ramblings of a wannabe rockstar

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Wednesday, 8/13 at 10:15 PM

I missed journaling yesterday. It was a very full day. Although it feels like it was a full week ago. At the moment I am extremely drowsy. Had to take Benadryl for several insect bites that are causing my foot to swell.

The last two days have been astounding! I went out with the VBS team again yesterday. It was similar to Monday’s operation but much larger. Several children prayed for salvation as did a lady who was probably in her 70’s!

During our lunch break there were som good times joking around with Celesten. I got in a bit over my head spilling a cup of ice water on her back after she ripped off the energy drink I was holding out for from Chad. She proceeded to tackle me and kick my butt. It was funny. Good times.

We went out to the soccer fields to do the soccer camp like Monday. We had a blast doing drills and scrimmage games with nearly 300 kids. But the highlight of the day came when a local men’s soccer team challenged us. It was so much fun! They took it easy on us and ultimately we won but we asked them to play full speed at the end. Their skill was amazing!

Our worship times back here at the Faith Home are getting more and more mind-blowing each night. Testimonies of life-change going on in and around us have me floored.

Today I went out to the construction site and helped out anywhere I was needed. Painted fenceposts with Bonnie, put up barbed wire with Bill and Eric. The most fun came when we had to demolish a house. Justin, Josh, Eric, and I went to town! Had that shack down in 30 minutes! Tore off the tin roof, hauled off the lumber, knocked down the cinder block walls. Such fun!

This morning we circled up and prayed an hour and a half after beginning the day. Due to some small mishaps that had happened at the start of the work, we realized we hadn’t done this today. During this time of prayer I became so acutely aware of God’s presence. It’s just so funny how he chooses to show up in the middle of a construction shack and move among His people. This awareness stayed with me throughout the day, to the point where I found it difficult for me to hold it together at times. Tonight’s worship time benefited from this as well, I think. It was such an awesome day!

I’ve been a part of some amazing things, but man…this is awesome!

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(ht to gizmodo)

Here.

Key quote:

In lieu of flowers, he asks that you make a sizeable purchase at your favorite watering hole, get rip roaring drunk and tell the stories he no longer can.

I love it because of football. I love watching NFL football. I am an avid Denver Broncos fan and this year is looking good so far, with the Broncos taking an early, dominant lead at the top of the AFC West. The Dallas Cowboys, of whom I am a fairweather fan, also continue to entertain. Good stuff.

<rant>

However, I primarily hate this time of year (and I’ve stated this before, so for a brief recap) because of ragweed season. Yes, folks, once again my allergies are off the charts. At least this year I have some prescription allergy meds to help me get a grip on it, but they’re not working as well as I would like. Congestion sucks and my eyes are burning.

The whole sun-coming-up-later thing also blows (still), but it’s not bugging me as much as it has in years past.

</rant>

Introduction
First Entry
Video Edition

Monday, 8/11 at 10:30PM

Today was our first work day. We woke up and finished breakfast before daylight fully engulfed the morning sky. Yeah…that early. For a part of the world where daylight arrives at about 5:30AM, it was early. I was tired. Frankly, still am. We loaded up the bus and rolled out just after 6:00.

I was assigned to the VBS team this morning and accompanied the children’s worship team. We were dropped off at the school and were met by about 100 children who were overjoyed by our presence. We setup and plugged in and hit the street running. They were singing with us at the top of their lungs. Some of it was work, as during the teaching times they preoccupied themselves and made it difficult to work around.

We broke for lunch after a rousing impromptu round of dodgeball. After lunch we walked down to the soccer field and rather laboriously occupied about two and a half hours with drills and jungle-ball soccer games. When it started to rain, we trekked back to the school and attempted to kill about an hour and a half keeping the kids occupied.

This came easy. I pulled out the guitar and started to sing the VBS songs from earlier in the day. We asked them to share some songs with us. A small group of girls sang a song I recognized from Nicaragua last year. When they finished, I decided to test the waters with my favorite song from last year.

I shouted, “¡La sangre de Cristo…” and was quite stoked when the whole room of children practically screamed back, “…TIENE PODER!” It was such a joy!

We wrapped up the afternoon hanging around with the kids waiting for the bus. We were relieved when it arrived, mainly because it was a promise of relief from the oppressive heat and humidity. I have never sweat in my life as much as I did today.

After dinner tonight, we gathered together to worship through singing. This is pretty much my favorite part of any corporate gathering, particularly when the people come prepared to experience raw worship together. Tonight they were ready.

The highlight of the evening for me was when Brandon shared his short testimony of his experiences today. He is fricken funny, but man…that dude gets it. He talked about digging a hole. Never in his life has he had to dig a hole. It was really rough work no thanks to some boulders just underneath the surface, but his moving experience was when he realized why he was digging that hole, and the greater purpose that something so small as digging a hole might be. I cried as he told that story. I love that guy and it gives me immeasurable joy to share life with him.

I hung out for a while tonight after the worship time with Jeremy and Brandon. I love those guys. I am beyond tired and should go to bed. I guess I’ll do that now.

