DANCING, praise him with the strings and flute, praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord.

<3

Well, I haven't blogged all month. Every time I try to sit down and do it, I cannot seem to formulate words, let alone sentences, paragraphs and pages about my feelings.

I don't know how I feel. I'm super excited to see my family and friends, but it almost doesn't seem like that long ago that I left for this massive 11 month trip.

It seemed so long in the beginning and now that it's over, it seems so short. Well I know that things are different, but how I'm not sure yet. I know I still have training wheels on when it comes to my faith and intimacy with God, but I'm excited to know that there is so far to go. From training wheels to a 10 speed to no hands to speed biking to tricks. There is so much to come and I've come a long way since my little roller racer instead of a bike.

So I'll tell you a little bit about the month and (as it usually does) hopefully it will lead into how I'm actually doing,

We started the month working with a man named Joe/Roman- He goes by several names. He's lost. He thinks he has Jesus but in reality he's a lost sheep that God is going after through groups and our contact Benjamin. We hiked up to his farm every day, up a mountain and across a waterfall to weed, hoe, plant trees and to have fellowship time with him. He made amazing lavender mint tea.

He got most of his information on the bible from a short wave radio that spits out parts of versus to manipulate the mind, and it's full of different conspiracy theories, and theories of the end time coming.

My biblical knowledge was challenged this month by 'Joman' and by our contact that enjoyed doing several hour bible studies per night, testing us on our knowledge and our heart for God. He's gifted in knowledge about demonology and curses-among many other gifts.

I often feel overwhelmed with what God wants from us and I'm still trying to find my true identity in Him. That's why the training wheels are still on, even though I try and take them off, I constantly fall down, but luckily the Lord picks me right back up and has abounding grace for me to continue trying. He's so good to me.

We did some side ministry of visiting the hospital one day, doing a youth project one day, visiting witch's caves and other 'fake worship' places. And we visited villages around Panajatchel. We were very blessed to have very little rain and no erupting volcanoes as Pana has several mudslides a year and is surrounded by active volcanoes- people lose their houses, children, and lives yearly.

Benjamin had several stories about villages being swallowed up or destroyed each year.

So... everyday we would walk home from ministry and I would see this little clothing store, Ashley and I decided to go in one day. The Lord blessed my Spanish AGAIN, and I was able to have a long chat with the Zulma about her life and her testimony through Christ.

She previously practiced witch craft, worshiped idols, and was heavily involved in drugs. She had a distant and poor relationship with her daughter and was dating a man who was also not a Christian and was abusive toward her.

Now, she is a joyful woman of God, who is healed of her past and brought into the light. She wrote down her prayers for me to continue, prayers for her to become a missionary one day and preach the gospel and for her to have a husband that wants the same things.  She explained how the Lord transformed her life through the work of the Holy Spirit. She now had an amazing testimony and plans on using that to glorify our God.

So my selfish desires of buying anything new to wear led to an amazing encounter with Zulma, and it gets better. We clearly wanted to say goodbye before we left so we set out to see her on Friday, our last ministry day-when we didn't have anything planned. When we got there, we prayed for her and then a woman came up to us to tell us that her mother was really sick and if we would go to her home and pray. (HECK YES) So we go to her home and spend the next, I'm not sure how long, praying and singing over her.

She had several demonic influences, walls and strongholds that were inhibiting her from joy. She was told not to get out of bed for six months and that she needed to go to a private hospital which they could not afford. So we left some bandages (she had a really bad injection site from a blood thinner) ointment, money and some chocolate.

Isabel was her name and her daughter was Miracle (in Spanish). Miracle was sixteen and taking care of her mother and grandfather. She said she was praying for a sign that God was listening to her- we were that sign for her. THANK YOU JESUS!

So we left, but Lili forgot her bag and we had to go back. When we returned, she was out of her bed, smiling while munching on her M&M's. God is so good! And this episode was redeeming for us, as our month was full of challenge and a bit of judgment.

