Woods Honduras Trip

We are still all mentally unpacking, remembering, and sorting all that we saw God do in the last 10 days. Each of us were to write a little blurb of what this trip was for us. Below are the responses.

As you read, PLEASE know that YOU, as a prayer warrior and supporter, played a MAJOR part in our experience. We experienced God’s profound presence, provision, and power. He answered prayer and is still moving, both in our hearts and in the Hondurans. Please don’t stop praying for them. God is moving there and we expect major change to occur in Honduras as He continues to call people to Himself and display His power in them. He is rising up leaders who will change their country, who will change the world. Keep praying!

Here are some of the testimonies:

“If I were to describe the trip in one word, that would would be ‘powerful’. Although we o not speak the same language, it was very humbling to sit back and watch the Lord show His power. He did this by breaking through the language barrier and achieving His purpose. The Lord touched the hearts of many people here in Honduras and that has taught me that we should never underestimate the POWER of our God!” 
- Rebecca

“In all truth, I was not excited to come on this trip as the departure date neared. But now I know I was placed in Cofradia for a purpose. God has softened my heart through empathy for the girls in my cabin (my FIRST cabin EVER!) and has walked with me through the refining process in these ten days. Because of the camp in HOnduras, I now have an infinitely higher standard of hospitality and Christ-centered service. Prayer has become my first instinct in both times of thanksgiving and times of turmoil. I am changed because of the Jesus that dwells in the hearts of these passionate Honduran disciples.” 
- Lauree

“Before I left or Honduras, my mentor told me, “Your faith cannot be trusted if it’s not tested.” I had no idea what that was going to look like on this trip, but I knew that I would learn in time. And I did. As my eyes were opened to the spiritual warfare here in Honduras, I saw that my faith was so weak in this area. In a matter of hours, I saw the Lord increase my faith and equip me with HIs armor. My life was changed as the Lord used this to increase my faith.” 
- Claire

“This trip has been such an encouragement to me. I have been so blessed; from the time they picked us up at the airport to the time we said goodbye. We have seen the Lord open the heavens and pour out his Spirit on the camp staff and campers. We have seen salvation and watched God heal hearts. The Lord gave strength to these teenagers and as they go home they will stand in the power of the Lord and preach the Gospel of Jesus to their families. God is good! I would not have liked to spent my break anywhere else.” 
- Katie

“To summarize the trip, I think of the picture we saw in the weather in Honduras. When the plane was landing, we saw rain streaming across the windows. Rain, being a sweet reminder of God’s work in last year’s trip, brought excitement to our group. For the majority of first session, we saw clouds in the sky and it rained a lot. It was also quite cold, especially at night. Like ‘liquid sunshine’ normally does, the conditions inspired some brainstorming and adjusting the schedule. However, God so graciously provided sun in the times we were to do activities outside. And He was oh so timely in this. Over the weekend, the sun shone in the sky. It was a sweet blessing to our team as we spent the day on the beach. At one point, Elizabeth said “If it weren’t for the clouds, we wouldn’t appreciate the sun so much today.” It’s true. Our eyes were waiting to see the sun. When it came, we saw God’s gift in it. Even more, we saw His gift of the clouds. 
Twice daily our team would gather to recount and record God’s faithfulness. Our eyes were looking for it and we joined to praise Him for it. The search drew us into expectant prayer. We saw God do great things for the glory of His name. We saw HIs faithfulness and His tender love that spoke of His presence in sweet pictures. 
When we pray, seek, look for God’s hand, we incline ourselves to see HIs work. And in it we see the greatness of our God. Let us not forget. Let us pray with expectation. Let us look for God’s faithfulness and provision of new mercies every day.” 
- a girl who forgot to put her name on her paper

“On this trip, the theme of new creation kept popping up. As it turns out, it was a completely appropriate theme for my trip (God is so good like that). Not only did He turn some of Honduran kids, who came from broken, helpless situations, into new, joyful, who creations; but He also made me a new creation. He took my complacency, my doubt, and my insecurity and covered it in passion, truth, and steadfast love. He has made sure that both Honduras and I will never be the same — we have been made new.” 
- Taylor

