Thank you to all whom have supported and prayed for me! This trip has truly been a blessing. The biggest thing that stuck out to me on this trip was realizing just how easy and urgent it is for us to share the gospel. By “easy”, I mean that God has surrounded us with opportunities to witness for Him every single day. There were several times here (in Honduras) where we would be stuck in traffic or going through a town and just get out and pass out tracts! Then it struck me just how simple things like that can be done just as easily in the United States. There are people all around us that are searching for hope, for light, and for something to believe in.

We went into a Catholic church and my heart was completely broken over seeing dozens of people as they were kneeling and pouring their heart out to a statue of Mary and of Jesus, helpless and dying on the cross. They were trying so hard to gain hope, but they will never find it there. The only hope we have is in a risen, living, victorious Savior, and the world needs us to share that hope while we still can! If we hold the light of eternity in our hearts, and are given new opportunities to share that hope day in and day out, why would we not be willing to share that light?

Sarah Swafford

This trip has been a learning experience and an eye-opener for me! The Lord has shown Himself to me more than ever through this trip……from Him providing all my funds in a short amount of time and providing an exact amount of money that I prayed for, to seeing about 34 children saved through a 2 day VBS! I learned how to love like Christ loves and I learned how much a smile, a hug, or a “good job” commented to a child can mean to them.

I learned to be “all in” for Christ and that there is no checking in, or checking out of the ministry. I learned about flexibility a LOT and I learned how to look at obstacles as opportunities. I learned that 10 spiders above my head at night are not that big of a deal and are still worth the time being in Honduras. Most of all God confirmed to me that missions is in fact what I feel called to do with the rest of my life. I have loved serving the Lord in Honduras and I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to go! A little piece of my heart will always be there!

Ashley Smith

“To God be the glory; great things He has done!” The Lord taught me so much through this mission trip. I have learned everything I hoped to learn and much more. It was wonderful to visit schools and plant Gospel seeds in children’s hearts, pass out tracts in the villages, fellowship with the team, the Hodges, and the members of the church, and make so many memories while traveling, hiking, and exploring!

I’m grateful that the Hodges and Houks kept us so busy, giving us a real mission field experience. God unified us and drew us close as a team. He allowed us to see the fruit of our labor in many ways. One of the countless things God showed me was the privilege of serving Him with others. Before the trip, I tended to minister with a one-person mindset, but God vividly pointed out to me His design that the body of Christ work together for His kingdom. Thank you for immersing this trip in prayer; we could see answers to prayer every single day!

Stephanie Seitz

When I was getting ready for the trip I was really nervous. It was my first time out of the country; it was my first time going on a missions trip. I had no idea what to expect. I had heard from other people what to expect, but I was just crazy nervous because I had no idea what could happen! What if I said something wrong, lost my train of thought or got separated from the rest of the team somehow?! What I realized when I actually got to Honduras is that God provides!!

Going the wrong way in one-way traffic or getting stuck in a ditch trying to go up a steep, slippery hill–these were just two examples of things not going as I expected! Even during our two days of VBS, when everyone seemed to be sick, God worked everything out for His good and 34 souls were saved!! I have learned on this trip to have a more firm trust in God and know that He will work everything out. “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28

Seth Schommer

On June 15th, I was given the opportunity to preach at La Paz Baptist Church. I preached from Luke 19:1-10. This is the story of Zacchaeus. My main points were Jesus wanted the one no one else wanted; Jesus wanted him to come as he was; and the love of Jesus changed him. I always try to give applications in my sermons. When people leave the service, I want them to be able to get at least one thing that they can apply to their life from God’s Word. The application for this sermon was if you are not saved Jesus wants you; He wants you to come as you are; and His love will change you. If you are saved you need to show compassion on the people no one wants and evangelize them; to accept them as they are as Christ would (this does NOT mean that we agree or approve of their current sin, it simply means that we have compassion and share the Gospel with them regardless of their current state); and that the love of Jesus will change them.

Later the following week, the team went to the town of Pespire. We split up into teams and walked down the streets handing out gospel tracts. I passed a bar and there was a man standing outside of it. God said “Although on earth many people do not like that man, I love him.” So I walked up to him and gave him a tract and asked him if I could give the other two men tracts. He readily accepted the tract and said it was fine to give the other two men tracts. They also readily and graciously accepted tracts. These are people that I might normally avoid. God said “I love them and you need to also.” A few minutes later I saw a cross-dressing man on the corner. Our group had 3 young ladies and 2 young men in it. God tugged on my heart as if He were saying “I know the young ladies will show My compassion to that person, but YOU need to show him that MEN love Jesus, and that Jesus loves him!” The whole LGBT movement has really angered me in that it tries to redefine marriage, something that God has ordained between a man and a woman. I have a special distaste for this sin. It is repulsive to God, however it does NOT mean that God does not love them. It does NOT mean that God cannot forgive them. And it does NOT mean that we are not to show them the love of Christ and tell them that He died for their sins. So I gave him a gospel tract and invited him to church. God worked on my heart through the message that I preached. God made sure that I “practiced what I preached.” Will you love others like Christ loves?