It also was a great reminder that we don't always have to look for ministry opportunities and we don't always have to pray about where to go. It's about the day to day, the times when we are doing 'our normal life' stuff and God presents us with an opportunity to do something for Him, something better. This is our calling; this is all of our gifting. To listen, respond, obey, fear and serve Our God in all situations!

Who cares about your schedule, who cares about what you were supposed to do that day. There is only one thing that matters, one thing that counts and that's bringing His Kingdom to this Earth. It's about our relationship with our Father.

A summary: Our team united even more, we had great family nights, lots of laughter and an ability to fight for each other. The month ended well and we are all now transitioning into the next season with each other. We have a forever family and we have more of God. Now is debrief... our last official time together as O squad on the field.

What a testimony it is to have done this and seen the miracles and wonders of the Lord. And to notice and thank the Lord for what He has done for me. Freedom, freedom, freedom! Thank you Jesus.

Mark 16: 17-20: "And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes with their hands ; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on the sick people and they will get well."

<3

I was able to start a new type of ministry this month with Pan Y Chocolate. It was working in the jails with the women. We were able to visit with them and bring them food. Only their families or friends can bring them food during the day, and if you do not have either of those, or they did not bring you anything to eat, you just go hungry all day.

I felt a lot of love for these women the instant I saw them. There were confined in an extremely small and extremely hot room, no bigger than 6 by 6 feet. There were 18 of them in there (the men were much more crowded) the cell was complete with a toilet within open viewing to anyone. The woman had to really look out for each other and hide each other for privacy. When being served with the soup and bread, they always passed it onto the others and took last.

When some off the workers were going over the Bible with them, the women were eager to listen and were HUNGRY for the word of God. They were attentive and silent during the readings, they would underline and highlight their favorite parts. They were ingesting every piece they could get. When the workers finished, they looked at us. I shared a few of my favorite verses but the workers did not know English, so of course it was a battle to get the point across.

Then a lovely woman came by to help us speak to them. I got to know most of their names and truly enjoyed getting to know bits and pieces of their lives. I would love to do one on one with each of them.

These woman had worth and beauty in the Lord. I wanted them to see themselves as God sees them. Carin and I spoke with them for awhile and then prayed over them. It was hard to say goodbye to them. I did not know how long they would be there, if we were coming back, and if I would see them again.

I was excited on a Tuesday night when we pulled up to the jail again. Five or six of the same women were there and excited to see us. This time it was much more informal and revolved around discussions of their lives and children.

Almost all of the woman had a tattoo of some dude they were no longer dating on some part of their body. They had asked about the bird on my foot and it ended up as a crazy session of the woman showing off their tattoos.

You do not always have to speak about the Bible or God to show Christ to people.

We didn't have a translator but the Lord really stepped in and gave us understanding and words to speak to them. It was Ashley, Andrea and I.

I was the only one who spoke with them the last time, but Andrea and Ashley felt the same burst of love that I had.

We then proceeded into a hilarious discussion about PIOJOS- a word I have become very familiar with this month. I knew it instantly when they said it!

It means LICE! All the woman are battling lice and I could sympathize and empathize with them, as I too have been battling lice for the last three weeks. I cannot seem to get rid of it-even after four treatments and countless hours of my wonderful family picking through my hair (thanks Carin, Jessica, Andrea, Lili and Mariella)

So Tuesday, I I hope to bring them lice treatments, so they can get relief from the licees even if it is only for a short time.

God has a plan for all of these men and women, and I've LOVED visiting them, talking with them, hearing about their life, and telling them it does not matter what they've done, it matters what's been done for them-the fact that Christ died for them.

And we are not defined by our past, but seen in perfection.

Psalm 139: 13-14: For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I  am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.

another 6am wake up call to head off on an excursion to a waterfall for the day. it sounds pretty selfish, but i really just wanted to sleep in.

however, i also never like to pass up a sweet opportunity for adventure/fun. so off we went!

it was glorious, and it was not just a place where one waterfall was, it was a forest full of walls dripping with huge glorious, waterfalls. the forest had trees growing out of the sides of the mountain and gorgeous flowers surrounding the creeks and bushes.

it felt like we were in a fairy tale and everything was full of life:

the trees could speak, and the water was whispering to us!

