He who began a good work in you...- Philippians 1:6

I've attended the Passion Conference for three years in a row.  One conference in Ft. Worth and two conferences in Atlanta.  If you ever have the chance to attend a Passion conference, do it.  There's something about worshiping with thousands and thousands of other college students and adults who have a heart and a passion for Jesus Christ and seeing Him glorified.

The Passion albums are easily some of the most played albums on my iTunes (it's a fairly close tie with anything Switchfoot).  What I love about Passion songs, is they are so full of these great lines that hit home.  One song can have thousands of different meanings to me that often times don't exactly have anything to do with the overall meaning of the song.  I think this happens because 1) the Holy Spirit just knows how to get my attention and 2) I'm always analyzing lyrics.  My love of words and how they go together is the top reason I'm an English Major.

The other day, I was jamming to Let The Future Begin on my way to work.  I was (big surprise) thinking about my relocation to Honduras.  At the beginning of the song, Kristian Stanfill is belting out the lyrics, "Promise Maker, Promise Keeper, You finish what you begin."  Immediately I tear up.  Since I was about seven years old, I've wanted to be a missionary.  Many times I've prayed, "God, I just want to go!!!" Of course the moment He tells me go my breaks kick in.  I've known, since I was seven years old, God has been preparing me for this wonderful journey.  I know He's not anywhere close to finishing me, but it's surreal seeing a glimpse of how He's finishing what He began.

Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6

Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.- Gustave Flaubert

Because I'm so enthralled with this world of blogging, I decided to post some pictures from our trip. 

Saturday Travels

 Our flight from Houston to San Pedro Sula was two and a half hours plus an insane amount of taxiing.  Funny story, as we were waiting to take off, a luggage car comes driving up to the side of the plane.  This luggage cart was carrying suitcases with little red ribbons tied onto them, which was the thing we used to identify what luggage was ours.  Thankfully, all of our luggage arrived in Honduras. 

Beautiful green Honduras!

 My twin sister and I waiting in customs. We're not really twins. I'm five years older. While we were in U.S.A. Customs, the "check-out person" (not sure of the actual title but customs reminded me of Wal-Mart checkout lanes so we'll go with that title) thought Brittany was the older "twin." 

 By this time, we had been awake for twelve hours and it had only passed lunchtime. We were tired but couldn't exactly sleep due to the desire to talk to these beautiful Honduran kids. Above is Cokie, she lives with Rhonda Jackson at Destino Del Reino.  She's only in fifth grade but God has already placed a call of missions on her life. 

 This is David (Dah-veed). His smile is cute. His laugh is cute. His face is cute. And he's a stinker. 

Sunday Morning

We chose to travel at a very interesting time. Not only was it Spring Break, it was also Daylight Savings Time.  Honduras is smart and doesn't do this.  However, our smart phones decided to change.  On Sunday morning, we all woke up an hour early giving us plenty of time to goof off and take pictures. 

 The quiet street should have been a sign to us that it was incredibly early. 

 These are two of my favorite people in the entire world. 

 

 Let me tell you a little something about the food. We were not roughing it.  We had amazing pancakes, fresh fruit, flour tortillas, corn tortillas, beans, rice, papas (my brother's favorite word in Spanish), fried chicken, roasted chicken, real bacon, cat sausage (not really, I promise), eggs, quesadillas, Honduran Tacos (completely trumps the taco you're thinking of), and Honduran variations of America's favorites such as egg rolls, stir fry, and spaghetti. 

Funny story about the food, my brother learned the word "papas."  One of the nights, Maribel (the cook) made these EXCELLENT potatoes.  She came out of the kitchen and said something in Spanish that no one caught because we were a group of gringos with three Spanish speaking people. Somewhere in her conversation, my brother heard the words "mas papas."  Immediately, his head popped up and exclaimed, "Did she just say 'mas papas?'" He looked at her and said the only other Spanish he knew, "SI!" After that, she served us potatoes almost every night. No one complained. 

Our team led Sunday School that morning at the Destino church.  They learned about the armor of God and how to protect themselves from Satan's attacks. 

