Day 3 - Monday, July 2nd

The Feeding Center in Cantarranas

In the morning on Monday we spent time assembling more goodie bags for the kids and more invitations and signs for VBS. 

Edgardo Rodriguez and his assistant Pedro brought us the three piñatas and candy that we would share with the kids in different villages throughout the week.  Edgardo is the general manager for “Touch A Life” in Honduras and had a crucial role in our success through the week.  Among many other things, he and Pedro purchased all of the bulk items needed to assemble the food bags, helped with all of the logistical details for our travel to and from the airport, and purchased of all the food we ate.  If there was anything else we needed while there, Edgardo and Pedro were very quick to assist in any way possible.  It was our honor to meet and serve with these two faithful brothers in Christ!

What is “Touch a Life” you may ask?  “Touch A Life” is the child sponsorship ministry of Final Frontiers Foundation, and makes it possible for destitute children to have 1 hot meal per day, uniforms and supplies for school, and exposure to the Gospel of Christ. 

http://www.touchalife.net

As a sponsor myself, I can give first hand credibility to Final Frontiers and Touch A Life for their accountability in ensuring that funds are directed to their intended destination.  Our family receives a letter from Gabriel (the child we sponsor) every month letting us know how he is doing and any special prayer requests he may have.  In addition to the monthly sponsorship amount, we usually try to send a special gift in the form of food or toys every so often and it goes directly to Gabriel and his family.  You can read more about Gabriel and his family when I post the update for Thursday!

Around lunchtime we were able to help in the feeding center in Cantarranas where about 50 to 60 kids get a hot meal every day because they do have sponsors.  A few of the children there are actually sponsored by members of our church and we were able to take their pictures and give them gifts that were sent with us.  We had a lot of fun with the kids before their meal by using the little Spanish we did know to ask their name, how old they were, and sometimes just making funny faces at each other.  A smile can really go a long way!  They really liked having their picture taken and being able to see how the picture turned out using the preview function on a digital camera.  One member of our team had a Polaroid camera and could give some of the kids a print to keep.

As she does every other day, before the kids ate their meal, one of the staff members (Wendy) took a few minutes to go over a short Bible lesson.  For many of them, if their parents don’t take them to church, this is the only exposure they have to the Gospel.  Our group was able to sing a few songs for them in Spanish and English which they really enjoyed. 

Wendy

Jon Nelms - Founder of Final
Frontiers Foundation
and Touch A Life

As I mentioned above, a single sponsorship provides a child not only with one hot meal per day, but also with uniforms and supplies required by the government to attend school.  Without a sponsorship, many of these children would get no formal education at all.  Doing this for the kids not only meets some of their physical needs, but it also opens a door to the family’s home so that the Gospel can be spread to the parents.  Please pray that more of these children can be sponsored!

Monday evening we had planned to go back to the village of Suyapa and join Pastor Wilson in their weekly church service, but the weather was really bad Monday night and the service was cancelled because they do not have a church building yet.  With mainly rugged dirt roads, the rain can really have a huge impact on where and when you can travel – even with the 4 wheel drive vehicles we were using.  On the way from the airport to Cantarranas we saw several sections of the paved road that had been washed out.  Mudslides are another real danger here, especially along the areas where roads have been cut into the sides of the mountains.  Thankfully, the Lord kept us safe the entire week.

That evening some in the group continued to write out Bible verses in Spanish with some of the leftover materials that could be distributed to the kids; even something as seemingly small as this can go a long way in furthering the Gospel!