Have You Heard of Abe Parker?

Have you ever had an event in your life occur that seemed completely arbitrary at the time, but in retrospect it's an awesome story? I had that moment of realization last night when I asked my friend Abe to recap the the past 6 months of his life.

I can't remember the first time I met Abe. It was probably sometime freshman year when I met several new people everyday and couldn't keep names with faces. Over the past three years we've become friends and I'm very thankful for that. He's kinda awesome at music and when I say kinda, I mean REALLY awesome. Check out his music HERE.

Back to my awesome story ... Last semester, while on Facebook when I probably should have been doing homework, I discovered a contest that Andy Grammer was hosting. Basically you put a video on a website, people vote, Andy and his crew vote and the video with the most votes wins. Winning meant opening for Andy Grammer at one of his concerts. I sent the link to Abe with a note encouraging him to enter. He took my advice and you can probably guess the outcome. He won.

He and his band packed up their gear, traveled to Vienna, VA and were the opening act for Andy Grammer. Abe was able to meet Andy and make some great connections with his band and tour manager. He was able to travel to several cities with him to play for the crowds as they waited to get into the concerts.

A few weeks ago, Abe traveled to Atlanta to play at Eddie's Attic in their open mic competition. Of course he won. I had no doubt that he would. He's just that great, but don't take my word for it. Check out what another blogger who heard him play at the competition said HERE. He met up with Andy while in Atlanta and spent several hours talking to him about music and songwriting.

I got to hear this whole story from his perspective as he strummed my ukelele on my couch last night. It was funny to think of how me sending him a link to a contest started all of this. Another cool thing, the Vienna metro station is the station I got on every morning to get to my internship in DC.

His enthusiasm for music and passion for songwriting is very evident in his relentless attempt to do what he loves. The best part is he gives all the glory to God. He is so trusting in God's sovereign plan and purpose for his life. Keep your eye on this guy. He'll make it big one day and I can't wait until his does.  

Check out one of my favorite songs of his. He wrote it for his little sister before she went to college. Precious, right?

   

Making Homeless Friends

I'm back, officially back at the 'bury. I'm so happy to be here. I have lots to blog about, but I had an encounter today that is more blog worthy than my week of RA training. Don't worry, I'll write about it as well.

Like the typical college student, I shop at Walmart a lot. I stopped by on my way to a local Christian high school football game to help promote Asbury. As I was walking in, I saw a lady with a small poker table and a pink sign that said, "Women's Christian Academy." She was talking to a man who just dropped a few dollars into her plastic bin about all the great service that they do. I didn't stop, but kept walking.

After grabbing things I needed and debating over which sugar dispenser I should buy for 10 minutes, picking one up and then returning it back to the shelf 5 minutes later, I headed out. As I walked out the same doors I entered, I saw three teenagers sitting outside the doors on the opposite side of the "Women's Christian Academy" lady. One guy with bright red hair was holding a sign that said, "homeless and hungry." I smiled and kept walking.

As I was walking to Ruby (my truck), I felt the need to go help the three teenagers. I just wanted to hear their story, so I went back. I walked up and said, "Hi, I'm Janah. How can I help y'all?" Almost in unison they said, "We're hungry. Any food would be great." I then asked if they wouldn't mind walking across the parking lot with me to McDonald's so I could buy them dinner. They jumped up and started following me.

I just started asking question, "What are your names? Where are y'all from? Where are y'all living? What's your story?"  They were from Lexington and all came from broken homes. *Ella's mom had recently died, *Mike's parents disowned him and *Doug had ran away, but he didn't say why. They met on the streets and banded together to help one another survive.

When we arrived at McDonald's I told them to get whatever they wanted and then come sit with me. They sat and started telling me about how they were living in an abandoned building and sleeping with some blankets and pillows that UK students had thrown out while moving in the past few days. Ella said, "They just throw out perfectly good things, because they have the money to buy new ones." Talk about feeling convicted.

