What's going on, everybody?

Today we are continuing on with our.

Our Honduras mission team.

We're gonna have four different people this time, which is gonna be exciting and fun, starting with Ms. Lamar here.

And we.

We're gonna ask some.

Some questions.

We're gonna do a group conversation here in a little bit when the rest arrive.

Sorry for the weirdness.

I don't have headphones on right now, which is throwing me off because I'm used to hearing myself in my head, so that'll be a little different, but we'll work with it.

Appreciate all of the rolling with the craziness over the last couple of weeks, and I look forward to hearing what everybody's got to say today.

So, Ms. Lamar, tell me a little bit about yourself.

Tell everybody a little bit about yourself in relation to, you know, how did you get hooked up with Rise?

A little bit about you before you went on the mission trip?

Okay.

I started in 2022, August 2022.

I do live out of the county, about 30 minutes away.

I got involved that way, and I started coming to Bible study on Thursdays, which I love.

Met some great people in there, and I involved in other little things that were going on in the church.

And April last year, they said they had Honduras, and something just said, you know, you gotta sign up.

And I did, because I felt like I was too old to go because I was having so many problems with my legs, and I just couldn't really stand for long or walk for long periods of time where, you know, a couple years ago, I could do the five miles real quick.

Yeah.

So that's what.

And I really didn't know if I could, but I signed up and that's how it started.

Very cool.

Very cool.

When did you join the church?

Well, I actually started coming on 2022.

August 2022.

Okay.

Yeah.

So a couple years.

A couple years.

Yeah.

And I got baptized, I think about eight months later.

Yeah.

I'm not sure.

But, you know, I did get baptized, and.

Very cool.

That was cool.

Yeah.

So going into the trip, what was your biggest hurdle going into the trip before we went?

Just if I could do it physically.

Yeah.

Because I'm thinking I'm gonna go over there and help and I'm gonna do this for them.

But really, when it come down to it, it wasn't about that.

Boy, did Maria find out what it really was, you know, it was all about me.

Because I noticed that right away that God was focusing on me and what I was, the issues I had.

Yeah.

So, yes, it Was all about me and how I can better myself, you know, so it was the best trip I'd ever had, you know.

Yes, there was some inconvenience.

It's a big deal.

We have to deal with that.

Sure.

You know, the hot water was a big thing.

I didn't mind.

After you get used to it, you get used to it.

But I really never got used to it.

I didn't get used to it the second week, that's for sure.

But other than that, everybody was so nice.

And one of the things that really happened was to me was the fact that I had those moments after every day that we went out, came back and rested.

I would have.

Let's.

Like, it was like God was saying, okay, you're going to deal with this right now.

You know, after the girls left, or sometimes one of the girls would stay there and then I would start talking to her or ask her questions about certain things that I didn't really.

It didn't really come across to me.

Right.

And then we just talked and it was.

Those moments were important for me.

Heal.

To heal.

So.

And I had.

I had one every day that I went there.

And the most.

The most.

I can't say the most important.

Well, it is because after I gave that little thing at the church with the women.

Yeah.

I got off and I got.

Went to the side and we did a prayer.

Well, I had my eyes closed and everything.

I told no one because I don't believe myself.

I felt this hand like, you know, like this on my side.

And I'm going, it's got to be God.

He's telling me, I got you.

So that was.

I don't know what day that was on Wednesday or Thursday.

But you know what?

That stayed with me even now when something happened.

And the same thing.

I don't know what it was, but it was like right here.

And I'm going, that's your imagination.

You can't be.

You know, But I feel it's more than that.

You know, I think it's more than that.

I think it is.

And I thought, I gotta tell somebody, because then.

But then, you know how you people say she's just nuts, you know, she's just imagining all that.

But because people do people judge you by what you say?

Sure.

You know, And I don't.

I don't present myself in any certain way.

I just want you to treat me right and I treat you right.

That's it.

Right.

So to me, that's the most thing.

Because he did so many things for Me, that week.

I know people saw, but I saw, you know, and the other big thing that happened was that I got up there.

I've never, I've never been a speaker.

I've always been afraid talk, you know, but the Lord got me because I got a.

Somebody told me my, my little run was 14 minutes.

Now Maria has never, never stood up, you know, I never say nothing when I talk.

I'm just like, quick, let's get this over with, you know.

No, I couldn't believe I stayed up that long, you know, so.

Yes, there were so many things.

The worst thing, I don't, I use the words wrong sometimes, but me too.

That's like people's biggest criticism of me, so.

And one of the things that I didn't like about Honduras is the fact that they don't take care of their people.

Those children, those, those 12 year olds.

And you're talking like the country, like.

Yeah, I'm talking the country, yes.

Because the community, the church that is there, they're doing whatever they can to help them.

And I think that's the best thing that they can do because I mean, those are babies, they don't know nothing yet a thing.

And then to go leave sixth grade and then what?

Mom and dad can't encourage them because there's nowhere for them to go without an education.

So that's the biggest downfall of that country, you know, to me.

Yeah.

So anyway, that's where the need is.

And of course, you know, the animals are also one of those big things.

I just, I really would like to have the opportunity to go there and actually stay there in their community and try to help.

I mean, I know I'm old, but hey, I can do whatever.

I mean, my brain still can think, so I'd like to do that some sort of way.

I don't know.

Well, I mean, if you're real serious about it, I'm sure we can make that happen, you know, And I feel.

Like English is an important language for them.

Hey, I mean, I'm not a. I'm not perfect in English, but I can get you around in English, you know, so that was one of the things I thought, well, maybe I could help with English or they could help me with Spanish because that was the other miracle.

I spoke in Spanish while I was there, which I've never had to do, you know, and to actually talk 14 minutes in Spanish to me, that was a lot.

That was a lot for me.

That'd be insane.

I'll speak the lick of it.

But yeah, so But I love the trip.

The women were just wonderful.

