Baptism at the Sliding Rock

The sliding rock has become my absolute favorite place. It is one of those places that showcases just how beautiful God's creation is. After a short hike you find yourself totally surrounded by God's glory.

If you are brave enough, you can climb the 15 foot rock and jump... or slide (like me) into a beautiful waterfall fed lagoon.

These pictures were taken the day we had the incredible baptismal service at the sliding rock. We were all exhausted but it was wonderful to be surrounded by such beauty. Not only did the Holy Spirit meet us there, he carried me there.

This is a picture of Samuel Williams being baptized in the lagoon at the bottom of the sliding rock. The pictures won't ever do it justice. This place is absolutely beautiful. I hope that one day you will be able to swim in the cool waters of this pool and feel as refreshed as I did that day.

It's Here!

Finally...today the verse dropped in my heart. The verse that says it all for the next season of my life. Well, OK it didn't really drop out of no where...I have been doing some research on the topic of desires and issues of the heart.

I kept going back to Psalm 37:4 which says, "Delight in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart" (NLT). Although, I love this verse it was not the right one. Most people who read this verse, think it means that if you serve the Lord, He will give you everything you want...But that is not the case.

I am no theologian, but to me Ps 37:4 really means that if you take joy in the Lord you are so much like Him that you want the same things He wants. His desires become your desires...so He gives you His desires and they become the desires of your heart.

Great! That is what I really want...but because so many people get mixed up on the meaning...I can't have it all over my business cards. I needed something different. Something more personal to me. Something that spoke directly to my heart. Something that I can hold onto when it gets hard and lonely and I am tired and weary. Something that encourages me when the enemy is pelting my mind and spirit.

So this morning...it was there...still in Psalms but flip forward a few chapters to Ps 40:8 "I take joy in doing your will, my God, for your law is written on my heart" (NLT). WOW. His will for my life is written on my heart; I will never lose it, and no one can ever take it from me. I will cling to Him and to this promise, and I will walk with joy.

Awaken My Love...

...to a glorious day. I have waited for this day, since you were born in my heart.

I have longed for you to wake up and see the beauty around you...to have your eyes opened to my glory.

Let me scrape off the film the world has placed on your perfect eyes, so that you will see my creation as it was meant to be seen.

Look, with new eyes, and be amazed.

And then, I know you will burst forth with a cry of worship so pure and true that all of heaven will join in your chorus.

I have waited for this day, and I will wait for tomorrow.

I will wait patiently for you to see me.

What is He saying to you this morning?

Office Dancing

Office dancing?...you ask with slight disbelief in your voice, and maybe a twinge of regret that you can't dance in your office.

Here at HHIM HQ we prefer to office dancing to most other meager means of communication.

Here is a description...

The victory dance: is reserved for those times of sheer indescribable joy. When a prayer has been answered, something incredibly good and unexpected happens, or when something you have been holding out for finally materializes. We all have our own version of this one, but they all include some type of jumping or hopping and flailing of the arms..unless you are Martin and you let the occasion dictate the degree of arm motion.

The sassy pants dance: happens pretty frequently, and I have to say...I am the only one who uses it. This is the "I don't know and I don't care" combo dance...it usually happens when Martin asks me a silly question or on the rare occasion that I as Martin a silly question he may choose to respond with the move. It includes pursing your lips, looking away like you don't care, and with palms facing out wiping the air in front of you like you are cleaning the slate.

The get out of here dance: is an unspoken and until now...unwritten move. This occurs when you have just had enough and you can't even talk about it any more. It always involves a verbal sound effect in conjunction with the motion of a back hand or a swift kick to the rear.

I am thinking about implementing a new move...the break dance: used when you need a break from your computer and will involve some kind of hopping around in a circle and shrugging of the shoulders.

Come to think of it...Martin and I are usually the only ones who do the office dancing. Wendy does participate from time to time...but it is usually a slim version of the sassy pants dance.

One thing I know for sure, is that I will never be able to work in an environment that prohibits office dancing. It has become a necessary means of communication...kind of like pointing at things with my lips and using hand signals for most frequently used phrases...but that is a whole different story.

Krazy KFC

OK...so I admit it...we have a KFC in La Ceiba...and it is better than Popeyes. I know, I know a girl raised in the heart of New Orleans shouldn't say that...but it is a different world down here. What can I say?

