I am back! And this is prob the start of a really long blog post...haha but I am hoping that it will be semi entertaining and make you feel happy! 

Okay so Friday we took yet another trip to the Airport in Tegucigalpa to bid our farewells to the Sopchoppy (sorry if i butchered that spelling) group. Which by the way you were all missed dearly this week! After we waved to them through the windows of their terminal for about 25 min the waiting period began. We waited in the airport for the Ashville group to come in for about an hour and a half lol I am becoming a good sitter and waiter... God is def teaching me patience. Good thing I am a people watcher...thanks dad! The cool thing though was watching all of the mission teams come flowing into the lobby of the airport all with scripture written on there shirts and smiling so big! It is cool to know that while our group is sharing the joy of the Gospel to people tons of other people that we dont know are around us doing the same thing! 

After the group came in we grabbed a quick bite to eat at Popeyes...uh yay american food in my belly! Then we all loaded back into the bus and van and headed to the campamento where we would be staying for the next week. The whole group arrived at the camp and just moved into our rooms and just hung around! The camp was pretty nice...a big gym type thing for eating, playing, and church...and a big cabin thing split in half one side for girls and one for boys with tons of bunks lol the basics ohhhhh and my favorite a SOCCER FIELD! The orpans from Emmanuel Orphanage wouldn't arrive till the next day so the group just had boning time and prepared for the week...which God totally reconstructed because He totally changed the plans...yay Him :)!

Okay so here is the low down on Emmanuel Orphanage before I write any more. There are 400 poeple who live there. 20 girls and 20 boys who have the best grades and behavior get to come to the camp once a year. These kids wake up at 4:30 am eat breakfast go to work on the fields (for boys) and cleaning and cooking (for girls) they eat lunch around 11:30 and go to school then come home eat dinner  and at 4 pm the get locked in their rooms for the rest of the day until the next morning...:(. It is a christian orphanage but because of short staff they have to do that...I cannot imagine a life like that. It makes me so grateful for what I have...so next time I think I am having a bad day I need to realize that I am not stuck in the same place everyday working so hard not for money but a place to stay and an education...most of us have that given to us. So with that in mind imagine finding out that you get to go to camp for half a week where you get to stay up late, sleep in, eat a lot of food, play soccer, jump on a trampoline, sing, dance, and worship Jesus without worrying about anything else! FUN!

So from Saturday-Tuesday morning twenty boys came to the camp (at the orphanage they completely separate the boys and girls). We taught lessons on God's plan for their lives and I think we all learned so much! It was cool because we planned for little kids and God brought us kids ages 13-18..a little odd at first but we realized that these guys would soon be on their own and needed the Gospel more than ever!

The bad news came Tuesday morning at about 4 am when I woke up and had to go chill in the bathroom for a while.... two words SICK AGAIN! It was the exact symptoms as last time except the bathrooms were a little more nasty here lol. I was sick all of tuesday, but did have a fellow sick partner, Ashley! We just moped around all day half alive. I got a lot better Wednesday when I started up some more prescribed meds (lol thats my fourth prescribed medicine in 17 days). So they think I have a parasite in my tummy and he activates himself once a week so hopefully my current meds will eliminate that sucker! 

(Feel free to take a break and get a snack or something lol I know this is long...see this as an intermission)

Okay here we go again...the girls came on Tuesday and the next day when I started feeling better it was AWESOME! I def know that is where my heart is...talking to girls my age about Jesus and seeing the Joy that can come from a life devoted to Him! The girls were also about 13-18 and I loved every minute of my time with them...Jesus taught me so much about love this week and it is all too much to write! Wed night I went out in the hall to pray with Cristina King for all the people at SWO and our fams and the Nicaragua group and we came back in and had 3 guests in our 2 small bunks. We slept that night with five girls sharing two twin bunks and I LOVED it. The language barrier didn't stop us at all from laughing our butts off or from becoming really good friends! We did the same lessons with the girls but changed it up a bit. 

