It's not goodbye, its hasta luego!

And so the trip has come to an end...
Its crazy how fast these last days go. From giving out shoes and baptizing kids to feeding the five thousand, its easy to lose track of time.
I've been waiting for this week to happen for a long time; a year to be exact. After falling head over heels for every kid here at the foundation last year, I've been counting down the days until I returned here... I literally had a countdown app on my phone :) The foundation just feels like home. I love that this is only the second time I have come down here, yet I feel so at ease and feel so complete when I am down here.
Our team has been talking about how this week is a sort of foretaste of what is to come in God's Kingdom. A couple of months ago I watched the movie Heaven is for Real. The movie depicts what a little boy named Colton saw when he experienced heaven during a near death experience. In the movie, it depicted the gates of heaven as the doors to Colton's home church. It wasn't a big, beautiful, golden gate, but rather something so familiar to him and so welcoming.
It got me thinking about what my "gate" would be.
I soon realized that the black iron fence around the foundation with the words "Children of Love Foundtion" were my "gates" to heaven. There is something so incredibly comforting about being inside the gate. Outside of the gate is a dangerous, unpredictable world. But when you get inside, you are greeted by hugs and smiles and songs of praise.God is so present here..
 Inside the gates of the Children of Love Foundation is my heaven. I believe with all my heart that it is the closest picture of heaven I will see until I am actually there. God is so incredibly present at this foundation. All you have to do is look around. From the smiles and hugs and kisses and "te quiero mucho"'s to the beautiful mountains surrounding the foundation, and the countless dance parties, God is at work through this incredible place.
So as we tearfully leave the foundation tomorrow, I will keep that image of the foundation gates in my mind. It is truly not a goodbye. I know that when that day comes, we can walk together hand in hand through the "Children of Love Foundation" gates, and enter heaven to finally meet our beautiful Savior...and sing "Zacchaeus" forever and ever :)
Demos gracias al Senor por su amor!
God's blessings,
Ellie Duda

Thursday Night Blog

Today was extremely fast paced becasue of the 30 baptisms and feeding the community on top of that. We started preparations as soon as breakfast was over. Some people got the food started, others prepared for the baptisms, and the rest did whatever was needed to make the day run smoothly. Unlike last year, the baptisms were not as chaotic, but chaotic or not, it's still amazing to witness and be a part of welcoming new members into the kingdom of God. After the baptisms were done, we went ahead and fed the community a meal of bread, pasta with meat sauce, mashed potatoes, and green beans as well as cake for dessert. The band that played durning the meal was awesome and they even started playing in the back of Zayas' pickup as soon as they entered the foundation. After dinner the band kept playing which allowed us Americanos and the kids to have a mini fiesta to celebarate the end of a long and successful day. The biggest lesson I Iearned today was that God is always in control even when you think he isn't which was evident in the miraculous speed in which the potatoes cooked and by how well the community dinner went. We are definitely looking forward to a day of rest tomorrow.

Thanksgiving, give thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving to all. We are so thankful for Mama Doris and all she does for us and the children, and the hundreds of people she helps here in La Paz. We are thankful to spend time with the ninos(children), the shoes, the new Pastor Martinez and his wife, the socks, the food, the clean water, the love we all show each other, the foundation's housing, the church, the truck and bus for transportation, Gods's grace, the sports and balls the children use to stay active, the clothes, the towels, the cleaning products for Operation Dust, the rain, the beautiful mountains, everyone's good health, the baptisms, the songs, the payers, and to all of the people who send support for Mama and the children. We are most thankful for Jesus Christ who died for our sins, so we can all enjoy his Kingdom, here and in heaven. God bless you all and we love all of you!

St. Luke's Operation Barefoot team

Keeping up with the Ninos

Day 5: Success
The amount of love in the atmosphere around here just keeps growing. These kids have God's love spilling out of them, in everything they say and do. I'm more and more amazed by them every second I'm here.

After a lovely french toast breakfast, we headed to the chapel to wash feet and hand out shoes to the kids of the neighborhoods, some from locally known "cardboard villages" here in La Paz. These people live in towns where most homes are made out of cardboard or a tent. So, the kids recieved new socks and shoes and it was a great feeling to see them run away with a smile, admiring their new kicks.

After a little bit of playing with the ninos, our group divided and conquered into different teams. My team was Ellie, Carolyn, Scott, and I, we called ourselves "El equipo de pizza", the pizza team! We were in charge of making homemade pizza for dinner tonight. It turned out fabulous!!! The kids were very overjoyed to be eating it.

