Last day of 2015 mission trip

We will be flying out tomorrow morning very early.  One of our team members had to fly home yesterday and the plane to Atlanta was diverted because of some severe weather in Atlanta. They landed in Mobile but they couldn't leave the plane because it wasn't an international airport. Everyone must go through customs.  He finally made it home around midnight last night.  When we arrive at Atlanta tomorrow, we have to run to catch the next plane to Birmingham because the two flights are back to back. If our flight is running late landing in Atlanta, we will miss our flight and will have to take a much later flight.  Please pray we will be on time and will catch our connecting flight.

I feel much better today. I have been sick several times down here. I decided to eat pop tarts for lunch instead of going to the restaurant here at the hotel. Didn't get sick - finally.

Our totals for this trip are:
Total patients - 302
Total prescription glasses - 88
Saved - 45 +/-

Last year we gave out 42% prescription glasses to the total number of patients.  This year we gave out 29% prescription glasses to the total number of patients.  I think we saw more young people this year than last year and that changed the percentage of prescription glasses. Most importantly, we saw approximately 45 get saved this year compared to only 15 last year. Last year we were here for 2 weeks compared to 1 week this year. One more for Jesus!

This has been another awesome year with another awesome team.  I just thank God that He sent me here again.  I love Honduras and I really don't want to leave. We spent the morning working at the bodega and then going to Leonard Jones to organize the inventory trailer for next year.  We had the chance to see the kids one more time.  They were excited to see us and we were sad to leave them.  I am praying that God does send me down again next year to serve Him and the precious people here in Honduras.
Es una cosa de Dios!  It's a God Thing!

2nd week - clinic at Nicaragua

Tuesday (6/9) clinic 2015 at Nicaragua which is a part of Jutiapa (this is a remote village in Honduras)

On Tuesday we went to a small village again.  We ministered to 64 people and gave out 27 prescription glasses.  Jeff said a couple of young ladies said they did not want to accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior at this time.  They need to be prayed for.  He said a total of 8-10 people were saved. One more for Jesus!   The weather has changed since we have been here. It hasn’t rained as much and the weather has been warmer.  We have actually seen some sunshine today.

We saw a lot more cataracts today than usual.  Some patient’s visual acuity was very difficult to read with the autorefractor but we were able to get glasses for all of them.  We had some teenagers who live in La Ceiba that came with us and worked with us today.  They did an amazing job in each of the stations they worked in and it was a joy to have them on the team.

This will be our last day of clinics.  Tomorrow we will work in the bodega to get everything organized for next year. Thursday we will fly home.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for our team (our prayer warriors/rope holders).  We felt you lifting us up through this whole mission trip. I want to say a special thank you to those who prayed for me today.  I have been sick for the last few days and I got really sick last night.  I am praying it isn’t a parasite like I got 2 years ago.  I am feeling somewhat better now and was able to work all day today.  I felt that I had so much coming at me this week.  God has brought me through so much and I praise Him every day for how He has lifted me up and carried me through and made me stronger. One thing I regret is I didn't give out more hugs.

I can’t wait to see what next year will bring and how God will choose to use us again.

Es una cosa de Dios!  It’s a God thing!

Josh is one of the teenagers from La Ceiba who worked with us. He

did great in the autorefractor station

Bucket with his new sunglasses.  He really thinks he is cool!

Evangelism station

Evangelism station - praying with a sweet lady

 

Emilie and Barbara at the far vision station

2 of the teenagers working at the autorefractor

 

2nd week of clinics - Monday at La Bomba

 

Monday (6/8) clinic 2015 at La Bomba

On Monday we went to another remote town called La Bomba. We saw a total of 66 patients and gave out a total of 23 prescription glasses.  Jeff said that a total of 4-5 people were saved.  Gloria ministered to 4 people who were of another faith who don’t believe Jesus is the only way to salvation.  She said she knew what their beliefs were and she knew how to witness to them because she came from the same religious background.  Because she could communicate with them, it made all the difference in the world with her sharing the Word of God which led them to salvation in Jesus Christ. One more for Jesus!