I mean, you know, the men were on their little section.

We were all here, you know, so, you know, the women always click, you know.

I'll tell you, the men did too, on this trip.

And I said it last episode.

But, like, it felt like.

And I mean, it felt like we had lived together for forever.

For us, like, it just felt like we moved around each other and we.

We did things for that week that.

Just as though it was just every day.

Like, it was just natural, which was mind blowing to me because we had a lot of strong personalities, as I mentioned last episode as well.

Like, we had a lot of strong personalities.

And so for that to be.

To just feel natural to.

I mean, obviously there's some conflict that happens.

Whoever you live with in regular, you know, and you're regular every day.

But, like, for us to just be there and just be as one was really mind blowing for me.

Like, that we could just operate as.

A unit, you know.

The good thing about the trip also was the fact that no tv, no other noise, everything was left here, you know, So I didn't have the distractions I have here, you know, and so that really made a difference too, because it kind of just clears your mind when you're there and you really don't.

I mean, who do, you know?

Nobody but the people you're with, you know, and that really helped because they were of the same mind as we were.

Yeah, we all have different personalities, but we were all thinking the same thing, you know, we're here for this and this is what we're gonna do, you know.

So, yeah, that was.

That was the best thing, you know, I got home and I didn't bother with the tv, you know, that's not important.

No, more like I was.

Because there I was with a group of people.

We were active every day at home.

It's just me and the husband.

You know, we go outside, we do a little garden.

That's it, you know.

So really I don't have an active life, but, yeah, that made a difference.

And I just want to stay active with that sort of volunteer, whether it's here in the States or wherever.

I want to do something and I want to do something for the kids, you know, so.

Yeah, anyway.

Well.

And I know you weren't at our first debrief meeting.

We'll have more of them, but one of the things that Kevin had talked about wanting to do was start like a ministry that goes out to maybe the flea markets and talks with them.

And just loves on them and asks questions, build relationships, that sort of thing.

So I know that's one thing that's kind of similar something that we did there that I know he was wanting to start and there was something else, but I don't remember what it is off the top of my head.

You can go back to last episode.

He talked about it, I think last episode.

But anything that you'd like to maybe put on the books, be thinking about, definitely bring up on our next meeting because that's something that you can leave it open.

That's fine.

Got one more.

But you can bring to that because I'm.

I'm curious as to what we can do in the community here that is equivalent to, you know, what they're doing there.

I mean, I'd love to be able to go in and just walk alongside people who are doing life, you know, not far from us.

You know, maybe it's the homeless, maybe, you know, something like that, that, that they just need a little bit of love, you know, and you start there, but think of things.

Definitely bring them up.

All ears.

I'm all ears.

I know Kevin's like non to get going, you know, so.

But yeah, so, okay, let's see.

What would you say to those who.

Who are either on the fence about going on mission to.

On a mission trip or those who are like, absolutely not.

That's not something that I. I would.

Say if you're on the fence, just go.

Yeah, just put your feet down and go.

Because it's.

Yes, you may, you may help, they may remember you, but it's going to do a lot for your spirit.

It really is.

You just don't know.

It just got to have that open mind.

And the other ones.

Well, I pray for you that you do encourage yourself to go.

One of the things that I know that is often said is there's people who go and people that send, but I'm a firm believer that you should at least go once if you can, you know, Exactly.

It's important.

It was a very.

It was a long week, but it was a good week.

Being my age, I was tired because the heat was really hot for me.

And like I said, I was problems with the legs, but other than that, hey, it was nothing.

You know, to be kind to people is nothing.

And that was one of the things.

They were so kind, so humble, you know, they weren't.

You weren't a stranger to them, you know.

Right.

And it's just.

You don't find that here.

Yeah.

You know, people don't come up to you and just give you a hug, you know, it's like over there, they don't have, like, you over there, you.

When they see you, they don't.

They don't see you like high.

Well, how should I. I'll just use this example here in the States, you know, people walk around with high class.

Over here, you're here, and you're here.

Well, over there, they don't care.

You come in base, you're a base.

You know, they don't care.

And I want to do that when I walk in the church and greet everyone.

I want to be that base because I want them to accept me for who I am.

I don't have nothing.

I don't care what you have, what you don't have, you know, and they shouldn't either.

They shouldn't care what I.

Whatever I have, if I have anything, you know, but you know what I mean, it's just a base person.

And that's what we need to look at.

Yeah.

I grew up being told, like, the ground is level at the foot of the cross.

That's how they lived over there, at least in the church people.

And to some degree, everybody kind of lived that way.

I mean, the people that we interacted with, for the most part, I mean, I'm sure there's people that think they're better, you know.

Right, exactly.

But it was.

Everybody was really welcoming.

Good.

Which we need.

We need a lot of.

Yes.

What was your favorite food over there?

I don't know.

I thought basically I've ate all that food everywhere, you know, because that's who I am, you know, because at one point or another.

Yes.

I guess the.

What they call those enchiladas.

What they call enchiladas we call tostadas.

Right, right, right.

Yeah.

And picadillo is what we call what they put on top.

So I. I mean, I loved it.

That was.

Wasn't that the last meal they fed us?

I think so, yeah.

I really liked and like the little sauce they put on it, you know?

Yeah.

I mean, I like all foods.

There's none that I don't like.

Cool.

Well, do you have anything else you want to bring up, talk about, share?

I just thank the Lord, He.

He let me make it over there and I'm back and in recovery and hope to get back into, you know, the swing of things.

Whatever I can do for sure.

For sure.

Yeah.

Appreciate you.

Okay.

Taking some time out and hopping on and.

Well, I'm going to go home and take a painkiller all right.

It's good to see you.

This is the.

The intro section of this week's episode.

So welcome to the Truth response.

Ok.

I will pray.

Father God, I just want to thank you for another day, another for your wisdom and grace to be shared with us and through us, God, with anybody and everybody who's listening, and that includes those in this room.

