By Karen Wong

Written by Karen Wong, a vocalist from the team. I like it so much I'm reposting it here....

"it's been two weeks. suburbia has once again settled under my skin, the language that we speak of convenience does not need translation. but not everything is the same. and as i sit here sipping honduran coffee in an air-conditioned room reunited with my laptop i wonder exactly how i can write about the six weeks i spent with twelve amazing people, the four weeks of life that passed by in a drastically different environment.

should i tell you about mauricio, the national director of youth for christ in honduras, a man who lives and breathes a life of faith that many of us only read about, a man who was told over ten years ago that he only had ten months to live, and still tells that tale today, of a grace that offers more than eternal life? or about gabriella, a five-year-old girl living in a government center, her knees disproportionately shaped so that they cannot support her weight, a child who scooted her way across the center's floor to find her way into my arms and into my heart, a small soul just looking for love? what about the story of dorian, a man who passed by a concert seemingly by coincidence, broken and on his knees before His Creator, renewed by a love too deep for us to fathom, or the story of an orphan who found His Father in an unscheduled concert, a chain of events that could only have been orchestrated by One who knows all?
i cannot separate the story of honduras from the story of its people, a people loved by the same God who loves us. the God who moves in honduras is the same God here, and while it sounds obvious when written down, it's a powerful realization.

God is real. God is REAL. His love is deeper than the ocean más profundo que la mar and stretches farther than the sky, it endures and it endures. His presence is revealed when He parts the clouds to allow our concerts, when He restores electricity where we expect none, when our overweight and oversized equipment gets checked at the airport without comment. He teaches us to trust when half our equipment doesn't arrive with us in honduras, when we travel in hard weather on difficult terrain, when flying back to the states is delayed and uncertain. He grows us in the hard times, when we see death before our eyes and poverty within the reach of fingertips, when we suffer from stomach pains and heartache, relationships and discomfort. And He blesses us beyond imagination, with the people we learn to love, people with differences in behavior, culture, viewpoints, people who challenge us to grow, who share a part of their lives with us.

there is so much more that i could say, so many stories i could share, of hard times and good times and fun times, of ridiculous people doing ridiculous things, so many things i could tell you about the culture, about the country, about things i learned about myself and things that i learned from others. but those things pale in comparison to the revealing of God's glory and the work of His kingdom. i've seen the works of Our God, and He reigns, forever and ever."

More stories

Packing day was stressful for me. I couldn't get stuff where it needed to fit. I couldn't get weights right. Everyone on my team wanted me to do something different, and half the stuff I didn't know how to do. I got a letter from a friend which helped a lot, but mostly that day wasn't good. I ended up knowning most of the weights of things from memory. The next morning it was kinda my job to send equiment to the counter as it was gonna get checked in. I was watching the equipment, the scale, the ticket counter, and praying like I've never prayed before that ALL the equipment we needed would go. The weights I saw were correct. Which meant our 51 lb JBLs would be in trouble. Chris tried a JBL on the scale out front, it read 50. then 50.5. Woo, that was some hope. God didn't stop there, when it came time for the JBLs (which weigh the SAME amount) the first was 49.5 lbs! The second one is what make me know it was a miracle. The second weighed 48 lbs. The two were within half a pound of each other the day before. There's no reason to have that big a difference. Coming home they both weighed 50.5 lbs. When we got to Honduras God kept teaching me how to constantly be in prayer. We had to check all our equipment before leaving customs. THe first 13 bags checked out 100% fine. The next 10 bags.... didn't even show up. They were still in the US. I just had to walk away and go pray. At first I was feeling useless (without my equipment I didn't have a job). But God worked me through that to a point where I could start making contingency plans and get what we had working somehow. God is good, and God provides (thank you Joe).