There was a lull in conversation and I said, "I want you guys to know why I'm doing this." Doug interjected saying, "It's because you're religious." I wasn't quite sure how to respond, but said, "Well I wanted to demonstrate to you the love that Christ has for you. He cares and loves you, even in tough situations in life." Erik was amazed and said, "Wow, no one has ever done this for me before." I almost stated crying.
 
They started expressing their dislikes about the church and why they're not Christians. It was an AWESOME conversation, but I hurt for them. I was so sad that they had all been so hurt by the church. I wasn't sure what to say so I said, "I'm sorry." Doug smiled and said, "But at least you're not forcing it down our throat." I said, "I do not want to force it down your throat, but just want to love on you all." He responded with, "Thank you. I knew from the start that you weren't trying to."

Our conversation continued, but I had to head out to get the the football game on time. I asked if I could pray for them before I left and they all nodded yes. I prayed probably the wordiest, most nervous prayer I've ever prayed. I told them that I was really glad I met them, I loved them, they thanked me again and I headed out.

There was more to our conversation, lots of laughs and awkward silence, but it was great. I left happy and proud of myself for helping someone in need, then I realized how stupid that was and un-Christ like. I came back down to earth real quick and was humbled.

Then I was angry.

Why had so many "Christians" hurt these teenagers? What did they do that turned them away from Christ? Why didn't the Christian lady from the "Women's Christian Academy" help them? I could get on my soap box and rant about these for hours. It really frustrates me.

I don't know where Ella, Doug and Mike went after I left McDonald's. I pray that they find someone to help them and demonstrate Christ's love for them in a bigger way than I could.  

*These are not their real names. I have changed them for their safety.
    

Back Home

I've been home for 3 days now and am trying to play catch up. I've already jumped back into both jobs, church and hanging out with friends, so I apologize for the delay in writing about our last day in Honduras.

Thursday was definitely my favorite day. We only got to go to one school, but it was the one I enjoyed the most. The school was on top of a mountain, literally. We had to unload everyone from the Excursion so that Juan could drive it up the road. We hiked the rest of the way. Talk about a mountain top experience. It was beautiful. We could even see MEDA from there.

All the teachers, but one, were at a seminar that day. The one teacher left behind was with all the kindergarteners and 1st graders by herself. I don't know if she knew we were coming or not, but I'm sure she was happy that we came. The kids were so well behaved and super sweet. This was the poorest school we had been. Noah took my puppet for me, so I got to run around and take pictures.

Throughout the week, I was so thankful for all our translators. They were so patient and great at their job. Noah, Levi and Fernando went with us just about everywhere we went. I really enjoyed getting to know these guys and already miss hanging out with them.

 
Remember the Patterson family and Iris from my first post in Honduras? Someone found my blog when researching adoptions in Honduras. They somehow found the contact information for the Patterson's and have connected them with a group to help them with their adoption. I was so excited to hear this when Mrs. Patterson told me. It's great to see that God is using my blog to help others, especially such a great family that I had the honor of getting to know.

There is someone else that I met in Honduras that I really want to help. Her name is Genesis.

While in crafts, Mrs. Patterson could tell that she wasn't feeling well and asked her if she wanted to come sit with us. She nodded and was excited to take pictures with Mrs. Patterson's iPod touch, which now has a lot of pictures of me.

I asked her name and got her story as well. Her eyesight is very poor so she gets headaches a lot. It also greatly affects her school work. A lot of schools in Honduras do not have many textbooks, because they can't afford them. The kids have to copy everything out of the textbooks they do have. Genesis often makes mistakes when copying her school work, because of her vision.

Her family is unable to buy her glasses. I asked if someone donated the money would someone in Honduras be able to help her get glasses. Mrs. Patterson said yes, but there is another team coming in September that is hosting an eye clinic. They're hoping that Genesis will be able to get some glasses that have been donated. I asked that Mrs. Patterson let me know if she doesn't get any glasses, I would find money to get her some.