God, I just thank you for the ladies that are sharing today.

I just pray that you continue to bless them and that the impact that you've had on their life will continue to glorify you, God.

And I just, I pray that the things we talk about and the way that we talk, Lord, today on the episode, I just pray that it is the direction you want us to go.

And I pray that whatever is said, the people who are listening and watching, they hear what you want them to hear.

God, it's in your precious and holy name I pray.

Amen.

All right.

Sorry I closed my eyes before I could realize that you wanted to.

That's Shaliza.

That has become my thing.

It has become her thing.

And it's kind of a forced thing, but I grew up doing it too, so it almost feels like, you know, like home.

So we got Shaliza and Maria and I'm Derek, by the way.

I didn't introduce myself at the beginning, but that's okay.

I introduced Lamar and she was the important one.

So I'm gonna.

Maria's been on here before, so I'm going to let Shaliza start and do.

Just tell us a little bit about, you know, when you started coming to the church and what led you up to deciding you wanted to go on the mission trip.

Okay.

Hi, my name is Shalisa and I'm in recovery for shame, fear, abuse, codependency, among many other things.

And the first Sunday I came to rise.

One of our former pastors, Will, got up and started his sermon.

Hi, my name is Will and I'm in recovery four, listing a number of things.

And I was like, that's it, Lord.

I found my church, I found my home.

They honesty, the vulnerability of the ministry here has been like nothing I've ever had before at another church.

And I admire it and appreciate it and very much enjoy it.

So I have been here for about three years, so I think that's when we did the Church Hurt series.

Sounds about right.

That's something like that.

But so in that time, I've kind of gotten to know more people.

Kind of worked my way in a little bit, but not really any hard Solid connections outside of my small women's life group.

And interestingly enough, I have been wanting to go on mission trips for years and years.

And my motivation always hasn't always been really what it should be.

It's been more of a, oh, cool, look what I get to do.

God's always been, no, thanks.

Really don't need that.

So this time, I really.

I was like, hmm, maybe.

And an interesting backstory to this was that I had been wanting to go to and been encouraged to go to this Christian retreat and was looking forward to it.

So I started talking to the people about it and went back and forth because I'm hearing impaired.

That was a problem because a number of the sessions they do, I would not be able to hear.

And finally they came back and said, we just can't make it work for you.

And that was hard.

That was revisiting a lot of hurt.

Too broken for this.

I can't do this.

And so next thing I hear is the church is doing a mission trip.

So I come to the informational meeting and listening to a story.

Somebody asks you a question about, oh, I have diabetes, or something like that.

Can I go?

And it was like the word of God speaking through you right then, because you said, my dad has taken blind people.

My dad can take anybody.

There is nothing stopping.

And that was it.

That was it.

I'm like, okay, God, that's my sign.

I'm not too broken for this.

And it's no looking back.

Yes.

It was amazing.

It was.

I still get chills thinking about that.

That was so closing one door, opening another, and it was amazing.

So for sure.

Let me adjust your mic real quick.

Do this.

Too far back.

I'm gonna do this because that way it'll catch all of it.

Oh.

Because I'm so.

Yeah, sorry.

No, that's good.

I like when people talk with each other.

I'm gonna do this for you just so that you can do the same thing.

It's good to turn and look at people, but the mic does have to catch you.

Sorry.

No, you're good.

You're good.

All right, cool.

So, Maria, what about you?

So I've been coming to Rise for about three and a half years, and I was actually invited by Derek.

I was volunteering at the food pantry where he was working, and he had asked me about church and invited me to come to church.

And I told him I was going to come, and I was slick, and I didn't come the first Sunday.

And he called me out when he saw me, very gently the following Wednesday when I saw him.

And then I ended up coming.

What brought me here was my husband had had a stroke, and he was my everything.

I wasn't following Christ then.

And so he was my provider, you know.

And so when the rug was taken out from underneath, I didn't know what I was going to do.

And so I had to drop to my knees and cry out to God.

And.

And he showed up.

And I felt a peace that my entire life, I have never, ever, ever felt the circumstances were going to get worse with the stroke, the losing the business and everything like that.

But there was a piece that I couldn't even grab onto.

I'm like, I. I need this.

I've gone all my life.

So that's.

This became home for me.

And he had mentioned about the missions trip, and I first actually I was doing a Bible study and Nick was running it.

And he had said there was a question, something about bucket list.

And I mentioned missions trip.

And he said, hold on to that.

I think that we may be doing.

You know.

So when Derek mentioned it, I started to backpedal a little bit.

I started getting nervous.

I'm like, oh, my goodness, this is real.

Like, I just spoke out and this is a reality.

And my thinking initially of mission strip was the physical aspect.

We were gonna go there and do something and make things easier for everyone.

And then upon joining the team and reading through the required information, then learned that there was much more than.

I mean, that was just something that could.

We may be doing something physical, but it was about relationship and fellowship and encouragement and all those things.

So.

Yeah.

And what a blessing.

Blessing that God hand picked this team.

Amen.

Yeah, I definitely solid agree with that.

Yeah, 100%.

Hi, Michelle.

Hi.

How are you?

Some of them, they were using the headphones, but it's causing feedback for me.

Yeah, you can use them or not.

It doesn't matter.

Whatever you prefer.

No, I like it when people use them because then they can hear what they're doing wrong.

Wrong this team.

So that everyone on there knows this is.

This is what I mean by doing something wrong this team.

So.

I know.

Anyways.

All right.

And Michelle just walked in, so I'll.

I'll let you jump in now.

Just tell us a little bit about, like, coming to this church to the point of mission trip.

And I know that you've been here a while, so, I mean, you don't have to give all it, but, like, what.

How long have you been here?

And then, you know, what.

What made you decide you wanted to go on the mission trip.

Well, I came to the church.

I want to say it's probably been at least seven, eight years ago.