Thanks

How do I sum up these 6 weeks in a short letter/post? It takes me over 3 hours to talk through just my pictures and videos (all 1948 of them). How do I explain all I have seen and done without being able to include so many pictures? Let me start by saying THANK YOU. This remarkable experience would not have been possible without you. Your financial support and/or prayers are what helped to make this trip as great as it was.
Let me start with some numbers. We played 50 concerts over 27 days of concerts, plus 3 days of travel. Our largest single crowd was about 1000 kida from a HS and our smallest was somewhere around 10. I climbed a 15-20 ft waterfall straight up a tree root. On the last day I traveled about 60 mph in the back of a pickup holding our equipment in with my body weight.
The physical beauty of the country and the hospitality of the people astonished me. If you get a chance, visit Honduras. You will love it. The mountains are a lush mix of normal forest (pines, squirells, deer) and jungle (ferns, lemurs, monkies). Every day I was amazed by God's creation. He really did do an amazing job.
Through both miracles and our day to day life God showed me how to grow deeper in prayer and my trust for Him. When I say miracles I mean things I have no physical explanation for. Equipment weighing different things as we check in, running out of gas in a school bus on a mountain and coasting right up TO the pump at a gas station over a mile away, or electrical circuits that seem to magically gain and lose power.
I will close with one story from the trip. We were to play at a university one night. As we rolled up in the bus it was raining pretty hard. Our contact from the school jumped in and asked if we were ready to set up. I explained the equipment could not go outside. He said we should pray about it. After praying he made a comment about faith including actions, and we should set up to show we will be faithful. Again I explained the equipment could NOT go out unless the rain lessened quite a bit. As we walked around outside the bus to look around, the rain slowed enough to get the equipment out. Then it stopped so we could set up. It misted once or twice more, but nothing that worried me. Afterwards we tore down and then met Dorian. Dorian was this large man we saw after the concert, standing where we had done the concert, utterly weeping. He dad had recently died, he had a bad hernia, his family was far away in Nicaragua, and he couldn't find work. His tears were because he realized how far he had fallen away from God; how much he wanted God in his life again. He gave his life to God again during a very moving time of prayer. Even if he was the only person we reached on the trip, it would have been worth it.
PLEASE contact me to hear more stories/answer questions/ask for photos. ewbaum@wm.edu (please also identify who you are when you do I get a lot of spam).
Peace, grace, and love to you all,
Ed
Psalm 84

Back in the US of A

Hey Guys,
While I am not as extremely overjoyed to be out of Honduras like a lot of my team, it is good to be back where we have real orange juice (that tang stuff almost killed me). Reports and such will come in time, I do not have much access to internet and need to figure out who gets what reports. My body is not 100%, I have yet to see how much weight I lost, and I am beat. But I look forward to talking to you all.
Peace,
Ed

Back in the States

The HONDURAS team ran into some transportation difficulties on the ground and was unable to make it to the airport in time for their flight yesterday. The airline accommodated them however and they all arrived safely in Houston earlier this evening en route to Minnesota. Everyone is mostly healthy. Unfortunately, they'll miss the public debriefing activities and their final concert. Please pray for them as they'll be bringing closure to their time during their short stay at the hotel in Minneapolis before they head home on Thursday.

A Post Card from Honduras

Hola!
We've played concerts all over. In schools, churches, basketball courts, etc. – seventeen in the last eight days. My health has been mostly good. The food and my stomach have been at odds recently, but oh well. I have had to fix my camera, speaker handles, snake, and a power supply.

God has done some interesting miracles so far for us. Getting all the stuff here was big enough. Our days are really busy, then calm for a few hours. I get at least 8 hours of sleep a night. The exchange rate is 19 to 1 lempiras to the dollar. Yet the prices in places are about 19 times more. So it's all the same. Pizza Hut here is a four star sit-down restaurant. Nicer than the U.S.

Pray for our health.

Peace & Grace to you,
Ed

July 9, 2007
Ed's team leader called their office to report that things are going very well for the team.

The team has moved from the urban setting of San Pedro Sula out to a camp that YFC runs in the western state of Copan. They've been based there for a week now and will spend almost all of their remaining time there, doing outreaches in the schools and churches in Copan and nearby areas. The team is able to present their testimonies in the schools, and YFC presents the Gospel.

God is continuing to reveal Himself to the team. They also report that it is cooler in Copan than it was in San Pedro Sula.

A recent favorite memory for the team was the 4th of July. The YFC staff presented them with a cake that featured an American flag, and they lit off fireworks from the mountain that evening. That really made the team feel "at home" on an American holiday.

They ask for your continued prayers for health, strength, unity and for God to move among the people they are given an opportunity to minister to.

The team does not have access to the internet in Copan, so they can't pass along messages from each team member.

There may be one more update before they come home.

News as of July 2

Hooray! The Honduras team has reported in. It's been a long wait, and this is actually not a lot of news, but if you want to watch for more or see what the rest of the team members have to say, check out this web site and click on the Honduras team http://www.ctimusic.org/public/STM_07/summer_2007.htm. I'm sure Ed will fill in with a lot more when he gets back. And please, continue to pray.

From Ed:

Hola Amigos. It´s hard to write down a summary of everything. The short story is that I am learning a lot first hand about who God is and all his power. The concerts are good too. I will close with Psalm 84 (read it).


And from the team leaders:

July 2, 2007

Hello wonderful people!

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. Our team is definitely seeing the hand of God move powerfully here in Honduras. The testimonies that have been shared have been so anointed and the concerts have been very divine.

We as a team are doing great. Some of us are having some stomach problems, so please lift that up in your prayers. Praise the Lord that no one is extremely sick.

The Youth for Christ staff have welcomed us with such warm and open arms. We are being treated very well. We are so excited to see more of Jesus in our lives and the lives of the people in Honduras.

Please continue to pray that we as a team would humble ourselves, develop servant-hood attitudes, and love one another more. Glory to God! =)