I met so many kids with similar stories to Genesis. I had the opportunity to speak to the youth Sunday school class this past Sunday and shared Genesis' and other kids' stories. I also get to speak at the adult Sunday school class this coming Sunday and hope that people will be more aware of the ministry our church has in Honduras and will want to go and be a part of it.

I didn't meet one Honduran that wasn't friendly and welcoming. It could be because we are American, but regardless they were sweet. Pastor Melvin and his family welcomed our team and others to their house our last night. We had a pinata and desserts. There were a lot of laughs and many happy taste buds.

I don't know if I'll ever be back in Honduras, but I said that my last trip there as well. God has a funny way about taking us places and putting us in situations that we never expected.

Hondruas Day 5

I cannot believe we only have one more day in Honduras. Our time here has been great and everyone has been very kind to us. The school kids are always so excited to see the puppets and us, but mostly the puppets. I got to speak at another school today and it went really well. I'm so thankful for Fernando translating for our team as we speak at schools. He rocks.

Fernando and me speaking at a school

The kids made us feel like celebrities today. They all wanted our autographs. I would ask the children their names (with the little bit of Spanish I know) and after they would tell me, they would continue to speak to me. I would then smile and nod hoping they didn't ask me anything. I WILL learn Spanish.

Kevin and Derek signing their autographs

When we arrived at the second school today, there was a group of kids learning a dance. Brent and I decided to jump in and Charlotte and Derek soon followed. We were decent at it, but the kids were 100 times better. Can you tell how confused we were?

The kids thought it was funny and just laughed at us, especially as we tried to run around one another to get the patterns. It was entertaining to watch I'm sure.

After three school shows and VBS, we were all exhausted. We headed back to MEDA for about an hour to rest and play cards like we always do when we have any free time. Our evenings are normally free, but today we went to a coffee roaster before heading back to church. They showed us how they roast the coffee and package it. It smelled wonderful. I may or may not have bought a ridiculous amount, but at $3.50/lb, I couldn't pass it up. I bought some of the coffee on my last trip and loved it. My roommates will be so happy.

After visiting the roaster, we went back to church for a potluck and games with the church members. I LOVE church potlucks. I have never been to a bad potluck. I was a little nervous about what kind of food the church families would bring, but it was so delicious. They wanted to feed us traditional Honduran food and the kids dressed up too.

 

Before feeding us, we played games with everyone. One game was just kids playing. They had to steal shoes from the spectators and put them under their stools. One little girl grabbed both of my sandals before I could react. We had to recite a verse or sing in order to get our shoes back.

They also presented us with gifts the kids had made for us.

This is Joseph (the stud with the unibrow) who presented my gift to me and added a hug. He was just too cute in his getup for me not to take a picture.

 

Pastor Melvin asked two of us from our group to speak to everyone about what this trip has meant to us. Juan asked if I would speak, so I agreed to do so. I don't get nervous when I speak in front of people, but I really did not know what to say. If you've ever been on any sort of mission trip, you know how it goes. You go to serve and teach and in the end, you are served and taught so much more.

Honduras Day 3 and 4

Yesterday and today we got to start our daily routine of visiting schools and VBS at the church. We visit two different schools each morning. We sing songs, perform a skit, a team member gives a small summary afterwards and then pass out candy. When I say "we" I mean the puppets. The kids love them and they're a great arm workout. There are so many pictures I could post, but I'll just post a few.

I got to speak at a school on Monday with Fernando translating for me. The kids looked as though they were listening and interested, but kids smiling and laughing as they point to me and talk in Spanish happens a lot.

After lunch, we prepare for VBS at Melvin's church. The girls and I lead the crafts. Today the kids made masks and they loved them. Like I said, so many pictures, so many cute kids.

 

After VBS yesterday, we went to the pottery place that made all the pots that we put in the landscaping on Saturday. I remembered going there on one of my previous trips, but it was cool to see it again. They make beautiful and ornate pots. The family that owns the place showed us around and how they make them too.

 
The weather is absolutely fantastic here! I'm not sure I can say that enough. I'm definitely not looking forward to going back to the 100+ weather in KY. Because there is no daylight savings time, it gets dark pretty early here, which I'm not a fan, but the great weather makes it all okay.

