Honduras Day 3

Today was another wonderful day filled with new sights and events. Today, Sunday, we were given the chance to go to Sosa [a nearby village] for worship services. I helped in building parts of this church building and have become friends with the minister who preaches there. After church we ate and then went on to Por Los Niños, where we played with the teens at the orphanage and took a tour of the grounds. After we left Por Los Niños, Wilmer took us to the work site of the house we are to build over the next four days. Following this, we all had a new Honduran experience before returning to Journey Mission Camp (JMC) for the night.

We were able to sleep in this morning because worship in Sosa begins at 9:30AM. After we arrived in Sosa for church, we were greeted by many familiar faces and were able to see one of my good friends here in Honduras, Vicente, the preacher in Sosa (Vicente was happily surprised as he had no idea of our coming this morning). A Honduran worship service is similar to those we are all accustomed too. We had a few songs, I was asked to lead the first prayer and then the sermon began. During the sermon, the children go to their version of Children’s church! Children’s church is a time for the children to sing songs and hear messages on their level and allow their parents to devote their full attention to the adult sermon. Most churches in Honduras do this and it shows the wonderful impact this type of service can have on children in the United States. I feel many churches can learn a lesson in this way from the Hondurans. Vicente spoke for a few minutes and then tied the devotional into the Lord’s Supper. Then, after Vicente had spoken for a little while longer, he led the congregation in a few more songs. After those songs, Wilmer was given the opportunity to present the main lesson of the morning. It went wonderfully and seemed to have caught the attention of most of the audience. One of the most exciting things of this morning’s service was a baby blessing and prayer. What happened was a couple recently gave birth to a baby. Vicente had the family sit on stage and shared with them a few brief scriptures instructing them how God wants them to raise up their child. After this, Vicente took the child and the entire congregation prayed over the child. God was asked to give the parents wisdom in raising this child and to continually be with the child. He was asked to give the child wisdom as that child grew and that great things for God’s kingdom would be accomplished through that child. Finally, a blessing was prayed over the child and a few more songs before the announcements and the ending of the services. It truly was a wonderful experience and the love for God was seen in every individual!

After we hung around the church for a while to talk to members, we went to a Texaco gas station which also is home to a fast food restaurant (FAST being a loosely used term at the moment). After an hour or so, we returned to JMC to prepare for our visit to the orphanage named Por Los Niños. During the few hours we spend with the children, Wilmer and I played soccer while Cathy and Katie spoke with the little kids and watched the older teens show Wilmer and I how truly bad we are at the game of soccer. Over all, it was not only a fun experience, but a chance to build up these orphans in need of love and those at Por Los Niños who are far away from their families.

Late afternoon we left the orphanage and briefly surveyed the site for the house we are to work on. After this, we decided to go out on a limb and try something different. We wanted to each Chinese food in Honduras (which Wilmer assured was wonderful). Arriving at the Chinese restaurant, we sat upstairs and overlooked part of the city. The food was wonderful (as promised) and we were able to catch up on a little bet of soccer news and discuss plans for the coming week. After our meal, we retired to JMC for the night with the intent to awake early and be ready to go to work at 7:30AM.

Thank you for your continued prayers! Look below or click HERE to see pictures of today. To see all of our pictures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/watertownchurch.

Blessings,
~Josue