Matt Hicks

Before I even knew about the Honduras YOM missions team, God had already been working on my life. He guided me to the right major, and He had given me a burden for a Spanish speaking country–I just wasn’t sure which one yet…..

Soon, God led me to sign up for a missions trip. I honestly wanted to sign up for one that I could easily provide the money by myself. God had other plans and worked around the cost. I signed up for the Honduras YOM missions trip and the following day I was interviewed and then accepted on the team!

As I was raising my support, I still ended up being short $200! Yikes! That’s a lot of money for a college student! I prayed about it, and asked others to pray for my trip as well. Things seemed to not be going anywhere. Honestly, I was getting a little anxious. But while prayers were going up, God was silently working on someone’s heart. A truly anonymous person donated down to the dollar, the amount that I needed for the trip! Praise the Lord!

While I was on the mission field for those two weeks, God opened my eyes to something……He gave me a burden for the people of Honduras! Now I know that God wants me in Honduras as a missionary one day, but I’m still praying about which ministry to join. Please continue to pray for me as well! Thank you so much to those who gave to and especially prayed for my trip! I will never forget what happened on these two weeks in Honduras!

Suzy Heaton

The two weeks in Honduras were amazing! This is my first actual missions trip and it was so cool to see what God can do in two weeks. It is definitely humbling to see how the people live here in Honduras compared to how well we live in our comforts in the US. It definitely teaches me to be thankful for what I have!

The Lord opened up my eyes for the need to have people be evangelized and hear the gospel. Because I am very introverted I didn’t really share very often, but by being in Honduras it definitely got me out of my comfort zone and has shown me that I can share the gospel with people. The Lord is not specifically calling me to missions, but after this trip and seeing what happens in missions first hand, I can definitely support missions!

John Christiansen

How to even start! I wasn’t looking for God to change me when I went on this mission trip to Honduras. I was going to be a blessing to the people and the Missionaries (the Hodges), but God had so much more in store for me! The first night in Honduras I was scared and a little overwhelmed with everything that was going on. I was looking at all my shortcoming, failures and faults and saying, “God can’t use me.” That night, when in prayer, I felt God whisper, “I’m so much bigger than that. Why won’t you let Me use you?”

God didn’t need me to be “enough”; He just needed a willing vessel! God was able to show me how much bigger He is than all of my shortcomings! It blows my mind that God would use me. Will you let God use you?

Hannah Carter

I have thoroughly enjoyed this years’ mission trip to Honduras! God never ceases to amaze me! Every year (this is my third year in a row!!) I wonder how God is going to fit all the pieces together and let me go again, and every year He blows my mind by doing just that! A team member asked me on the last night of our trip, “What has been your favorite part of the trip?” I replied this year the same way I have for the past two years, “Every part!” I can’t pick just one thing as my favorite. From the Hodges’ ministry, to getting the gospel to the public schools, to fellowshipping with the nationals……every part has been my favorite.

This year God specifically increased my burden to be a light for Him. This thought came through our team leader, Mr. Houk, and his very first devotional of the two weeks, on our first night in Honduras. Later, while on a van ride one night with our team, coming back from Tegucigalpa, I looked out the window of the van and saw thousands of lights covering the mountains around the city. A thought occurred to me during that time. My thought was, if every light represents a house, how many people are in one house? And then how many people are represented by those lights? Thousands of lights representing homes with even more thousands of people whom probably have never seen or heard the Gospel Light of Jesus! It strongly convicted me that I need to be doing everything I can to reach those people for Christ. This world is full of darkness. God has called me to show His light to the people of Honduras, and I am so excited to be able to do so! Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everyone of you that have prayed and supported me and my other team members on our trip to Honduras this summer.

Sarah Belcher

This year the Lord had us go to Honduras with none of our children as part of our team. We missed all four of our girls, but the Lord is faithful in taking care of all of us while we are apart.

We are thankful that the Lord continues to use the Hodges and their ministry to reach boys and girls and men and women with the gospel of Christ here in Honduras. We are also thankful that the Lord has allowed us to bring these young people to see what the Lord can do through a family that has given themselves to Christ and His work. Our team did a good job of helping and learning and ministering. There was a good spirit of unity and willingness to help.

Several team members feel that the Lord is calling them into missions and many will be faithful supporters of missions even if the Lord doesn’t call them specifically to the mission field. My favorite part this year was the “Mission Minute” that Brother Sam shared in the evenings to the team. Sam certainly has a heart for missions and for seeing the Lord work in young people’s lives. Please pray with us that the Lord would have His will done in regards to a trip next year.

Thank you to the scores and scores of people that sacrificed financially so that the team members could go to Honduras and thank you to the many people that lifted us up in prayer daily while we were gone on our trip. I am truly amazed by the many people whom tell us “we prayed for you.” You will be able to reap the eternal benefits from the things that the Lord accomplished on this 2017 Honduras trip. To God be the Glory, Great things He hath done!!

Mr. and Mrs. Houk