Written by Elyssa Houk, team member~~~
Last summer in 2015, Youth Outreach Ministry (YOM) in Pensacola, Florida, sent a mission team to Sabanagrande, Honduras to help the Hodges for two weeks. This summer, YOM is sending another team to help the Hodges, and we are very excited to have five returning members. The returning team members are Mr. and Mrs. Trevin and Elaine Houk, our team leaders, Elyssa Houk (just graduated from PCC), Nick Butler and Sarah Belcher. Our new team members are Andrew Hobbs, Caleb Stahl, Andrew Garcia (just graduated from PCC), Jared Quirk, Andrew Malack, Holly Goff, Mary Fales (just graduated from PCC), Devin Morrison, Erin Houk, and Elle Houk. The 2016 Team is pictured below:
During our time in Honduras, our team’s main focus will be planting the gospel seeds in public schools. In each school, we will give a presentation centering on John 14:6 and will sing three songs in Spanish: “!Cuán Grande Es Él!” (“How Great Thou Art”), “Hay Una Senda” (“One Way”), and “Nueva Vida” (“New Life”). After our team presentation, several of us team members will give a puppet presentation that also includes the gospel. Then we will pass out copies of Romans so that the children can follow along while Brother Sam shares the Romans Road with them. The children get to keep their copies of Scripture, and Brother Sam encourages them to read the Bible portions to their parents and grandparents, because many of them can’t read. We will also hand out small treats such as pencils and candy to each student and give each teacher a bag of classroom supplies.
Although our team’s focus is reaching public schoolchildren with the gospel, we will also be working with Brother Sam’s church by going on church visitation, helping with the church’s Fun Fair, passing out tracts, assisting in the seminary graduation banquet, and hosting a Vacation Bible School. Since our team desires to be an encouragement to Brother Sam, his family, and the people in his church, we want to be involved in as many ministry areas as possible during our time in Honduras.
We have seen God working already as we prepare for the trip—one of the huge blessings is that every team member has enough financial support—but we still desire your prayers. One of our greatest requests overall is for safety. Please pray that our flights go well, that our luggage stays safe and doesn’t go missing, and that the buses and vans we use don’t have flat tires or other problems. Another big request is that we will be able to reach many Hondurans with the gospel. Please pray that the public schools will allow us in again and that VBS doesn’t get rained out. In addition, please pray that our team will be an encouragement to Brother Sam, his family, and the Honduran Christians in his church. We are looking forward to how God will use us to minister in Honduras, and how He will use the mission trip to influence our lives for His glory.
If you would like to follow updates about our team and our trip while we are in Honduras, please visit our website at http://honduras.yomteams.org/2016-updates/.