March 4 - Laura Kates

After a week of loving on the beautiful children here, we experienced the beauty of Honduras in a new way today- at the beach! First was a trip to the market (we negotiated some great deals, at first with the help of our interpreters, then several of us tried dealing on our own in Spanish!), then we headed to Tela for an afternoon at the beach. We stopped along the way for a Honduran snack at Tio Dolmo- what we now call the Honduran Buc-ee's. The Caribbean is beautiful and a time of refreshment was enjoyed by all. These students have been devoted servants of our Lord this week and a blessing to everyone they encountered. I noticed on the map of Honduras that one of the provinces, here called departamentes, is named Gracias a Dios. That perfectly sums up the attitude of our hearts. We are so thankful to God for this opportunity to experience Him in a new way in a new place. We have seen Him at work around us, in us and through us, and we are grateful for the eternal power and truth of His Word that remains active here after we leave. Our hearts are full! Gracias a Dios!

March 3 - Jolie Parrish

Today was so much fun but so sad at the same time. It was so much fun to see the children's smiling faces so eager to see what we had brought for them to play with today. When we walked in the gate at Las Brisas, the children rushed to us and gave us tons and tons of hugs. Then they laid eyes on the piñatas we had brought for them. They all of the sudden began to scream "piñata! Piñata!" I immediately knew that it was going to be a great last day,and it was. The children had a great time opening their gifts we had brought them, and I had a great time seeing their beautiful smiles. It reminded me of how grateful these children are for whatever they receive, wether it's a marble or a stuffed animal. God showed us his unconditional love through these children. I am so sad that we have to leave but I know that we changed these children's lives and I know for a fact that they changed ours.

March 3 - Katharine Kimmel

Who inserted the last day would be so hard. We have become so attached to these kids in just a feww short days and it's hard to think that we are probably never going to see these kids again. On the way to the community center Jolie and I realized that the balloon balls weren't blown up, so we are frantically cutting them out and blowing them up. Don't worry we got all of them blown up. But we all knew it was going to be a good day when we walked in with the piñatas and all the kids began to cheer "piñata! Piñata!". I was so happy we got to bring piñatas. Anyway, it was very difficult saying good-bye to the kids today. We all want to lose our passports and just stay here forever (don't worry, all the passports are accounted for-so far). It was so cool to see the kids get their backpacks and gift bags. The smiles they had on could not have gotten any bigger. After we had said our good-byes, we had a wonderful lunch at the city mall food court and ended with a nice scoop of ice-cream from Baskin Robbins. We made our way to the orphanage with our bags of goodies and games. The kids loved plying with balls and frisbees and it was a lot of fun hearing them sing and play around the playground. My favorite memory from the orphanage today has got to be when this little baby comes up to me and hugs my leg then when I sat down he sat down with me and star to pat my leg. He was the cutest little thing ever! We are getting ready for the market (not a galleria) and the beach tomorrow so talk to ya later!

March 3 - Nina Garcia

Today was a very trying day because it was the last day. At Las Brisas the kids all got a gift and they were very happy. Seeing their little faces light up for the last time was sad because i dont know when i will come back. I will never forget the faces of those children, especially the ones i connected with. After lunch we went to Nueva Esperansa, the orphanage. Once there something happened that i never thought would. I connected with a little girl i had not seen the past two days. We were playing tag, going crazy, laughing lots and tickling lots; we really connected in those few hours. Nearing the end of our time together i asked her name, she did not answer but some of her friends did. They said her name was Ingrid, but when i asked her if what they said was true and she only shook her head and said no. Later when we were leaving, i knelt down next to her and told her it was time for me to leave. In that split-second her big smile and cheerful laugh disappeared, and her eyes filled with sadness. She then took my hand and said, are you coming back tomorrow, and i told her no. then she asked about the next week and again i said no. She then looked at my and asked me not to go, but i had to. She then told me her full name, Ingrid Dumas, these two words touched my heart more that i had expected; so we took a picture then i knelt beside her and told her i would never forget her. We gave each other one more big hug and then parted ways. her telling me her full name made me feel that she had felt the same connection i had and that she would never forget me nor the time we spent together and also that she did not want me to ever forget her; and i never will because out of all the 200+ kids we spent time with she made the biggest impact in my life in the shortest amount of time. i thank God for putting her in my life and for allowing us to connect the way we did. I love that little girl and cannot wait to see her again.

