So Much Painting!

Wednesday July 15, 2015

Bible Verse: Ephesians 6:10-13 "Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God,so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand."  In our bible study we talked about the armor of God and which ones we would need today as we paint the shelter.  Jennie led us through this verse and we got talking about a lot of different things!

These kids are so adorable.

 The adminstrators with all of the school supplies - they were so excited!

 Abby painting another coat of paint in the pink room.

 Bethany and Katie painting the door.

Oh my gosh more painting. I would have never guessed. 

 Eating lunch in the library.. wait I though food wasn't allowed in the library?

Katie, don't turn around.

 No light? Don't worry, that's what iPhones are for.

 I'm painting, but first, let me take a selfie.

 Fierce, hard core painters right here.

Dont. Touch. The. Camera.

All of the kids eating lunch. Rice, bread and potato salad, yum.

Washing the paint tray like nobody's business.

 Scraping paint off of the hallway floor. 

 Finished look!  We painted the entire outside of the shelter with the help of older kids from the shelter and a few volunteers from another local church.  Everything blue and brown is what we painted.

At the end of the day, we taught them the cup song and these two little kids stared at us doing it :-)

 The finished "pink room."

Stefani posing for the camera as we leave.

 Posing at the pool

 That's adorable.

Eating dinner at the hotel, which had very good food.

Jumping just because we feel like it.

       In the morning, we put all off our school supplies that we had collected into grocery bags and drove them to the day-shelter, which the Hondurans appreciated very much.  One of the kids walked by all of the supplies and all she said was 'wow', which translates pretty well! A group of volunteers from a local church also arrived to help us with painting.  It is amazing how many different people God is bringing in to accomplish His mission at the day shelter.  Together, the Hondurans and the volunteers from the church put plaster on the ceiling and painted almost all of the outside walls.  It is humbling to know that I am only a small part in this massive project.

       Meanwhile, our group continued to work inside. We painted the doors, a bathroom, and painted a room upstairs, put more coats on the pink room, and touched up with paintbrushes. The bathrooms were particularly hot during the day and made all of us drip with sweat.  Fredy was the best with a brush, being the most cautious and meticulous painter.  He called himself an "artista." 

       In total, we painted, scraped and cleaned for nine hours.  God gave us the strength, and we used it for His glory.  The time went fast because we were hanging out with friends and talking the whole time.  A few people brought speakers, so we also put on music and sang while we worked.

       Bethany and Katie like to sing a lot while working!  Even when there wasn't a speaker around, they would sing whatever they could remember.  At one point, we had ran out of songs so we started singing the 'Star Spangled Banner'!

       At the end of the work day, we started scraping paint off the floor of the main hallway, but there is still paint in the rooms and all over the staircase.  As we were scraping, two or three of the little girls asked for a scraper, sat down next to us and helped us.  They were under the age of 10, and I had never seen kids so young work so hard.  Ms. Grachen later told us that this is what the culture there was like and girls learn to just jump in and get a job done.  We were very thankful and happy to talk with them and make them laugh!

       Another thing that touched all of our hearts was when we left.  We all waved to the kids and said "Audios, mi amigas!" or "Goodbye, my friends!"  Even though we couldn't even talk to each other in the same language, we had become friends.

       When we got back to the hotel, we cooled off in the pool and discussed our day during dinner.  Miss Grachen said that her favorite part of the day was seeing all of the rooms painted and done after talking with the administrators, who came to see our progress.  Hannah, who had multiple conversations with the Honduran girls said that the girls were very curious about us.  They asked if we believed in God, to which Hannah replied yes, and if any of us had boyfriends, to which Hannah replied no.  They talked about boyfriends a lot, which Ms. Grachen also explained later that the culture here is obsessed with boyfriends & girlfriends.  So we promised ourselves that the next time they asked us if we had a boyfriend, we would encourage them that it doesn't matter.  The only thing that matters is that God loves them.  I wish I had said that today but I wasn't a part of that conversation!  

        Many of the girls don't go to church, so we talked about how we wanted to tell the girls about what we believe and why we came here this week.  So far, we have had so much painting work to do.  So we are hoping that Saturday, God will give us an opportunity to share our faith.

        Another thing that we will always remember is how much joy these kids have.  While I was painting outside one of their classrooms, I looked at the kids doing school and noticed many of them staring at me with these huge grins on their face.  We just looked at each other, smiled, and made funny faces for almost ten minutes while I painted.  Smiles are a universal sign, and these kids have the happiest smiles!  They can find the joy in anything, despite their rough life at home.  It broke my heart to think about how kids like these are abandoned on the streets every day, and they have no choice but to join gangs and steal things to survive.  It made all of us sad as we talked about it later in the day, yet we felt blessed to have this opportunity to serve them and love them this week.

