Open Doors to Open Eyes

God opens doors in ways we’re not even expecting. Take this mission trip for example…

I was at church this past Sonday morning and John Hedberg told me to come up during announcement time in the youth to show me a text message on his phone. There was an open spot for the Honduras mission trip next week. Plans began to unfold and by that same evening I was officially part of the team. I’m super excited to join such a wonderful group of people to minister to the people of Honduras alongside the Open Eyes Mission efforts there. I wish I had more time to brush up on some Spanish (I’ve been spending my foreign language brain powers on Romanian lately) but I know God’s love crosses all language barriers and I look forward to how He will use us next week.

Preparation and Prayer

Amy, Isaiah, and I will be leaving Saturday morining to drive to Louisville in order to spend 2 very short days with the team and then we will all fly out at 6:00am EST from Louisville and will arrive in Tegucigalpa, Honduras around 1pm CST. We will be traveling with a team of 15 people and all of us need your prayers while we are gone. Those on the team are:

Rich, Amy, and Isaiah Barnett
Wes and Stephanie Vittitoe
Jason and Laura Vanarsdall
Matt and Christianna Van Hooreweghe
Jeff Vibbert
Cathy Bond
Ida Butterworth
Susie Grom
Eddie Baker
Colin Britt

God has done some amazing things already and the enemy has opposed us at every step so far and therefore I am excited about what is going to happen in the next week or two. There are a number of things to be praying for:

  • Pray for safe travel and the health and safety of the team which also includes our missionaries, interpreters, cooks, pastors of the local churches and church members that will be withh us during some of our time there.
  • Pray for the men leading the Leadership conference that they will be vessels of God’s word and that the lay leaders that will be in attendance will find the value in the teaching.
  • Pray for hearts to be broken for the gospel and that all who profess faith in Christ are genuine and not led astray.
  • Pray for the families left behind that they will be at peace with their loved ones gone and pray that they are surrounded by Godly people to fill the gap.
  • Pray that each member of the team realizes why they are on the trip, which is to honor God with our lives and with our servants and give us all a servants heart both while we are on the field and beyond.
  • Pray for those who did not go this time that their hearts may be softened to the possibility the next time an opportunity arises.

The team will return on January 16 and while we will be exausted and ready to get home, it will also be bittersweet because if it is like any other trip we have been on, we will be heartbroken when we leave that we could not do more.

Perhaps the greatest prayer comes in the weeks that follow any mission trip and that is that those who went on the trip will not simply flip the switch on evangelism and revert back to a bench warmer, not that they are now, but the reality is, people tend to do far more for the ministry of the gospel on trips like this than they do daya to day in their regular lives. My prayer is that the person I am on the mission field is the same person I am in any field, but especially in my own community. This is also my prayer for the team, that they will doscover the simplicity of the gospel and will tear down every wall or barrier thay have placed between them and truly serving God through evangelism.