Sunday - a day of worship and rest

Sunday, March 1, 2009
by Linda Meadors

We got to sleep in until 5:45 for the cooks, and a little later for the rest of us. Walter cooked a wonderful breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and fruit, our first time cooking in the morning. Then we dressed in our Sunday best and were off in our trucks, after pumping up a slightly flat tire.

Shortly after beginning our journey on the "rocky road", Kenny's vehicle beeped the one in front of his to a stop, after noticing that the tire was decidedly flatter. We disembarked and the men began their work of replacing the flat tire. We had the blessing of a slightly cloudy day, early morning temperatures in the 80's, water for everyone, and a spare tire. As we patiently waited, some walked off to speak to children living nearby, some looked for huge flat rocks to use as a jack for the truck, and others moved from shady spot to shady spot, took pictures, and ducked to the side of our vehicles to avoid the dust when other huge trucks went bumping by. All were praying. We were entertained by passing cattle, bicycles, ponies, and men traveling standing in the backs of trucks.

Finally we were on our way, thankful for the spare and our heroic tire changers. We arrived a little late to find the church service already in progress, complete with a balloon bouncing 2 year old and lots of singing and clapping. The Americanos were welcomed and the congregation sang "How Great Thou Art", bringing tears to our eyes as we tried to match our words to the familiar melody, and succeeded in joining our Christian souls together as one congregation, praising our Lord and Savior. Several members sang and the minister thanked us for our generosity, not only with the medicines, but also with our spiritual leading.

The minister gave his sermon using Acts and Luke, and emphasizing our need to come together in fellowship, sharing all that we have with each other. When his sermon ended, more were invited to sing and our team went to the front of the church and sang "Amazing Grace" a cappella with no practice and with many unsure of their singing ability. But our "joyful noise", blessed by the hand of God, was sweetly received by the congregation. Kenny sang "Here I Am to Worship" in Spanish and all of us were touched.

Several members of the church then stood and gave their testimonies, and graciously thanked us as we were told of 34 salvations during our 3 days of work. We were especially struck by one woman's sharing that it is because of us, and teams like ours, those who have come before, that she first heard of Jesus Christ, and is now a Christian. She said that she was not alone in that, and that because of what they have seen NC Baptists do in her community, their church has felt called to also plant churches among their people and to spread the Gospel. Through the grace of God, we are in this effort together--Christians worldwide doing their small part to share Jesus as the Saviour.

All too soon our time with these lovely Honduran people was finished. We were once again moved to tears as we said our goodbyes, hugging children, kissing ladies, shaking hands, taking pictures, trying to absorb the love and kindness of these fellow Christians for our memories as we waved a final goodbye.

We bounced off down the road and videotaped this last trip on the "rocky road" for our fellow mission travelers back home. God is good and we thank Him and each of you for your part in this ministry. Buenos Noches. Good night sweet friends.