Today was one of the coolest experiences that I have had since I have been back. I went to the prison for visiting day and took a little boy who´s mom is in prison and then 3 other little boys. It is cool that this little boy who was taken away from his mom when he was a tiny infant and has never known her is now saying I am going to visit my mom and running to her when  he sees her.

First big news... Mel is now a Christian!

We started talking with another guy and I am not sure what he has done to end up in prison but he told us how it was a good thing that he ended up in prison because know he knows Christ and he gets to hear The Word preached where he didn´t when he was not in prison. He was reading a book about Heaven and Hell and he told us he was happy now because he KNOWS where he is going. 

We talked to these men for a few minutes until a mens group that I am not familiar with came in and had a worship service. They had tamborines and that is it but it was the most powerful worship service that I have ever been a part of. Just to see all these men worship and the woman hold her son and worship it was simply amazing! It was so loud in that little chapel that the kids were covering their ears.

After the worship they gave a little message and then ask if anyone wanted prayer to be set free from their past. This is where it got crazy I thought maybe a few people would go up front but all but a few people in the whole prison went up and prayed over. It was great to see the new life in their faces. One of the boys with me looked over at me and said ¨WOW¨!!! I am so thankful that I got to be apart of this day as well as all the children and Grace loved it she was right up front clapping and dancing her little heart out. 

 I am so excited to see what the Lord is doing and is going to do in the lives of the people in the prison!!

I came here thinking this was going to be an easy move. I had the apartment. I brought stuff down in January and packed it up and left it here for us. I sent down some of the other stuff we would need on a container.

Well first thing I found out was the apartment got rented to someone else. Which actually a blessing in disguise because my Honduras family had been praying it would not work out it was just too close to everything going on with the Narcos. So its 8 and I am here with my bags and Grace and we have no where to go. So we go to the house of hope and line up 2 other options to look at. About 12 we go to look at the first apartment it is in the downstairs of a house and the director of the hospital lives upstairs. Its so much bigger than the other apartment and it has seperate rooms a little din a kitchen a bedroom and a bathroom PERFECT oh and a yard! Well she tells me it wont be done until July. That doesn´t work we needed something that day. So I tell her I am going to look for something temporary and rent from her when it is finished.

So off to the second and last option. This was kinda of like if you let me rent it I will take it kinda of deal. It is really close to a missionary family that I am friends with I can actually yell out my back window to them if they are on their porch. A doctor here was wanting to start his own private hospital and it did not work out so he decided to make it apartments instead. They are still redoing them but he had a few ready so I picked one and we started the move! That was about 4 pm.

In the middle of moving Grace had a little bit of an upset stomach and well the clothes had to go. And I had nothing handy to put on her so she had to run around with just a diaper on for the rest of the day.
..
After we finished moving all my stuff in we went out to eat with my friend Kayla a volunteer at the house of hope  and 2 house of hope boys who were helping me move. Yep Grace went to like to nicest restruant in town with only a diaper on and she proceeded to dance in the middle of the floor catching everyones attention which only made it funnier.

About 7 Kayla dropped us off at the apartment and drives off in the mule. I am trying to get in the gate and I can´t do it so I walk over to my friends around the corner and Alex walks back over with me and he can´t do it either so we call the owner and turns out we have the wrong key. So about 7:30 we get in the apartment realize the power isn´t on a few minutes later the power guy shows up and turns it on!

Then I realize while unpacking some of my stuff has been repacked and is now all over Puerto Lempira. This was slightly frustrating but then I thought I just need to give it up. Odviously that was stuff I didn´t need or that the Lord is going to provide for us in another way.

I slept real good last night after all that!

All this to say I am really learning to let go and just go with the flow because it is not my plans but HIS!

So for an update on Grace-

She is so big and beautiful!! I can really tell a difference in her living with a family verse her living in the children´s home.

She is walking around and when she gets really excited she prances around on her toes.

She doesn´t say too much but she is soo smart. She understands english and is catching on to everything really fast. Yesterday while waiting to look at apartments I was working the milk program and we had to get a new box of rice and put it up in the cabinet she stacked them in the cabinet and then closed the door up. She just knew what to do from watching other people. She also wanted a drink so she walked over to the water filter got a cup and held it there.  I put hand santizer on everyones hands a dinner and she watched us all rub our hands together so when it was her turn she just rubbed her hands together like she does that every day.

