5 Fun Facts about Honduras

1)  Christopher Columbus discovered Honduras.  In fact, he gave it it's name.  When he arrived in Honduras, he said "Thank God we found these great depths!"  Honduras means "great depths"

2) Not all Honduras speak Spanish as their first language, or even speak Spanish at all.  On the islands and on the Atlantic coast Garifuna is spoken widely.  In La Moskitia,  it's Miskito.  There are other languages of smaller indigenous groups as well.  The speakers of these languages do not always speak Spanish.

3) If you are buying fruit such as bananas or pineapple, it may very well have grown in Honduras.

4) Honduras is second only to Austrailia in number of coral reefs.  The reefs make it a great destination for snorkeling and  scuba diving.

5)  The Mayan ruins in Honduras are not particularly large, but they are particularly artistic and most of what is known about Mayan hieroglyphics comes from Copan. The ruins of Copan date back over 1000 years ago.

The "In Between": Encouragement from the book of Ruth

Have you ever wondered where God was when you were in an “in between” time? I certainly do. This Sunday in church (I went to Church of the Shepherd in Grove) the pastor spoke on Ruth 2. It was part of a sermon series he is doing on the book of Ruth called “Unseen Redeemer”.

In chapter one of Ruth we get the background story. A man named Elimelech and his wife Naomi left Israel with their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion because of famine. They went to Moab, where they settled down, and their sons married Moabite women named Orpah and Ruth. The Moabite people were related to the Israelites through Lot. The Moabites followed some of the Jewish traditions and had some of the same holidays, but they worshiped Chemosh the “fish god”.

Then Naomi's life went from bad to worse. Her husband died, followed by her two sons. The grief caused Naomi to changer name to Mara, which means “bitter”. Left alone in a foreign land, Naomi resolved to return to Israel.

Her two daughters-in-law didn't want to leave Naomi alone, so they started to go with her. Naomi stopped them, telling them to stay with their families. At Naomi's urging, Orpah returned to her family. Ruth, however, wouldn't budge. She decided to stick with Naomi, and resolved, “Your people will be my people, your God will be my God.” We don't know if Ruth had started following Jewish religious practices when she married into Naomi's family or not. However, this seems to be her moment of real decision.

Chapter two begins with the two of them having reached Israel. They are very poor, and women in those days women had very few options. Rather than begging or becoming a prostitute Ruth resolved to glean wheat. Gleaning is picking up wheat left behind by harvesters. It's hard work and could be dangerous. Ruth, however was determined to do what work she could. She decided to glean in the fields of Boaz, a relative of Naomi's late husband Elimelech.

Boaz noticed how hard Ruth was working and he made sure she was safe and protected. He ordered his men to drop some of the wheat intentionally. And he invited her to join him and his workers for their mid-deal meal. She was curious why he took notice of her, an impoverished foreigner.

When she returned home that night Naomi was curious about how Ruth had managed to glean so much wheat. When Ruth told her about her day Naomi seems to have her first spark of hope in quite some time. She tells Ruth to continue working in Boaz's fields.

So...that's half-way through the book of Ruth. The first chapter was a lot of bad news. In the second chapter we see that Ruth is a hard worker and Boaz is a nice guy who was taken notice of her. Where is God in this story? Is He at work? He is...but we have to wait to see it.

Are you in an “in between” time? Are you waiting for God to move? Waiting to see Him at work? Read the book of Ruth. When you read how the story ends you realize that God was with them and working for them the whole time.     Updates to come :-)

Financial FAQs

From time to time I get questions about the financial aspect of being a missionary.  Here are some of the questions and answers.

Which do you need more: one time gifts or monthly giving?

Both are wonderful!  Right now my greatest need is monthly giving, but one time gifts are also very helpful.

Do you currently receive a stipend/salary?

No, I do not. I've been fortunate enough to be able to keep my living expenses quite low by living with my parents, and use money I had saves previously.  I am currently working full-time at a temporary job which will give a boost to those savings.  When I return again for HMA I will receive a stipend.

Do you get money to help with ministry expenses?

Yes.  I can be reimbursed for expenses that are specifically ministry related.  For instance I can be reimbursed for travel expenses when I got to speak at a church.  When I do a prayer letter I get reimbursed for the cost of printing and postage.  I look for ways to keep these expenses down (sending prayer letters through email, staying with people when travel, etc).

What happens to monthly gifts given right now?

Monthly gifts given now add up just like one time gifts do.  This money helps with ministry expenses, one time needs (plane ticket, visa, language school), and can be divided up and added to monthly giving to meet my monthly needs when I get to Honduras. 

How are you doing on your one time cash needs? 

Really well!  Thanks to your generosity I have enough to cover my one time needs. However, one time gifts are still needed as they help cover current ministry expenses, fund future ministry expenses, and can be divided up and added to monthly giving.

