Nana's First Trip to Honduras

These past two weeks, my Nana finally came to Honduras for the first time. My family and I have been involved in Honduras for the last 5 years, so for her to finally see what we're so passionate about was amazing.

The best thing about this is that Nana gets to see our lives here, but also that the boys here at the school could meet her and see a really important person in our lives. We've had an amazing two weeks with her, and we're sad to see her go on Monday!

We love you, Nana!

Don't Let Them Think Less of Us

I was reading my Bible and quickly read over 1 Timothy 4:12. I continued to read verses 13 and 14 before what I read hit me. I stopped reading and went back to read the verse again. Here's what it said:

"Don't let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith, and your purity."

What a coincidence that I would run across this verse mere days after turning 18! Except for the fact that I don't believe in coincidences (Oh wow, how cliche!)

I am confident that God had me read that verse today to remind me of something. To remind me that my life doesn't start when I can vote. My life didn't start when I got my driver's license. My life won't start when I'm out of college.

My life is happening right now.

Just because I'm young doesn't mean I can't make a difference. I'm supposed to be an example to all believers, living the life Jesus taught me to live. I'm supposed to be pure, I'm supposed to love others, I'm supposed to show great faith.

Your teenage years aren't a time for you to do a bunch of stupid things so you can be a "good" adult later. This is a stereotype that has been made about teenagers in this generation. Destroy that stereotype! Your teenage years are some of the greatest years of your life. You could use your able-bodied years to make a difference, to impact the world and culture you live in.

I squandered some of my early teenage years thinking and caring about things that didn't matter. I'm determined not to waste my life thinking I'm too young to make an impression on this world.

Don't let them think less of us because we're young.

One World, One Culture (Why I Chose to Work with Teen Guys in Honduras)

I want to tell you why I decided to work with teen guys in Honduras. It's not what you might think. It's not because I get along with them better, or because they're easier, or anything like that. It's because they have the most need. Many teenage boys in Honduras desperately need a change in lifestyle, to one that is God and people-honoring.

Let me tell you about the village across the lake from my home. It's called El Carbon, and it is filled almost entirely of only women and children. For the most part, the only men in the village are too old or too young to work. Why is that? Why do we find villages unable to provide for themselves because half of the workforce is gone?

Let me tell you.

Almost every man that has at one time lived in that village, left because it was inconvenient for them. They started a family, and it was too much work to take care of them. So they leave their wives, sometimes still pregnant, and children to fend for themselves. In a country where it is already hard to feed a family, imagine how hard it is when half the working population of a family is gone. Those men usually leave and start other families within the country, or illegally attempt to go to the United States.

All of this happens because we, as a world culture, have made it okay to devalue the family as a unit. I prefer not to implicate specific countries or cultures, especially because most of the world has contributed or allowed this change to happen. However, I can guarantee we have all seen it. We have listened to that song, seen that movie, watched that TV show, etc. We've seen our global culture make it acceptable to treat women as objects and not people, we have made it acceptable to treat children as curses for our mistakes, we have taken God's design for our culture and have continued to tarnish it.

Countries all over the world have taken what we see on the TV and hear in our music and have applied it to their own lives. Throughout the first and third world, families and entire cultures our disintegrating because of our general self-interest. Culture has taught us that it's okay to do what's best for us and not consider anyone else. This is having a disastrous impact on the world we live in today! Not only that, it is completely contrary to what God's Word tells us.

Romans 12:2 says, "Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect".

That is why I am called to teenage boys in Honduras. I'm doing my best through God to bring about a change in this culture. Not to make it more like my own, but to bring our whole world closer to Christ. God wants us to live in HIS culture. A culture where we respect the institution of marriage, love our brothers and sisters in Christ like He loved us, and in all things, honor Him.

I pray everyday that God's work throughout the whole world will open hearts and minds.

And I think you should too.

What work is God calling you to?