The night that changed my life was last night though. We all gathered after dinner to have church like we always did..we worshiped together, prayed, the girls from Emmanuel put on a skit for us, and then two girls from Emmanuel gave their testimonies. I don't really know how to put this into words but I am going to try. One of the girls from Emmanuel gave her testimony and it absolutely broke my heart. She was a 17 year old girl and proceeded to tell us that 2 years ago she was living with her mom, dad, and siblings and said that she had a "normal" happy family. Two years ago on Christmas a group of men broke into her house and in front of her 15 year old eyes her parents were murdered with knives and axes...she pleaded with them to spare her family but they refused and moved to her brother. I dont want to go into any more detail because it is absolutely heart breaking. The thing I want you to know about this testimony is that she said she KNOWS that God spared her that night because she knows that He has a plan for her life to share her absolutely horrible story to tell people that the only way she was able to come through that hard time was because of Jesus Christ and the power of his healing and comforting hand. She told us to never take for granted the amazing gifts that God gave us...and I know that I do...everyday. She said she wished so much that she could hug her parents one more time but knows that God will provide for her. 

I wrote this first to say Jesus is comfort in any problem, in any place, in any circumstance. Second to say find your loved ones today and tell them how much they mean to you and how they are such a blessing...I was in tears last night knowing that I take my family ( mom, daddy, sis and Jeff) so much for granted...so i love you all and thank you really from the bottom of my heart. You and all my friends are such huge gift from Chirst that I dont know what I would do without. Really thank you.

Saying bye to the girls was hard...it always is. Prayers: health, people that made decisons for christ at SWO, Nicaragua group, and that God would use each and everyone of use each day!

please READ: 1 Corinthians 13:1-3

Remember:  1) Without LOVE everything we do is pointless

                    2) I love you all so much and miss the junk out of you all

                    3) Jesus Christ loves you so much and wants you to seek Him everyday and believe me he          

                        WILL comfort you

loveeee sorry it was so lonnnnggg!

Week One!

Okay well how do I recap on a whole week? Let's see we picked up the Sopchoppy, Fl group at the ariport on Thursday and we headed to a small town called Guinope. It is about 2 hours from Tegucigalpa. Half of the ride was on a steep dirt mountain road. At one point it started raining and we had to tell people to get out of the bus so that it wouldnt go off the edge of the mountain...good thing i was sitting in the van behind the bus!

So we got to Guinope Thursday after noon. Here is a quick background on Guinope: it is a small town that consists of a few churches, two small schools, a bunch of pulperias (which are like hole in the wall places where you can buy food), and homes. I need to post some pictures because there is no way you can imagine what it looks like..haha my favorite part is that bulls, horses, cats, cows, and donkies just roam the streets where ever they please. Ha one morning we were on our way to church and there was a bull that just had its head chilling in someones front door...imagine waking up to that!

Anyway we were there to build some concrete floors for some people who everyday walked on a dirt floor inside their house. You can only imagine how happy they were. Also, we were conducting vacation bible school for all the kids of that town (which might I add that there were about 150 of them). This was by far that best part of the week. We sang songs, did some skits, and taught them about the love of Jesus Christ...however most of them know more of the Bible than I do...they have true faith in him. It was cool to see.

One day our group went to the middle school in Guinope to share our testimonies and just talk to them about Jesus...the principal was like tell them all you can about the Gospel...don't you wish we could do that at our schools! I shared my testimony in a 7th and 8th grade math class..ha and although I could never help them with math God had given me a message to tell that class. I don't know what kind of impact it had but I am trusting He will do what He wants with it! Then after that came my favorite part of being in honduras...FUTBOL!!!!!!!!!!! Which means soccer if you didn't know. Anyway I went out and asked the kids if I could play with them and of course neither team was to excited about a Gringo joining their team. However I did play and it was so much fun! Of course I got laughed at but that is the fun of it! I got to make them all happy because I stink at soccer!

We went to church most nights and their services are awesome... you can just tell how dependent they are on God by the way they worship...it is so encouraging. One night during church the power went out and we all just kept singing in the dark..sweeet! After bible study that night (which we had every night in the floor of a small hotel) the interns and I went back to the place we were staying and just stared at the stars for a while! With all the lights out you could see literally every star! So awesome..ry reminded me that those were the same stars and moon that you guys were all looking at and that made me happy!

Tue, Wed, and Thur I was really sick and did have much energy but i was still able to do VBS and what not. Thursday night and yesterday were the worst and I pretty much stayed in the bathroom a lot...lol I am not sure what happened but my body was clearing itself out completely...and not by throwing up if you know what I mean. They put me on prescription pills last night and I am feeling so much better today! yay God and Honduran prescription meds that you can get without even presenting a sick person.