Wendy and I hit the drive thru the other day to get a quick Twister (it is like a chicken wrap) on the road. When we got our order...they gave us the biggest cups I have ever seen!

"Silence brudurs, this is the biggest drink I ever had." (you must see Nacho Libre)

So I asked Wendy to take a picture of me and the Krazy KFC guy...after the Colonel died the marketing department went a little nuts-o with his image...check out the evidence on the wall behind me...jagged underbite, wack-o gleam in his eye...I guess he is crazy for chicken.

So here's to you Colonel...I think you are rubbing off on me!

Double Trouble

Alessandra, Alejandra and Christy

Yesterday was the twins birthday...Brenda's baby girls, Alessandra and Alejandra. They turned 2 years old and we had a big bash at Senora Marta's house complete with chicken and rice, cake and 2 pinatas!

Pinata Time! My fav is Christy in the pink shirt, bottom right

After the party I went over to Brenda's house to see the work being done on the kitchen. It was incredible. Brenda has such a heart to provide for her family...to make their lives better. She gave me a tour of the new kitchen...which is being built around her existing outdoor kitchen. Here is a pic of the work done so far...

Brenda in her kitchen...soon to be complete.

She told me that she only needs one more row of blocks on the top of the kitchen and then they can start doing the smooth cement on the inside and put up the roof. I am hoping and praying that all of this can be done before the rainy season gets in full swing and before I leave in September...which is only 8 weeks away!

I am so grateful to Brenda for sharing a bit of her life with me. I had a blast at the birthday party and I almost cried when I saw the kitchen...it has come a long way from a pile blocks on the ground.

Alessandra had a little too much party.

I think it will even make a grumpy twin happy!

Psalms 90:2

image by Daryl Brewton taken on the hike back from La Lucha

"Before the mountains were created, before you made the earth and the world, you are God, without beginning or end."

Two Worlds Collide

image by Daryl Brewton

This picture was taken a couple of weeks ago on our hike to the casillo (group of houses smaller than a village) of La Lucha. I love this shot because it captures the differences in society, culture, and even time.

Hand cut timber being carried out of the mountains on mules, as we hike in to serve the people of thier casillo. No other medical team has ever been to La Lucha. We were breaking ground that day. Going farther than we had ever gone, deeper into the jungle to let the people know that God has not forgotten them.

Who's desires do you desire?

I have been praying for the Lord to give me another verse to describe the next chapter of my life...the next chapter of this walk with Him. For the past few years I have held onto Matt 6:33:

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well."

The Lord has walked me through so much with this scripture. He has grown my faith as I have watched this scripture unfold in my life. He has provided for me all the way, never leaving me, always faithful in His word...it has taken some time for me to really get the message.

Simple as it may seem... there was something in my heart that wouldn't fully trust that God would provide for me and keep me safe, but He is such a gentleman and He has stayed by me helping me trust Him through difficult times. Now...this verse is written on my heart. I know that it is true; I know that He is trustworthy and I know that He loves me.

So as God calls me deeper into relationship with Him, I wanted a new verse...a new marker of my time with Him. Something I can write down, study and incorporate into my life. I don't know exactly what the verse is going to be, but I do know the topic...desires of the heart.

I have come a long way in realizing that I need God in my life. I know that without Him, I would be lost. Now that I have passed through the valley of need, I have come into the pastures of want...I want God in my life. There is such a big difference between knowing that something is good for you and wanting it in your life (think about brussel sprouts and mustard greens).

Well, now that I need and want Him...and He is bringing me further into that relationship...He is calling me to want what He wants. I want my heart to beat like His does, I want to desire the same things He does, I want to live and breathe and move like He does. So I am asking Him to give me the desires of His heart...to make my heart like His...to give me a new one that is pure and holy and full of integrity.

So as you pray for me in the next few days, pray that God would develop this in me and the He would give me a scripture to hold onto so that I can use it to light my path. While you are at it, pray this same thing for yourself! Pray that God would change things in you and that He would be more real to you than ever before.

Wisdom from Curly Sue

Often times we take for granted the people we do life with....you know, the people in your house, in your office, in your inner circle. These are the people God has placed right next to you.

