Roatan Mission Trip 2008 - Day 5

DAY 5: Hello church! Today was a busy day in preparation for the outreach we had tonight. We went into la colonia today and the men worked on some water lines until about 11a when it started to rain. The VBS is going very well at the school and the kids are so well behaved and appreciative of us being there. The afternoon VBS at the Inn has been more of a challenge with the variety of ages involved. Adam and Ginny have done a fantastic job of heading up the VBS. Our medical ladies were helping patients at the clinic. I think I heard someone say something about someone getting cut by a machete... yikes... As you know the team has distributed around 200 bags of hygiene items, many Bibles, tracs and beanie babies. We discovered that many people did not have a Bible and they asked for Bibles as teams visited homes. We said that they could pick one up at the outreach service and invited many people to attend. At first the crowd looked small and then people just came walking from down the mountain and over to the inn. It was a neat site watching the line of people walking in the dark alongside the road out front. We welcomed them, gave them some popcorn and koolaid and had a great program for them. They particularly enjoyed the drama. I think our drama team did a awesome job! Even the children stopped talking to watch the skits. The atmosphere was really neat and the stage where the worship band was setup was framed by palm trees. We think the crowd was about 300 people but Chuck, our host, estimated it at more like 400 and said it was the largest group he's ever had at his place. We know that one person for sure accepted Christ and there were several others who wanted prayer and tracs. The team members were seen praying with people after the service and three young men came to me and asked me to pray with them. People who had been talked to on the mountain about getting a Bible actually showed up and asked specifically for their Bible. There are too many things to list in this email about what happened tonight. Everything went so well and God has been working in powerful ways through everyone on the team. We've all been stretched with the work load and having to share our faith and God has blessed our efforts. I gave my testimony tonight which was something I don't remember formally doing since the early 90's. I managed to get through it even though I was choked up the whole time. I told my story about shattered dreams, wanting to be married and the struggle of being a single parent and loneliness. Afterwards I got an answer to a question I have had all week for the Lord, "Why did You want me to come here?" When the program ended my interpreter, a lady who has worked at the inn all week but who has specifically avoided conversation with me, came up to me with a huge smile on her face and she said "I have to talk to you!" She gave me a hug and said "The Lord sent you here so that I would know I'm going to be alright! She was just dizzy with joy and beside herself. I asked her to explain what she meant by that and we sat down in the grass and she said "When I was translating for you I wanted to hug you and I was trying not to cry because your story is the beginning of my story." She is now alone with two kids and was scared because she didn't know how she will survive on her own. Her kids happen to be the same ages mine were when I started raising them alone. She too wants to be married and said that no one in her family is married because most Hondurans just live together. Please pray for Esmeralda to trust God for her provision and that he'd really do some cool things for her like He's done for me. Lillian, a lady in a psyche ward in Costa Rica needs prayer as well, according to Joan. She asked me to send the request out for prayer for her. There are so many needs here in Roatan. We request that you pray that the needs of the people will be met and that they would know their needs are being met through Jesus. The heat has been very hard on all of us. Legs, feet and ankles are swollen and we're exhausted but we're doing okay. We really are enjoying everything. There is a lot of laughter and we enjoy our fellowship time together, especially the late night swims in the Caribbean by the light of the full moon! It's a refreshing way to get the sweat off us after a long, hot day. Tomorrow more go to the jail and we will have the baptism service at the dock at 4pm. We are hoping for a large turnout! Thank you for your prayers. Love in Christ, Gabra and Team Roatan 2008