After a long day of playing basketball and futbol after dinner, we finally sang some songs and said our goodnights. The ninos enjoy the hokie pokie and "Zacchaeus en ingles." Hugs and kisses to end the day perfectly describe the mood down here. This is such an awesome way to be spending Thanksgiving Break, and a great way to be reminded of what we have, and how we can help those who need it.

God's Blessings,

Katie

Live and Recorded Video

is available from Tuesday.  More to come!

Operation Barefoot is passing on all the love that our congregation, school and community collected. 

Read the blog posts and watch the video and share the great news with others.

Something Special in La Paz

What seperates Christianity from every other religion this planet has ever seen? The answer lies in people, like you and me, Honduran or American. Our relationship with our creator defies any human concept of a supreme deity, it knocks God off His soap box and brings him to our front door in the form of Jesus Christ. What does this have to do with The Children of Love Foundation (ninos de amor in spanish)? C.S Lewis once said, I'm paraphrasing, that when your goal in life is to achieve an eternity in heaven, your life becomes nearly aligned with perfection, or at least the intentions of your life become aligned with perfection. The people involved with this foundation understand this concept in its entirity; their intentions are heavenly. From giving food to the poorest part of La Paz to washing police offiicer's feet, a relationship with Christ can be seen in all of what has been done here. This is not just from the mission team, this includes the work of the kitchen workers and the cleaners and the kids working everyday. Something special is happening at this place, something that has to do with Christ and his miracles. Through our faith, relationship and love for Christ, Children of Love has become the hot spot of La Paz, it has become a highly coveted piece of ground. Some might even say it is a piece of heaven on earth.

Everything I ever needed to know...

Everything I ever needed to know, I learned in Honduras...

How to fix a toilet
How to sew a button
How to play several different versions of hide and seek
How to shower using a bucket of water and a bowl
How to shower without getting water in your mouth
How to sing "Zaccheus Was a Wee Little Man" in Spanish
How to guesstimate a kid's shoe size by sight
How to hold hands to pray and swat mosquitoes at the same time
How to play basketball, soccer, and hopscotch all at the same time
How to salsa dance (the ninos are very good dancers!)
How to spot constellations from the Foundation rooftop
How to make people think I understand what they're saying when I honestly have no idea...

Above all, the most important thing I've learned in Honduras is how much God loves His children. Right now He has given us the people of Honduras to love and care for as He does--we get to be His hands and feet in this place. Jesus loves each of His children so much, and it is amazing to get to share that love through service. Whether that's by washing feet, searching through piles of shoes to find just the right pair, teaching hygiene, washing dishes, or playing endless games of basketball with very energetic kids, we pray that all we do would communicate the love of Jesus loudly and clearly. And that's the  most important life lesson of all.

Monday, November 24th

Hola amigos!

We've come to the end of another incredible, impactful, Jesus-filled day in La Paz!

We started today as we always do: prayers and songs with the ninos followed by a delicious breakfast (today we were spoiled with a very American feast of pancakes and Aunt Jemima syrup!). After spending some time packing for tomorrow's Operation Dust distribution of hygiene products to the women of La Paz, we boarded the Foundation bus and headed to a village of "casitas," which is Spanish for "little houses" or "huts." We were greeted by a couple of kids which quickly turned into a flood of people. We were surrounded by people who were hungry for food and our attention, and it was awesome to be able to share packets of food and water as well as hugs. As a team, we talked tonight about how impacted we all were by this experience of seeing people with so little and being helpless to really change their situation. We'll be praying hard for these people, and we hope you'll join us in lifting them up to our heavenly Father who knows and can provide for all of our needs!

We returned for a delicious lunch and set out shortly after for the hospital to deliver hygiene kits to new mothers. We were able to visit the pediatric and neonatal unit and see several adorable day-old infants and congratulate their mothers. We were treated to a very nice meal attended by all of the nurses and surgeons as a thank-you for all of the donations they have received through the Foundation from friends in the U.S. It was exciting to see a new connection for us in La Paz through which we can serve more people and tell them about Jesus!

We ended the day with lots of basketball, hopscotch, finger nail painting, sewing toiletry bags, deep reflections about today, futbol, playing catch, frisbee, taking pictures, and lots and lots of hugs. We're looking forward to another full day of distributing shoes to the ninos and visiting neighbors tomorrow!

Its quiet?

It is quiet here in LaPaz but it's not because the kids wanted to go to bed at 9:30pm. The pajama party with dancing and singing was the ultimate way to end what seemed to be one of the longest Sundays I can remember. We joke about "Honduras" time, but truly, this day was filled with so many sights, sounds and experiences that it is worth recording the highlights.