 

there was even a little fright to our fairy tale, when some of us embarked on a journey through the tunnel in the water, pitch black and no end in sight- until we saw the light and came out into another magical place!

some of the team went hiking, but i sat by the waterside listening to worship music, praising the creator of the very beauty i was marveling at.

then we started to swim in a lagoon where several waterfalls were cascading into.

flipping our feet and diving into the crystal clear water.

standing above the water and jumping off the rocks into theglorious water.

 

  Psalm 23: 1-3: The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures and leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths, for his names sake.

<3

She is an 8 year old bundle of joy; she is in the second grade, loves to play futbol and loves to eat fruit. I was able to meet Claudia with Carin when we were doing hospital ministry. She was the girl I felt most compelled to talk to, even though there were several other children that looked much sicker.

I asked her parents if it was okay that we hung out with her for awhile and they graciously said, "Claro." Name, age, school, the basics covered-then we started telling Claudia why we were there. She giggled through my broken Spanish, but seemed to have a good understanding.

From what I understood from her mother, she has lung problems which led to irregular heart problems. Her lungs are not working properly and she'd be in the hospital for observation for the next five days or so.

I ran out of things to say to her or ask, so I begin to tell her a story. She said she really enjoyed reading stories but did not have any books.

In very simple Spanish, I began to tell her a wild story about a beautiful girl named, none other than Claudia-with long dark pretty hair and beautiful brown eyes and how she grew up to be. I'm pretty sure the store made zero sense but it made her laugh and that's all that mattered to Carin and me.

Then Carin busts out a pad of paper to play hangman on. We
 
play the game until it's time to leave and we ask to pray. They accept and we have sweet time in prayer for her.

Usually with this type of ministry, you just leave with no understanding of how they are doing, and you do not get to see them again.

However, I was able to visit Claudia for the next two days while Jess was taking care of some paperwork for a baby girl named Blanca. Sweet story-she has not blogged yet but she will: (www.jessicasims.theworldrace.org) God was def working in this hospital. It's hard to do children's hospital ministry-they're just so helpless and innocent. This hospital had hundreds and hundreds of children sick in beds-it was so overwhelming to see the suffering-and to spend so much time with one girl and her fellow bed mates when there are so many suffering.

It was amazing to see God through Claudia and her amazing laugh and smile- when I told her she had the joy of the Lord in her heart she excitedly nodded her head yes. I pray she never loses that zeal.

Through coloring books, bracelets, and balls- we had a lot of fun hanging out with each other, even though little words were shared. She always looked so surprised to see me- I would never tell her for sure if I was coming in case something came up- but I just had to see her!

FIRST ORDER OF BUSINESS!

We have a new member of our team, the beautiful, talented, strong and amazing Lili! She will be with us for the last two months of our journey and man are we blessed to have her for so many reasons.

She's quite incredible and has been an amazing breath of fresh air for our team. She is insightful, and full of life. She clearly operates out of the Spirit everyday. She speaks fluent Spanish and has never complained about her constant translating-quite the opposite, she has embraced it as a unifying form of ministry.

The month started off rocky, from an unfinished/unorganized schedule that left our leaders drained, to bad attitudes all around, to struggles with entitlement and attacks on faith.

One of the main things the Lord has taught me or forced me to do on this race is bring all my problems or stuggles into the light. It never fails, I'll be thinking about something or struggling with believing the countless lies the enemy throws at me, and I pray about it, but when I bring it to my team, the Lord steps in and really de-burdens me from the issue and allows me to move on feeling more fulfilled, whole and peaceful. Community is hard but huge for growth and challenge in being more Christ-like.

I really don't like to be seen or have people get to close to the real issues, because it's risky. My family, a few friends, and world racers are the few I've let in. And although I felt unsafe in the beginning with world racers and being open posed challenge; I now find it normal to bear my soul to anyone of htem that asks for my story.