@ the time, I was just in between churches and I just needed to be in church.

I was going to church, but staying home on Wednesdays kind of had one foot here, one foot there, and just this was my voting place.

And I said, well, I'm gonna go down there and see what this church is all about.

I need to be in a Bible study.

And so I just popped in one night and the people were so welcoming, as everybody knows we are.

And it just took on from there.

And then I had to make a decision.

Am I gonna, you know, couldn't be in two churches.

So I decided to just make this my home.

And as far as missions, when I got saved, I got saved on a pastor that was so mission minded.

And so I was used to being.

Doing street ministry.

I mean, being on the street in high crime areas, places you just wouldn't believe.

Mainly catering to the Haitian and Hispanic community out in Immokalee.

So he really ignited the fire for me about missions.

And we also did prison ministry out of hci, the Hendrick County Correctional when it was open.

So that's how I kind of had a little bit of insight into mission.

But I had never been on like a foreign mission, either long or short.

But I had always been involved with helping, like my son go to Guatemala and Jamaica.

You know, every year we had church plants down there.

And so the youth were going and adults were going.

But you mean, it costs money.

So it was more important at the time for him to go and experience it than it was for me.

So when the opportunity here came up, I was overjoyed.

But then, like, Maria was kind of saying, I kind of got a little nervous too.

This is not like being at home, you know?

Yeah.

And so, yeah, I just felt like the Lord was leading me to go, saying, okay, here's the opportunity.

Step up.

All right.

Yeah.

So still talking pre trip.

All right.

I don't want you guys to jump into trip yet.

All right, What.

What were expectations?

And this is.

Anybody can answer, you know, just.

But what were.

What were expectations?

What.

What were hurdles you thought might be really hard to, like, jump over?

I know one for me, for example, is all the really strong personalities that.

That we had going on the trip was like, I don't know how everybody's gonna work as one unit with this many strong personalities, you know?

So that is an example.

Like, what were some of the hurdles you Thought would be really hard to overcome or expectations for when we got down there.

You know, you keep saying strong personalities.

What's he talking about?

I am talking about myself.

Okay.

Yeah, they had an S on the end personality.

You know what really helped me, though, you know, was seeing when we.

When you arranged our first fundraiser, and I was sitting there thinking, we're going to raise money, we're going to raise money, going to raise money.

And you had said, this is team building.

I want to see how you guys work.

And I was blown away.

I didn't expect, like, it was going to fall apart or anything, but I figured that there were going to just be so much, some of bumping heads, and it just ran so smoothly.

And I don't know, that just gave me comfort knowing I figured that it was going to be like that part wasn't a concern just because what I witnessed here, and like you've said over and over, it was so fluid.

It's like if we've always lived in small quarters, there was.

I don't know, it was just.

It just ran so smoothly, all those people in the house and stuff like that.

So for me, I wasn't too concerned about the.

The people getting along because of what I was able to witness.

Sleeping, probably as I've gotten older, usually because I'm.

It's easier for me to sleep on the top bunk.

I usually get designated top bunk.

But it's getting harder the older that I get to get up and down.

Because it's one.

Once you go up there, it's for the night.

You don't go up there to sit and hang out and sit down.

Not according to your husband or Anthony, for that matter.

I think we're all about the same age, so.

Yeah, so it just.

It gets.

It gets harder.

And some of those, like, little slats of wood as we were climbing over.

But I don't know what.

As far as expectations, I didn't expect to be welcomed the way that we were.

I didn't expect to see that genuineness and that loving culture.

I didn't expect that.

Just so welcoming, even going to Ventico.

That was because we seem to be a little gun shy here.

And I didn't feel that there.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that was.

For me.

I would say I was a little leery with how it was so different than when we would do fundraising.

My previous experience.

And so I was like, oh, my gosh, what are they talking about?

How is this gonna work?

And I think I even said in one of the meetings that one of the highs and lows when you first had us doing that was that there's more ways to do, you know, a thing.

And so I had to come to.

Cause I was, like, really bummed about how we were.

I'm like, I think I wanted to do.

I mentioned doing the garage sale, and I was basing this all off of what I'd done in the past, you know, and it worked so well.

And you're like, no, no, we're gonna say that for the youth.

And I'm thinking, well, how are we gonna raise this money?

Cause I was like, maria, I'm thinking, you know, that's usually is what the focus is, you know, to raise money.

But then it was like, totally different.

The fundraiser and then you came up with the team building.

And then what really threw me was when we had to do the study.

Yeah, but it was the best thing.

It really was.

Because you do have in your mind that you're even, you know, we're going to help someone.

No, no.

I was so glad we did that.

It just changed my whole perspective how I was looking at things.

I was totally basing on what I had done previously.

We go out and we share the gospel and we feed them and give them clothes and all that stuff.

And so that was where my train of thought was going.

But it was totally different.

A totally different approach.

Yeah.

And the study.

The study she's referring to is called When Helping Hurts.

There's pros and cons to it, just like any study, really.

Any study.

But it does help with the mindset of going from, you know, giving a man a fish versus teaching a man to fish and that whole long term.

Helping long term, but in a way that actually helps long term.

You know what I mean?

So.

And I know you guys know what I mean.

So it's.

It's really a cool.

A cool book and a cool little study.

I don't remember what the red book was called exactly, but it's When Helping Hurts.

And it's got a red label on it.

That's the actual, like, workbook, study book thing that you can go through.

Definitely suggest it before going on any mission trips, that it'll just help your frame of mind get a little bit more in tune with where you're headed.

But, yeah, it brought home that we're not actually going to make a difference.

We're going to see what God's already doing and what we can be witness to and exposed to new ways of thinking, new ways of interacting with people where we're not so much we're up here and they're down here because we have more money or more things.

Stuff.

Right, right, right.

So my expectation, initially, part.

Part of it, and then I repented of this because there's things I've been praying over and in my life to be resolved.