Anyway I know this was long and not very descriptive but if i did write out everything you would never stop reading! Our mission this coming week is to take the kids from New Life orphanage to VBS camp. We will be hanging with them all week just playing and laughing. It is exactly like what our group did last year (which by the way I miss you all). I won't have internet again but will be back to the mission house Thursday or Friday next week! I am praying for you all and misssss you all sooo much! Know that God is moving in so many awesome ways here and I have seen so many people come to know Jesus Christ as their savior! ahhhhh ya! I know that God is moving in Georgia too...remember let Him work through you...its a decision we make everyday! Loveee you all be back next week :)

1 Corinthians 9:22-27 read it (yes even if you have to get up and get your Bible...its worth it)

love love love

My Bum Hurts!

Well haven't showered yet, but not smelling too bad! That's a good thing! I have brushed my teeth though and washed my face so I got the basic necessities down and nothing can penetrate this axe deodorant that I have (thanks Nat for the inspiration). Okay so yesterday...one word...bus ride...12 hours about round trip including eating and two stops! Ha to say the least it was a long day. My bottom feels like I got kicked in the butt two hundred times by a really good soccer player (Clark-e??). 

Anyway the point of the trip was to go pick up two of the interns Abby and Joseph who are really nice. The team is coming together so far we have: me, Cristina King (Dora), Abby, Joseph, Janell, Kristina Dykes, and Evan. I think we have one more intern to meet today her name is Hannah Spargo. Those names don't mean much to most of you, but that is who I will be spending my entire summer with. We have already started bonding and I thank God for every person on this team because I can tell each person was put here for a reason and we get along so well! 

I just want to take a min to describe Honduran traffic to you...picture you are on a two way mountain road...one lane going one way and one lane going the other way...in Honduras if you don't like the lane you are currently in for whatever reason you just go into the other lane of traffic pump the gas until you see another car coming head on (usually a semi) then you honk franticly to get back over before a certain death comes! It really sound scary but the people here are so good at it! I kinda enjoy it not going to lie (mom you would hate it you would be screeching like no other and pressing that passenger side that doesn't exist really hard).

And finally the the low down for this coming week. Today we leave at 10:30 our time to go to the airport to pick up the team from Florida. We will be leaving from the airport to the village Guinope. We will be there building houses roofs and leading bible studies and VBS type camps all week. We leave Guinope Thursday and will arrive back at the mission house Thur. night. So that means after I leave this morning I will not have contact with anyone...no internet...no text free...I am sad but it is going to be a good time to grow closer to God and really pray for Him to take control! 

I will miss all of you so much but I will hopefully be able to blog Thursday night or Friday morning a week from now! Know that I am praying for you all and that you are soooo missed! Love you guys thanks for your prayers I know God is answering them because He has been so present this week. 

1 Corinthians 1:9 God who has called you into fellowship with his son Jesus Christ our LORD, is faithful.

Amen Sista

Here I am!

I woke up this morning to the sound of barking dogs, crowing roosters and horns honking like mad...welcome to Honduras! Ha that is actually one of my favorite things, in all the chaos of the noise it is very relaxing! So anyway yesterday was an awesome day! It was filled with tons of new experiences and tons of Spanish (which I am still trying get back in the groove of). Our plane landed about 12:30 Honduras time (which that is 2:30 Georgia time btw) from there we went through customs and to our surprise it only took 15 min. Then we finally left the airport and walked onto the streets of Honduras :) it was wonderful to be back!

We loaded up all our bags and headed to the mission house (The Gomez Family...love them). The Gomez's  had lunch already prepared for us and it was great! After lunch we all just chilled at the mission house blogging, taking pics, filming with my new Flip cam (p.s. I love all of you who got me that, it is a HUGE blessing and I will use it todos los dias...everyday), and just getting to know each other.