I recently gave Jeremiah my story while sitting in a Puperseria, on the streets of El Salvador. These are the moments again where we look around and realize it's truly crazy where we are and what we're doing and whats even crazier is the reason we are doing it.

Christ wishes to partner with us, He sees us as equal to do that-that thought in itself is crazy and truly mind boggling. I've also recently been amazed at the fact that when I pray, He's listening-The God of the universe is listening to me and loves our time together. So simple, something we hear our whole life at church, but I've really been digesting that lately and trying to figure out where to go from that deeper revelation on a subject I've known since I was a child.

God is so good, another fact I've always known but yet, I can learn more from that statement almost everytime I think about how good He is. Not for what He does for me (which is a lot) but truly because He is just GOOD!

El Salvador=feeling re-energized. It's been a good month considering the rocky beginning but it's going by way to fast.

We are mostly preaching, sharing testimonies, talking at schools, doing devotions, skits, songs, and some relationship building with the Genesis Kids-a group of kids from a poor neighborhood that church sponsors to go to school, get clothes, food and transportation for school. We were able to visit their homes, meet their families, and learn about some of their stories.

We've also been working with an organization called Pan Y Chocolate (bread and chocolate) that distributes food to the homeless, people in jail, and visits the hospitals.

I met a woman named Mariah who has been on my heart, a man named Oscar who probably does not remember me and a man named Jose.

He had a hurt foot, was trying to find work in the US but was deported from Mexico before he even reached the US. He's been receiving medical treatment, but my thoughts are he is too prideful to return to his family without a job, money or prospects for work. He has young children and older children, one of them 23. Just a wee bit younger than me. He wants to see his family, but does nto have a way to care for them right now. And he's taking all the burdens upon himself...

So he's living on the streets. We had a long conversation and an emotional prayer. He allowed me to sit on his bed, which was a cardboard sheet. This is the man's bed, and I was HONORED to be offered to sit on it. He did not want Lili or I to sit on the ground.

We're working with three separate churches and trying our best to form relationships among them to unite the churches in this city to form one body instead of working for their personal church, working for THE CHURCH.

El Salvador is beautiful and we've been having fun on our off time enjoying the city and beaches, we've also hiked up a huge volcano with one of the pastors! I've never seen a volcano that close before, and in the inside of the huge crater was green liquid! It was sweet. We also went surfing J and yes I was able to get my butt up on that thing several times!

 

                                      

 

                                      

 

                                      

Leaving Honduras was a tough transition for most of the people on my team and the team we were working with. Each of us had different connections and children that were difficult to leave, and we've had that for the previous nine countries too. Some countries just stick with you more than others.

And then the conversation turns to the endless possibilities we'll have of embarrassing ourselves when we're back in real life, back with the people we left, and back in situations so comfortable it will be harder to discern the Spirit.

We made cards for the kids we worked with in Honduras, the kids that touched us in various ways. The cards were literally a piece of teal cardstock with an individual picture of the kid, a group picture then on the inside of the folded cardstock were scripture and notes from each of us.

May not seem like a big deal because we have tons of pictures of ourselves and pictures to remember each moment of our life. (I think I'm up to like 10,000 pictures through the race) But they do not have many pictures of themselves because they do not have cameras or money to do things like that. They do not even have money for food, or bathing water.

This community began after an earthquake hit and the government did not have a place to put people. So they were dropped off in Los Pinos, they never received help and since then they have been living in houses that they scrounged up, in one of the dirtiest, garbage filled places I've seen and I've been a lot of places.

Our time in Los Pinos was always unexpected. Our contact has a huge heart for that town and literally lights up when he is there. It was sweet. We worked with several kids and sometimes we would go in and they would be happy to see us, sometimes they would be so high, they didn't recognize us, sometimes they would be 'too cool for school' and pretend not to know us, as shame encompasses them.