Waking up to roosters in the morning, breakfast with the kids and a devotion from John 10 about Jesus being the gate was how it started. Being Sunday, people from town were invited to come to church - some walked from as far away as seven miles!  Sixty-five people attended but I can't tell you about the service. I heard it was a very traditional Lutheran service.  I was helping entertain about twenty preschoolers so there mothers could worship. We read books in Spanish and played with play dough.  Many of them were terribly thirsty from their journeys and so we gave them much needed water. It was amazing to me to see the creativity expressed in their dough creations when on appearance, they seemed uninterested or sad. The kids perked up when they knew they could get chewing gum as a prize.

Before noon most of us boarded the foundation's bus to travel to Siquatepeque - the town where Doris was born - for lunch and an outing. It took about an hour or so to get there, and we settled on a buffet style restaurant that was extremely nice and welcoming. Afterwards we drove to the town center and walked around for a bit. There were department stores and a flea market in the same city block.

Back at the orphanage we reconnected with the kids. We brought basketballs with us and that was a huge hit.  Everyone seemed to get involved with the kids in some way or another. In preparation for a service project later in the week we packed 50 gallon bags with rice, spaghetti noodles, beans, flour, sugar, coffee and tomato sauce.  These are going to unexpecting people nearby. It should be quite impactful.

After dinner we played some more with the kids but the highlight of the day came when Doris announced it was time for "pajamas" which meant a pj party was on. The kids danced together for hours to American and Spanish music. One of them fell asleep in my arms!

I want to record one of the highlights of my day. It was in a conversation I had with Naidee, the oldest of four children. We were looking through her Bible and in Spanish I asked her if she believed in Jesus. She replied that she did. I said to her that to me Jesus is everything. With a look of confidence she said that Jesus is everything to her too! There is no doubt that this place is a foundation of love.

Took a field trip!

Today we took a small field trip to where Mama Doris was born! On the way home everyone exhausted!

Enough

I am not a morning person. I am usually going to bed by 2am but this morning was a little different in that I was waking up at 2am....after going to bed only an hour and a half before. Needless to say it is by the grace of God and copious amounts of coffee that I am still cognicent. After getting to Honduras, I knew one thing was for sure... I was looking forward to sleep. Thankfully, arriving in Tegucigalpa the drive was only an hour or so in the bus. As we rode through the Honduran country side, which was absolutely beautiful, a question popped into my mind..how do Hondurans make a living? I see all the random fruit trees growing out of the sides of stone mountains and the cows and goats aimlessly wandering by the road where drivers are going 60 kilometers on the windiest of roads. There aren't any restaurants or places of entertainment for at least a good hour and a half and there's only so many times you can sell each other the same things. So what DO they do? I was overwhemled by thankfulness for all the opportunities in America for employment and how quickly we become absorbed in our 'bad economy'. Thank you Lord for providing what we need and for the reminder that it is indeed what we need and that is enough. The sunset this evening was heavenly. The sun was setting behind the mountain range and the clouds illuminated the suns rays almost as if God was saying, go and be my hands and feet. I know you are tired, but I have equipped you with what you need for this moment and the next. Keep going. Before we pulled into th foundation we were greeted by a sea of neon yellow and smiles brighter than any neon yellow you have ever seen. Los ninos de amor. We ran and embraced every.single.one.of those neon wearing bright smiling ninos de amor. Tired? What is tired? I was filled with energy. We all were. Enough energy to last the next 4 hours. Thank you God for being faithful even when I cannot muster enough of anything in my own strength to do your work. Day 1 has come to a close. The ninos are asleep. God is so great. All the time.

Sending lots of hugs,
Stephanie

La Paz!

The mission team has arrived safely in La Paz.  More details to follow later.

Everyone's at their gate ready for The trip!

Memphis was a breeze for Jake and Mallory! 

The Orlando group is ready to go!

Natalie is ready to go in Charlotte! 

Here we come! 

Checked in

The teams are checked in in Orlando Florida Memphis Tennessee and Charlotte North Carolina. They will fly through Miami and Atlanta and arrive in Tegucigalpa together. Please continue to pray for their trip to La Paz

Finalizing Preparations

A few more items to get together but the team is ready.  Please pray for Franklin, Carolyn, David, Natalie, Ellie, Steven, Stephanie, Becky, Jacob, Mallory, Doris, Katie, Raquel, Jeremy , Audrey, and Scott.  Live updates will begin on Saturday, November 22.   To learn more about the Children of Love Foundation, visit their website at http://childrenoflove.org and sign up for their newsletter.