Not only were we able to show the love of God to others, but we grew as a team. Team members stepped out of their comfort zones and learned an unfamiliar job. This allows us to minister to these people the way we should. Bucket had been to La Bomba with some other team members last February to check out places we could visit this year.  He had an amazing time of worship with the people here.

We had a patient to come in who had hearing impairment and could not speak.  When she went through each station, she was able to sign her numbers as she was being tested so that the team members could understand her.  Her distance vision was good and Mary was able to help her with near vision readers.  Awesome opportunity!

Es una cosa de Dios!  It’s a God thing!

 

2 little girls that kept watching us as we worked in the clinic

I just had to share my snacks.

Far vision testing

Evelyn with her 2 new twins

Some of our sweet patients who came

Mary with the near vision station

This home was close to our clinic

 

3rd Day of Clinics 2015 - El Diamante

We had another awesome day of clinics in a church at El Diamante.  Quite a few really sweet people came to our clinic.  We saw a total of 48 patients and gave out only 10 prescription glasses. Jeff and Kristi said there were approximately 15 saved today!  One more for Jesus!   We have discovered in previous years that some areas have much worse vision problems than other areas do.  We think some issues may be from people who work outside most of the time and they don't have sunglasses to wear to protect their eyes.  Fortunately very few people needed glasses today.

Tomorrow we will have an off day to rest and visit some local areas and then Sunday we will be visiting one of the local churches for worship. Monday and Tuesday we will have clinics again in different locations and Wednesday will be a work day to get everything packed up at the bodega before we return home on Thursday.  The weather hasn't really been a problem this week so that is great.  Thank you so much to all our prayer warrior/rope holders who have prayed for our team.  I will post again either on Sunday or Monday.

Es una cosa de Dios! It's a God thing!

Some of the kids from Casa Cielo Children's Home working with us.

Near vision station in the eye clinic.

Evangelism station

Triage station with Rick.

Bucket, our team leader

2nd Day of Clinics - El Cacao

We have had another great day of clinics at El Cacao.  We saw more people today than yesterday. I guess the word got out that we were coming back today which is exciting.  We saw a total of 67 patients all total in our eye clinic. We gave out quite a number of readers and 18 prescription glasses.  We got so many loving hugs today from people after they received their glasses.  Jeff and Kristi said that around 4 or 5 got saved today in evangelism station. Most of the people who came through were local pastors in this area and the people from their churches.

The young girl who came yesterday with her younger siblings she is caring for came back today.  Bucket took her to have her eyes checked and gave her some sunglasses.  She stayed and helped pack some things up.  We gave her some snacks to take back with her.  I will check with Leonard to find out how she is doing at a later time.  Bucket got really excited when he had to drive some place to pick up some supplies.  He saw some people walking down the road with the sunglasses we gave them yesterday and one man was wearing the prescription glasses that we gave him.  I know what we are doing is very minimal in importance in comparison to everything else in their lives - little or no food, no clean water, and  entire families living in very small houses - if they have any place at all to live.  Poverty here is so different from back home. At least back in the U.S., government assistance is available.  These people here have absolutely nothing.  Many do not work because there aren't very many, if any, jobs available especially in very remote locations. Growing their own food, if they can, is their only resource. It is so sad to see where some of them live. One small house that is the size of one of our bedrooms will house an entire family.  It is made of mud, or wood or sometimes cinder blocks if they are lucky. Transportation for most of them is walking or riding a bike.  Most don't have money to see a doctor much less go to a hospital.  So many of them die of hunger every day especially in the more remote areas and in the mountains.  If we see a child with light to blonde hair, they are severely malnourished and protein deficient.  We are so blessed with what we have and so many times we don't remember to thank God for all of our abundance. Sometimes the smallest and cheapest thing we have is rich in comparison to what these people have. Thank you God for where I live, my job and all you have blessed me with. I don't deserve it any more than these people deserve to be so unbelievably poor.  I know you have a perfect plan in all of this.  I need to be a willing servant in everything.  Es una cosa de Dios!