“I guess to describe this trip in two words I would say “God’s love”. God spent the duration of this two-week span showing me the multitude of ways that He reveals His love to us, whether it’s through nature, a person, or He just straight up grabs your heart. I’ve learned that you can’t put God’s love in a box, but rather to let myself be an outlet of that love, even when words are not enough.” 
- Josh

“Being that this was my second year here, there was more that was familiar, but there was also so much newness. I am forever changed by seeing the people of Honduras because of their passionate devotion to our common Lord and their desire to see lives changed. We saw salvation of kids’ lives and walls of darkness broken. Our God and Father gives good gifts to His children and when we asked, He gave. Again. His perfect plan was executed and our lives have been transformed while on mission in the name of Jesus Christ. It is not Pine Cove, nor CCI, or HOnduras, or anything else. It is just God working in and through the redeemed race of men. I take away from these people the boldness that is often lacking in my own life to share the Gospel. There is such expectation among them, and when He saves, the people rejoice. Again, I say they rejoice.” 
- Jeff

“I’ve seen the sovereignty of the Lord over the nations. LIke a hidden treasure that has been found or a seed planted in good soil, the Kingdom of Jesus is alive in Honduras. Foremost in my mind is the image of two young men standing before their peers, declaring their belief in the Messiah who loves them. Then, their peers following their lead and joining them.” 
- Jesse

“This trip I was able to see God’s heart for HIs children. And that amongst a different culture the love of God exists and changes broken and hurting hearts. I saw God’s Word come to life, worshipped in two languages, watched life transformation, and pondered the question, “Do we really know the pain of brokenness, and do we experience complete heart healing that the Lord brings?” 
- Chance

“I will be changed by this tirp because of my second cabin. To see a group of 16-18 year olds go from being ‘too cool’ for Christ to being completely broken and crying at the realization of His love is amazing! Life in Honduras is hard, but God is stronger!”
- Jared   

We are safely, happily, and cozy at home in Tyler! Our luggage was on the later flight, so after a delicious dinner we went back to the airport, got our luggage, and headed back to Tyler. We are here and SO thankful to our God who protects, provides, and is ABUNDANT in love.

Check back in the coming days for some more stories and sweet debriefing reflections. They are rich with God’s faithfulness and fingerprints!

THANK YOU for traveling with us and praying… KNOW that your prayers were and are powerful and effective.

All glory to God!

More soon,
.elizabeth.

We made it!! Home sweet home!! We’re in DFW and could not be more thankful!! They held the plane for us for 20 minutes in Houston as we were running through the airport, praising the Lord for His kind graciousness the whole time! We have no luggage yet, but we’re waiting to see if its on the next flight from Houston. The fact that we’re in DFW is a blessing!! Glory to God!! More soon

Did I mention we’re eating FRESH veggies at Jason’s Deli?! Eeee!!!! Happy happy!!

Friends and family, we’re back in Cofradia! We have such fun stories of today, which will come soon.

Kristen and Claire have done such an excellent job keeping the blog, so I apologize for the shortness of this… For I’m only an amateur blogger Having the sweet joy of being the trip momma has made me conscious of wanting to know whereabouts of everyone all the time. So, I just wanted to give all you mommas and poppas the updated flight information for tomorrow.

On the way home:
Continental 1488 departing from San Pedro Sula departing at 12:52pm, arriving in Houston at 3:48pm (on Jan 12th)

Continental 4896 departing from Houston at 5:30pm and arriving at DFW at 6:40pm (on Jan 12th)

Please pray for sweet debrief time for us as we remember and unpack all the things we saw God do, as well as for safe and smooth travels for us tomorrow. Please pray for the Hondurans as well — God is using the church here in MIGHTY ways. To Him be the glory!

Thank you for praying for us and with us. We are VERY excited to share with you all the things we’ve experienced!

because of Jesus alone,
elizabeth, aka trip mom

We fervently desire your prayers. The Lord is preparing mighty things for His children today and we are fighting against the (fruitless) efforts of the enemy to stop Him.Today is a big day as campers once again learn what it means to walk with the Lord and build relationships with their counselors, ending tonight with testimonies from Chance and Claire and the “heart-check” walk where campers identify the condition of their hearts. These young men and women need the healing power and restoration of the Lord and we know that Satan does not want that to happen. We and the Hondurans have experienced evidence of spiritual warfare, and though we are having sweet times of constant prayer, we greatly desire your prayers as well. We are confidently waiting FOR the Lord (not impatiently waiting ON Him) knowing that His mercy is upon us just as we hope in Him, and that He will complete the good work He has started. One of our Honduran friends noticed clear skies only over the campsite while the surrounding areas were covered in stormy clouds, which he claimed as a sign of the Lord’s Spirit over us. We are grateful to be here to witness His mighty power and proclaim it to all of you for His great glory.

