Serving the Least of These

Recently God has been teaching me about what it means to really love and serve others, without benefits and agenda, as Christ calls us to. My prayer so far has been, God help me to serve and to love well in what I do, but it has been just a prayer, not a call to action. Until recently.

A few situations have come up the last few months that God has used to teach me and grow me as a Christian.

A younger friend was struggling with a sin and was being very much judged and discriminated against for what she was doing. But the worst part of all is that those who claimed to love her and serve God had turned their backs on her. We were very much confused why this was happening; when this was the time she needed support and love the most.

But my only thought was that this is such a hard time for her, and that those who should be supporting her and helping her are not.

It wasn’t until a few weeks later when the situation was at a stand still, that I had talked with a friend about why these people weren’t helping her. Their answer was first, why aren’t they taking care of the situation. Their second idea was, why can’t you do something about it?

As I began thinking more, I thought, YES!, why can’t I, and why am I NOT doing something about this already? Christ did not come to save the healthy, but the sick. I am not perfect, and God has forgiven me, so why is it our place as Christians to decide who deserves God’s grace and love? This was the perfect opportunity to show Christ’s love, not just by being her friend and helping her through this situation, but by helping find a solution to some of the consequences.

This whole ordeal made me start to think about how many times I have missed serving and blessing others in Christ’s name, just because their problem wasn’t my problem. I think that is what we often think - it doesn’t involve me, so it isn’t necessary for ME to do anything, when that is EXACTLY what God wants us to do. He has called us to go where there is hurt, brokenness, and confusion, and not to turn and run the other way. He is creating opportunities all the time for us to jump in and love others with his love, but we don’t always take advantage of that. Instead of judging others because of their sins, or problems, God has called us to love and restore, and we can’t do that by sitting on the sidelines. We have to make other people’s problems, our problems by caring for them as Christ did.
Sometimes serving others looks like a physical action with no spiritual change, but God has reminded me time and time again that his love is violent and powerful, and with just one action on our part, his love can squeeze into a small place and take over. If we don’t go to, and be with those who are hurt, powerless, and looked down on, who will?

 

The Bricklayer's Assistant

In these last years of my life, God has given me new visions and he has been working in them. When I heard his voice and decided obey him, I daringly took the first steps. Every beginning isn’t easy, and I knew that there would be big challenges and obstacles. But I trusted in God. He has been faithful and he has backed me up. A cycle exists that affects many Christians and myself included. It consists of the following: God helps you get out of a certain situation, then later new difficulties come, we have the tendency to worry again, and then we declare that God will resolve the situation. It is good to declare that God will resolve it. He will do it, you are right. The problem is that in many things, one way or another, the new difficulty filters into and invades our thoughts and it steals our inner peace. It converts itself into a central theme that will be present in our minds. You ask yourself: How will God resolve it? When will He resolve it? What do I do while I wait? How many more difficulties will I have to experience? I remember that to comfort myself, I recited Psalm 34:19 “The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” But the afflictions continue to be present in my mind. I ask myself “WHAT DO I DO?!”

Working these last few days as a bricklayer assistant in the construction, I realized that although I had a vision of what I wanted to build, my hands weren’t going to be the ones that would do the most complicated work. The bricklayer’s hands would be the ones to do that part. I should trust in him. The ground presented some challenges for the construction, but that too, the bricklayer overcame, because while I’m not an expert in the material, he is. I felt that God was talking to me through my work, telling me: “Let me be the bricklayer in your life, which is my work, trust in me. Don’t confuse your role, I am the one in charge of the work. You are my helper, which means that you can’t do what I will do. It may seem impossible, but I will make it possible. I will resolve your biggest worries. We form a team.” My attitude has changed, before, I would say: “I will do this, this way, maybe this is what you want”, or “I will do it this way, maybe this will be the way out.” Now I simply say, “This is what I can do, God you do the rest.”

