Forward Youth Choose Joy in Honduras
Honduras is an amazing country. It is one of the most beautiful places I have visited, a beauty that is seen not only in the surroundings but also in the people. Initially I felt led to take a team there because of a desire to partner with my sister-in-law and her husband, Esther and Dave Bettney, in the work they are doing there. (Learn more about the school at which they minister at www.ceehonduras.org.)
So this summer from July 22 to August 6, 43 youth and leaders left Cambridge, Ontario, and headed to Honduras. After months of preparation and training, our heart attitude was to serve. Yes, we did have plans and ideas in place, and we loaded up materials we could use, but we also wanted to be open to what God had for us to do. We wanted to be a blessing to Honduran people and to Dave and Esther, both at the present time and in the months to follow.
Our work there consisted of two different Vacation Bible Schools (VBS) and construction projects. At the VBS’s we were able to present the Gospel to over 250 students. One program was in a local school. They let us take the children out of class in the morning. We played games, did craft projects and taught them about God.
Our construction projects were at the Christian school. We painted walls, moved dirt piles, built a jungle gym. We even ripped up an old helicopter pad.
A third project that we took on actually began before we left home. Our church family raised money to help put a stove in every home in one nearby village. While we were in Honduras, we divided into small teams and were able to take these stoves and put them together in the one room mud structures they call home.
This is where God touched our hearts in amazing and very personal ways. We got to hear their stories, see their lives up close and personal. God used the Honduran people to challenge us, and we are grateful. This challenge can be summed up in two words – Choose Joy. We were all challenged not just in how blessed we are to have all that we have, but to a deeper extent, we need to choose joy more often. In times of blessing or in times of trial, choose joy.
The wife, whose husband was murdered 10 feet from her front door, who is now left trying to support her family, she chooses joy. God calls us all if our trust is in him to do the same. Today, even as I write this article, I am reminded again, and I ask myself, “Will I choose joy?”
God was also doing amazing things as we came together in our team meeting every night. We would talk about our day, worship and discuss our team devotional for that day. One of the early devotionals was entitled “Transformation, Not Decisions.” The challenge was not to view our relationship with God or talk to God about decisions we would make, but to ask, look for and expect God to transform our lives. After great discussion around this and time spent in prayer, we could see God at work.
One of the concerns with a team of this size is that people won’t open up, but it was amazing to see as we served together, and studied God’s word together how he did transform our lives and brought many to a place where they weren’t afraid to share about where they had been in life, and what God had done to get them through.
Students shared problems with drugs, alcohol and sex. Others shared about cutting, depression and thoughts of suicide, while others opened up about problems at home and how God got them through it.
It is amazing to look back at pictures, see the kids, see the projects, but also to look at our lives and see the change – and after all of it – to praise God for what he is doing in all of us.
By Mark Hymus (Pastor of student ministries, Forward, Cambridge, ON)