Have you ever stopped to wonder why they are there? Are you serving them enough? Are you praying for them? Do you give them more than just a casual hello? Are they hungry for words of encouragement?

Our God is all about loving and He uses us, His people, to share that love. What an incredible honor?! So what is love? How do we do it?

Anyone remember that old movie Curly Sue? The homeless father and daughter that travel around scamming people and end up falling in love with a rich lady. Anyway, there is a part in the movie when the rich lady is asking Sue how she knows her dad really loves her and she answers, "because he lets me eat first."

Wow...that says a lot when you know they didn't have food all of the time. But how can we apply that to our lives? We need to remember to put others before ourselves, we can't forget to love the ones we do life with. They are our cheerleaders, they are our support staff, they are our secretaries and our counselors. These are the people we should love the most outrageously. They should have no doubt that they are loved and thought of daily.

So, here is the challenge...love someone today. Someone that is close to you, someone that you dump on because you know they will love you anyway. Love them the way they need to be loved (not just a way that makes you feel like you did something). If you don't know how they best receive affirmation you better get busy figuring it out.

"...we love because He first loved us..."

Rogue Tick

It seems to me that I have a tick on the loose. We hiked through some pretty thick jungle on the hike to La Lucha and I have been itching like crazy!

Those of you who have had the pleasure of finding ticks, in rather embarrassing places on your body, know what I am talking about. Well I found one rather large tick right when I got back from the hike. Unfortunately it had already had breakfast, lunch and dinner on me, before I could track it down, but luckily it hadn't found a place to call home yet.

Then 2 days later I found 3 of the smallest ticks I have ever seen...like smaller than a tiny freckle. They had latched on by that point, but not before they covered my legs with little itchy bumps.

After my discovery I performed a thorough tick search, involving a full length mirror and I thought I was in the clear. BUT, apparently not; I am getting knew bites regularly so there must still be one on the loose.

I will find him...and I will kill him.

You hear that tick?

You can run...but eventually you will get too big to hide!

WANTED

Tick

Dead or Alive

Taking a Breather

So God knows what He is doing...how many times must we be reminded of this simple fact? When we scheduled teams for this summer, we scheduled a lot of them. How could we tell people "no"?

Although we didn't know what we were getting ourselves into...God knew. We scheduled 14 teams to come and serve with us in the span of 7 months, with many of them coming and going on the same day...uggg...yes we are a little nuts.

In spite of all that is happening this week in Honduras, God is making the bad work for the good of His people. After 3 weeks of teams we are all about to fall over dead, and the Lord heard our silent plea for help. Because of the rough political waters surrounding Honduras right now we have had to reschedule the group that was coming to serve with us, and although we are sad they aren't coming this week...we are breathing a sigh of relief.

Now we can rest and catch up on some of the other work that seems to be piling up in the office! haha...so 2 days of sleep are in order...now if I can just kick this cold I will be as good as new!

Happy Birthday

Here is a pic of my first birthday party in Honduras...and look...I am only 3 years old! haha

God did it again...

Yep, He did it again. He blew me right out of the water. I don't know who was praying for me today, but I could feel it.

I was really worn out after the hike to La Lucha yesterday. We made the 8 mile round-trip trek to host a brigade and teach the people there about the unfailing love of Christ. The village is aptly named "the struggle" because we crossed over 4 rivers and 7 creeks to arrive after a solid 2 hour hike.

We had another full day today putting the finishing touches on the Rio Viejo Kindergarten, which the group painted and decorated. We taught the kids about healthy foods and did crafts with them and performed the parable of the lost sheep.

At the end of a very long week, it was time to take the group to the sliding rock, which has become our favorite swimming hole. Needless to say...I was exhausted and all I could think about doing was laying on the tile floor and going to sleep. But God knew that I needed to be there, and I know someone was praying for me at that moment...asking God to give me strength to make it though.

Today at the sliding rock, I witnessed 17 people commit/recommit their lives to Christ at an impromptu baptism, two of which were Sam and Rachel Williams. I am so grateful to God for giving me the strength to make it today. Sometimes...more often that not actually, we have to suck it up and just obey...we have to sacrifice for the good of the group, and I am so glad I did.

It was the perfect setting, we were all commenting on how much it must have been like biblical times. Everyone just living in the moment and soaking up all God had for us.