What kinds of things does your monthly needs go toward once you get to Honduras?

Well, there are the really obvious needs (food, housing, phone, internet, etc).  Other basic expenses include things like insurance and paying into Social Security.  Of course it also helps with ministry needs.  It goes a variety of places, but every cent goes toward making ministry possible!

Do you have a copy of your budget?

Yes, I do.  If you would like to see it, let me know, and I can send it to you as well as answer any questions about it that you may have.  Also, I'd be happy to expand upon any of these answers or answer any additional questions that you have.  

How to Pray for Missionaries

     Have you ever promised to pray for a missionary and then not known what to pray for?  It's especially hard if you don't know the missionary very well.  However, I have some suggestions!

5 Things Every Missionary Needs Prayer For

1) Pray for the missionary's spiritual life.  Just like you, missionaries sometimes struggle to find time for prayer and Bible study, see areas where they need to grow, go through stressful difficult times, experience tragedies, etc. If someone was to pray for your spiritual life, what would they pray? Pray the same thing for missionaries! 

2) Pray for their relationships.  Pray for their relationships with their friends, family, and fellow missionaries,  Pray for their relationships with people back in the States.  And pray for their relationships with the people they are ministering to and with.  Healthy relationships are SO important!

3) Pray for the country they minister in.  I wrote a blog post about this last year with some resources to help you do this: http://saritalarson.blogspot.com/2014/09/pray-5-resources-to-help-your-pray-for.html

4) Pray for the ministries they work with to flourish.  Pray for the church(es) and ministries they work with.  Pray for the leadership of the ministies, and for the people who they minister to.  Pray for unity, purpose, direction.

5) Pray for others to come alongside them. Missions isn't just about the people living in another country or in a particular neighborhood.  They can't do what they do without those of you who support them (both financially and in PRAYER).  These partnerships are absolutely essential!

Find Out More

    

     Send the missionary a note.  We love to hear from you!  Tell us what is happening in your lives, and share with us what is on your heart.  Ask us questions about what we do and how you can pray for us.

      It's great to have really specific things to pray for.  Have you signed up to receive their prayer letters?  Do they send out additional prayer request updates?  Give them a call or send them an email. If you don't have any contact information for them, then contact their mission agency, who should be able to get them in contact with the missionary.

     I sent out prayer letters about every two months, and I do additional prayer updates about once a week.  I do the prayer updates through a private Facebook group, and I would be happy to add you to the group if you message me.  I can send you the weekly prayer updates through email if you don't have Facebook.

     

It's Kinda Like the Hobbit

     This post may not make much sense if you are not familiar with the books the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings (by J.R.R. Tolkien) and/or the movies based on them.  However, I just had to share my thoughts for those of you who are familiar.
     Both the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings are stories about long journeys, full of adventures and acts of bravery.  When I think of adventures, I think of fun, and I think that sometimes its easy to gloss over how hard adventures can be.  I picture an adventure being someone running over a grassy field with a backpack on and a clear destination in mind.  That is often how adventures start, after all.  And the next thing I picture is the end of the story where the adventurer is standing victorious over the body of the slain dragon, and all is right with the world again.
     It's easy to forget all that happens in between.  How about the trolls who almost ate Bilbo?  Or the giant spiders?  Or having to escape from Thranduil in barrels floating in the river?  Ok...maybe the barrel thing sounds fun, but it would still be scary to actually do!  As amazing as the adventures sounds, it's easy to gloss over all it takes to get to the destination.  To forget that it's not easy, and sometimes the hero must feel kind of lost.

Thankfully my journey to Honduras is completely devoid of trolls, goblins, and narrow escapes in barrels.  But when I first started out I don't think I realized just how hard this adventure would be.  I didn't necessarily think it would be easy, but I didn't fully realize what I was taking on.  But like Bilbo (and Frodo), the journey is teaching me some amazing things.

1) I'm not alone.  Neither Bilbo nor Frodo traveled alone.  Bilbo went with Gandalf and the Dwarves.  Frodo had the Fellowship.  I am blessed to have partners who pray for me, connect me to others interested in missions, and contribute financially.  I have a great group of people in Honduras, both missionaries and Hondurans who I will be working with.  I'm definitely not alone.

2) I'm really NOT ALONE.  Tolkien doesn't mention God in the Hobbit or the Lord of the Rings, but He is there, much the same way as He is with us.  He doesn't come down and kill Smaug in the Hobbit nor does he take the ring to Mount Doom Himself in LOTR.  But he's there, helping, guiding, encouraging. The best example I can think of is from the Return of the King, when darkness had been over the land for days.  Frodo and Sam saw an old, crumbling statue of a king.  The king's head had fallen to the ground, and the statue had orc graffiti on it. It was the last thing a despairing Frodo needed to see.  But then a ray of light broke the darkness and illuminated the head.  Flowers had grown up unto it and had re-crowned the king.  Those flowers and that light were a reminder.  May we always be reminded of God's presence when we are discouraged!