The problem is some want out but they also feel loyalty to their friends and neighbors. Some kids would hide as we dropped them off from being on the farm. We'd roll the windows up and drop them off discretely. This was much more common at the beginning of the month, but towards the end. There was so much love between us all; it could not be stifled by shame, guilt, or fear. 

When we handed out the pictures they were proud to show them off. We had to seek out some that were lost along the month but they were so touched to know we had still been thinking of them. I will never forget praying for Oscar. Oscar only came to the farm once, every other time he was either high or had a reason not to come. We walked up to his house (hiked up) a hike worthy of much more than my $1.00 flips flops that I had on my feet.                              

We walked up and the atmosphere was thick, some people did not want us there, and were very loud when we were trying to talk to him. He was on the brink of tears when given his card. We translated all the messages to him and the spirit began to shift. We prayed for him as a group and all of the sudden all the loudness stopped and the spirit rested on that 'house' we also prayed for his cousin Theol. Theol was stabbed when trying to rob someone, now he needs a boot to walk for the rest of his life.

His church supported him at the hospital and were working to raise money to allow him to have another surgery to help him walk. Reality check: if we knew someone had tried to rob someone and got hurt, would your church help him still, would mine?

Anyway, Tony then invited him to the farm as well. I'm not sure if they will take advantage of the opportunity but Theol did get out of bed to watch us walk down the hill, his heart and the hearts of the people in that room shifted since we first walked in. It was incredible

I made friends with three beautiful girls down the road, Annabel, Ruby, and Adele. We played "Pelota" played with the Cochinos, watched movies and spent time together. One of my favorite things is when a child, any age, runs up to you arms wide open waiting for a hug. And it's in those moments; all the hard times of the race disappear. All the sickness, tiredness, and cravings disappear.

Their church service was incredible. The first half of church they moved all the chairs to the side of the room to dance, jump and sing. The song "YO SOY LIBRE" resonated among the church, "I AM FREE" as children and adults lost all inhibitions and lived out the scripture of being drunk off the spirit and not off of wine. Every other person had a catcher and they would circle up around people to hold them from running into other people. It was crazy and a great worship session.

We crammed 15 people in a five seater and over 12 kids came with us that morning and we were one huge family joyfully praising our God. It was magical and beyond description, as so many things on the race are.

We left, broken hearted and changed. Honduras posed a lot of challenge on my heart about giving, and giving cheerfully. Challenges through hard team talks, and it also challenged me about whether I'm really allowing myself to be filled up by the Lord, as I was just so exhausted and battling another bout of belly problems.  But the Lord brought sweet redemption and I would love to return someday.

I'm safely in El Salvador and loving it. I feel re-energized, a true answer to prayer and I feel healthy. I'm faced with more challenges, but that's for a later blog.
         

Romans 8: 35-39: Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written, "For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for slaughter." Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angles nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus OUR LORD!"

I awaken to her getting out of bed and I asked,

"What are you doing, are you ok?"

Reply

"The darn mosquitoes are driving me crazy, I'm looking for a shirt to cover my face with."

 The mosquitoes have been pestering us from day 1 but it was getting progressively worse. Ya know when they buzz right by your ear and you smack the side of your head in the extremely unlikely event that you'll actually hit it... It's super frustrating to try and sleep with this occurring.  So we devised a plan!

I still have Deet in my backpack, so we decide to fumigate the room/under our bunk beds! We spray above our sleeping bags and pillows and are ready to go back to sleep, I mean it is the middle of the night!

Tracy

"I'm going to die of dehydration."

Andrea

"Yeah let's go get some water."

(Gulp Gulp Gulp)

Andrea

"Now I have to pee."

Tracy

"I'll come with you."

Andrea

"Thanks it's scary at night." (you know the tone if you know Andrea)

Tracy

"OMG its only 1:30am ahahahaha I thought it was the middle of the night"

Andrea

"ahahahaha I know its ridiculous!"

Procession of laughter continues... oh man! But we walk back to our bunks and we fall back asleep, it felt a bit like gassing ourselves to sleep, but nevertheless we finally rested well.