Triage station

 

Autorefractor station

Evangelism station

Bucket thinks he knows how to use the autorefractor!

1st Day of Clinics - 2015 at El Cacao

We had our clinic today at an outside church in El Cacao.  We had a great day.  We did get there by driving through the creek but I am praising God that the creek was very low and Leonard Jones got the trailer across the creek with no problem. It has rained some here but not that much.

We had a total of 57 people come to our clinic today and we gave prescription glasses to 10 patients.  Some of Leonard Jones' children from his children's home helped us in the clinic today.  They had a great time working with us and we loved working with them.  Leonard and Marie have done an amazing job in raising these kids. Marlon, one of Leonard's children, helped the pastor on our team by leading the team in praying at the beginning of the day. Some of our team members were first timers this year. They had never worked in the eye care field and had not been trained in working any of the stations. We worked with them in training what they needed to do once we got everything set up. After that, everything went unbelievably smooth. Emilie worked in triage, Pat and Mary in near vision, Rick in far vision, Laura took care of paperwork at the beginning and Jeff and Kristi took care of evangelism.  Barbara, me and Guf were in the autorefractor station and Ken did a lot of repairing things with the trailer.  Jeff and Kristi said that around 10 - 12 got saved today. One more for Jesus.

Bucket shared with us last night during devotion about an incident that happened last year when we were down here.  He was walking down the street with a couple of team members. A young lady walked up to him and told him she has some lemons to sell.  Bucket told her that he didn't want any lemons.  Later he felt the Lord had laid it on his heart that he should have bought some lemons and then talked with the girl about the Lord.  He knew he missed a divine appointment that the Lord sent his way.  He began looking for her and couldn't find her anywhere.  He told the team about the lemon girl story and how he totally blew it by ignoring the opportunity. He encouraged us to never miss a "lemon girl" opportunity that God is sending our way.  Sometimes it may be something that is right under our noses that we aren't paying attention to.  We must be aware of those moments and not let them pass us by.  I had one of those opportunities today. A young girl was standing on the other side of a wire fence behind our station. She had two small children with her.  She continued to stand there for a long time but I was so busy, I didn't really pay any real attention to her for a while.  I finally asked about her and if the two children were her kids. I was told that they were her baby sister and brother. Her mom was an alcoholic and was not in her kids' lives. This oldest sibling was having to care and raise the younger ones.  Leonard had brought the team some sandwiches and there were plenty left. I took some over to her for her and the children to eat. I talked with Bucket about it and then he went to them and took some more sandwiches to her. That opportunity almost passed me by because I let everything else keep me focused in other directions. We must always remember to pay attention to those chances that God brings across our path - those divine appointments/lemon girl opportunities to serve Him by serving others. That can happen in Honduras or on the streets or in Walmart or wherever back in Alabama or anywhere you live. Let's make a commitment to watch for those opportunities and follow God's direction.

Es una cosa de Dios!  It's a God thing!

Barbara with the autorefractor and Nana helping

Brent is doing the post test station

 

Missions 2015 - Testimony from Leonard Jones

The It’s A God Thing Team had an amazing worship time with Leonard Jones on Saturday (4/25/15) at Livingston Chapel United Methodist. Leonard and his wife Marie care for 18 children at their Casa Cielo Children’s Home in Honduras.  Leonard shared his testimony with us about where God brought him from and where God has him now.

He began his testimony telling about his very difficult home life as a child growing up. He left home as a teenager and later joined the Marines.  He was so angry with his past, he had difficulty dealing with military life and was on the verge of being dishonorably discharged. The day before the court martial, he was walking through town and a man came up to him and said “Go to hell”. He was shocked and approached the man. He yelled “Go to hell” again and then he explained that if Leonard didn’t know Jesus as his Lord and Savior, he was doomed to go to hell someday. The man began to share the plan of salvation with Leonard and gave him a plan of salvation track to take back with him. Leonard prayed to receive Jesus as his Lord and Savior.  During the court martial, it was decided to give him one more chance.  Leonard went back to his platoon and was a completely changed person.  He began to share the love of Jesus with the others in his platoon.  When he got out, he returned to Texas and eventually married Marie.

