The Lord is My Provider

Two people from church showed up a couple of days ago. A mom and daughter came with a casserole for us and extra frozen food. As they were leaving another woman from church drove up with a Cash Wise box full of frozen meat and asked if I had room for it in my freezer. I couldn't believe it and was choked up and teary-eyed as I stared at all of the food and realized how much it would have cost me to go out and buy it. The really neat thing about this gift is that I had unplugged my freezer in the basement a few weeks ago when it became empty. Now the Lord has filled it up again!

It typically takes two incomes, in today's economy, to raise growing children and maintain a home and have a vehicle. We have been surviving on my income and sporadic child support since around 2001. In January of 2009, finances became extremely tight. My ex was laid off and I lost a significant amount of my net income which came from garnished child support. The kids and I have learned a lot about trusting in the Lord to meet our needs. Sometimes it's been scary wondering how we're going to make our last few bucks stretch between paychecks but the Lord has multiplied our dollars like He did with the loaves and fishes. I hope my children never have to live this way when they are grown. However, if they should encounter tough times, I hope they will remember when they were young and how the Lord came through for us, so that they will not be anxious, but will trust Him.

Roatan Mission Trip 2008 - Letters and Photos

I had the awesome opportunity to go to Roatan last year and have copied my daily letters to my church as blog entries below. I hope you enjoy reading them and that your heart and prayers will go out to the people of Roatan, Honduras.

You'll need to scroll down further in order to start with Day 1 and then continue up through the blog to Day 8.

I'm also including a link to the Spartanburg Angels website that also contains my letters and more photos from the trip.

http://www.spartanburgangels.com/TEAM%20ROATAN%202008.html

Roatan Mission Trip 2008 - Day 8

DAY 8: Hello church! This will be a short update because we're packing to leave tomorrow. We are leaving things behind for people and for the Inn and it feels good to bless and encourage people. Today was a free day for people to do as they pleased around the island. It looks like several of them forgot their sunscreen... Tomorrow our team will lead worship and do Sunday School and then we will immediately head for the airport to catch our flight out shortly after 1p. We will fly into Houston and then on to Minneapolis with an expected arrival time of 10p or shortly thereafter. We would appreciate your prayers that we would arrive home safe and sound to our families and we're looking forward to sharing more about our trip with you. It was awesome! Love, Gabra and Team Roatan 2008

Roatan Mission Trip 2008 - Day 7

DAY 7: Hello church! As I mentioned last night, we were dumping photos onto my hard drive last night. Johan wiped his photos off his camera and I had accidentally wiped mine off my camera but had them on my computer too. We decided last night that we would back them up tonight (Friday). This morning when I opened my laptop I heard the "You've got mail!" tone and knew that my laptop was working okay. Five minutes later I went over to my computer to check my email and I had the blue screen of death. My hard drive had crashed and all of our photos were gone. How was I going to explain this to Johan, our official photographer, and to the rest of the team? I felt sick and was devastated that all of the beautiful photos - over 1000 of them - were gone and some moments could not be recreated in order to retake photos. We also had all of the VBS kids' photos taken in order to finish a craft project today to give them a framed photo of themselves. I tried everything I could think of to get my system to come back up but to no avail. I cried hot tears and prayed for it to work and explained my disappointment to God and kicked myself for not backing them up last night. I prayed for at least 30 minutes and finally laid hands on my laptop and prayed that God would fix it and give me one more chance to save those photos. I turned it on again and it started to boot up with familiar words and images and I got hopeful and excited and I continued to pray it along. Finally my desktop popped up and my photos were still there! God was merciful and worked a computer healing miracle for the team. We got the photos backed up and tonight while we watched a slide show of them, I was so grateful to God for healing my computer! Today was our last day of scheduled ministry tasks so I'd like to recap some of the neat things that have happened. About 30 homes have water that didn't have it last week! The men really worked hard on getting these pipes up the mountain to the homes and make repairs to pipes that had broken. The jail ministry has been fruitful and several people prayed yesterday to receive Christ also, even more than on Tuesday! We're hearing from people that we've touched their lives and that lives are changing. We've been invited into homes and have been able to pray with people. In VBS today, several children wanted to ask Jesus to come into their hearts and members of our team prayed with them. While the kids worked on their crafts, we could hear them singing the songs they had learned from us. I spoke with two boys looking into the school from the outside and had them read the Bridge trac in Spanish. They read it and said they wanted to accept Jesus into their lives and so we prayed together and it was so cool! After VBS we were presented with a gift from the teachers and the class. We were extremely touched by the generosity of these people who have so very little materially, compared to us, and then they go and buy us presents. We gave them the parachute and balls we used for VBS which they liked so much. When we were ready to leave, the little kids came up to us, without being prompted and just hugged us. It melted our hearts and I don't think there was a dry eye among us. Our medical ladies have been very busy at the clinic and their help has been very much appreciated by Miss Peggy. The medical supplies that were sent will be put to good use. Early this evening some of us took the van to the West Bay at the end of the island where we drove up through high mountains where road signs warned of dangerous curves. When we got closer to West Bay we could see the sea on both sides of us. The crystal clear water and sandy beaches were postcard quality and the water was teal colored with turqoise in other places. The beauty of this island is just absolutely breathtaking and there were lots of oooos and aaaahs as we drove along. I was praising God in my heart for His workmanship and thanked Him for bringing me here. We had grilled pizza for supper and as always, it was delicious. The Lairds are super hosts and we're going to miss them, their hospitality and their gourmet food! After dinner we had a time of team worship and several people shared their hearts about this experience. We wish we could come back soon. I want to bring my children back here to see this incredible place. Several of us cried, including one of our two new team members, Clifford and Claire. They are two homeless locals who have ministered with us this past week. Clair told us she's going to miss us and she broke down and sobbed. We're going to miss them too. We've been stretched and challenged and have had to do things we didn't know we could do. We've shared testimonies, preached, witnessed to people on the streets and in jails and climbed mountains, withstood extremely heat and humidity and we're humbled that God could use us and sent us to Roatan. Love from all of us, Gabra and Team Roatan 2008