The next night I decide to take Benadryl for multiple reasons, we also resprayed our dormitory. Well, Benadryl knocks me out cold for a long time which is exactly what I needed, but it left poor Andrea alone in the nightly excursion. Apparently, during the night Andrea heard a mouse (there are several) scurrying in and out of our room and she would quickly shine her headlamp where the noise was and he'd FREEZE. She would hear him snacking, then quickly shine her light, and he'd FREEZE. But she could not understand what it was getting or what it was doing! So I wake up in the morning and she said I cannot believe you did not hear that mouse last night! It was so loud!

I thought nothing of it until...

We were packing up our bags to move them to the house so the boys could sleep in the same living space as us. And as I'm picking up my day pack... I notice a small hole in the front. Puzzled I think to myself, what in the world is that? I don't have any food in my bag or anything. Then I see a green M&M roll onto the floor- light bulb - I bought BP Coconut M&M's in LA on our layover because she loves them and I wanted to surprise her. So I was sad about the fact that the mouse ate her M&M's but no big deal, thought nothing else of it.

THEN! I pull out the empty bag and see all the little teeth marks in it-there is about 5 of them left in the bag. Andrea and I proceed to tell our crazy story to the girls in the kitchen and all of the sudden Jenny Sue pokes her head in and said,

"Tracy are you talking about a mouse eating some M&M's?"

Tracy

"Yeah, I bought some for BP, why?"

Jenny Sue

"What did they look like?"

Tracy

"They were coconut, here I'll show you."

We scamper off to my room and she starts her ridiculously contagious belly laugh and states...

Jenny Sue

"Tracy, I found some of these in my day pack (she's the next room over) and I ate them!"

Tracy

"How did they get in there?"

We investigate to see where in the world the mouse could have been taking these delicious morsels. He must have been storing them for a later date J Then we thought that he must have knocked them over into her bag by accident while stashing them away (sad day for him) I mean he had to make several trips of carrying them over the wall into the next room. Jenny said she ate about 5 or 6 of them.

Poor little guy, but at least he enjoyed a few of them as I found crumbs on my floor!

And these are the days of our lives!

Well since she ate the ones in her day pack, she might as well eat the ones left in the bag. So she and BP ate the leftover yummy goodies that the mouse did not take.

We have a night of rest I believe except I woke up with a spider on my sleeping bag an inch away from my face! Yick! Then , the next night... oh yes friends there's more.  

We had a mouse/lizard/mosquito/spider extravaganza! We are having a lovely chat about our friends, family and the race when OUCH! I got bit by a spider. (SIDE NOTE: we just finished watching a movie with some of the kids we are working with about Guardian Owls saving the owl world by defeating the "Pure Ones" a scary animated film with scary looking owls on it, within the movie they kidnap little owls and make them sleep with their eyes open looking at the moon to get 'moon blinked' aka zombie (freaky))

So I bust out my headlamp all ticked off to try and look at my new bug bite/search my sleeping bag and bed for the culprit. No such luck. I set up an unstoppable combo-headlamp, glasses and bug spray at my side! Then a lizard scurries a few inches away from my head- these are not scary but when they sneak up on you it's just not any fun! Then a mouse scurries across the floor- is this a joke! We shine our light on him and he's not moving... When will it end!

We head off to sleep and wake up to a really loud chomping noise, we assume it MUST BE THE MOUSE! But it's so loud it can't be. We try to go back to sleep. NOPE! Andrea gets up to investigate and thinks it's just the raindrops outside, we're a bit paranoid at this point.

So, I add onto my ultimate combo a pair of ear plugs to sleep the night away in peace around my wildernessy surroundings.,, Oopsie, I slept through the mouse getting into our garbage and Andrea having to do another spotlight show on our friend.

I've had a mouse run touch my hair in the middle of the night, and Heather, next door is pretty sure she can here the mouse having a midnight snack on some delicious M&M's. Ahh.. well the stories never end but the blogs do!