He felt at some point that the Lord was calling him and Marie into full time ministry.  He told Marie that God was telling him to give away everything they owned (their 5 bedroom home, cars - absolutely everything) and move to Honduras and start an orphanage.  They did eventually do this and now they have 18 amazing children in their home. They don’t consider it an orphanage.  They feel that these children are their own children and love them just as much as their own three children.

This testimony touched me in so many ways.  To see someone who came from such a very hard home life as a child, rebellious as a teenager and young adult, to becoming a full time missionary for God in Honduras by giving away everything and taking these children into his home and caring and nurturing them is really hard to grasp.  We think we are giving to the Lord with our tithes and offerings, teaching Sunday School and going on short-term mission trips. Don’t get me wrong - when God calls us to do these things, we should do them with a thankful heart for all He has done for us and thank Him for giving us these ministries.  But how hard would it be for me to give away my house, savings, cars and absolutely everything I have to serve Him full time? This takes an incredible amount of trust in God and faith that He will take care of me. Jesus gave up His life for me so I can’t hold anything back.

I would like to ask for prayer for Leonard and Marie Jones as they care for these children. They have a challenging but wonderful mission field with these kids.  They need prayer for direction as they raise them up in the Lord, provide for them physically (food, clothes and health care) and also seeing to their education.  Can we be prayer warriors/rope holders (Paul when he was at Damascus) for this family?  Let’s commit to being a daily prayer warrior for this ministry.  If you would like more information on this ministry and also how you might be able to help support them financially, please go to http://www.casaderoc.org/www.casaderoc.org/Home.html  - Roc Ministry: Giving faith, hope and love to every child.

Mission Team 2015

It’s A God Thing Team 2015

June 2 – June 11

“It’s A God Thing” team travels to Honduras each year under the direction of the Holy Spirit. Larry “Bucket” Guthrie is our team leader.  Our team has one primary goal: to spread the Word of God to the uttermost parts of the world.

Our team this year is made up of an eye team, construction team and most importantly, an evangelism team. This year we will travel to a number of different locations to conduct eye clinics as well as evangelism. We will also travel to Casa Ciela Orphanage and work with Leonard and Marie Jones to conduct eye clinics there. 

Our construction team will be working on some projects at the Shalom Girls’ Dorm.

Below is the list of this year’s team:

Larry “Bucket” Guthrie  (team leader)

Barbara Foshee

Bill Coons

Jim Sims

Emilie Sims

Ken Peeples

Lynn Giedinghagen

Perry Dial

Jeff Wiggins

Kristi Wiggins

Pat Anderson

Laura Faull

April Burgess

Hugh Guffey

Mary Guffey

For our prayer warriors:

Matthew 28:19-20

Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

We are asking urgent and daily prayer for the following from our amazing prayer warrior/rope holders:

• Pray that the eye team will be able to correct the vision of everyone who comes to the clinic with a vision problem and will be able to dispense eyeglasses to correct their near and/or far vision as close as possible.
• Pray that the construction team will be able to minister to those they will work with at Shalom Girl’s Dorm.
• Pray that the evangelism team will be able to share the love of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to everyone who comes to the clinics and that many will get saved.
• Pray that those patients who don’t get saved will remember what was shared with them about how Jesus died on the cross for them and that they will, at a later time, ask Him into their hearts as their Lord and Savior.
• Pray that those who get saved will then go out and share the love of Jesus with others in their family and community and that many others will get saved.
• Pray for the safety of the team.
•  Pray that the team will come home with a renewed vision of what God wants to do in each of our lives both in serving Him in missions here at home or in foreign missions.