Trip to Campamento Viejo and our first team of the summer from Birmingham.

Juan Carlos' Story

This past Sunday Stan, Juan Carlos, and myself began a journey to Campamento Viejo to meet and spend time with Juan's family. Juan Carlos shared with us how God was moving in his life and how he wanted to further his knowledge of the Bible and start to learn more English. he truly spoke with a passion of what God is calling him to do and how excited he was about this new chapter of his life.

We arrived in Catacamas around 5:30 Sunday evening and were able to meet up with Juan Carlos' mother and two sisters. Catacamas and Campamento Viejo are like living in the Old Wild West where you see pistols on their sides and cattle drives down through the middle of town.

Sunday night we took the family to the nearby super market and bought a good month's worth of provisions. It was amazing to watch them for the first time to be able to shop and to actually get what they needed without the worry of "do I have enough money to purchase all this". Later that night we took the family to a nice little restaurant (As de Oro) for a typical Honduran meal and a time of fellowship. It was an awesome sight to see Juan Carlos cutting up with his sisters and just enjoying the moment.

Monday morning we headed out around 8 in the morning for our journey to Campamento Viejo and as most of you know there are no street signs in Honduras to help you along the way. We made our first wrong turn about 30 minutes into our trip and had to back track for an hour until we finally got onto the right road. Even though we were lost for a bit it was worth every minute of it to see the smile on Juan Carlos' face to be spending time with his mother and two sisters. We traveled for 2 more hours on a road filled with holes, cliff edges and the occasional car trying to pass on a road made for one car. After 3 hours of traveling we arrived in Campamento Viejo which is not too far from the Miskitia Jungle.

The good part of the road to Campamento Viejo

Slow Dangerous Curves

These are the mountains we had to drive through.

We were able to meet Juan Carlos' grandparents, sisters, brothers, uncles, aunts, nieces and nephews. It was like a thanksgiving with all the family there. We went to a place nearby that fixed us some typical Honduran food and had a time of fellowship. After lunch Juan Carlos shared his testimony of what happened to him while on the streets of Honduras and where God has brought him to today. It was such a touching moment as we watched him share the Gospel with his entire family. Stan then began to share more in depth of how important our decision to have a relationship with Christ is and that decision determines where we will spend eternity. A few minutes later Juan Carlos' mother accepted the Lord as her personal Lord and Savior. What an awesome day in the Lord and to see this precious lady become a new creature in Christ.

Juan Carlos' mothers house

Juan Carlos with his mother, two sisters, and niece

Juan Carlos with his grandparents

Richie with Juan Carlos' two nieces

Around 2:30 we began to say our good byes and started the journey back to Catacamas to stay the night before heading back to Tegucigalpa on Tuesday morning. Before we left one of Juan Carlos' grandmothers wanted to give him a gift and she brought him a live chicken to take back with him. To most people this would be a little unusual, but this is all she had to offer and what a humbling experience to know she gave all she had. Juan Carlos kept saying what a blessing it had been to visit with his family once again and to see his mother come to know the Lord.

We arrived back in Tegucigalpa around 1:30 pm on Tuesday and we were all ready for a little rest after watching God accomplish so many things in less than 48 hours. God truly deserves all the praise and glory for what He did!

Birmingham Team

The team from Birmingham came last week and really demonstrated what the Body of Christ looks like. They each had their own unique gift and it showed as they ministered to each person God put in their path.

We started the week out with such a powerful testimony to the Lord. The Lord had led us to three new houses to do food ministry and at one of the houses they met a man named Ismael Romero that had just lost his wife and two year old daughter in a car accident just three weeks prior. He showed the team their clothes and the car that had been involved in the wreck. It was amazing that anyone walked away from this wreck. Stan shared the Gospel with him and the man accepted Christ. he later told Stan why his life had been saved from that horrible car wreck. He said " I know that God knew you were coming today and that's why he spared my life, so that I may have a relationship with Him today". What a powerful statement from a man in his most tragic time and yet he found all the hope and peace that day that only God can give. Please rejoice with us and pray for our new brother in Christ.

Ismael Romero's house.

As the team continued to hand food out from the bus they began to share the Gospel with everyone they came into contact with. This resulted in many new brothers and sisters in Christ.

There was one young man by the name of Gregory that was such a blessing to the ministry this week. He had conducted a fundraiser to buy a new basketball goal for the boys and to also help out with furnishings for the new casita we have built. This 13 year old young man was able to raise over $4,000 for the ministry. Thanks for all your hard work Gregory in furthering God's Kingdom work!

The team also held soccer tournaments with all the boys in the ministry and then provided a day at the water park on their last day with us. God truly is good!!

Until next time,

God Bless