In expectation of wondrous things from the Lord, we have been having a blast sharing the Pine Cove ways with the campers. We can hear them chanting “OK!” over and over with us and they certainly find our dances entertaining, thanks to the leadership of Dr. Shakel. This morning began with a beautiful moment of meditation with the Lord surrounded by His beautiful creation (especially now that the sun is here to stay!). We cooked our own breakfasts over a campfire (eggs in a basket) and enjoyed a relaxing morning hanging out together, dancing and playing games. Our general health has greatly improved (praise Him!) but please continue to pray that our Healer keeps His hand over us. Pray for boldness and confidence in the Honduran counselors to share the gospel with their campers and for us to humbly coach and lead our co-counselors in the boldness of Christ as well for the sake of leading souls to Jesus. We have been so blessed by them in welcoming us into their culture as we live out a glimpse of the day when all nations will come together to worship our Lord.

We have most of tomorrow left with these campers, once again providing encouragement and advice (or high-fives and hand-holding as we like to call it) with the Honduran camping team. We plan to spend the night in Cofradía again with our host families from the church (who have blessed our socks off!) and then Thursday we fly home. Though the end is in sight, with mixed feelings, pray that we would be strengthened to do the work before us here with excellence and rebuke the lies of Satan that tempt us to feel unqualified and insufficient. We truly rest in God’s grace which makes us acceptable before Him and know that we can rejoice to live not in the weakness of our flesh but the power of Christ’s righteousness! Amen and Amen. Pray for us dear family and friends, and take notice of the ways the Lord is being faithful to you even now so we can rejoice all together once we are home with you again.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

We are back at el campamento enjoying our second session of camp with our 16-18 year old students. It is a drastically different atmosphere here as the sunshine has stayed with us (hallelujah!). We have been encouraged to see the Honduran team already implement changes we had suggested after last week’s camp session, and are excited for and expectant of the Lord to do a NEW work here this week.

Last night we had some great fellowship not only with the Honduran team but also with ourselves. It was a beautiful time to share together and learn how to encourage each other better as we discovered more about how God made each of us. It is truly evident that the Lord has called the right team together even though the dynamics may seem different than most would expect (for example, more introverts than extroverts!).

We are continually surprised by the attitude of the campers here, who quickly choose to be vulnerable with their counselors and each other and willing to allow us into their lives to share the healing and redemptive power of Jesus. Pray for Katie and these campers as she shares how to live lives of purity – physically, emotionally and spiritually – and reminds them that Jesus is the one who truly makes us pure before Him. Tomorrow night Chance and Claire will have the opportunity to share with the campers, so pray for them as well as they prepare.

Though we enjoyed our weekend, many of us have been hit hard health-wise. Pray for bodies to heal from sick tummies to bashed toes to bug bites. Already we have seen the Lord’s faithfulness in many ways and ask that He would continue to prove Himself faithful in this way as well.

We are excited to once again have another camp session to minister to both these kids and the counselors. We are so grateful for your prayers!

(pictures to follow!)