Honduras: Day 2

I'm sorry to keep you anxiously waiting for my next post. The internet was out Sunday and the power was out most of the day today (developing country problems), so I have not had a chance to blog until now, but don't worry. I'm back.

Yesterday was full of adventures and cute kids. We all went to Pastor Melvin's church to help out with Sunday school. Kevin taught the youth group, Brent the adults and Charlotte, Chloe and I taught the 6 and under Sunday school class. Well, Charlotte taught, because she's the only one that speaks Spanish. Chloe and I just played with the kids. They were very well behaved and so much fun.

This is Joseph who was in our class:

I'm convinced he'd be famous in Kentucky. Three reason:

1. He's sprouting a unibrow. Can you say Anthony Davis?

2. Look at that cute face with the sweet smile. 

3. He's a sharp dresser. What a stud.

After church we all went out to lunch at a great restaurant. We were served a traditional Honduran meal, the name of which I was never told, but it was delicious. I love tea and got to try hibiscus tea. It was amazing.

My yummy meal of chicken, fried plantains, cheese, refried beans, rice, tortilla and salad

Most of the group at lunch

Later that afternoon we went to a church plant in a nearby town. The church is called "Nuvea Esperanza" (New Hope). It's a pavilion with a desk, seats and benches underneath.

And of course the girls and I sneaked off to play with the kids and Joseph was there. His mom comes and teaches the kids every Sunday. I had no idea what she said the whole time, but her smile and kind heart broke the language barrier. She has a great ministry and I pray that it'll flourish and continue. Juan gave her a break and taught the kids.

On our way to the church, we got stuck in mud. It was pretty bad. Joshua was convinced we were going to die. He was only joking, but he was quite dramatic.

Joshua kept making this face saying, "We're going to die!"

 

SUCCESS!

After many attempts, we finally made it out. The entire church was watching us at one point. We had to call for back up as well to pull us out. It was a great team bonding moment and Hunter was totally in his element trying to create a mechanism to wedge us out.

Today, we went to a school and did a VBS program for a daycare that is held in Melvin's church for children of single moms. Posts and pictures to come tomorrow.

God is good.  

Honduras: Day 1

I don't know if you caught it from my last post, but I'm really excited to be back in Honduras. I had the opportunity to spend more time with Melvin's family today who, to my surprise, remember me and were happy to see me back. We spent our day at Melvin's church doing outside maintenance and landscaping. It looks awesome.

Before

There was a lot of dirt moving

Part of the finished product

Mild exhaustion has already started to set in. We were outside majority of the day and the weather was wonderful. High of 75 and overcast is so much better than the gross 100 super humid weather back home.

Tomorrow we teach Sunday school at Melvin's church to the 6 and under kids. Thankfully Charlotte is teaching/translating so Chloe and I get to just play with the kids. It's going to be great.  

We're Here!

We're here! After 4 hours of flying, 2 1/2 hours of driving, we made it safe and sound and it's wonderful to be back. Our flights were on time, went smoothly and we had great company.

Our team at 6 AM in our "beautiful" yellow shirts

When we arrived at our gate in Atlanta, it was easy to spot the other mission teams who were going to be joining us on the flight. Being the extrovert that I am, I decided to go chat with a group. They were from Alabama and headed to the north coast of Honduras. They were very friendly and seemed to be no strangers to the place. I asked to quickly pray with them before boarding our flight and they were more than happy to do so.

When we landed in Honduras, the flight attendant welcomed us and asked all the passengers to  applaud all four mission teams on the plane. We had just hit Honduran ground and I already knew that God has big plans for this week.

Missionaries Richard and Mark greeted us once we got through customs, loaded up our bags and joined us for lunch. Kevin and Derek got a little adventurous and went for a national food chain, while the rest of  stuck to the good ol' American hamburger at Wendy's.

I had the excitement of riding shotgun in Richard's van. You haven't really experienced riding in a vehicle, until you've ridden in a vehicle in a developing country.

