ONE FINAL POST

Check out the YouTube video. Thank you Laurie Stock for your creative contribution

THE FINISHED PRODUCT

We did it!!!! Thank you Lord for great weather! Thank you team for a great effort! Thank you last minute volunteers! Thank you Susan for allowing us the privilege of ministering to you and your family!

Enjoy the final pictures!



Quite a difference

ANOTHER GREAT DAY FOR OUR PAINT MINISTRY

Today's blog is a collection of thoughts from a few of our team members:

My first reaction to the cancellation was one of huge disappointment and feeling emotionally spent as if we had just returned from a week long trip.  After a good cry (pouting is alive and well) I began to realize a sense of "peace that passes all understanding" and a sense of relief that a decision was made.  God always answers prayers, sometimes not how we expect or want but always in the best way.  Each previous brigade "flexibility" was the word of the day for a successful and fulfilling mission.  By Saturday afternoon I was looking forward to "Plan B" with great anticipation.  What a wonderful opportunity to serve right here in Cary!!! 
 
I so appreciate all the effort Pastor Don and Jeff Johnson along with the leadership at WGO put into overseeing the situation in Honduras and seeking God's direction in this.  Thank you. Diane Billing

This is the second time I've felt God calling me to serve and then when I think I know how and for what the situation changes. I think these situations have taken all levels of control away from me and has helped me to learn to submit and be patient. Another answer to prayer . So, answer to prayer has come for the team and for me too. It is exciting to see what God has in store for all of us and how He will use each of us to glorify His name. Paula Polston

Here's where I am. I was supposed to be in Honduras right now. We were set to leave early Saturday morning and serve for the week. I spent Thursday getting ready and Friday morning packing. I was ready to go. Eight hours before I'm supposed to leave for the church, I check my e-mail and find out the trip has been cancelled. It hadn't felt like I was really going, until I had started packing. At that point I was ready to be there, I was ready to go. And I was definitely questioning why wait so long? If God was going to call off the trip, why couldn't He have made it clear earlier in the week, before the preparations? Why wait until right before we leave? I'm up, I'm down, I'm jerked around, and left feeling more confused than ever, and admittedly a little disappointed...or maybe a lot.
Do I understand how God is working things...no. Not at all. But I know He is, and I know He has His reasons for everything. I may not like them, they may frustrate and confound me. They may hurt...a lot. I've been emotionally and mentally pulled in a lot of directions over the past month, and I doubt it's over. There have been days where I want to curl up in a ball and shut out the rest of the world. There are days when I practically have. Plans fall through, responsibilities get shuffled, added on, changed. Concerns mount. All I know is God is there, He has a plan, and all I'm asked to do is trust Him and take it one step at a time. But that doesn't stop my from praying that this portion of the rollercoaster is almost over. Bethany Tollberg

JOIN US IN PRAYING FOR HONDURAS

It's not Honduras, but it is ministry just the same and what a day of ministry it was. We began our day with a reminder from God's Word as to why we were in Cary, IL and not in Honduras. "Man plans his ways but the Lord directs his steps" Proverbs 16:9 Even the Apostle Paul made plans to bring the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Spain but never made it any further west than Rome.

As you can see from the picture above we had a great work crew show up to paint the home of one of our single moms and it blessed our socks off. God gave us great weather and a great team and the end result was most of the paint ended up on the house and God's joy filled our hearts.

Enjoy some more of the pictures and remember that Tuesday is a national day of prayer in Honduras and we are calling all believers everywhere to join us asking God to intervene on behalf of the Honduras people.

NEW PRESIDENT CALLS FOR DAY OF PRAYER

The following note was sent from some missionary friends in Honduras:

"The new president of Honduras has called for a national day of prayer on Tuesday July 28th. From our understanding this is the first time that a Honduran president has done such a thing. Meanwhile , we have now donated the first 1000 copies of our discipleship booklet (Primeros Pasos/First Steps) for distribution amongst the military and police force across the nation. Our friends usually hold church services at the various military bases, but recently have been holding some of these services at the Presidential Palace and the National Congress, where many of the men are currently stationed. We rejoice for these opportunities for the gospel.

Thank you to all who have been praying for Honduras. Please continue to do so. We especially ask that you would join with the millions of Hondurans who will be specifically praying for their nation on Tuesday."

WOW!!! How do put into words what we have seen transpire over the past 72 hours? Ever since Mel Zelaya was removed from office, we have agonized over whether our team should go to Honduras or not. 72 hours ago we decided to commit to going unless God clearly closed the door. 24 hours ago we began wondering what door we should be looking at. The most obvious one was the closing of the airport in Teguc. But we began wondering if there was another door we should be looking at.

As we went to bed Thursday night Mel Zelaya and an entourage of supporters and journalists had made their way up to the Honduran Nicaraguan border. What would he do Friday morning? Or Friday afternoon? Or Saturday morning?

As we all watched and wondered, there were two discussions taking place, one at the mission house of World Gospel Outreach in Tegucigalpa, Honduras and the other by phone between two offices in Cary, IL. As Jeff Johnson and I assessed the situation, we came to the conclusion that it just didn't make sense to take the team into the midst of a political unknown. Though we knew Honduras well, something was different, something just didn't seem right. We didn't know what conclusion the leadership of WGO would come to but as hard as it was for us to make the decision, we felt God was saying "Don't go"

I was scheduled to receive a phone from Honduras at 2 pm our time. But shortly before 1 pm my cell phone rang and caller id announced that World Gospel Outreach was on the line. I wondered what they would say. Much to my delight as I listened to the first few sentence from Mike Ferguson, I realized that what God had confirmed in our hearts in Cary, IL he had also confirmed in the hearts of the WGO leadership. There was the door!! It was a closed airport or canceled flights. It was God speaking through His servants and bringing them to one mind and one spirit.

The last thing we wanted was for the trip to be canceled. But the first thing we wanted was for us to do what God wanted us to do. It took us all the way to the last day to know what that was, but God was right on time.

I must confess that it is a whole lot easier when God is early, but what's the adventure in that!

Since our Plan A got canceled, we moving ahead on Plan B which is to help a single mom with five children repaint the outside of her house. Hey, if we can't serve in Honduras, we can serve here. After all, that is one of the goals of each mission trip, equip to serve back home.

Keep praying for the people of Honduras, the ministry of World Gospel Outreach and our team as we serve next week. Hey for much of the world, Cary, IL is a foreign country!!

ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, GO??????

I feel emotionally exhausted and we haven't even left yet and only God knows if we will. It is Wednesday night, July 22 and the team is suppose to fly out of Chicago to Tegucigalpa via Houston early Saturday morning July 25. Whether that happens or not is totally up to God.

As many of you know, Honduras has been the focal point of political unrest since June 28 and that has created no shortage of questions, concerns and uncertainties about the viability of our trip. We have been preparing for this for many months and to have everything thrown up for grabs over the past three weeks has not been fun.

But long before we even knew who might be going, God knew all about the political challenges that Honduras would face and He is using the affairs of state even now to accomplish His will. So since He knows what He is doing, we are trusting in Him.

So here is our plan. We will pack as if we are going. We will pray as if we are going. We will plan for the week as if we are going. We will get excited as if we are going. Then we will leave the rest up to God.

If you want learn more about what we will be doing over the next week, check out this link.

http://www.wgoreach.org/WGO_REACH.swf