Roatan Mission Trip 2008 - Day 6

DAY 6: Buenas Noches! I wasn't the only one staying up late tonight! Darla, Laurel, Adam and Ginny stayed up and played some games at the table next to me while Johan, Celanie and I loaded more photos onto my laptop. I also demonstrated Skype to Darla as I was able to call my son today and leave a voice mail for my daughter since she didn't answer her cell. It was so neat to talk to Javon from Honduras! It's still hot, hot, hot!!!! My ankles look deformed and I'm retaining water like crazy. Several of us are going off Gatorade and going to water only because the Gatorade is too salty and we think that may be contributing to our swollen legs and ankles. Funny quote of the day, again from Diana: Bill said we could pet some dolphins this weekend if we wanted. Diana asked "Do we have to go into the water to do that? Bill quickly replied "No, they drag them out of the water onto the shore and you can pet them there." We all laughed! Diana provides a lot of entertainment with her comments. There's been a lot of laughter on this trip. Perhaps the heat is getting to us but I think it's more that we are finding joy in simple pleasures. We had a typical morning in la colonia. A funny part at VBS was when we were trying to teach the children how to play some games. It would take 20 minutes before they could understand what we wanted them to do. We tried Duck Duck Goose and I got the giggles so bad when a little guy tapped someone and then took off running around the circle... then out the school door he went and up the road a few yards! Once he realized he wasn't being chased, he came back in but I've never seen anyone do that before while playing the Minnesota version, "Duck Duck Gray Duck." We took photos of each child today and as I watched them line up and smile, some very shyly, I got tears in my eyes because they are such beautiful children. Many times Johan turned around after taking their picture and his eyes looked misty too as he commented on how beautiful they are. These are little kids about kindergarten age that we've been working with at the school. When they do their memory verses they shout them loud enough so that people going by on the road can hear them and it's adorable. I had the pleasure of spending about 3 hours today with the Laird family, our hosts here in Roatan. We drove into Coxen Hole, the capital of Roatan and did some shopping. It was fun to go into the stores that the regular people on the island shop in and I found some gifts for my children. I also picked up some spices because the food we've been served here is so flavorful that I just savor every bite of it. I wanted to spend time with the Lairds because I don't know when I'll see them again and I have really enjoyed getting to know them. Thank goodness for Skype so we can keep in touch! After we got done shopping we had our baptism ceremony out in the sea. Pastor Adam baptized Laurel, James and Johan from our group and four others were baptized by Pastor Chuck. It was a treat to be a part of it and I'm sure the baptism ceremony sparked some curiosity in the minds of the two mothers and their babies who were in the water just yards from those being baptized. Afterwards we swam for an hour and then prepared for a fun evening. The rest of the evening was a grand island experience for me and everything I have imagined that being on a tropical island would be like. It's so romantic! We went over to the Bay Island Resort where we enjoyed a hog roast and dined under a thatched roof cabana on the beach with tiki torches lit all over. Throughout the evening the sea turned various shades of blues and it was so perfect. A band played popular music and music with a calypso beat. There was a demonstration of how to punta dance and a nice breeze cooled us off as we took in all the sights and sounds. We were served pitchers of ice cold water and it was such a treat to drink glasses of real cold water. We've been taking water with us during the day in plastic bottles and jugs and it's warm. I've sort of gotten used to drinking warm water but at first I gagged on it and had to add some flavor to make it palatable for me. Some people got crabs tonight. There was a NASCRAB race for education after dinner and several of our team purchased three sand crabs to race for this weekly fundraiser. They had three heats and a final race. The crabs were placed in the middle of a circle and the first one to get outside of the circle won. As soon as the dome was lifted off the crabs, they took off raising to the guitar solo from Johnny Cash's "Folsum Prison Blues." The crabs raced in the final round to the tune of "We are the Champions!" Apparently they raise about $24K for education from these races. It was really fun to watch -- again simple entertainment. We no longer tell "fish stories", we tell "crab stories." The tropical island fiesta continued on into the evening and we enjoyed ourselves immensely! I'd write more but it's late and "What happens in Roatan, stays in Roatan! Hee hee! :) After the fiesta was over, several of us piled into the back of a pick up truck as Miss Peggy drove us along the windy and hilly rode back to the Inn. As we sped along in the moonlight with the wind in our faces, we laughed about the evening and yelled "Arriba! Arriba! Adelante!" and laughed some more. Love, Gabra and Team Roatan 2008