Double yellow lines?
What do those even mean?

Speed limits?
Do they even exist?

"Exciting" is really the only word I know to use to describe the adventure.

Upon arriving at MEDA, we were promptly greeted by the missionary families who live in the compound. Even the little kids came running up to us, shaking our hands and introducing themselves.

This is Iris, Mark's soon to be daughter, once the adoption goes through. She recognized Charlotte and Chloe from their last visit to Honduras. She was not at MEDA the last time I was here, but her brother Elvin was and he loved hanging out with us. He has since been adopted by another family at MEDA. I'm excited to get to know Iris and her 6 brothers better. (That's right, 6 brothers, they all have super biblical names and they're awesome)

We got to enjoy spending time and fellowship with the missionary families and Hondurans through an intense game of volleyball, "Honduras style," meaning kicking was totally allowed. It was a bit scary, but made the games much more entertaining.  

We loaded up in this awesome vehicle as well as a SUV to the church for dinner.

Dinner consisted of tortillas, refried beans, sausage links, eggs and fried plantains. If you've never had fried plantains, you're missing out. Melvin's (the pastor) wife Alejanda and several church ladies served us all with a smile. After expecting dinner two hours prior, I was so thankful for their kindness and willingness to serve us.

I've studied and learned about Latin American cultures in classes and it will never cease to amaze me how "dinner at 6" really means 7:30 or 8. Showing up early or even on time can be offensive, because of the value they place on relationships and spending time with others. It is very nice not having to stress out about being somewhere on time and embracing the collectivist culture. My tendency to plan and be prompt about everything can often get the best of me. Just enjoying my time talking to Mark's family has been great and I don't have too much time to do that.

Our motto for the week is "be flexible and intentional." While we're here, we want to come alongside the ministry that is already established in Honduras and support, encourage and aid them in any way we can. In order to accomplish that, we much be flexible with what we do and intentional about how we do it. I've been asked to teach on Monday at the schools where we'll be doing our puppet shows. I'm nervous, but I'm trusting in the Lord to provide me with the right things to say and best way to speak the gospel.

Tomorrow we go to the church to help with some outside maintenance as well as with the youth group in the evening. Today was fun, but I'm anxious to see what God will reveal to the team this week.

The puppets are best friends for the next week. They speak Spanish and we don't.

At the "treetop rest stop"

Disclaimer: If anything looks weird or different from normal, Blogger has changed to Spanish, because of my location. I don't know Spanish, so I'm just working off my memory of where I think buttons are on here.

Off to Honduras

After once again tackling the "wild and wonderful" forests of West Virginia, I safely made it back to Kentucky.

The night before my trip home, a huge storm hit Virginia, West Virginia and Eastern Kentucky. The Weckerlein's trees suffered some damage, but thankfully their house was okay. I didn't expect the storm to cause any problems for my trip home, but boy was I wrong.

Long story short, no electricity = no way to pump gas. After searching for a gas station, with the fear of running out of gas before I found one, I waited for 45 minutes for it. West Virginia, you never cease to amaze me.

I've been home for 5 days now and head to Honduras tomorrow. No, of course I haven't started packing yet. I don't have to be at the airport until 5:45 AM. That's plenty of time. Plus, I haven't completely unpacked from DC. I've been too excited finding out and preparing for a new niece and spending time with my family and friends.


That's right, I'm going to be an aunt again and I'm super excited!

It's been 5 years since my last trip to Honduras. I'm very anxious to go back and see what God has planned for the team and me. I have been asked to prepare and teach a short lesson to go along with one of the programs that we'll be doing at the schools. I know, I'm talking to a bunch of kids, but I'm still nervous. I'm not nervous because I'm speaking in front of people, but because I want to communicate clearly and communicate the gospel.

As I said before, I will be blogging while I'm there and hopefully some of my fellow teammates will be willing to write posts as well. Thank you for all of you who have supported me and the team financially and prayerfully. They have been greatly appreciated.

