We were very happy to receive a letter from the first mission group of 2012, who had the opportunity to work with the feeding program and children around the community of Azacualpa.  Ministries of Faith is greatly blessed by each and every group that comes to work at the Home. We encourage you to be a part of this ministry by praying, visiting us with a mission group or by helping the ministry in a financial way. We look forward to hearing from YOU.

The following journal was written by Tina Weber, a mission volunteer from Iowa.

Okay, so maybe this isn’t exactly what Jesus meant in Matthew 20:16. Our team from the Marshalltown (Iowa) Evangelical Free Church had the privilege of being both the LAST team of 2011 and the FIRST team of 2012. We enjoyed bringing in the New Year in Honduras and hosting the Vacation Bible School: A Festival of Colors.

Our team of seventeen included some that were able to experience cross-cultural missions together as family units. We had a family of seven, a mother-daughter pair, a father-daughter pair and a husband-wife-son trio. The Tweedy family sent their oldest son, Mathew, ahead by a couple of months to work with and learn from the Zelayas. Mathew was also able to lay some groundwork, literally, for the rest of the team. He worked with Dago and others to help get cement floors poured in the classrooms so that we could use them for small group discussion time during Vacation Bible School. He was also able to find or build several prop items we would need.

Months before heading to Honduras, our team began preparing for the Vacation Bible School. We were unable to find a Spanish VBS curriculum that we liked and thought would translate culturally. Our team decided to take on the work of creating our own curriculum. We based our VBS on the Wordless Book and called it “A Festival of Colors”. Members of our team wrote the script for large group lessons and skits; wrote small group discussion lessons; created daily crafts to correspond to each color; researched, adapted, practiced & learned to play/sing Spanish songs; and created games for each day of VBS. It was months of work, but with God’s guidance we were able to pull off a simple gospel message and an inexpensive VBS that can (hopefully) be used again and again. We left the materials with Dilia, who said she plans to use them for future children’s ministry.

Our team arrived in Honduras on December 30. On December 31, we went into Azacualpa with three of our members dressed as clowns, candy to hand out and an invitation for children to come to VBS beginning on January 1^st. That night, our praise band played the music for the Children’s Home’s New Year’s Eve service. Then, we were treated to an encore of the children’s Christmas program; which our team thoroughly enjoyed! After the service, we were further treated to New Year’s fireworks Honduras style!

On Sunday, January 1^st, we welcomed our first group of children to experience the “Black Day” of our Festival of Colors. Through lessons and skits, the children learned how sin entered the world and that we are all sinners. On Day 2, the “Red Day”, we learned that God requires the shedding of blood for the forgiveness of our sins and Jesus’ death on the Christ met that requirement. Day 3, the “White Day”, we learned that when we accept the gift of Christ’s sacrifice we are made white and clean again; the blackness of our sin is erased by His blood. Day 4, “the Green and Gold Day”, we learned that we have new life in Christ, we are able to grow in our faith during this life and that Jesus has prepared a place for us in heaven. Each day, the lesson was taught in a large group format and reinforced by skits, small group discussion, songs, memory verses, crafts and games. The children were given “points” for each day of attendance, participation and learning memory verses.

Keeping with our theme, “A Festival of Colors”, we hosted a carnival on the last day of VBS. The carnival included: clowns, carnival games, piñatas, popcorn and juice. At the carnival, we had a store where the children could spend their “points” to buy prizes.

Our team was also able to participate in and attend two other worship services while at the Children’s Home. Our praise band played and our pastor brought a message (translated by Dago) at the regular Sunday evening service and at a special service in the Azacualpa town square. We thoroughly enjoyed breaking God’s Word, worshiping and fellowshiping with our Honduran brothers and sisters. We were also privileged to be able to purchase and distribute groceries to some families in Azacualpa. Our last day in Honduras, we were able to relax and have fun at the beach.

The team from the Marshalltown E Free Church wishes to express our sincere gratitude to Dago, Dilia, Alex, Mariana and everyone at the Children’s Home for their gracious hospitality to us. We count it a privilege to have served with you and we look forward to years of continuing ministry with you.