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

Roatan Mission Trip 2008 - Day 4

DAY 4: Hello church!
Thank you for your continued prayers. We definitely need them and God is hearing and answering. You'll find out how as you read this email. This might be a longer email but a lot has happened today. God is moving in hearts here and He also protected us from harm and possible death today. I'll start off with some humor. We were having breakfast and talking about some things on the island that we can do on Saturday for fun. There's a zip line on the island and Diane wanted to know what a zip line was. It was explained to her that it was a wire between two trees and you slide down it. Diane asked "Will we hit the tree?" We all burst into laughter and said "No" and then I added that it's called an "Extreme Zip Line" when you actually hit the tree. After lunch the men on the water crew went up the mountain and they have gotten water to 10 homes so far. This is no easy task as the inclines are incredibly steep. While up on the mountain, some kids were sliding on a piece of gutter. They wanted Brian, who we call "Bob", to give them a push. He gave them a big push but with the angle of the slope, the momentum was more than he could handle and he ended up falling head first down the hill on his belly. He was able to come to a stop and get up before the kids noticed what had happened. However, some kids higher up the mountain saw it and teased him later about it. We all now affectionately refer to Brian as "Bob-Sled." By the way, Bob-Sled is okay and wasn't hurt at all. With the amount of rock, glass and garbage around, we are relieved he wasn't scraped up. He just had a lot of the brown dust stuck to his shirt due to the sweat. VBS went well at the school this morning and they loved the games we played with a parachute and balls. They were just shrieking with glee. They'd never played with a parachute before. We had at least 60 kids at the morning session in la colonia (the mountain village). The afternoon VBS was larger today with perhaps 40-50 kids from the Sandy Bay area. Our medical ladies are working wonders at the clinic with sorting through a big closet to organize the supplies so you can actually find and use them. Marlene drew some blood today and was teaching someone how to do malaria slides. Their help has been a great asset to the clinic. Several people from our team narrowly escaped a head on collision as they headed to the jail today to witness to the inmates. After arriving safely at the jail, the team was allowed in and taken into a dark hallway which was like a dungeon. Then they were locked in. They didn't know they would be locked in with the inmates and this caused some momentary alarm and fear on the part of the team because they had no idea what the people had done to end up in jail and they could be in there with murderers. They were reassured that the hard criminals are taken to the mainland and these people were just brought in over the weekend for petty crimes. The prisoners were very happy to have them show up. There were mostly men there and about 5 women. The cells were dark and some were completely without light so it was impossible to tell how many people were in those cells. The toilet is a hole in the ground. People's families have to bring something for the prisoners to eat or they will not get any food. Curt and Celanie gave their testimonies. Bill preached and Bibles were distributed and every prisoner wanted one. The team prayed with the prisoners and several prayed the prayer of salvation! Adam led the music with his guitar and when they did "La Montana" about moving mountains, everyone in the jail knew the song and they sang so loud that Adam and the guitar could no longer be heard. It made some of the team members cry to hear how much the people sang from their hearts. Another jail visit is planned for Thursday. Late this afternoon we went up to the village in the mountains to hand out bags with hygiene items, beanie babies, candy, Bibles and to share Jesus and invite them to an outreach tomorrow night (Wednesday) here at the Son Rise Inn. We drove two vehicles into la colonia, a pick up was the first vehicle followed by our van with a manual transmission. There's a fork in the road to get up by the school and as you veer to the left you go over a culvert. The road is washed out on the left side by this culvert which drains into a sewage ditch full of wet muck and garbage. I was sitting on the left in the first seat in the back of the van and noticed this part of the road as we took the left to go up the hill. As we headed up the hill, we didn't have enough power to make it and the van started rolling backwards. Then the engine died and we continued to roll back down the hill and veer to the left. If the back driver's side wheel would go into that washed out part of the road, the van would surely tip over into the sewage ditch. I panicked and started shouting "STOP!" I was