And.

So in the back of my head, I'm like, okay, God, I'm going to go do this mission trip for you, and then you're going to grant me my wish, like the genie in the bottle sort of thing.

And God and I had a little chat about that one.

So we came to a good understanding that that's not how things work.

And so.

But so easily does that happen when.

In a lot of situations in life.

I mean, with my daughter and her sickness, I remember, like, all right, God, you know, like all of these things or when we moved down here, I was like, okay, God, I'm uprooting everything I've ever known, and I'm going to move 1400 miles away from any family.

You got to show up, you know, like.

But so easily do we go there.

So transactional.

Yeah, I'll do this for you, God.

So you do this right, so.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

But I think, like, with that study, it really helped us understand that we're going there to witness God's amazing work.

He doesn't need us.

He's allowing us to come along and work in his kingdom.

And so it was just a big priority shifting.

Cool.

So I went down early.

You all came together.

How was that flight?

I mean, I know some of you, maybe all of you have traveled to other countries.

I mean, so you've gone through customs and all that, but, like, now you're traveling in a group.

You know, some of you espouse, you know, like, what.

What.

What was that like?

Chaotic.

Yeah.

I say.

I was gonna say a breeze.

I didn't think.

I mean, it was a little confusion with the tags because it was under one name and all of that printed out.

Yeah.

But once we got past that and.

I found my comfort in the team, I didn't.

Yeah.

I didn't get.

There was always someone to be around, so I didn't have to worry.

Yeah.

And I kept saying, we don't have to worry.

There's somebody there.

There will be somebody right there.

And wasn't there.

There's always somebody right there.

Except for Lamar.

You remember that time they pulled Lamar's baggage?

Now, she was nervous to begin with, and we all got separated from her, and they ended up pulling her baggage.

And so she was trying to struggle to get her medicine out while holding up the line, and it was a real stressful start for her.

And meanwhile, we had gone down the terminal, not realizing she wasn't with us until it was too late.

And so we all have our own style of traveling, especially those of us who travel a lot.

And so having to be like, no, wait, we gotta stay in the group.

We need to stay together.

But, I mean, it was fine.

Just remembering.

Yeah.

Some people enter a gate shopped along the way.

At least Aetna did.

Oh, yeah.

So, yeah, it was.

Wasn't bad at all.

We were all there on before time.

We were way before time.

Y.

We definitely were.

So.

Yep, that's good.

That was something that made me nervous, but I was like, all right, God, it's on you.

If I don't have half my team, then that's because they're not supposed to be here.

So, yeah, I. I went down the night before to stay the night in Miami before the flight out.

And that was such a relief.

I'm so glad that I did.

So glad that I did.

But.

Yeah.

So, okay, so you guys get there.

What was your first impressions of Honduras?

For me, it was just another foreign country.

I. I mean, I didn't think I was going into, like, you know, a third world.

I didn't feel like that when I got there.

It was just.

I've just landed in another.

Another country.

The airport was nice.

I mean.

Yeah.

It was nothing to give me that caused me to be fearful or anxious.

Yeah.

No.

And then, you know, Peter, them showed up and your parents and.

Yeah, we were good.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I looked around a little bit just to make sure.

Just looking around, because there was that, you know, there's always got to be a man in the front man, you know, So I. I just always made sure that I was that fish that was kind of in the middle to.

Just to.

Because I didn't know how, you know, if anything was gonna go down.

But at no point did I feel, like, unsafe.

Right.

But I was just cautious because of what had been said before, just to be aware, and so.

And having my husband there, you know, gave me peace, too.

Sure.

So.

And he took his role very seriously.

He was always there to make sure to help the ladies in and out of the vehicle.

That was lovely.

I didn't think that he was going to go on this trip, and that was a beautiful surprise.

So.

Yeah, for all of us, honestly, like, I. I was blown away by the amount that he was allowing himself to be stretched on this trip.

So, yeah, it was good.

It was.

Was really good.

You guys got to see more than.

Than I get to see.

Yeah, yeah.

That's why I made sure, like, I didn't always.

Because we're always together.

And so when he was with the guys, it's like, go and.

Well, he's not a heavy talker, you know that.

But he did talk sufficiently more than even.

Even when we play D and D on the weekends.

Like, he talked a lot more than that.

Yeah.

Stayed up till 2 or 3 o' clock in the morning every morning and corrected too.

This was like at the.

We were like at the airport going home, and I got frustrated about something and the quietest person in the group, Dave, he said to me, gave me his perspective on what I was a little frustrated about.

And so I listened, but I didn't say anything.

And I thought about it and I walked back over to him and I apologized.

I shouldn't have been completely complaining.

He was like, no, no, it was like nothing.

And I was like the quietest person in the group.

But yeah.

Yeah.

And it did it in a way that was loving.

You know, I mean, matter of fact, we didn't try to make, you know, a big deal or anything.

He just said, well, you know, and he was right.

So it usually is.

Nope, it's in there.

Yeah.

I don't want.

I don't want him.

I don't want him saying here, hearing anything good I say about him because I give him a hard time.

I'm sure he doesn't listen to the podcast, but he may.

He might.

He started listening to.

Because I sent the one to our group, to the Honduras group.

And so he told me, because I started listening to it and I said, are you gonna go on there?

He goes, they don't want me on there.

Oh, I do.

I do want them on there.

I want everybody, if they're willing.

I want to get everybody.

Including Edna.

Yes.

When she gets back December 1st.

We miss you, Edna.

Yes, we do.

Oh, I just realized.

I know we were recording, but I just realized it was there.

Yeah, the video camera's right there.

You don't have to pay attention to it.

Oh, now I'll just.

Only talking to the camera.

Okay.

So we get there, you land, and the first thing we do is take you and feed you foreign food.

What was your thoughts on the food throughout the week?

Let's just start with that.

Like, I. I like the food, so that's why I want to bring it up.

I like the food too.

