The following journal was written by a mission volunteer from Iowa.

Now where were we?  Oh yes.  Here.  At Victoria’s.

Hello!  My name is Stephanie Taylor and my husband, Tim and I had the opportunity to be adult leaders with a team of youth from our church in Marshalltown, Iowa. We arrived in Honduras on Friday, December 28 after very smooth travels.  On Saturday morning we went to the home of Victoria, a woman in Azacualpa, for whom we would be building a house.  Our task for the morning was to tear down her old house.  The hard-working youth made quick work of it, and we returned to the children’s home to play soccer and prepare for the evening ministry.

After losing badly to the Honduran soccer team, our team and the children from the home headed into town to do a program in the town square.  We sang a few songs in Spanish, the youth performed a drama about how Christ saves us from our sins, and three on our team shared their testimonies with missionary Dago Zelaya translating.  The drama particularly drew a crowd, and we pray that those that watched it were touched by the Holy Spirit and open their lives to salvation through Christ.

Sunday night we attended the church service, which included the kids’ Christmas program.  It was wonderful!  All of the kids did a great job singing and doing their readings.  I wish we had programs like that here in the US!

On Monday we went back to the worksite—it was time to dig footers!  Once the holes where ready; we started forming the first of many bucket brigades to get water to the cement mixer.   Later in the morning, half of the team stayed on site, and the other half went back to the home to help with the feeding program.  That night we had a special meal with the kids and staff at the home, and then set off fireworks to ring in the New Year.

A couple of the teens on our trip had raised “extra” support, and they decided to use the money to buy groceries to distribute in the community.  Through this support, God enabled us to provide 3 bags of groceries to help 15 families in the community!  One of the families that received groceries included an older gentleman who had an abscess on his foot that had been there for years, causing him a lot of pain. We took time to gather around him and pray for him and his family.  I think that doing that was more of a blessing to them than the groceries.

When I went to Honduras, I expected to enjoy it, and I loved it so much more than I thought I would!  The hardest part of the week for me was leaving to come home!  I was so blessed by the staff and the children at Ministries of Faith, as well as the beautiful, loving children in the feeding program.  I know that they are used to teams coming and going a lot, but it did not hinder their desire to spend time and build relationships with us.

I was also very impressed with the stewardship of our missionaries Dago & Dilia and the ministry God has given them in Azacualpa.  While there are a million reasons not to help others and thousands of obstacles to reaching those in need, Ministries of Faith and New Life focuses on what can be done, and is generous with others in the community, while maintaining healthy boundaries and expectations for how the resources are used.

To God be the glory!

Stephanie Taylor