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Here are a couple video clips from our worship experience in El Progresso. They truly cannot do justice to the amazing experience it was to be in that room, but hopefully you’ll get a sense of how it was.

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Introduction

Sunday, 8/10 at 10:00PM

Well, here we are. The week I’ve been most anticipating since I stepped off the airplane upon our return home from Nicaragua last year. This year brings a new mission, a new group, a new country, but the same purpose.

We arrived in the country late last night, but not without excitement (which included a near-miss on the taxiway at DFW and several folks who lost baggage). We arose this morning at 6:30, had breakfast and loaded up on the bus to go experience worship with a congregation in El Progresso (a town not too far from Faith Home — where we are staying for the week).

This is one of what I’m sure will be many instances where my grasp of the English language will sell me short. This morning’s worship service was nothing short of the most moving worship experience I’ve ever had. The sacrifice of praise given by this church’s congregation is unmatched by anything I’ve ever been a part of. They worship whole-heartedly. We didn’t know the Spanish words to what they were singing but we didn’t need to! The Holy Spirit of God raind down on this place and His presence and very apparent love for us brought me to a point of sheer brokenness…to the point of tears.

After seeming hours of singing and dancing, Pastor Tim delivered his sermon which featured short testimonies from Jeremy (who as ascended to hero status, in my mind) and Justin. Then the team was invited to the front of the church to be prayed over by the congregants. I can’t explain how powerful, how palpable, how very present God’s Spirit was during that time. I held Bonnie’s hand, gripped tightly in my left, and wrapped my right arm around Brandon — who as a relatively new believer, who’s salvation experience was shared with me — wept. I wept with him and held him. Simply, it was amazing.

The service ended. Really, the rest of the day’s events pale by comparison but are noteworthy. We went to a local mall for lunch and shopping for some, then to the Promise Home land, the site of the future orphanage. We prayed to dedicate the land then proceeded with small teams to hand rice, beans, and cooking lard to locals.

We took a hike to the river on one side of the property and headed back to the Faith Home. Had dinner, and corporate worship with our group, and bed. I am exhausted! But it’s been an incredible day. This is just day one! We get do do this six more times. God, how will You top this?

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Better late than never, I’m finally getting around to blogging the Honduras experiences. As most of you know, this was my second time on a mission trip like this. Last year’s trip to Nicaragua was profoundly impacting and life changing in that I was forced to be more purposeful about my life and activities upon my return. I found this to be a difficult challenge at times, but it was something that stayed with me throughout the year.

This year was different. As I wrote, it took me longer to be ready for the trip than I would have liked. Once the day arrived, though, I was eager to get going. I didn’t think it was possible in light of how incredible my previous trip had been, but this year’s Honduras Mission was far and away the most incredible experience I’ve been able to have and be part of. Frankly, the words I write and the pictures I share won’t ever be able to do it justice, but hopefully, you’ll get the idea.

My life has changed in very positive, very tangible, very big ways since our return a month ago. I would venture to say, with little reservation, this is a very direct result of my experiences in Honduras. And looking back, I’d say the last year since the return from Nicaragua has been part of that. It’s been interesting to see how God has orchestrated those things into being, when just a month and a half ago, I was questioning why I didn’t see certain things.

As I did last year, I took a journal with me to write about things as they happened. Again, there were times where what was going on was too much to process. The experiences were different than last year, but the magnitude was the same. I further solidified friendships with some dear people in my life, made new friends, and played a part in a project that saw over 1300 people come to know Jesus Christ as their Savior. That kind of stuff never gets old.

What follows in the next several posts for a couple days are the reflections I wrote in my journal, edited only to correct bad sentence structure and misspellings. We were in Honduras from Saturday, August 9 to 16 and I started writing on Sunday night. I missed a couple days. They were long days and I was too tired on those days to stay up to write. But you’ll get the idea.

Thanks for reading.

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Well, at least I am attempting to. I can’t say enough about how amazing the last four or five weeks have been. Of course when I get around to stopping long enough to recap my Honduras experiences, there will be a certain amount of time given to that, but since then…I’m just trying to wrap my hands around life in general. In addition to a total of nearly two weeks of traveling, there has been a quite a bit of excitement on the home-front as it pertains in particular to my passion for worship ministry (maybe more on that later, but that’s all you’re getting for now). Raquel has also been tremendously occupied with her ministry work. Both of these things have amounted to nothing more than pure joy for both of us, as we absolutely adore our church and the folks with whom we work.

We traveled to New Jersey for four days at the end of August for Joe and Heather’s wedding (Raquel’s brother). It was a great time for us to see family and to do a little exploring of our own. We took the opportunity to make it into Manhattan for a night to cruise around the City. Had a great dinner near Times Square, then headed to Little Italy for dessert.

Life treats us well. We are very good at occupying our time with important things that keep us very busy, but it’s all amazing stuff.

Stay tuned. Pictures and journal entries from Honduras will be going up very soon, shortly followed by pics from our time in NJ.