As most Of.

You know, I'm very strict about how I eat and what I eat, but I had mentally prepared and prayed and to just be open to eat the food, and I did.

And it was very tasty.

It was all really, really, really good.

The only thing I was afraid to try was the coffee, just for the strength of it and how.

What it would affect my stomach.

But I did have a caramel thing that was really good at one of the coffee places.

Yeah, you licked it clean.

She, like.

She, like, took the straw and made sure.

All the.

The jar, all the way food was all.

Was all very tasty.

I did not care for.

No offense, but what you talked about, the.

Whatever that stood.

The baladas or the papusas?

That one.

The baladas.

No, no, no.

The papas.

I didn't like the papusas either.

Was it like what I called the gordita with, like, a fried cornbread?

No, the.

No.

Yeah, that's it.

That's it.

I didn't either.

I could not.

But everything else, at least for me.

The baladas was my fav.

Which one was the bali olives with.

The beans inside of it, and then the mataquilla crema.

The white cream, sour cream stuff.

Yeah.

With the flour tortilla.

The problem I think I had with the pupus was it wasn't a flour tortilla.

It's a corn tortilla.

And I don't know.

I just.

Maybe that's what.

I took one bite, and I didn't want to be rude, and I was like.

I didn't get the taste.

The thing with the cheese in it.

The cheese was just a little too salty for me.

Yes.

And so when I got.

Yeah.

Ready to try the other one, they were gone.

I was like.

The plate was piled up like this, and I'm like, so.

And then I. I had the taco.

I call it a churro, but they call it a taco.

I ain't never seen a long taco that was tasty.

Yeah.

But my favorite place was the night that y' all were killing the wings.

I don't care nothing about wings unless they fry.

I was doing the nachos.

I had two plates in front of me, and I was eating.

We didn't get nachos.

We had fries.

We didn't even know you guys had nachos until we were almost.

Let me tell you, they were the best.

And I kept saying, are we going back to that place?

Remember?

Oh, yeah.

That was my favorite place.

I'll tell you what.

I'm not a Wing guy.

I don't like bone in wings at all.

Like at all, at all.

And I devoured me a few wings.

I like wings, but I want them fried.

I don't want that soft.

The sweeten it.

So I let them eat all the wings.

And I was eating.

I mean, I ate myself some nachos.

I'll stick with my glorified chicken nuggets as everybody says.

They were so good.

Boneless wings.

Oh, and I got pork.

I mean I never get pork hardly at home because my husband don't eat pork.

But honey, I had a pork steak and a half.

I really wanted to have two, but I didn't want to appear greedy.

And then they.

Are you talking about the first place?

Yes, the first place.

And then they stacked everything up that was left over.

And I went looking the next day and they had given it to somebody.

I think they maybe gave it to kids.

Another one when I had the chance.

You should have.

They were really good.

They were good.

I didn't need it.

What I had was good.

I ate there like four or five times on the trip.

But.

But the first time.

First two times I ate there.

The bagliata I got was a. I think it was beef.

Barbecue beef.

I didn't get one of those.

That was really good.

But it was.

Cuz I got to order it separately without.

Because we bought the platters.

Right?

We brought the platters.

Oh, so you all didn't get to get one?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

This was.

It's just me.

Oh, okay.

Cuz I was about.

I didn't care for the sausage.

The.

Oh yeah, nobody really likes sausage.

I didn't like sausage.

I'm not a sausage guy, so I wouldn't.

I like sausage.

But it's got to be right.

It's got to be.

Yeah.

That wasn't real.

I mean, you know what I mean.

You know what I mean?

Everything there was as real as it gets.

Like that stuff's all super fresh, like, which is great.

Plantains.

Having plantains.

Yeah.

I'm not a plant.

I could live like that.

That was like my dream cuisine.

There wasn't anything that I tried that I didn't absolutely love.

Yeah, absolutely.

The papoosers.

That was mine.

But it was the only thing.

I mean I could smell it, but I couldn't try it because my gluten intolerance.

And I didn't like the tacos at the place with just us.

It was us and my parents.

Like I had.

It was awesome.

I don't like shrimp either.

But I should have ordered something else.

But those tacos weren't good.

The tacos place.

Yeah.

But the tacos at that place, though, that.

Where we all went together, that I liked them there.

I did not like them at the second place.

We ended up having them over the weekend or whatever.

I don't know.

No, she stayed.

She stayed for the second week.

Yeah.

And so it was a little.

I don't probably miss out on food, so.

Right, right.

What about any.

Were there any desserty type things that we didn't have a lot of dessert?

I said, what about dessert?

Because.

Right.

Well, there we go.

Let's go.

Then I was.

I'm like, what?

Did you get any of the sweet bread?

What?

Sweet bread?

Oh, man.

Did you get any of the candy?

I was told that dessert was not a thing.

Did you get any candy?

No, no.

So what they do is they say like around 3 o' clock they'll have some coffee and then they'll have these little.

They're called rosquillas, which is what they gave us all.

And they're like a hard.

It looks like a donut and it's round.

And then they.

Oh, yeah.

But they typically don't do dessert.

So you were not happy that there was.

No.

I know you were not happy that.

And I don't drink coffee, so.

Yeah, yeah, I was out of luck.

Now there are some American type places that we saw after you guys left that had like cakes and stuff.

Well, and there was.

There was a couple of places there that had cakes.

Yeah, the one restaurant.

Yeah, we also had a cake.

We did have a cake that.

For Edna.

For Edna's birthday.

For Edna.

I don't like.

I'm not a milk drinker.

I didn't eat any.

Sorry.

But I was gonna make us one.

Remember when I went to the store?

Yeah, we went to the store, believe it or not, they had the Swansdown cake flour that I used for my pound cakes.

But we can't do that by hand.

But the box kind that I would.

Have used could have had Anthony do it by hand.

Anthony can do anything by hand.