3) Yes, it's worth fighting for!  It's kind of a constant theme in the Lord of the Rings that even in difficult times we must remember why we fight! My recent visit to Honduras was a great reminder to me of that truth.  It refreshed me in the knowledge of God's call on my life.  And reminded me that it's so very worth it.

My adventure continues as I begin 2015. Thank you to all who are partner with me.  If you would like to find out more about how you can be a partner or how you can take your partnership a step farther, please contact me!  Write it in a comment or go to my facebook page and send me a message: https://www.facebook.com/SarahLarsonWgm

Still Finding Reasons to be Thankful

I spent Thanksgiving a little differently this year, and I am really thankful for the reasons why.  This year I was in Honduras (which you will know if you have looked at my blog and/or Facebook any time recently!).  I flew down to Honduras a few days before Thanksgiving, and after a few days in the capitol city, Tegucigalpa, I went out to Escuela El Sembrador with my field director, his wife, and one of our fellow missionaries.  

Being back at El Sembrador almost didn't feel real.  As we turned down the road to the school it felt very familiar.  As we drove through the school I saw that it was still same place, but that four years had past.  The year I was there was the beginning of a project to beautify campus, especially with plants.  Driving up to the school I saw how those tiny plants had grown and now provide shade and beauty.  School is out for the year, so most of the students were gone (a few such as the graduates were around).  

That evening was our celebration of Thanksgiving. The missionaries and volunteers went into town for a Thanksgiving feast, albeit a rather non-traditional one.  We had onion rings, French fries, plantains, salad, beef, chicken, sausage, and course, tortillas.

As I looked around the table that night I couldn't help but think of how thankful I am for the people that I will be working with.  We all come from different places, and we aren't related, but we are family.  We are all God's children, and that's the most meaningful bond I can think of.

After supper we went back to El Sembrador for dessert.  This part wasn't traditional either.  People who work at El Sembrador and their families came over to one of the houses for cake and ice cream. A lot of people have big Thanksgivings with lots of people, but this was over 80 people!  And it was cake and ice cream, not pumpkin pie.  But once again- it really felt like Thanksgiving because the spirit of the holiday was very much present!

I started a blog actually on Thanksgiving to write down just how thankful I am, but I couldn't finish it because I just couldn't put into words how much gratitude I have in my heart, and I can't even begin to count the reasons.  Words still haven't come, and the reasons remain uncountable, but I have share just how thankful I am.

I am so thankful for:

Friends and family- thankful that God has put you in my life.

Purpose and direction- I didn't know for a few years where God was leading me, and I am thankful that He has begun to show this to me.

Those of you who support me. - whether in prayer and/or financially- I couldn't follow the call to go to Honduras without you.  I will never be able to tell you "thank you" enough.

The team of people I will be working with in Honduras - both missionaries and Hondurans.  You are my friends and family too, even those who I am just getting to know or haven't even met yet.  I'm thankful for you!

God's provision-  God meets my needs.  I may not be able to go on shopping sprees, but God has certainly provided.

But what I am most thankful for is Jesus.

Over 2000 years ago God sent a tiny baby to change the course of human history.  Holding nothing back, God sent us His only Son, wrapped in human flesh to become the sacrifice needed to make us right with God.

Because of this I see Thanksgiving day as sort of an "opening day" of Thanksgiving season.  Isn't the birth, death, and resurrection of Christ the ultimate reason for thanks?

Last Full Day

I'll have a few hours here tomorrow, but my trip has pretty much come to a close.  Today I was able to see what my friend Gaby Umbaugh has been doing.  A month ago I posted a notice on Facebook that I was collecting blankets and hats to send to Honduras for a project called "My First Warm Christmas".  Today we went to hand out some of the things that were sent.

In the morning we prepared sandwhiches to bring to people in the hospital.  In the children's ward there are families who have spent their money getting to the hospital and do not having any money for food and lodging once they get there.   For families in this situation there are no choices.  They sleep outside even if it is raining and very cold.  If they have no money for food, there is no choice but to be hungry.

So we made sandwiches to hand out to the children and their families.  We handed those out, along with Christmas themed activity books and some Gospel tracts for the parents.

After that we went to the maternity ward to hand out the blankets, hats, and clothing that has been donated.  Many of the women who come to the hospital do not have things like blankets, clothing, and hats for their babies. (Yes, Honduras gets cold, especially this time of year!).  There were many women, but thanks to the generosity of many we were able to give something to help all who needed it.