March 2 - Katherine Ann Rush

Today God did awesome, unexpected things! At the orphanage we had a lot of fun playing with the kids of all ages - we did bubbles and sidewalk chalk with them and then played on the playground. Mrs. Kates had a great time with a children's Bible story book. She started to tell the kids stories, going through each page of the book and summarizing the familiar stories. One boy stayed with her the whole time, helping her with any words she did not know in Spanish. He was really a gift from God because he knew all of the stories by heart. After lunch we went to the Community Center and played with the kids; the VBS was AWESOME because 11 kids got saved! We could not have done it without our translator, and Nina was an essential factor to the message because of her fluency in Spanish. I just did what I could and then watched God do His work. The kids everywhere were so sweet; at one point, Mrs. Kates tripped on the stairs. A little boy ran up to her and put his arms around her waist; then he guided her up the stairs until she reached the top, speaking to her in Spanish as he seemed to say "step, step, step..." She was forced to climb the stairs bent over because his arms were around her the whole time and because he was so short. The verse Isaiah 55:8-13 has really been our key verse because they talk about how God's Word will never go void - even if it seems like some kids weren't listening all the time, God was still at work in big ways! After all of that, we had fun doing bumper cars at the mall :) and having a delicious dinner.

March 2 - Jolie Parrish

This has been a very interesting week for me and the rest of the group. When we first arrived in San Pedro Sula, it was such a big culture shock for me coming from one of the largest cities in America to a poverty stricken city, which appeared to have no hope. But i quickly learned that the children did not care what building they are in, or what toys they have, they just want to be loved. All day today the children were climbing all over me like i was a jungle gym and were very interested what was in my purse. At one point a little boy got a little too curious and decided he wanted to steal my anti-bacterial bottle and make me chase him to get it back. It amazed me how just the most simple toy or most simple smile brightened up their day. I actually got the opportunity to meet a little girl with my same name, and right after she found out that someone shared her strange name,she immediatly latched onto me and stayed there for the rest of the day. I am amazed at the ways God is working in the orphanage and in the childrens center and i cant wait to see what he will do tomorrow.

March 2 - Katharine Kimmel

Today was a fantastic day that it's share of surprises. After breakfast we decided to take a tour of a transitional home for girls. They had 7 girls at the time, but we only met three or four and a couple of the leaders. It was fun getting to see that teenagers in a third world country can live so similarly to how we live. They had several responsibilities that we have at home and we got to see their rooms, which they had decorated themselves. They had also made a lot of bracelets and hand made stuff and we were lucky enough to be able to buy some. We got To go back to the orphanage and play with all the little kids. They had fun showing us all their cool puzzles and mad drawing skills. We went outside and played with the bubbles and chalk and one little girl stole my heart. Her name was Maria and I wish I could have taken her home because she was absolutely adorable. After one superman in the air and we were best friends. Unfortunately we couldn't stay their all day and we left to enjoy a wonderful American lunch at Subway and we got to eat the veggies porque they were brought in. After this Dennis(one of our translators) took us on a tour of downtown Honduras and we got to see where the children that we see at the community center live, which was very powerful and the whole reason we are here came together. We got to the community center and even though there weren't a lot of kids right then there would be about 160 kids running around crazily. Recreation was a bit hectic today because what we had initially planned was not working so we made it up as we went and everything turned out ok. The real miracle was the 11kids that accepted Christ and the amazing assistance the translators gave. I made several new Bert friends by the time we had to say good-bye and we were all very excited to see them all tomorrow and see what God has in store for these children. By the way if you ever get to see and hear Nina laugh it is like the funniest thing ever right behind Katherine Ann's puppet. Hahahahaha!!!!!! Well I think other people want to write so talk to yall later.