She learned what hug and kiss ment this morning and she has been carrying around her stuffed animal hugging and kissing it all day.

If you tell her no she does what you tell her but she puts her hands over her eyes and pouts and won´t look at you. Also if she doesn´t want someone to hold her she will close her eyes and just prented they aren´t there.

 That is all my bragging for now! I am going to try and post pictures soon!

the joy of 3rd world traveling

I am finally in HONDURAS!!!

Not in my city but I am just one plane ride away.

I am in awe of how much the Lord has already provided for me.´

I left the states with as much packed in every place I could pack. I wish you could all see a picture of me with everything, and one bag is a plastic bin that does not roll. All of this together weighes way more than I do and is about 4 times as big as me. I thought it wouldn´t be bad I wouldn´t have to carry anything too far. Well on my last flight from Ft. Lauderdale to Honduras I sat next to a guy from Honduras but he and his family live in Miami. And added  bonus he speaks English. We didn´t talk much because it was from 11 to 1 so we both slept. When we were getting off the plane we began to talk a little and turns out off all the hundreds of people on the plane we are the only 2 that are going to be taking the bus to the next city. So we got off the plane went through customs he was there to help drag my bags around and believe me I was a little proud to think I could do it alone. Then about 2 am we began our wait for the bus that was supposed to leave at 6 am. Within about 2 minutes we were both pouring sweat in the airport with no airconditioning so we decided to see if we could find another place in the airport to wait that might be a little cooler. We found a coffee shop in the food court that had 2 leather chairs that were comfortable and we could sleep for a little while. When I woke up I have no idea how this happened because all the times I have been in the airport  it has always been hot but I had chill bumps and I was cold. People started moving around at about 4 and a taxi driver came in and started asking us about where we were going. We told him we did not need a taxi we were taking the bus at 6. This is another way the Lord provided because well that bus didn´t leave from the airport it left from the central bus station. So he took us to the bus station to meet the bus!

Then I get to La Ceiba and find out it is Carnival apparently the biggest party in central america and it starts tonight. People come from all over even the states to come to this party and hotels are booked for months before. I didn´t book a hotel because I always use the same one and I jsut walk in they are never full. I have even become friends with the staff there. So I get out of the taxi I even tell him to wait incase they are full and I have to look for another hotel. I go in and ask the girl and she looks at her book and then says well we just had someone check out can you wait a few minutes while we clean it up for you.

I fly out early in the morning and I will be home and holding my baby girl before breakfast time!! I am so excited to finally get there. Thank you all for your prayers I will try and update this weekend or early next week.

My brother and his girlfriend Amanda are going to be traveling to Honduras to help out with Root Ministries and we have 2 projects that

we need your help to complete!!

Just in case this post is getting a little confusing  what we still need are the 70 bags, 4 sets of twin sheets, and a few towels!!

PROJECT #1= The Lord has provided for this!!


800 dollars to finish the addition to Elizabeth's house- 14 people are currently living in this one room. They have two beds but only one bed has a mattress on it. I haven't seen how they sleep at night but if I had to guess it is not the pleasant comfortable nights sleep that we are all so accustomed to.

Kevin and Amanda have decided to bless sweet Elizabeth and her family by finishing the addition of a bedroom to the right of her house to her house as well as making bunk beds and purchasing 4 new foam mattresses for the new bedroom. And if time allows redoing the kitchen which is what you see on the left of her house.

4 sets of twin sheets and a few towels  are still needed for this family (they can be used.)

PROJECT #2

you can purchase these items and drop them off or make a monetary donation and we purchase them. If anyone has access to bulk sale items that would be amazing!

70 bars of soap

70 tooth brushes

2 shampoos/2 conditioners
2 womens deodorant

70 toothpastes

70 men's deodorants

70 bags- these can be grocery store bags

We will be making hygiene bags for every prisoner and taking them to the prison one day during their visit. Any extra items will go to the family above!