In my personal story, while in Honduras, I was able to get a good grasp on the Shield of Faith.  One night, in our discussion group, it dawned on me that in battle, a shield is constantly in motion, deflecting arrows, swords, spears, and other life-threatening objects.  In the same way, our faith is constantly having to re-shift and re-focus.  I may have faith that God will bring to me my future husband in His timing, suddenly, I have to re-focus my faith to a completely different situation such as having faith in the healing of a friend, or having faith that God will protect you.  The only way to aptly move around to block the blows of Satan is to live by the Spirit so you know exactly where you're supposed to move. 

That's all for now! More pictures to come!

There are far better things ahead than any we leave behind- C.S. Lewis

Two Sundays ago, my pastor began a sermon series entitled, "The Road to Calvary." The first subject he addressed was Sacrifice; sacrificing our will for God's. At least that was the message I heard. My pastor has preached many great sermons that have given me hope, comfort, or a call to repentance.  They've all had significant value in my life.  However, this has been the most significant sermon in my life thus far.  

The night before this sermon, I had just arrived home from a mission trip to Siguatapeque, Honduras with 15 other people (including my entire family). It was my second time working with Rhonda Jackson at Destino Del Reino (www.destinodelreino.org). The trip was flat out amazing and flew by way too quickly.  This trip to Destino consisted of a week of substitute teaching English for 1st, 3rd, and 4th grade.  When I first learned about this opportunity to teach, I did this thing where I kind of jump around my house and let out extremely girly squeals and freak my dogs out.  I hope no one ever has the chance to video tape it.  Because it's scary.  Okay, moving away from all things white girl and moving back to serious matters. Not only was this an opportunity to teach, it was an opportunity to teach in the kind of atmosphere I had always dreamed about.  Currently, I'm doing online classes to earn my BA in English so I can teach the English language. However, there was always something in me that wondered if I was going to hate teaching once I experienced it.  Turned out, all my worries were for nothing (big surprise) and I thoroughly enjoyed teaching and discovered I was definitely in my element.  Lesson learned, God is giving me the desires of my heart even when I don't know what those desires are at first. 

On one of the many bus rides on our trip, God and I were having a conversation.  It was one of those conversations where I was telling God why I wasn't going to teach at Destino.  I could almost see a playful smirk peaking through the clouds.  Anytime I feel like amusing God (and myself) I tell Him my thoughts.  Once I finished presenting my case entitled, "Why I am not going to teach full time at Destino" God asked me, "Why not? Why not teach at Destino?"  I gave God my best cringe face and said, "Well if you want me here, then I have no reason not to come." At that moment, all of the reasons and excuses I had piled up, pretty much dissipated. When He asked me, "Why not?" all my, "Why not's" turned into, "uh's."

With that conversation in mind, let's fast forward to the following Sunday.  I woke up late for church, which was the second time the time change had messed me up. In my hurried state, I managed to lift up a pleading praying, "Please God, if I'm supposed to go to Destino, make it loud and clear. And if you don't mind, make it loud and clear...today...in church...or whenever you see fit...but preferably today."  Did I ever mention I'm sort of impatient? I was choking back tears the entire sermon.  I'm not sure if God's message could have been any louder or clearer.  During the invitation my best friend grabbed me and began praying for me. I was able to squeak out, between tears, snot, and dripping mascara, "Gosh darnit, I'm supposed to go to Honduras." Her and I both began laughing at my exuberance to God's latest calling on my life. 

Since that conversation on the bus in Siguatapeque, God has given me so much confirmation on this call. 

Before I even decided, or even told people I had decided to go to Honduras, a few people have come up and told me they'd like to help out financially.  My school schedule has lined up perfectly so I'll finish by July. I have my family and close friends behind me and praying for me.  And I have a great God who is always by my side! 

If God changes my plans somehow, this will all change.  If not, I will be hoping on a plane headed to Honduras. Presently, this reality isn't quite a reality in my brain.  Being a missionary to a foreign country has always been something I've dreamed about and worked towards since I was about seven years old. Being a missionary to Honduras is something I've prayed about for the past few years.  The fact that these dreams are being fulfilled and these prayers are being answered, is absolutely unrealistic in my finite way of thinking.  

I want to close with this verse because I think it aptly portrays my heart's thoughts at this moment.  

Isaiah 55:8- "My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine."