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Travels~
For those who may be interested, my recent trip out of country was a Mission Trip to Honduras. A bi-lingual friend of mine, Loraine, was the leader, since she has visited Honduras numerous times, taking teams to provide food, clothing, and materials to the Honduran people.
When she mentioned the trip to me, she spoke of doing a vacation bible school for an orphanage, and we talked about the arts & crafts possibilities. She warned us that there would be 110' heat and we would be rising early to ride a van to the orphanage. I was hooked. I ordered art supplies that filled about four suitcases, and watched the news.
The removal of the Honduran president and the following unrest was disturbing, but the adult members of the team weren't swayed. There were four teenagers who wanted to go, but there were complications.
Miracles Still Occur:
~ One teen who had been on two previous trips to Honduras had foot surgery scheduled for the week of the trip, and couldn't make it. A few weeks before we left, his doctor's office called and apologized that they would have to re-schedule the surgery for later. The teen's first reaction was, "Does this mean I can go to Honduras?" So, he indeed, got to go with us.
~ Our driver developed heart complications, and couldn't travel. Loraine knew another driver who was familiar with Honduras, but he had another Mission Trip to Kentucky the same week. She called him to ask if he knew of anyone else that could drive for us. His wife answered the phone, and when she heard the question, she laughed. Loraine was wondering when the wife told her that the Kentucky trip had been cancelled, and her husband could drive for us.
~ As the departure date drew near, the parents/family of team members were feeling uneasy about the social unrest in Honduras, with reports of military on the airport runway preventing the president's plane from landing, and the demonstrations in the country. Several churches were cancelling their trips to Honduras because of fears. There were many questions among Loraine's church members, and her husband, the pastor, would need answers.
So, three of the team got together on a Friday night and spent a couple of hours on their knees in prayer, asking God to show them His will for this trip. The next night, they invited me and my husband to join them in prayer. Again, we prayed for the people of Honduras. We asked that, if we weren't supposed to go, that the people of Honduras would be ministered to by another group somehow. It was not about us, but about sharing the unconditional love of Jesus Christ. All I could see were the faces of those children...Loraine asked God for an answer by Monday.....
Then it happened.
Ten to fifteen minutes after Loraine got home Saturday night, the phone rang.
It was a friend, Amanda, who has a Honduran husband, who has a friend still living in Honduras.
The friend's name was Alex, and he was in South Carolina for a visit. They just happened to run into him at a child's birthday party. When they talked about Loraine's trip, he replied, "Remember what I do in Honduras?"
We find out that Alex is an officer in the Honduran Air Force and works at the Airport.
He assured us a safe landing.
He assured us a quick trip through security.
He assured us a van.
He assured us a Honduran driver to stay with us the entire trip and keep us safe.
When God answers His loved ones, He doesn't mess around.
That miracle, and more, happened on this trip.

A team of ten adults and teenagers worked together to give several hundred children in various locations a reason to smile as we sang songs, and told Bible stories, and made crafts for several days. Those children hugged us as family, and laughed as we played with them.
Suddenly, the 110' heat didn't matter.
We visited a hospital with supplies and sheets for the bare mattresses the patients were lying upon. A news camera videotaped the exchange as newsworthy. We were so used to negative news stories that we were pleasantly surprised.
Since Honduras doesn't have a highway patrol, they use speedbumps and military checkpoints to monitor the highways. Once, when we encountered a routine checkpoint, they asked us where we'd been, our Honduran driver replied that we were returning from church, and the officer waved us on our way without question.
At one location, we left suitcases of clothes for children and adults. We also took up a love offering for a school teacher who had not been paid in many months.
We held Sunday School for a church made of cinder block and a tin roof with no air conditioning and bare bulbs for lights. During their evening worship service, Loraine's husband preached eloquently in Spanish to the congregation, and we sang in Spanish for them. The Sunday School teachers wanted my marker sketches of Noah's Ark, Zaccheus, and the Creation Story for their classrooms, and I was honored to leave them. We said farewell in tears, and hugged the children we had served.
The following day, Alex was at the airport to see us off safely.
I told Loraine the wings on his uniform were not air force wings, but angel wings.
God revealed Himself to us throughout the entire trip. It was a life-changing experience for many reasons and will not soon be forgotten.
~July 18-July 27, 2009~


"Be miserable. Or motivate yourself. Whatever has to be done, it's always your choice." ~ Dr. Wayne Dyer

~~Harvard Graduation Commencement Speech excerpt by J. K. Rowlings ~~~~ Nichole Nordeman's Legacy