Honduras

Welcome to our first blog post. Thank you for following us throughout the course of our travels this year. We are so thankful for the outpouring of support spiritually and financially that we have received from family and friends back in the states. We will use this blog as a way to communicate what is going on in our lives and how God is working in our hearts and all around us this year. I (Clark) will update with a new post at least every other week. Kelsey may or may not add her own posts in the weeks inbetween. We'll see. We will also add pictures and respond to all private messages as soon as wifi access is available. We have so much we want to share!

Kelsey and I started praying about international missions a few years back. We felt called to serve in a different capacity than what we had been. Two of our church friends, Zack and Austin Kirk, both had traveled on the World Race and had great experiences. After seeking counsel from our pastor (also father in law/dad), we felt that it would be best, and more importantly the kingdom of God would best be served, by us going to work with missionaries on the ground in a few different places. We made connections with these missionaries through either our church or another church in the Knoxville area. Through God's sovereignty, the plan unfolded, and we had trips scheduled for Honduras, India, Philippines, and Kenya in 2018. The first stop on our trip, and where I am writing this from, is El Progreso, Honduras. Let's get started!

As you can see from the photo, the land around El Progreso is beautiful, but in the city it can get pretty messy. You can't tell from the above photo since this isn't in the downtown area (I will take one this week), but the streets are bustling, full of vendors and locals. The most effective way to drive is to honk your horn louder and longer than the other person. Otherwise you may never make it through an intersection. At the same time, the streets turn into a complete ghost town after dark, which happens around 6 to 6:30 in Honduras year round. It was a surprise for us to see the crazy street scene on the first day we were here. We arrived at the airport late and didn't get into town until early Friday morning around 2 a.m. The streets of course were empty, and there wasn't a lot to see. When we rode around the next day the amount of people all over the streets made it seem like a completely different city than the one we had come into just a few hours earlier. 

The ministry we are serving alongside in Honduras is called "Hope Through Him Ministries." You can check out their website here:

Hope Through Him

Brad and Cristy Lenderman started Hope Through Him a few years back. It was an obvious fit for us for our first stop this year. Hope Through Him does a lot with Grace Baptist Church and Second Baptist Church in Clinton. Brad and Cristy are also from the Knoxville area. Aside from their love of orange, I would say we are getting along pretty well! They have two people that work with them here in El Progreso. Claire (our new neighbor) is from Franklin, TN. She is awesome with the kids in the communities where we serve, and she speaks amazing Spanish..somehow. She is trying to help Kelsey and me learn more of the language each day - a tall task. Last but not least is Alex. He is Honduran through and through. I have been able to spend a lot of time with him in the first week here. He believes in a relational ministry, and he believes in the vision Brad and Cristy have for the people they serve in Honduras. On Wednesday night Alex took me to a soccer (fútbol) match. Alex's favorite team, Real España, is from the big city of San Pedro Sula about 25 miles away, and they were in town to face off against Honduras Progreso. After 90 minutes of kicking through the mud, the game ended in a 1-1 tie. This is why I don't watch much soccer. Here is a photo of us at the game:

The best part of that night was the street food we had afterwards.  

So you are probably wondering what Hope Through Him is all about and how Kelsey and I are helping serve in Honduras. After all, we didn't leave our jobs for some Honduran soccer and baleadas (awesome btw). 

Frankly,  Hope Through Him is all about building relationships with people and making disciples in the name of Jesus. They believe the best way to do this is through a relational ministry. They try to do missions in the same way that Jesus did, serving in the downtown area of El Progreso through "La Mesa," kids parties, and health clinics, and in two small communities outside of the city: "Campo Llano" and "June 22." Yes, the name of the place is June 22.  They have feeding programs for the kids in these communities and an after school program in Campo Llano. School for these kids starts up in February, so the ministry is currently working on getting all of the school supplies and uniforms needed for the new year. Here we are with some of the kids in June 22 in the first photo, and me in an intense game of connect 4 with Erik at Campo Llano in the second:

These kids are stuck with very poor living conditions and not much of anything to do, but you would never know it from watching them play together for just a few minutes. Whether its a ball, some mud, or anything they can find, they know how to play outside. I wish that more kids in the states shared the excitement these kids have on their faces racing up and down the streets.

I mentioned "La Mesa" in the previous paragraph. This is a sit down dinner for around 130 people that Hope Through Him hosts every other Tuesday night downtown for the homeless, prostitutes, and others that don't have very much in El Progreso. It's an opportunity for them to be served a hot meal, socialize with others and hear the gospel message of salvation through Jesus Christ spoken. Brad explains to them what being a follower of Christ is all about and how God calls us into a relationship with Him through His only son, Jesus. Each table has a born again believer as a table host who offers to pray with them. Brad also invites them up front to pray:

Brad makes sure to tell those in attendance that a relationship with Jesus isn't just raising your hand and praying a prayer, something the ministry does not ever ask someone to do. The honor-shame culture here would lead to nearly every single person in attendance raising their hand but few putting their faith in Jesus for salvation. The people in this culture believe if someone provides something for them (like a hot meal) then they honor that person by doing whatever he or she asks. Brad explains that being a Christian looks like a relationship with Jesus. One of my favorite verses is 2 Corinthians 5:17. It says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come." People should see this change in our lives when we put our faith in Christ. They should see the willingness we have to pick up our cross and follow Him each day. This is actually what I planned on talking about in today's blog post, but since it is getting long filling everyone in on Honduras, I will save all of that for the next one. 

Kelsey and I were lucky enough to experience 3 days in the communities where Hope Through Him serves, our first La Mesa, and the free health clinic for people on the streets all in our first week in Honduras. 

The health clinic where the people can see the doctor here, hosted by Hope Through Him, is once a month, and a few of these a year are medical brigades with many doctors on site. The picture above is of Kelsey putting together medicine bags for the pills I counted. 

Finally, today Kelsey and I moved into our apartment in El Progreso! We had spent the first week here staying with Brad and Cristy as they prepared the apartment. Here is an overhead view of the building our place is in from Brad and Cristy's house:

I am trying to upload some photos from inside, but this has stopped cooperating...

I'll call it for now!

For the next post, I really want to share some of what God has laid on my heart. Thanks to everyone who stuck with me through all of that!

God bless

-Clark