I don't know about a pound cake.

That's a lot of.

But yeah, so that was interesting.

But the fact that when we got to the grocery store, I saw all of the regular Duncan Hine cake mixes.

And so the two cakes I had in mind, though, they didn't have what I needed.

So I was like, it's gonna kind of show off a little bit.

But apparently one of the.

One of the common things Is for.

For new people on a team.

When they go down, they immediately want to see, like, American food.

Like, American ice food.

Right?

It's like.

That's so weird.

It is like that.

Although the first night that I was there, they.

They took us out to a really fancy restaurant, and it's called Wendy's.

And I was like, are you serious?

Why are you taking me?

I did not travel all the way down here to go and have food that I have in the United States.

This is not.

They're like, but it's better here.

I was like, not that much.

Oh, they took us to Pizza Hut one night.

Although Pizza Hut's a little different there.

I would know.

Oh, that's true.

She's got gluten allergy.

It's all that.

That's why I sit and watch everybody else.

That is one of my pet peeves.

That's why I kind of don't like to travel with other people, is that if I'm gonna go to.

When my husband and I travel to other countries, we're not looking for anything American.

Yeah, I wanna.

I wanna.

I try to stay in a bnb.

I want to be with the locals.

I want to eat what they're eating.

I want to experience the culture.

So, no, I'm not looking for anything Americanized.

And I got some family members.

They would be like, you know, what am I gonna eat?

You know?

And McDonald's.

By the time I had.

I had Pizza Hut, though, I had had a week and a half's worth of.

Of Honduran food.

So, I mean, besides the.

What, the first night.

The first night you guys got there?

We had pizza at the first encounters.

Yes.

At the welcome.

At the welcome thing.

Yeah.

So, well, okay, so what stood out to each of you guys?

What ministry?

What.

What part of it?

Like, what.

What was the biggest thing that impacted you guys the most for the trip?

First half of the trip.

She has a second half of the.

Trip for me, because I just have a heart for women ministry, and I like to facilitate Bible studies.

I know we were really focused on the kids, but the day that we did the women's event at Benticinco, when Maria was giving her testimony first, we did the games, you know, to get them kind of riled up.

That was the icebreaker.

That was phenomenal.

Yeah.

I drove these guys, women crazy.

I had agonized over these games, like, for weeks, sending them.

What you think about this?

I was just like, lord, I must.

I mean, I really wound up changing one of them at the very last Minute.

Not even.

Not even doing it at all.

But they were.

They were perfect.

I mean, even.

Even if Kathy hadn't been there to say what, the car, the bingo thing, just by sight, once the game was explained, they would have been fine.

But what got me was that got them all riled up, and then they kind of settled down.

But when Maria was doing her testimony, I really.

I really saw God doing something because they were so riveted on what she was saying.

When she would stumble a little bit and Maria speaks fluent Spanish, they were finishing.

They were saying the word for her.

And so what I saw was women that saw that we were no different than they were, that we had troubles in our lives just like anybody else.

Because I think sometimes people think, you know, we're going down there.

They probably, you know, they hear stuff about America.

If they do, they always hear the good stuff.

You know, the Ritz and the glitz and maybe, you know, how prosperous we are.

But no, they saw that we go through the same thing.

We have the troubles.

Because they were riveted on what she was saying to the point where they were finishing, you know, the word that she was having trouble with.

And so I'm like, yeah, God was moving there because they were just paying attention to everything that she was saying.

And I was really moved by that.

Yeah, it really impacted me because I started thinking, you know, how things go into your head.

Satan starts getting in your head.

And I started thinking, my worst day is probably cake for them.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, my.

What am I going to share that's going to impact them?

And I could just feel God saying, we all have struggles.

They look different, but the same solution.

And those women, when I was done, because of course I got emotional because you know me, I'm always crying.

They embraced me and encouraged me.

Just.

They were so excited for my story, and they.

It was just.

It was empowering to see.

And then when we were on our way out, you know, they're all hugging me, and we're on our way out.

We were getting ready.

We had to go get on the bus.

And a couple of them, because they start going towards the right and they're going to start heading home.

And they grabbed me and they said, we're taking this one, we're taking this one.

But that was so powerful because I was hoping that they were going to hear something that maybe, you know, I'm like, what am I going to say?

These women have had hard.

What can I say?

You know?

Oh, I didn't Follow God, you know, big deal.

But no, they were just so encouraging, you know, encouraging to me.

And like she said, they were finishing what I was saying because there were some things that I stumbled over and I'd look over at Kathy sometimes because I didn't know how to say it in Spanish and.

Yeah, no, they.

They supported me.

I went all the way there to get their support.

Who would have thought?

Impactful.

And what's great about it is you were supposed to be day one.

That was tough.

And you were the last day.

Yes, yes.

You switched it up on me.

Oh, don't.

Not you.

But it got switched up and it did give me an opportunity to see things.

And I think that maybe that's why that.

That started happening to me, because I was growing.

I had a couple days of.

But I started seeing the hard aspects of what they.

And imagining what they're possibly going through.

And so then when I started thinking, what is my story going to do for them?

They were excited.

They were excited to hear.

It's like they were supporting me.

It was just.

It was so impactful.

Yeah, that one did a pretty big number.

I've never felt that much support when sharing my testimony with a group of women that struggle far more than I could ever even imagine.

That's a lot about comparison.

No, I understand that, but I just.

Yeah, I guess so.

No, it's not.

But I was just thinking, what can I bring to them?

You know?

And they showed you.

And they did.

But see, that's how we think when we are going somewhere other, you know, to a less fortunate place.

That's.

That's how we're wired.

And so God showed us that's.

That's really not you.

We're looking at it all wrong, but it's the culture that we live in, you know, but if I had to, you know, always have a story.

Derek.

Don't know.

But if you ever wanted my Bible studies, I have a story for everything.

A story for everything.

And it's a true story.