God is the missing piece to our puzzle.

Psalm 55:22 Cast your cares on the Lord  and he will sustain you; he will never let the righteous be shaken.

 

Get Involved

How to Donate:

Tax-deductible:

Mail checks to: P.O. Box 2030 Robertsdale, AL 36567

Make out to: AIM with Kaitlen Henry in the memo line

Online tax-deductible donation for Kaitlen:

Blog:  kaitleninhonduras.blogspot.com (the link to donate is not up yet, but in a week or two this option will be available to pay with credit card and there will be a reoccurring donation option)

Student Sponsorship:

It takes about $30 a month to sponsor a student, a partial donation helps as well.

Information about sponsoring a student

Link to online tax-deductible donation for a student sponsorship or for supporting Jose

Needs:

- Spanish bibles for my dad’s group to bring in April

- Children’s books in Spanish: you can go online and check out a book wishlist from amazon and ship them to 992 Medina Dr. Lilburn Ga 30047. We are super excited to open up the afternoon program to teach elementary classes and have tutor time, to get these kids reading!

- Children’s card games and other simple games

Email me at kaitlenhenry@gmail.com

hang-out

It is fun to watch the high school transform from just a place where kids take classes to a safe and loving place where they can come to youth group on saturdays and even every night to hang out. In Toncontin, there are tons of teens and children with nothing to do in the afternoon and evenings apart from getting into trouble. Toncontin is the biggest community and there is nothing for teenagers that is constructive. There is no discipleship programs geared for them, no schools (only the elementary school) and no place to hang out apart from playing soccer.

A few months ago some people donated puzzles a few card games and we let the kids play with them in free time during school. Little did we know they would start coming in the afternoons and evenings to play again, and that they would keep coming almost everyday. These games are things that they have never had access too before so it has been interesting trying to teach these children games that require logic and thinking. 

Most of them have finally gotten the hang of UNO, and a few other games we have, but the younger kids still had nothing they could play and understand, so we started printing coloring pages for them, and they loved that. 

So every night we have the school open for any teens and kids that just want to hang out, play games and stay out of trouble. There are many teen that drink or use drugs a lot, so it has been cool to see how these teens spend time there and are happy and enjoying healthy fun. Please pray for us as we try to reach out to these teens that we don't have contact with any other way. Pray also that we would be able to show them God's love as they are spending time in the school. If you would like to help us get some new games as well as children's books for this hangout time email me at kaitlenhenry@gmail.com

Independence Day Parade

In September there are many celebrations and holidays including Children's Day and Independence Day which are the two biggest celebrations. On the 15th, Independence Day is  celebrated and every school has a parade as they march through their community. On Independence Day, the kids at GiveHope2Kids marched with the elementary school in the community of Urraco. In the evening, the students at Dejando Huellas high school marched through Toncontin accompanying the elementary and pre-school. 

Some of the kids from GiveHope2Kids dressed up for their march.

Here are some of the high school students from Dejando Huellas.

Indian Day and Trip to Trujillo

July 20th is Indian Day in Honduras, so all of the students dress up and and celebrate. 

Our moms worked many hours to make the outfits of our little Indians. The boys had their skirt thing, bow and arrow and feathers, while the girls got to wear make-up earrings, dresses, glitter and crowns. 

 Once all of our kids were ready to go, we went up to the school where everyone was getting ready for a parade. The kids walked through the whole community, each one dressed like an Indian. They sang and shouted "Long live the Indians!".

At the end of the parade, the students voted for the boy and girl that were the best dressed, and had some Indian features. Three of our kids were chosen, in first place, Jose and Juvana won and Carlitos was in third place. (First place on the left)

We were able to have a beach day when a group came, but this time it was a little different. We went to Trujillo which is about a 6 hour bus ride from where we live. It is a town on the coast and a historical landmark from back when the Spanish conquered Honduras. We had a fun day together swimming, eating and riding on the bus.