      God moves in mysterious ways, and he has been tugging at our hearts on this trip.  All of us love these kids, and we can't wait to see how God uses that for his glory!  We miss everybody at home and we are very thankful for your prayers and messages!  

Painting Duty!

Tuesday, July 14th

 Bible Verse: "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many." Mathew 20:28.  Hannah led us in a bible study this morning all about the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  We talked about what gifts God has given us specifically and how we can use that for his glory on this trip.  Then we remembered God's gift to us when we read Mathew 20:28, and we prayed that we would be able to serve God's children as wholeheartedly and humbly as Jesus.

This is a before picture of how the classrooms used to be painted.  They paint a darker color on the bottom because all of the dirt from kids shoes and hands doesn't show up on the dark paint.

Rae helping to clean windows.

We did this room in bright pink paint :-)

Bethany cleaning paint off the tile floor that dripped off the rollers for the ceiling!

 Our bus driver, Fredy, helping us paint.  He is an amazing artist!

Keep up the good work, ladies!

Us and Stefani (top), Karla, Maryurise, Josaline (middle), and Kati (bottom)

All of the Honduran children  having school in one of the class rooms.

Jenny and Miriam doing a soap opera after dinner.

The team eating out for dinner.

       Today was a very productive day.  We painted the walls and ceilings of three large rooms at the day-shelter, working from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. However, it was only possible through God's handiwork.  God gave us a beautiful sunny day, all of the necessary materials, plenty of helping hands from the Red Cross and the Hondurans, and the strength to get the job done.

       In the morning, Bethany and I painted one of the ceilings.  I felt very unfit for the job, being on the shorter side and my arms not as strong as the guys.  I could barely see where I had or hadn't painted, since the new paint was the same shade as the old.  I figured God was using my weakness to show his glory, just like he used David and Gideon.  A few times, a little Honduras girl named Kayla came in to say hi to me, which made me smile and kept me going.  It was a true blessing.

       Abby and Miriam finished the front doors to the shelter with our bus driver Freddie, who came to paint with us.  He was extremely picky about how well they painted the doors, because he wanted it to be done expertly.  He told them, "If you're doing it for people, it's okay to have a few spots that you miss with paint.  But if you're painting for God, it has to be perfect."  That's a lot of pressure on one paint job!

       Margarita told us later how blessed we are to have Fredy with our group.  He is a family man, which is rare in Honduras.  He has three kids, and loves them very much.  He has been faithful to his wife, which is also rare, and he loves God.  It was amazing for the group to hear about one man who was shining God's light in Honduras, because we also heard about all of the sad things that went on and it broke our hearts to listen to it.  We learned that many girls would become Moms when they were our age, but the Dad would leave.  There were also situations of abuse or parents who didn't want their kids, and that broke our hearts to hear about.  Some of the kids were at the shelter because their parents would leave them out on the streets while they went off to work.  Overtime I saw a little girl give me a huge smile I would ask myself, 'Why would someone ever treat her terribly, or tell her hateful things?'  

       That's when I thought about why God had sent us on this mission trip.  He loves his children and he wants to show them his love, which he is doing through us.  It is our job to make each child feel special, and loved.  It is my hope that one day they can experience the same love and grace that God has shown me.

       For the rest of the morning, the rest of the team painted the bottom half of the rooms with rollers and then went back over the edges with a brush.  Dave was the leader of the group, giving people jobs and helping people figure out how to paint certain rooms.  We said that God had given him the gift of leadership, referencing our bible study that morning.  

       Two of the bathrooms didn't have working lights, so we had to get creative with the flashlights from out phones!  We had a lot of fun painting, even though it was extremely hot and we were all very sweaty.

       For lunch, the women cooked us tortillas and made pineapple juice for lunch, which everyone loved.  After lunch, we went back to the classrooms and continued painting, making the rooms look absolutely perfect.  Fredy, whom we started calling Picasso, taped a paint brush to the end of a stick and delicately touched up on the edge of the ceiling paint.  The rooms wouldn't look as perfect as they do without him!

       While we painted, I had a chance to talk to Fredy about what we believed.  He was very interested to learn about what I believed, and he asked me pointed questions about Jesus, and why he died on the cross.  We talked about the demons in our lives, and why it is important to share our faith.  I was glad I had a chance to talk about my faith with someone from Honduras, and we agreed on almost everything.

       When we had some time left before we had to leave, we tried to talk with the kids and teach them ninja, but they didn't get into it as much, although they like to laugh at us as we played it.  The older girls became very attached to Miriam, Abby and Jennie, and as we left they hugged them goodbye.  Karla hung on to the back of the bus looking at our group until the bus pulled out go the driveway, and it was a great goodbye gift, although we didn't want to leave.