All Things Work Together for My Good (Part 2)

In Janruary I wrote a post about the great opportunity I had to serve in France this summer as an internship to fulfill my international internship requirement. Then in April I wrote an update about going to the Pentagon for an internship as well as Honduras for another. Well, things have changed......again.

Some things didn't come together for the Pentagon and although I'm bummed that I will not be interning there, I still have a great opportunity in DC. My friend Chad heard about my predicament and told me that the Government Communiations Department at the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom had an open communications intern position. In fear that the Pentagon might fall through, I decided to apply for the position. After emailing my resume and two phone interviews later, I was offered the position and accepted it.

I'm not exactly sure what all I will be doing, but I know they are wanting me to begin more of an online presence for them, especially in social media. Being the nerd that I am, this is something that my friend Jane and I talk about often.

Once again, God has worked out everything for his glory and for my good. It definitely wasn't the way I had planned my summer or the way I thought it would work out, but I know he has great things planned for me in DC and I'm excited to see what they will be. Don't worry, I'll be blogging while in DC.  

The End of the School Year Sentimental Post

That's right, it's the end of the school year and I'm becoming sentimental and reflective of my past three years here at Asbury.  Freshman year I was the class president, Sophomore year I was the class vice-president, this year I headed up the Special Events Committee and rocked Asbury's first all school dance.  It's been a great experience and I've collected so many memories. This time next year is going to be rough.

I'm excited to see what God has in store for me this summer. I've written down my list of summer goals and although I'm not working on solving world hunger this summer, it should be fun. I have an internship at the Pentagon and am going to Honduras. Bring on the adventure.

I still have one more year, but having friends that are just a year older than me graduating next week, I feel as though I need to figure the rest of my life out. Do I go to grad school or just find a big girl job? I'll just try to get through the summer for now. 

Internship Update

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about the great internship opportunity that I had in France for this summer and I want to update my supporters.

Sadly, that opportunity has fallen through due to my hostess becoming very ill. Thankfully God has provided me with another opportunity to go to Honduras with my church, Wellington Church.

I will help organize a team to go and aid the established medical clinic as well as host VBS programs at churches and school. I have been to Honduras twice and the last time I visited I was 16. I'm excited and thrilled to visit friends I've stayed in touch with and visit such a beautiful place again. I'm serious, check it out:

via

I will try to write posts while I'm there, but I may not have internet access. If not, I will post entries when I return. Thank you for your continued prayer and support.

What do you support?

This semester I have been blessed to be in a personal finance class. I have learned so much about how to handle, not just money, but resources that God has provided me. This guy knows what he's talking about:

via

 He's shown me how to handle my money wisely so that I won't be like the guy from the Lending Tree commercial. Hidden in the American dream is the need for excess. America consumes unbelievable amounts of resources and wastes almost half of it. I have become burdened with the idea of consumerism.

We watched the documentary Dive! created by a guy who dumpster dives for his food. I was repulsed by this idea at first, but I challenge you to watch it and then not consider going dumpster diving yourself. As a college student, this is very appealing.

via

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to Skype Jermey Seifret, the creator of the film. He made the point, that as Christians, we should be aware and concerned about where our food, clothing, etc. is coming from. What we buy, shows what we support. If we buy clothing that was made in a sweatshop, we're supporting slavery. If we buy from a company that supports Planned Parenthood, we're supporting abortion.

Maybe this doesn't convict you, but it certainly did me, so what did I do? I googled. Here are some resources that can help you become more aware of what you're eating, where it's coming from and what brand and companies support that you're buying from. Ignorance is not bliss. Christ calls us to live differently than the ways of the world. Why not start here?

Better World Shopper: This site grades companies and brands based on how they support human rights, their environmental impact, animal protection, community involvement and social justice. There is even an app!

Blessed Earth: I'm not a hippie in any way, shape or form, but this organization provides practical ways to be a wise consumer with a Godly focus

Life Decisions International: I was shocked when I read the list of companies that support Planned Parenthood. It's nearly impossible not to buy from one of these stores or companies, but this site provides a list of them.