Bob Boerkoel's Article from Honduras

What an experience!  My trip to this summer proved to be a blessing not only to the kids I came into contact with, but also for me.  With a team of fifteen teenagers and two leaders from four different states, and the boundless power of Jesus Christ, God showed each and every one of us how he takes ordinary people to do extraordinary things.

God made his presence known to each and everyone of us as he sent us out with the Holy Spirit.  The first day we were there, God unveiled himself through a strong wind on a calm night that encompassed our team as our leader read the words of Acts 1:8: “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”   Without saying a word, all of us knew that this wind was God’s personal way of telling us: “I have sent the Holy Spirit with you; Give all you have to go and do great things in the Kingdom of Christ for the next two and a half weeks while you are here in .” 

 Entering into a country of severe poverty, renewed my realization that I am very blessed in every way.  Any one of the seventeen of us had brought more belongings than many entire families in live with everyday.  Yet, they were content with their surroundings and thirsty for the Word of God.

 Realizing the great blessings we all have, few of us knew what was in store for us.  None of us thought we would ever come in contact with over 700 kids during our stay; God knew how much we were able to do!  It was such a blessing as God sent us the kids from out of the beautiful mountains, yearning to hear the message of Jesus and the hope He brings them.  God worked out all of the details for us each and everyday; we just had to be ready to do what He called us to do.

 I also was privileged to be able to teach and worship Jesus across the barriers of language that come with going to a Spanish-speaking country.  God showed us that the barriers that we see are never barriers in the power of Jesus Christ.  God proved to us again that we are the vessels through which the Holy Spirit works; we cannot do it without Him.  All of us had shared in a fear of being able to effectively communicate with the children given our limitations with speaking Spanish.  God pushed us way beyond that fear as he sent us out to work with children who were deaf and had downs syndrome.  These children communicated with sign language, which no one in our team knew.  Yet God still used us, and through the help of signers at the school, God delivered the message of Jesus through us as we delivered it in Spanish and the signers translated into the children’s language.

 Throughout the trip, I saw the face of God through all of the children we came in contact with, questioning who reaped more blessings from the trip: myself or the children.  As I would have loved to have stayed longer, I knew that God had work for each team member to do at our lives back in the States.  Just because our trip had come to an end in , the work of bringing Christ to the world does not; we all must continue sharing our faith wherever we are!