If you would like to help please contact me.

Happy Mother's Day

Proverbs 31:2 8 Her children rise up and call her blessed; Her husband also, and he praises her.

Happy Mothers Day to the most wonderful beautiful mommy in the world!!

I am so blessed to have a mom that is such a woman of God! I am so thankful that she has been able to guide and support me to get me where I am today! I am thankful that she dedicated my life to the the Lord and that when the Lord called her daughter to move across the world that she has done nothing but encourage, support, and pray with me through the whole process.

Today is a special Mother's Day because it is my very first Mother's Day not only being the daughter but now also the mom!  

 I am thankful for the birth mom whose belly Grace grew in for 9 months. I am thankful that she chose life for Grace. I am thankful that Grace's grandmother also chose life for Grace. Lastly I am thankful that the Lord orchestrated everything so that me little gringita me would to have the privilege to call Grace my daughter and Grace to call me mama.

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him. Psalm 127:3

I am praising the Lord for the gift of entrusting His precious daughter Grace to me!!

Also, Grace turns 16 months old today!

This all means one thing...A WEEK AND A HALF (10 DAYS) before I will be back in Honduras holding my baby girl and TOGETHER we will be starting the next chapter our lives.



Life in La Moskitia

Mrs. Melissa if your reading this post is for you!  (she ask to see pictures)

Okay so here is the outside of our new apartment

yes this is the whole thing! and it will be cleaned up and 100% girly  complete with hot pink walls when we move in

the kitchen

 and the bathroom- we have a toilet

and a shower but no hot water

 This is the best place to swim it is also where our purified water comes from... its about a 30 minute drive from where we live

 This is the boat you take to go to other villages

 This is where we normally swim. The lagoon is one block from our apartment.

This is my church and my pastor

 And the airport and the little plane I take

These next few are just pictures around town

  And a few pictures of houses where Root Ministries will be working

This is inside one house. something like 12 people live here

one neighborhoods water source.

 This is the pier. Not only do you have your adrenaline going after you walk it but you realize how much you would never want the job of unloading the supply boats.

The hospital  

And last but not least THE SOCCER FIELD.

I will take some more pictures of different things to let everyone see more of the town once I get back.

My friends from Latin America told me their stories this past week. Their stories of how the grew up, how they came to America, and where they wanna go next.

I sat there my heart breaking as I listened to two of them ( brothers) talked about how their mother died one when he was just and infant the other was two. They talked about how they lived with their father. Their father had to work on a farm for a few months out of every year so they were left alone. They said their were days when they ate and days when they didn't. They would go outside at night and cry and scream at their mom to come back asking her why she left them. They would go to her grave daily and cry and beg her to come back. At 8 the oldest one began trying to commit suicide. Their father remarried and the new wife did not accept the children. She would ask them to do things that she knew would be impossible for them to do and when they couldn't do it she would beat them. At 14 the oldest left home hoping to find "The American Dream." On his journey to The States he came to know Christ. The younger son left not long after he lived with an aunt in another country for a few years and then decided to follow his brother to The States.

The other guy grew up in a home where his parents participated in witch craft. At 4 he was given the job to take care of the sheep alone. He said even though he did have two parents they were poor and their were days he did not get to eat as well. He was beaten and ended up leaving home in search of anything else. Along the way he met the first brother traveling to The States. The first brother had just become a Christian and ended up sharing the Gospel with him. This is something he had NEVER heard since his family were not Christians and he to soon became a Christian.

The sad part about this is that this is not the life of 3 random guys, this is the life of MILLIONS OF CHILDREN IN EVERY COUNTRY ACROSS THE WORLD.

Here is the awesome part of the story...

They each when they became Christians each individually promised the LORD that if He would provide for them and teach them then they wanted their musical abilities to be used for HIM. These three guys now live together they are attending a music college and the Lord is teaching and providing for them in miraculous ways. Very soon they are going back to their country to bring Jesus Christ to their families and friends and nation. They also are going to start a band(not for fame) but to share Jesus with the nations. The Lord is already opening up doors for them in so many Latin American countries!

one of them said:

"Jesus uses people like me who have NOTHING to prove that He exists."