So I recognize that I have not blogged since the end of June. “I don’t exactly feel good about it” (What TV show is this quote from? The end of the quote is “, but he was calling himself a gunshot victim.”), but I haven’t had much of a chance to post any blogs. So please forgive me.
Tomorrow we fly home. Dang. We have already spent two whole months here in Honduras. If I’m going to be honest, this has been the hardest two months of my life, but, at the same time, it has been one of the best experiences of my life. The Lord has caused me to grow in all kinds of ways (I’ll get to some of those later) and it has been incredible. Before I go into details about those things, let me update you on what July has looked like for me.
July was full of hard manual labor. From July 5th until we left for Roatan on July 18th, Neal, Charlie, and I were working on a garden on the property. Digging a garden in the states in nice soil is one thing; digging a garden in a mountainous region near Tegucigalpa where you literally cannot put a shovel even an inch into the ground without striking a 70lb rock is another. So we worked our buts off on that project. In addition to the garden, our team was renovating a room for Tony so that he could have a personal office for planning, working, and studying. We put up trim, a chair rail, painted, put in a light fixture and all of that. Wow. Seeing Tony’s face on Wednesday when we presented it to him made all of our hard work more than worth it. He has so much appreciation for the work we have done. It has been incredible to bless him and his ministry in these ways.
Through this whole ministry, the Lord has caused me to grow in incredible ways. The biggest way in which this trip has changed my life is that God has called me to be a pastor. To make a long story short, I was concerned about some of the things going on at the property and decided to pray about it. Through this, the Lord showed me the gifts and abilities that he has blessed me with and showed me that with these gifts, I have the ability to teach and guide and disciple. I found myself telling Him “Lord, I want to be a pastor.” I said this about three times before realizing what I was committing to. Sure enough, the Lord has confirmed this in so many ways over the past two weeks and I have more of a peace about pursuing this role than any other career path I have wanted to pursue. And it just so happens that I am already on a path to be one through studying Evangelism and Discipleship at Moody Bible Institute. So praise the Lord for His calling, wisdom, and provision for me and my future.
Tomorrow we come home. The Lord has done incredible things through my life and my team to bless this ministry, but our work here this summer is done. Coming home, I will always remember these two months with joy and thankfulness for the work God has done. I am proud to say that I will return home with no regrets about the work we have done here. I am more than excited for this next season of my life and I know that the Lord will use the things He has taught me here to cause me to be successful in this next chapter.
