A Mission To Agua Blanca

Wednesday we ate breakfast and had a devotion that furthered our discussion of miracles. We planned to go to Agua Blanca today and continue our mission there. As we arrived at the church in Agua Blanca many of the team members reminisced about helping build the building.

This year, we once again journeyed to Ciudad Espana and visited our friends at Agua Blanca. This is the church that the team has helped build over the years. Upon arrival, we divided into three teams for our prayer walk and to distribute food. The houses in Agua Blanca are larger and better built than the typical homes in Cataluna, yet the needs are still great. We prayed for health and jobs for the people, but there seemed to be more urgent needs as well.

In one house, we prayed for an old widower who is raising an autistic child alone. The love and devotion this father showed for his son was inspirational to us, so we also prayed that he would inspire his neighbors. We prayed for a lady with edema, we prayed for a man recovering from abdominal surgery, we prayed for a family with 15 children in the home, we prayed for an elderly matron who has generously opened her home for an older lady with cerebral palsy, and we prayed for the healing of many sick babies.

The children were invited to come to Bible School in the afternoon, and the ladies were invited to come to make some crafts. Eye clinics were held in the bottom of the church and some joyful reunions with old friends made us smile. One of the most touching moments happened when Denora, a blind lady from the village, came to sing for us. We first met Denora two years ago when Pastor Tim Snyder took his blind ministry into the community. Denora was reclusive and shy, but genuinely overcome with emotion when she discovered people were actively seeking out the blind in the community to help out.

So, in appreciation for the work that Spoken Word Ministries has done for the blind in her village, and in appreciation for the work that Fishers of Men continues to do, Denora cast her timidity aside, grabbed a microphone, and sang “The Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion…in English. God has blessed her with a voice that angels surely envy.

We were also excited for the opportunity to see some of the sponsor kids, even though our official visit is later in the trip. Chip was able to see the sisters Angie and Martha again, and marveled at how much they have grown. In celebration of his birthday, the girls performed a dance routine to a popular Spanish Christian song. Meg and Ashley were able to visit with Ricardo. We visited with Darwin’s family (a man who received a welding machine thanks to the FOM Lend-a-Hand program). Yet the most special reunion of all came when we saw Jenny again.

Jenny is the young lady we helped get an operation for a severe infection some years ago. The infection in her foot almost resulted in the loss of her leg, but we were able to provide help for her. Since then, Jenny has grown into a beautiful young woman, and we were pleasantly surprised to meet her infant son, Steven. Like so many other Honduran women, Jenny’s is a story of heartache and worry…little Steven’s father has disappeared, leaving Jenny to raise the son on her own. Even though she has trouble seeing it sometimes, God has blessed Jenny’s life and we believe that God is not through with her yet. We wrapped our arms around Jenny and our tears mingled and fell to the grey Honduran soil as we assured her that we still love her, but more importantly that God still loves her.

The time slipped quickly, and as we drove away from Agua Blanca for another year, we silently offered prayers of protection and hope for our friends in the village. Every year, we see spiritual and physical growth in the church there, and we thank our great God for the opportunity to serve and love the people there.

The eye clinic was in full swing again at Agua Blanca. Each eye clinic has seen many older patients that need very strong corrective lenses. We have also helped many women with their near vision so that they can read and sew. We feel very blessed to be able to help so many. We are even getting faster too! We saw 78 patients and could have reached 100 if we had as much time as in other communities.
Tonight, we went back to Comunion church after dinner and finished seeing the people we could not see on Tuesday night. In a little over an hour, we saw approximately 30 more people! It is a wonderful blessing to see so many people excited about new glasses and improved vision. God is good!

We returned from Agua Blanca and ate supper at Lydia’s. Chip Phillips birthday was today so we sang Happy Birthday to him and had cake and ice cream! We all agreed that Chip needed to have many more birthdays. The sooner the better.

We then returned to Comunion for more programs. We continued the karate program with the children, the woodturning with the men, the crafts with the ladies and Tim continued his Servants Academy discussions. It seemed that the people of Comunion could not get enough.