Enjoy some pictures of our weekend adventures!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Today the entire staff was able to have a wonderful day of rest with our lovely host families. After an emotional goodbye with the campers yesterday, we were able to close down camp and prepare to come into town (Cofradia). It was amazing and incredibly humbling to see the Lord work in these campers lives in drastic ways. Life is not easy for the children of Honduras; thus, it was heartbreaking to hear these stories of pain and suffering and, in a few short days, wave the campers back into the community. Many times we, as a Pine Cove group, have sat around discussing that the only thing that we can do to help them is to pray – yet, as Elizabeth has said often, prayer is the MOST we can do for them. Inevitably, it is through the prayers of others on our behalf individually, that we are who we are today. Laying their problems and names at the feet of Jesus is undoubtedly the best and most effective gift we can bestow.
Our adventures began today with a trip to a Military Fortresses in Omoa, Cortes – the largest fortress in Central America. It was incredibly interesting to hear some of the cultural history of Honduras – plus we were able to get some legit pictures of the BEAUTIFUL mountains that surround a majority of San Pedro Sula, Cofradia and Omoa. Afterwards, we spent a blissful afternoon on the beaches of Omoa where we were surrounded by a gorgeous sky and ideallic weather – definitely a blessing from the Lord considering rain has been constant. After having a delicious, traditional Hispanic lunch on the beach, we came back into town and were able to do souvenir shopping – get ready for some fun gifts, family!
Tonight we will head over to the church (it is the same church that is providing host homes for us) and worship together with the Hondurans. Aftewards, we return to our homes and hopefully get a restful night´s sleep. In the morning, we will return to church for Sunday School and arrive back at the camp around 2:30 for the next group of campers (ages 16-18).
Pray that the Lord will give us rest, as some of us are feeling under the weather; Katie is feeling better though – praise the Lord! Furthermore, be in constant prayer for the teenagers that are arriving at camp tomorrow and specifically for their hearts to be open to the gospel. Regardless of being in the United States or in Honduras, this age group is definitely a challenge – but one that we are excited to take on! Pray that we may be able to communicate with the campers and that the Lord would give us humble, pacient, and loving hearts! We will post pictures tomorrow from our past adventures!!

(Here’s our blog post from Thursday!)

Well, the rain is still pouring here in Honduras. However we can see God’s faithfulness through the patches of sunlight that peak through the heavy clouds in the most opportune moments. Wednesday night we were able to teach the kiddos here in Honduras a few classic Pine Cove dances, such as Soldiers, Scat-Man Dance, and some Lecrae. Even though the Hondurans had no idea what the words meant, they were so thrilled and eager to learn! Afterwards, they put on a hilarious skit – even though we had absolutely no idea what they were saying – and it was shortly followed by a Pine Cove style Club (worship) in English and Español. However, the most incredible moment for most of us thus far was when we were able to worship God together (a juntos), while singing in both languages. It was a great testament to God’s sovereignty and power through His international church. Elizabeth gave the Club talk, and we have already seen and heard of stories of kids who have made decisions to follow Christ and change their behaviors.

Today has been jammed packed with awesome Pine Cove-ish activities, and we have been able to see the entire camp coming together to form a wonderful community in Christ. The Hondurans have made a strong emphasis on family and the importance of maintaining a community, such as their analogy of the lifestyle of ants. They encouraged the kids to have the same compassion and willingness to serve others as Christ commands. We enjoyed cooking our own lunch, a delicious combination of meat and vegetables cooked over coals (with the staple of Honduras “chili,” corn tortillas and water in little plastic baggies. Imagine buying a fish from the pet store, except there are no fish in these bags!). Afterwards we spent the afternoon playing a rotation of very muddy games designed to encourage the teamwork discussed earlier.

Tonight was a big night for the campers as we took them on a “heart-check trail,” asking them to reflect on the condition of their hearts. Afterwards we all met up and Jesse and Taylor shared their testimonies and presented the gospel again. It was a powerful evening seeing hearts softened as many children came to the Lord. Their joy was evident as we ended the night with songs and dance.

Please pray for these campers to continue receiving the truth as we have already witnessed the breaking down of barriers and their acceptance and attention to the gospel. As the campers return home tomorrow afternoon, pray for their family situations and that they would have a Christian community to encourage them. Many children come from broken homes and living conditions that we cannot even imagine and need the healing balm of Jesus and the hope He brings. Though the appearance of the sun has resulted in outbursts of joy from everyone, it still continues to rain and the ground is still very muddy. Pray for safe travels on the road for campers leaving and arriving. We remain in good spirits and health (though please pray for Katie to get over her cold!) as we have been encouraged by the Lord’s work here and our interaction with campers. Pray for strength and energy as sleep is limited and many of us are exhausted from our efforts to communicate. Pray for the Holy Spirit to continue to work mightily through the Honduran counselors; we have been blown away by their servant hearts and enthusiastic leadership. But next year, we’re definitely bringing rainboots.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.