How Great Is Our God

I’ve been in Honduras for about a week and a half and can I just say, God is good and His timing is beyond perfect! That’s nothing new, but it’s always wonderful to be reminded of that.

I live at the transition home in San Pedro Sula with the house mom and 5 teenage girls. They are awesome! I love them more than I can put into words! They call me their sister, which is perfect because that is exactly what they feel like. You can never have too many sisters (right Lydia, Ali, and Jamie?). There have been a lot of changes in the house where these girls live and changes are not always bad, but they can be hard. It is perfect that I am here to be with these girls and help them walk through this time of their life to encourage them, pray over them, and hopefully give them wisdom and advice that is from God. God knew exactly what He was doing bringing me here when He did when I had no idea what kinds of things He was bringing me to Honduras for, these sweet girls are absolutely one of them!

My second day here two wonderful women, Robyn and Stephanie arrived from the US. They have been to Honduras multiple times and know the girls living at the transition home, so the girls were excited to see them when they go to the house. It was incredible to watch the way Robyn and Stephanie interacted with the girls and to see them pour into these girls while they were here. In their few days here we took the girls grocery shopping, cooked together, scrapbooked, had great conversations, laughed together, and prayed together. They are both full of wisdom and insight and I am thankful that they came when they did and that I had the opportunity to spend so much time with them and learn from them while they were here. I am looking forward to when they come back later this semester and the time they will get to spend with us again! Since they have left we have continued to have fun and laugh and talk and pray together. We’re practicing their English and my Spanish. I got to share my testimony with them earlier this week and we are going to have a weekly Bible study together that I will lead for them. It is my hope that they will really understand salvation and grace and the gift that it is.

Please continue to pray for me and for all of the people that I’m meeting and building relationships with.

Pray for my Spanish that it would improve quickly (I start Spanish school sometime next week)!

Pray for these girls as they go through a time of transition that they would handle it with grace and trust in their savior.

Pray that God would give me wisdom and words of advice and encouragement to say to these girls when they come to me with all that they are going through.

Pray for me as I begin to teach English classes to students at two different schools next week, that I would trust God and allow Him to use me.

Pray that my life would reflect and glorify Jesus in everything I say and do, that I would remain focused on Him constantly, and I would take advantage of all opportunities to make the name of Jesus known.

If you want to continue to support me financially, please got to the donation tab at www.buckner.org and enter my trip code HO12-LT01.

Thank you all for praying for me and supporting me while I am gone!

Also, I tried to upload a few pictures, but it wouldn't work, so check them out on facebook!

Thanks and gig 'em.
Peace, love, and pursue Jesus.

Kellie

(And Let It Be)

Once I get to Honduras (16 days from now!) I’ll be staying in San Pedro Sula, one of the major cities in Honduras. There is a girls transient home where 7-8 teenage girls live that I will get to stay at. I’m super excited about this because of the opportunity I will have to build relationships with these girls who have had a tough life and having the opportunity to not only pour into them but to learn from them while I am with them.

I will spend a lot of my time at the girls transition home where they are working towards a traditional and vocational education. Many of the girls have suffered from emotional and physical abuse in their past. With my background in sociology and women’s and gender studies I will hopefully be involved in developing classes and discussions about parenting skills, domestic violence, self-esteem, women’s rights, and women’s health, among other things.  I will also have the opportunity to help these girls with their English and math homework as well as lead devotionals and Bible studies with them each night. There is also a community transition center (CTC), Las Brisas, which is located in an area of extreme poverty making the community vulnerable to numerous diseases and social problems. Las Brisas supports 85 children through a scholarship and snack

program at their school. I will likely be involved with the children and their families, strengthening the relationship between the CTC and the participating familes as well as being involved in other parts of the community. Lastly there is an orphanage (that I mentioned in my last blog) called Nueva Esperanza for younger kids (babies-12 years of age) where I will have the opportunity to spend time with the children and coordinate different activities for them.

If you would like to be involved somehow, first and foremost I ask that you cover me in prayer while I am gone, constantly. Pray for me and for my safety as I travel and as I live in a foreign country. Pray that my Spanish would improve quickly and that I would not allow Satan to use language as a hindrance. Pray also for the students and families that I will have the privilege of meeting and interacting with, that God will work through the relationships I establish. Pray that every encounter I have with one of these precious people will be a chance to further the Kingdom. Pray that I will have the boldness to share the Word of God boldly, fearlessly, and constantly. Romans 1:16 tells us “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes.” Pray that all of my actions and all of my words would be glorifying to God; pointing people to Him. Pray also that God would use this time in my life to teach me and grow me in whatever way He wants to, that I would daily look more like Him.

