Noah, age 13

I can’t even begin to explain the power I felt when we entered the church that Sunday. Those who were with me know what we felt. The power of the Holy Spirit was so incredible, it’s like something I’m not sure I’ll ever feel again. But I so want to feel it again.

On our fourth day in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, we had the honor of joining our new friends at their church service. We arrived by bus to a line of welcoming people. They were dressed in their absolute best clothes. We were underdressed in our nicest outfits we brought from home. They shook our hands, hugged us, and welcomed the foreign travellers to their sacred place.

It wasn’t the first time we’d been there. In fact, it was our third day in this place. Previous days we had been entertaining and teaching the children at vacation bible schools, learning masonry as we built walls for a new classroom, and speaking and fellowshipping with the women at a special lunch. The days prior this crude space was transformed by whatever activity we were hosting. But today, they transformed it into a Holy place. One filled will love, hope, and incredible Spirit.

When we entered the service the congregation was singing. The words, in Spanish, were completely foreign to us (no pun intended), but we were captured by them instantly. The worship music was powerful, and coming from just a couple of musicians on stage. The crowd was not just singing, but truly WORSHIPPING the Lord. Hands raised, voices loud, and hearts open. It was impossible not to catch the spirit in the room and become transformed by it.

The service following including dancing from some of the young girls, a very entertaining sermon by our own Pastor (through a translator), and our own VBS dance team performing. I didn’t once feel the heat and humidity, notice that I was standing in dirt, or sitting on a plastic chair. I never took my eyes off the stage, and I never felt my heart more full.

At the end of the service, our Pastor asked all 31 of us to come to the front. He announced to the congregation that we were here to pray for them. And that anyone wanting prayer was welcome to come up to one of us. We had prepared for this moment by learning a little bit about being comfortable praying for people. But certainly we hadn’t learned Spanish. But it didn’t matter. Immediately, a young woman came up to me. I said, “como se llama” (what is your name?) and from there I just prayed. She didn’t need to tell me what she needed prayer for, because God already knew. She just needed someone to lay hands on her and call out to God for her. One after the other women came to me. Some smiling, some in tears, and some in pain. And the whole time I was incredibly humbled to have God use me in this way.

After the service, we said our goodbyes and spent the rest of the afternoon at a tourist shopping destination. It was a great day of rest after several hard days of work, and a wonderful time to spend with our team. During our conversations, everyone spoke about the power of the service we attended. We all felt it.

It wasn’t until the next day that I heard someone on our bus say, “Did you see the picture of Noah and the man with the blue shirt?” I stopped and said, “Did you just say, ‘The man with the blue shirt’?” And then I remembered. During an exercise in prayer before we left for our trip, we wrote down images and words that we felt God was sharing with us. Things he was revealing to us about our trip. And on my list was: “Blue shirt man”.

The photo, included in this blog, is of my 13-year-old son, Noah, praying over this ‘blue shirt man’. He was standing right next to me during the entire prayer time but I was so focused on my prayer I never noticed. This photo became the favorite of the whole group. And it shows how much the Holy Spirit filled all of us that day. Even my 13-year-old son.

If you haven’t already, please read my first Honduras blog, “Broken Heart” to see my list in its entirety. My hope is to blog about each item on that list, because each one had significance during this life changing trip. Proving that God did, in fact, reveal to me what I would experience. I hope you’ll join me as I continue to share my journey.

The multipurpose church building