All this mouse action has me thinking about a movie with a mouse as the main character, but I cannot for the life of me remember the name of it, a dear friend used to rave about this movie and made me watch it...Wilson, Winston, Wilbur??? It's driving me crazy, any help is appreciated.  These stories may not bring you as much laughter as they bring me and Andrea, but it's truly the day to day things that keep us going out here and help us build strong relationships with one another!

I'm not going to get into details, but I will tell you the way the Lord provided for us during our time there. First, I was able to speak Spanish for about five minutes to translate for Nathan but after that and tons of prayer, I knew we needed someone besides Needia and I, we just could not get the message to the doctors about his specific needs. Then Needia went to call her husband and she comes back with a doctor from the states and his translator (for real) and they helped translate allergies, pain and all his needs. Praise GOD!

We spent the day there; I was rebuked several times by the guards, nurses and doctors because they would not let me stay with him in his room, or stand outside, or go through certain doors, or sit certain places. As you can see,  everything I did was wrong but it turned out well! On our way home our prayers continued as the nausea (likely due to the INCREDIBLY BUMBPY roads) started again and the pain began to return.

The power of prayer is beyond my level of understanding, the power of asking the Lord for things and seeing them handed to you is crazy. I know we do not always see how our prayers are answered, but the Lord is always listening to us. We pray for healing and maybe it does not happen right away, as believers we get encouragement by having strong faith that the Lord truly works everything for our betterment and fulfillment in Him.

I remember last year, I got really sick the night before I was suppose to present this trip to my church. It was so terrible I had to go to the emergency room. I called my mom and dad to take me there and they stayed with me. They were still getting used to the idea of me leaving for 11 months and so was I... I began to fear what would happen if I got this sick on the race. I would not have my parents, friends or other family members to help me. I feared of being alone, sick and unloved by those around me.

Of course that did not happen in my many moments of sickness, in fact I felt cared for in those times, loved and surrounded with prayer, just like home. But it pains me to think of how one little thing happening in my life led to so much fear and anxiety. As a believer I should have had the faith to know, no matter what happened out here, I was safe because HELLO God is with me. I have amazing teammates, family and friends out here too.

I was listening to a sermon on the Song of Solomon and something that really stuck out to me is the beloved's fear of leaving the shade of the fruit tree, full of the Lord's sweet love and following Him to the mountaintops.  In the sermon, Mike Bickle stated how it's safer on the mountain than under the tree, and safer walking on the water than staying in the boat. That in no way implies that we are invisible to pain and suffering as Christians-but we are surrounded with peace, love and comfort in those times.

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  We are in Honduras! It's amazing here. I love it soooo much! We are surrounded by a huge acreage with horses, puppies, nature, trees, mountains, and fresh air!! After a few days of deliberation about what we wanted to accomplish this month we decided to invite a group of young boys struggling with gangs, violence and huffing thinner to stay with us. These boys are viewed as worthless in their community, and the town they live in (Los Pinos) is viewed as a hopeless society full of useless people.

It's hard for these boys to believe that they can be more than street kids, it's all they've heard their whole life. It's easy for us to see the potential in them, what's hard is having the believe it. But we've come up with some fun activities and projects for them to do around the place that we are staying it. Because it is so large, it needs a lot of work. Some of the parents were reluctant to have their children come, but when confronted with the situation of what's better, the streets or 'the farm' the obvious choice won and six boys came to stay with us. We had a family come stay with us over the weekend young people are always in and out of the complex.

These kids literally have nothing, they don't have food or water at home and have obvious reasons turn to drugs.

We are building strong relationships and having a great time. The sweet little moments are worth all the struggles. I've fallen in love with three girls down the road J I love the hugs, the kisses and the times they fall asleep on me.

I love being a comforter, I love showing them love and affection. I cannot think of a better way to spend the day!

We'll be doing service projects like painting and gardening while working alongside the youth. Big things are happening in the city of Los Pinos and will continue long after we leave! The Lord is staking territory over there!