praying out loud "LORD HELP US!" But we kept on rolling. I cannot describe the sheer horror and terror I felt as we continued to roll backwards toward that rut in the road. It was a sickeningly helpless feeling and my mind was whirling and dazed at the same time. I thought of my two children and that I just couldn't leave them and die crushed in a sewage ditch in Honduras and I prayed harder. All of these thoughts raced through my mind in the seconds that we were rolling backwards -- but it seemed like everything was happening in slow motion. Then I heard Jessica scream from the back seat "STOP! WE'RE GOING TO FALL INTO THE SEWER!" and the van stopped. Everyone in the back started yelling at George who was in the back seat by the door on the right to open the door to let us out because although the van was stopped for the moment, we still didn't know if we were going to start to roll again. George couldn't get it open because of child proof locks which prevented the door from being opened from inside. One of the ladies from the front seat got out and let us out. We couldn't bail out of there fast enough and we walked up the hill instead. As the van tried again to make it up the hill, it spun its tires and sent a shower of dirt toward us which smelled and tasted like manure when it hit my nostrils and mouth. As I was engulfed in that cloud of dirt, I just was so thankful to be alive that I didn't mind the taste of the dust cloud so much. This near accident was quickly forgotten, for the moment, as we split into teams and made our way up the mountain with our interpreters to share a trac about eternal life through Jesus with the people. Darla and I were together and climbed what was basically a washed out goat path to the homes up on the mountain. The people who live there go up and down with ease and the children run and jump on the paths. However, with my knees being bad, I didn't know how I could possibly make it up such a steep incline. But slowly and surely, Darla and I made it up the side of the mountain and distributed our materials. Everyone we invited to the outreach said that they would be there. We got an up-close-and personal look at the homes and all I could think of was that the animals in the US have better homes than these people do. I could not imagine living in these tarpaper shanties on stilts which keep the houses level as half of the house literally hangs off the mountainside. I also noticed that the mountain was "alive" in that you can hear all kinds of sounds on the mountain because there's no privacy. You could hear people talking, children playing, and all kinds of music going. I realized that kind of noise would drive me crazy if it were happening in my neighborhood in Hutchinson. But it sounded fun as I listened to it here in Roatan. Well, what goes up must come down! We had to figure out how to get down the mountain. The interpreter went first and Darla hung onto his shoulders as he guided her down the hill. I was invited to be part of the train too but I was afraid that I would slip and wipe out Darla and Elias and so I stayed back several yards. I kept thinking that I didn't want to be the bowling ball that wipes out two pins ahead of me on the path. At times I didn't know where to step and I'd grab a tree trunk or fence post to hang onto until I was sure I had a sure footing. I turned back to look up the hill and one of the women we'd spoken with was watching us and smiling as we looked completely inept trying to get down the mountain. I smiled and yelled "Gringos locos!" (Crazy Americans) and she laughed. I think she really enjoyed our visit. I still can't believe how people go up and down those mountain paths like goats. They try to carve steps but the rains come and wash the steps out. When we got back from la colonia, we had a wonderful supper and then headed out into the dark to distribute outreach invitations to the people of Shady Bay. Many of them said they would be there. One little boy ran up to us and said "That puppet show was fun!" He had been at VBS today. That was a blessing to hear. We finished off the night with some group worship and sharing time and then we headed to the beach for a moonlight swim off the pier. It was very refreshing. As I looked up at the stars, I realized that they're the same stars, hanging in the same place, at the same time as I see them each evening when I sit out on my patio garden in Hutchinson. What a huge universe and what a huge God we serve. Please pray for our outreach tomorrow night (or tonight by the time you read this). Please pray that people would be saved. A couple of people on our team have decided to get baptized in the ocean, most likely on Thursday or Friday! We are hoping that many will be saved tomorrow night and will consider joining them in baptism. Wednesday night is a very important outreach starting at 8pm CST (7p Roatan time)! Also, please continue to pray for our health and safety! Love, Gabra and Team Roatan 2008