Another way that you can be involved in my journey is by supporting me financially. To go to Honduras and stay there for as long as I feel God has led me, I need to raise $2,000 in one time fees and $1,500 for every month I am there. This will cover all of my living expenses as well as mission opportunities I will have with my kids. As a recent college graduate this a huge amount of money that I don’t have, but I am confident that God will provide it through many avenues. Perhaps you and your family will be one of them. I ask that you prayerfully consider supporting me financially while I am gone. After praying, considering, and discussing this last option, if you feel called by the Lord to support me in that way I ask that you send any donations to:

Buckner Missions      

5200 S. Buckner Blvd.

            Dallas, TX 75227       

All checks should be made out to Buckner with my trip code (HO12-LT01) in the subject line. You can also make donations online at https://donate.bucknerfoundation.org/SSLPage.aspx?pid=246&frcrld-1 I am truly grateful for any amount given in support of the Lord’s work and for your ability to cover me in prayer. Thank you for supporting me and the Lord’s calling at this special time in my life.  I am blessed to be surrounded by so many people in my life that love and have a desire to server the Lord like I do. Thank you for your love, prayer, and support!

Thanks and gig ‘em.

Peace, love, and pursue Jesus.

Kellie

Take My Life

As I prepare to leave for Honduras I’ve been reflecting on the past year and how God brought me to the place where I am going to go back to Honduras to work with Buckner for eight and a half months.

In June 2011 two of my younger sisters and I went to San Pedro Sula, Honduras for a week on a family mission trip with a couple of other families from our church. While we were there we spent the mornings at Nueva Esperanza (an orphanage for infants through 12 year old children) playing with the babies and toddlers while the older kids were in class. Our afternoons were spent with some of the children at Las Brisas (the community transformation center) running a Vacation Bible School with stories, crafts, and games we brought from home. These kids have close to nothing, but have the biggest hearts. They wanted only our friendship and attention (well they also loved to drink water out of our water bottles) and I completely fell in love with all them. When I walked into the preschool room I saw a little girl with the most beautiful brown eyes I have ever seen and immediately became attached to her. Form that moment forward I was in love. I asked the teacher what her name was and was told, “I don’t know, but we call her Carina.” In that moment my heart was broken and it still breaks thinking about it. She doesn’t have anyone that knows and calls her by her real name; she answers to whatever you call her. Even though this is sad to think about, I am reminded of what God showed me in this week. Even though this little girl that I call Carina does not have parents that call her by name she has a Heavenly Father who loves her immensely – more than I will ever be able to understand – and He loves her and knows her name. Leaving these sweet children at the orphanage and at the CTC on our last day was hard, harder than I thought it would be. I wanted to stay and take care of them and love on them continuously or at the very least some day have the opportunity to go back and love on all of them.

Our Buckner trip leader last July went to Guatemala as an intern a few summers before and we had several conversations about it while we were in Honduras together. For several months I entertained the idea of going back to Honduras as what they call a Project Go volunteer. After a few months of thinking about it and praying about it I decided I would in fact apply. But, little did I know that God had other plans. In January 2012 I went to Passion (a large gathering of college-aged Christians to learn about and proclaim the name of Jesus) for the third time. I knew I would love it and learn a lot because the presence of God is definitely felt there. For me, there are no distractions and everyone is covered in prayer the entire four days. I did not know however, that God would change my plans by calling me to something drastically different than what I planned for myself. You see, my plan at the time was to graduate from Texas A&M in May, go to Honduras for a month (and only a month) in July, then start graduate school the following August.

One day at Passion everyone was singing and praising God in different languages. It was beautiful. It was a wonderful reminder that our God is not bound by language like we are. People all over the world worship and pray to God in a language other than English all the time. As the song ended Louie Giglio came on to stage and asked us to pray for another country, whatever country was on our hearts. Naturally I began to pray for Honduras at that time. I don’t have any idea what I prayed at that moment, but the country and the people in Honduras were on my heart more than they had ever been. Right after that Francis Chan began to speak and that is where I first felt God calling me to Honduras for longer than a month. He said to us, “Why can we not be the first ones to go? Why are we waiting for someone else to go first? Just go!” He was speaking about 1 Samuel 13 and 14 when God told Saul to attack the Philistines but he did not because he got scared. Later, Jonathan and his armor bearer went alone to attack the Philistines and God delivered them into their hands. It didn’t matter that Saul had a whole army and Jonathan only had himself and his armor bearer. They were faithful and obedient to God! Francis Chan said, “Be a Jonathan, go!” At that moment I prayed, “God what are you interrupting my life with? Is it Honduras? Do you want me to go?” And there was no doubt in my mind that God was saying, yes go. Honduras is where I want you. With full assurance I know that this is the place that God wants me to be! I am called to love them and serve them as Christ loved and gave Himself up for me.

Come back tomorrow for more about exactly where I’ll be, what I’ll be doing, and how you can be involved.

Thanks and gig ‘em.

Peace, love, and pursue Jesus.

Kellie