RockHonduras » missions

GCLA Missions: Youth on a Mission

Stevi — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 15:58:59 +0000

Several youth from Heritage Church in Westerville, Ohio spent June 26-July 4th serving in Honduras. Here’s a glimpse into what they were doing while on their trip.

GCLA Missions: Building a House

Stevi — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 15:51:11 +0000

The Honduras LT team was excited to be part of this project with Elevate Church from Michigan, who spent their week working to build a house for the Aguilar-Oyuela family. Here’s the story:

Do Something About It

Stevi — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 18:37:13 +0000

We’ve been following our friend, Joey, on his Honduras LT journey at his blog: The Luke 9:23 Project. His recent post is about how he hopes to use his journalism education and experience to bring attention to issues in Honduras. I think that the quote he shares is a powerful reminder to those of us who go and see the hard things: “You let it break your heart. You shed a few tears and you get back to work. You do something about it.”

That is exactly what Joey is doing. He’s not just looking back on his experiences in Honduras and feeling sad about the difficult circumstances, he’s taking that sadness and turning it into action. Not all of us can do a summer at LT in Choluteca. But all of us can become advocates, being the eyes and ears of those who haven’t been to the developing world, and giving voice to the voiceless.

I hope to create my stories for this summer in a similar fashion as this series, “The Culture That Crawls.” Obviously it will have a different angle, the stories will be different, but I hope the inspiration will be the same.

I think the man who shed tears in the video, Dick Rutgers, said it best about his involvement and how you can’t let the devastation paralyze you:

“Some people say you’re not supposed to get that involved. I maintain that if I can walk out that orphanage without a tear in my eye, there’s something wrong with me. It’s time I should leave. You let it break your heart. You shed a few tears and you get back to work. You do something about it.”

I want to let Honduras and the stories break my heart.

I want to shed tears from the reality of the brokenness and from the joy of hope.

I want to do something about it, not just let it paralyze.

Let’s be moved by the stories… and then mobilize more efforts to bring hope to the hopeless, rest to the restless, and joy to the joyless.

Read more at Joey’s Blog: The Luke 9:23 Project – The Culture that Crawls

It’s Here! Honduras LT!

Stevi — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 14:14:10 +0000

Honduras Leadership Training is an 8-week summer program for Christians who desire to be transformed into people who impact their world as they live out their faith. College students will spend their summer living, working and worshiping in Latin America.

Please visit www.honduraslt.com for more information!

Out of Africa

Stevi — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 10:01:51 +0000

I came across this post on Twitter yesterday, and felt it did a good job of expressing the thoughts of someone returning from a 3rd world country…

Out of Africa
from We Are That Family
by Kristen

I don’t know who I am.

It’s a startling realization to not recognize yourself: My own voice sounds hollow. My eyes hold a distant stare, remembering all I’ve seen in Africa this past week. My thoughts keep me awake at night.

Just days after I returned, I found my husband carefully watching me. "I don’t feel like I know you," he said softly, beckoning.

"I don’t feel like I know me either," I said.

And I cried.

I feel more than guilt for such an easy life, accessible food, clean water and abundance. I feel aware. The blinders are gone. I can’t pretend I don’t know how the poorest of the poor live. I can’t act like there aren’t children who go to bed hungry. I can’t ignore that 30,000 children die each day from preventable causes.

I can’t stop thinking about Vincent, living as an orphan and father, in squalor. When I close my eyes at night, his face is what I see. I see him in his "home" that’s not fit for an animal.

I see the joy of the Lord in his eyes. Peace. I see Jesus.

I think that is what is so hard. I cannot reconcile his lack of every basic need and such fullness in his heart and life. The two don’t mix.

In America, in my town, in my home and heart, I complain about a dirty house, yard work, needing a "break" from cooking or my children. Every basic need is met, PLUS more luxuries than I can count.

With so much, how can my joy be incomplete?

How is it that I can see true peace in one of the largest slums in the world, where the smell of death is prominent and it’s rare in the most blessed nation?

I’m not sure how to mix these worlds together; how to show my spouse all that I’ve seen and all that my heart holds, or parent my kids without guilt.

I don’t know how to find myself again. I don’t know how to return to my everyday life when children still need to be sponsored. But I’m trying.

I am so thankful for this place, although foreign and uncomfortable, I’m not alone. God is right here with me, leading me into new places.

I may be out of Africa, but it will never be out of me.

Read the entire post, with pictures & comments:

http://www.wearethatfamily.com/2010/03/out-of-africa.html

Virginia Tech Missions in Honduras

Stevi — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:07:27 +0000

I just discovered this site & blog about our friends at Virginia Tech who are working with GCLA in Danli, Honduras.

http://www.missionlatinamerica.com
http://blog.missionlatinamerica.com

Mizzou Team: March 2009

Stevi — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 10:26:09 +0000

Here’s the line-up. You can now pray for us by name!

John
Stevi
Austin
Brian
Caley
Joey
Max
Ben
Adam
Amanda
Elizabeth
Nathan
Matt
Drew
Brooke
Kelly
Robbie
Megan
Liz

As we prepare to leave…

Articles on Short-Term Missions

Stevi — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 02:51:54 +0000

Boundless webzine recently ran a few articles on short-term missions. They touch on things like "why go?" and "what makes a trip successful or unsuccessful?" Worth reading if you’ve got the time. It’s always good to think about our motivations, and how we are to gauge success and failure.

Take a Trip, Change Your Life

Short-Term Mission Trips

Why Go? (3)

Stevi — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 04:34:22 +0000

From the GCLA Missions site, here is the missions video for 2009:

GCLA New Missions Website

Stevi — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:49:35 +0000

GCLA has a new Missions website! It’s geared toward those who have gone, plan to go, or are interested in going on a short-term mission trip to Latin America. The new site is super cool, has RSS feed, lots of pictures, and a place for you to share your story about your experience in Latin America.

Due to the change in the website, the place to apply is now http://www.gclamissions.com, click on the "Register" tab. I apologize that the address I had on the info sheet was incorrect. The week I had to print the info sheet was the very week their website was in transition, so I had to just go with the info I had at the time, even though I suspected it would be changing.

If you find that any of my links to GCLA-related sites are not working, please let me know. It’s hard for me to remember all the places I might have linked to their site, so I might have missed some.

UPDATE: The link to the Training Manual is not working yet. I’ve left a message on their site, so hopefully they’ll get that fixed soon. In the mean time, I have uploaded the pdf to my server. Here’s the link.