Cristina King and I talked to a woman named Angela and she shared many testimonies with us of how God was always beside her and how he was sooo faithful to her! Of course she was speaking in Spanish so I only understood some of it but the part I did understand was that she always said, "Gracias a Dios" (thanks to God) after every tragic story because she knew that after every time she was robbed (by her own family), beaten, had sick family members, and persecuted for what she believed that she was growing closer to God...her Savior! She never spoke a mean word to the people that abused her she only told them of a God who wanted a relationship with them and who sent his ONLY SON to die for them. That's so cool because first she realizes that if everything she does is not for God then it is pointless. She truly lives out her life for God through loving like Christ loved. I dont really think that if someone was robbing my house I would be able to say nice loving things to them and share the Gospel with them. Again you go expecting to bring Jesus here to people, but the truth is He is here already and is doing great things through the lives of those who love Him and are willing to surrender to Him.

Well nothing can top talking to her but the day did go on...we went to the Honduran mall...hiper somthing or other lol...we had to get shamp and conditioner for one of the girls. Walking into the grocery  was so odd. I had my backpack on and one of the guys that worked there rushed up to me and started talking in Spanish sooooo fast and I just stared with prob a really ugly confused face on. Anyway Cristina rescued me and said he wanted us to leave our backpacks at the door for fear that we might steal. Anyway we came home ate and then chilled again. Work starts Friday!

The only thing I am struggling with right now is being a bit homesick, but it is getting better...its hard to leave the best friends in the world and bast family in the world, but God wants me here and I want to be here so peace will come it just takes some getting used to! I miss all of you and I pray for all of you all the time! Honduras is treating me really well and it is so beautiful! LOVE you all!

click EDIT post to edit it

      Okay so first blog post! I was going to write my first one on Thursday however my mouth was so numb from being at the dentist and I really wasnt up to it or drooling on my keys without knowing it!

      Well my trip is 3 days away...WHAT??!! The time has seriously flown by so so quickly, but I think that I am ready to depart...except for the fact that I am going to miss my friends and family so much..God will make it okay though I trust Him! Well in case any of you dont know how I got to this place in my life I am going to do a quick share-a-thon hopefully it wont get too long or boring! Here goes:

      Last year at TNT (which is our senior high youth group at Hillside UMC) our youth pastor announced that our youth group would be taking a mission trip to Honduras that coming spring break...I knew immediately that was something that I would want to do...then he announced the price and I kind of just let go of the idea. A little later that year the group that our youth pastor had picked to go was going out to lunch and I had been invited because I was just going to pray for the group going (it was all of my really good friends going). At lunch we met Bobby and Momma Mares, they were going to be basically running the mission trip. We ate at El Ranchero and while there I threw out some Spanish...probably something which didn't require much knowledge like gracias, but it impressed them and they asked why I wasn't going on the trip. I told them the money issue and Steve (youth pastors name) said that if money was the issue that should not stop me from following something that God wanted me to do. Long story short God provided every penny through my family, friends, and people that I didn't even know who just wanted Gods work to be done! (That's a whole story in itself...ALWAYS TRUST JESUS...HE IS SO FAITHFUL)!

      Anyway I went on the trip having no clue what to expect and God showed up big time! I was able to work with some of the most amazing people in Honduras and seriously learned so much not only about myself but other cultures. However that wasn't even the best part...putting on VBS for the orphans of Fe, Esperanza, y Amor Orphanage (Faith, Hope, and Love Orphanage) was the most life altering thing I have ever experienced!  I went expecting to teach the kids so much about Jesus, but I think God spoke to me through every single child in that camp. They taught me to have an immovable faith, a never failing hope, and above all else to Love like there is no tomorrow! I just knew that God wanted me there for that very reason to learn all of those things!

      We all returned from that trip heartbroken from leaving our friends in Honduras, but completely changed! I had prayed a lot on that trip and I KNEW that God was calling me back to Honduras because I literally thought about it everyday!

      And along came the opportunity to return...now I am 3 days away from being back in the country that I love and that God has def given me a heart for. Again He has been faithful and provided everything for this trip (a special hugeee thanks to my mom)..I will be working in about 6 different cities putting on Vacation Bible Schools, building things and mainly spreading the WORD and LOVE of Christ!

   Special thanks to everyone who gave so generously to my trip please believe me when I say you are a HUGE blessing! Sorry that this was so long, but that is what God has done and is doing on my life! Allee you rock thanks for setting this thing up loveee you so much. I know Africa is going to love your guts!