       At the end of the day, we also went out to dinner at a local restaurant, which was both fun and satisfying after a long day's work.  We were entertained by Miriam and Jennie's soap opera at the restaurant, and for dinner we had an assortment of meat and vegetable and it was the best meat we've ever had!

       Everyone went to bed feeling fulfilled from the busy day, but ready to go back tomorrow and share God's love with the kids again!

The Journey Begins!

Monday, July 13th

Bible Verse: "But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."  This is a verse we talked about in our morning bible study led by Bethany.  We are witnesses for Jesus on this trip, and we pray that the Holy Spirit uses us as Jesus' hands on feet to work God's will.

We woke up very early this morning and met at the airport at 4:30am.  Surprisingly, the airport was very busy for this early in the morning!  We flew from Pittsburgh to San Pedro Sula, Honduras, connecting through Atlanta.  We left Pittsburgh at 6:30am and are arrived in Honduras at 11:08 am!

 On the tram with our dearest home-dogs.

 On the bus to the day-shelter.  We have a fantastic bus driver - Fredy!

"Welcome Brother Americans."

Just keep chipping Dave. You're doing great.

The little kids jumping in to help paint the front door of the shelter.

We taught the kids stella-ella-olla and the little girls caught on quick!  This game was perfect because we don't have to know Spanish to play and it engages a big group of kids!

Some of the older girls saw me with my camera and immediately wanted to pose for a picture with Miriam and Gabby!

       It was an early morning for the Honduras mission team. Everyone was anxious and excited, especially Miriam and Bethany, who were flying for the first time!  Bethany also led a devotion about the sending of the Holy Spirit during our layover at the Atlanta airport.  Each morning this week, a student will lead a devotion about the Holy Spirit to get us ready to serve the Hondurans.  What better way to start the day?

       We met our translator, Fredy, at the airport, who drove us to our hotel and then to the day-shelter, where we will be painting this week.  We were immediately welcomed by kids, cheers, and a big sign that translated, "Welcome Brother Americans." Miss Grachen even got a little teary-eyed seeing the Hondurans at the day-shelter again.  After a tour around the shelter, we were immediately put to work, chipping old paint and putting new paint on the door entrance.
       A bunch of us went around to the rooms that we would be painting the next day and lined the windows with masking tape.  We were excited to finally see the kids we were serving, and they knew one or two words in English that they used to talk to us.  While Miriam was painting, they called her a chicken in English and thought that it was the funniest thing in the world!  We just kind of went with it and laughed with them!

       The kids warned up to us very quickly for just a few short hours.  They loved learning how to play stella-ella-olla and helping us with our work.  We constantly made them laugh, whether by singing and dancing to American music or by speaking very rough Spanish.  As Jenny commented, "Laughter is the same in every language," By the end of the day, we had learned a few of their names, and we hope to learn a lot more.  This was the first mission trip I've been on where we went to the site on the first day and connected with the people there so quickly.  We waved goodbye to everyone as we pulled out in our van but nobody in our group wanted to leave!  God touched all of our hearts today, and we can't wait to return tomorrow!

The Mission Team

The 2015 Osman Hope Mission Team mission statement is:
To show Hondurans the love of Jesus by our self-less actions, our testimony, and our love while growing in our relationship with God.  This will be accomplished as we step out in trust, open our hearts to God's leadership and guidance through prayer, reading and meditation of His word and reliance on His Holy Spirit.

The Osman Hope Mission Team will be going on their trip from July 13-20, 2015.  The team consists of eight Avonworth students and three Avonworth parents who have worked together over the last school year to raise the funds required to make this trip possible.  Thank you to all our family, friends, & neighbors who are supporting us!

Back Row (left to right): Margarita Grachen (Mission Team Leader), 

Miriam Kluitenberg, Jenny Morris, Gabriela Grachen, and Rae Kluitenberg.

Front Row (left to right): Hannah Grachen, Bethany Adamiak, 

Katie Carlson, Abby Wert, and Caroline Carlson

(Dave Wert was unable to be here for the picture)

The team has been meeting monthly for the past 8-9 months to prepare for the trip.

And of course the girls spend time having FUN to build community together!

As our team makes final preparations from now until July 13th, please lift us up in prayer. Specifically pray for health and strength of heart and spirit for each team member.  For God to prepare each heart that is going and every heart that the team will encounter in Honduras.  And for all last minute travel details to come together the way the Lord would desire it.  We are surrendered to our almighty God for His provision & goodness on this special mission trip.