May 15th - Our fourth day in Honduras

Thursday – May 15th. What a wonderful day! I am still a bit sick, but under the care of about 3 doctors at any given time. Mostly just stomach cramping now – no big deal. Thank the Lord that it wasn’t something more serious. I worked with Kenton (the current IT guy) a good portion of the day and started to really get my hands around how the network was setup. I had great visits with several of the missionaries today. The daytime though was really a highlight for Marinajo. She got to go swimming in the ocean today with one of the missionary families and she got to spend some quality time observing Howler Monkeys just next to the building that we are sleeping in. We have some great pictures to post when we get back. You can start calling her Dian Fossey!
Thursday evenings are fellowship time at the hospital and tonight I got to see a picture of what the early church used to be like. It was wonderful! All of the missionaries meet at 5:30 for a meal. No one is assigned the task of fixing the meal. There is no sign-up sheet. We share a meal together amidst the pleasant chaos of kids and conversation. Eventually, a small praise band (complete with a simple sound system) start the first praise song in Spanish. The songs alternate between English and Spanish. Praise is heartfelt and robust. Then a leader calls on someone (to the best of my knowledge this is not pre-planned, just organic sharing) to share. This time it was a doctor from a visiting surgical team. The message is simple (God’s wisdom existed before the creation of the world). Simple stories are told – the sharing lasts for 20 minutes or so. Lastly prayer request are spoken and then the group shares a time of prayer together.
A missionary who is in trouble in Africa All of you back homeThe United States of America. BurmaThe patients at the hospitalFunding for the hospitalTravelling mercies for all of those who will be coming in and going out of the hospital this weekend
Each of these is prayed for in turn and then we close in a prayer of thanks. Even though the meeting is dismissed, people remain for a long time in conversation. As is always the case here, lots of people are coming and going. Goodbyes are tearfully exchanged with those who will be gone by the time we meet again next Thursday.
Personally, I was simply broken by the simple grace of it all. God was in this little concrete building on a hill in Honduras in a way that I could not have expected. What a beautiful sight. In truth, it is more beautiful than the ocean here (which is amazing – trust me) or the jungle, or anything. It is God at work in His people and we are so privileged to have been a part of it.