Honduras

Very early on Saturday morning I returned from a two week missions trip to the beautiful country of Honduras.  During the first week, our team of about 15 students and 7 adults teamed up with a group of medical professionals, a group of translators, and local missionaries to run free health clinics.  While the medical team cared for the physical needs of the 1498 patients that came throughout the week, the missionaries went around sharing the great news of Christ with them as they waited.  I had the privilege of working on the children's evangelism team.  We spent time with the children who were waiting or whose parents were waiting to see a doctor.  We played a lot of games (especially soccer), did crafts, made balloon shapes, which was always a big hit, but most importantly we were able to present the gospel to them.  It was amazing for me to see how God worked in the lives of so many children, I even got to witness many children put their trust in Jesus Christ to save them. It was so beautiful to watch God at work!

My 2nd week in Honduras was as incredible as the first.  We had planned to perform the gospel drama that we had learned on Saturday, in several schools Monday-Wednesday.  We were told that at those schools we would be presenting the gospel to several hundred kids, which sounded like a great opportunity.  God had another plan. Most of the schools we were planning on visiting cancelled, leaving us unsure what we would be doing for those days... But of course God knew.  He opened the door for us to present the drama in two nearby High Schools.   We ended up only preforming the drama three times, but it was for over 2,400 students, much more than it would have been originally. After each drama, we were able to talk and pray with many of the students and we saw many come to a relationship with Christ. On Wednesday we had an opportunity to present the gospel message in a elementary school, where we also saw many children put their trust in Christ. That week our team was able to minister to over 3,600 people!   God was in control of that week (and every week).  We may have not known the next step until we took it, but I figured out that was okay and that I didn't have to know. One of the many things I learned was that it's okay to plan, in fact we should, but if God changes your plans it's because he has a better one.

 "In their hearts humans plan their course, but the LORD establishes their steps" 

 -Proverbs 16:9     

I loved photographing the children in Honduras, because unlike children here they aren't used to people taking pictures of them everyday, so when they looked at you or smiled at you, it wasn't fake or forced. And that is what I love the most about photographing people -capturing real, genuine emotions.  I shot all of these, except the one above, at the clinic during the first week.