No, no, I know.

I know you.

I've been singing with you.

But I also have a song too, for everything.

Seeing.

There you go.

And I don't know.

I don't know, but I've been thinking about this since we got back.

If I had to sum it up, if you remember that song.

Love in any language Loving any language Loving any language Straight from the heart Bring us together never apart Once you learn to speak it all the world will hear Loving any language Frequently spoken here.

And that's what.

That's Good.

I just think it.

Well, and I'll tell you something that I don't know.

I'm assuming you guys found out about at some point.

But at the same time that that was all happening, we had two threats that came upon the children that were outside.

One was probably a child predator and that got diverted as quickly as possible.

And then another one was.

There was a guy with a machete that chased.

Chased some kids across the soccer field, which was crazy as well.

But I mean, the guys were there, you know, to be in that, that space at that time, you know, so who knows what the Lord was doing there.

But that was kind of a, an eye opening moment.

I think that was the only real, I mean, dangerous thing that happened while we were there.

But like, it was kind of wild that, that it was happening at that, that same time that you guys were having crazy amounts of fun inside, you know, and all the women were, were being able to relax and, and to just think about them for, for a bit, you know, and do stuff for them.

But it's funny how like, God places people in the right places at the right times to be able to get through to the people he wants to talk to.

You know, I missed the ending of yours because the kids started pouring into the classroom and they were scared.

They were crawling behind me and I didn't understand what the problem was.

I thought, you know, maybe they're just here, they want to hang out, you know, they miss their moms.

No, they were scared.

They knew, they knew what was going on out there.

And that just.

That was hard on my heart to have to leave them and know that they deal with that all the time.

It's normal.

And the guy that was in the window, you know, standing outside the window, we asked him to leave or they did, and he was like, I don't even know.

He was saying something.

I don't know what he was saying.

Right.

But obviously something.

He had no business.

And then they said, oh, he's.

He said he's gonna be quiet.

When the guys came up, he said, he's gonna be quiet.

But he was like, if the guy basically refusing to leave, he wasn't the one to leave.

Yeah, that took a while to get him.

We got rid of them, though.

Yeah, we ended up getting rid of him.

Yeah, that was, that was kind of in your face.

That one got touchy there for a moment.

They got to keep their children, their eyes on them because.

And the fact that all the kids knew him.

Exactly.

Yeah.

So, yeah, that was a.

They've probably been warned.

Right.

Well, I hope that experience or they've seen it.

Yeah.

Yeah.

You know, I don't know if y'.

All.

I'm jumping off track a little bit.

When I came back, and this took me a little bit of processing here.

I came back, I was angry when we got home, and I've been trying to figure out what is going on, and I had to sit with God and it's.

I'm angry at God.

I was.

I was angry at God.

I was angry at myself.

I was angry at everybody around me.

Because here we are picking up, just coming back, getting our little lives and like, everything's normal, and we just left them there.

And that was hard.

It took me a little while to realize what was going on.

And.

God kind of.

Kind of set me straight on that one, though, because I was back to that idea that we have so much stuff, therefore God loves us more when really that's not it at all.

That has amount of stuff, in fact, more often than not, is causing a barrier that they don't have.

It took me a while of processing to figure out, why am I mad?

Why am I angry?

Because I felt like I have abandoned them.

We went and had all this fun and showed them how wonderful everything was, and then, bye.

And it felt like abandoning them.

Yeah.

So I didn't.

I didn't get back.

But when I came back, oddly enough, like the first day and the second day, so we came back Friday, so Saturday, maybe even Sunday, I just felt good, like, energized.

And then come Monday, I just started feeling.

I started feeling frustrated.

I started thinking a lot about Honduras, about, you know, because I was kind of anticipating coming home a little bit.

Bed comfort, you know, that kind of stuff.

But I miss the experience.

I wanted to be back there doing what we were doing.

Like, were you thinking, like, oh, if we were there, God, look at.

We'd have been doing this at this time, because I did.

Oh, we'd have been.

It's seven o' clock over there.

We'd have been doing the.

I didn't get to that.

I did.

Yeah.

But I just kept thinking, like, the experience that I just.

I just left that.

And I have found.

I think I'm still.

I've been having to pray about it.

I have felt a little sad, but mainly frustrated.

I have been experiencing some just frustration.

Not.

I mean, it hasn't happened where I'm angry with him, just frustrated.

I'm like, where's this coming from?

Where it's.

You know, I'm just.

I'M very frustrated and struggling with that part.

But it's funny that the three of you ladies are the three that are in here together, because it was, I think, the three of you and my mom that I walked up on having conversation at the church that day.

Right.

And I said something to y' all that I think, think is part of the solution, and that is to not let it end there.

Right.

Right.

You've got to bring it here.

And you guys are the ones who are already connected to each other.

So you may have separate groups, right.

That you run in, but your barriers are down with each other.

And so you have to pour into each other and you have to.

Or else the biggest lesson of community and the fact that we have to rely on each other, that we all learned while we were there, it.

It fades away and, and is lost.

And so I would say that, that that would be a big, big start is to meet together, whether it's the three of you or whoever, you know, whatever, Whatever.

That looks like women wise in that.

I'm supposed to take them to a mockery.

There you go.

Well, I told you I was gonna.

Do your work and go walk.

Yeah, you're more than welcome.

I walk today and Deb, Deb texts me almost every day.

She texts the message.

I never had that.

Yeah.

You know, with her, you and I, we chat a little bit, but I, I, Yeah, I think that that would.

Be before we lose the momentum.

Yeah.

Yeah.

She sent me something before I came here, and she sent.

Not yesterday, but the day before.

I was a little surprised.

Yeah, well, and to your point of being angry, we didn't leave them.

We weren't there to save them.

We weren't there to alleviate anything.

We were there to encourage them and to encourage those who are there long term doing things that we can't.

So just as a piece of encouragement and you know, like, that's something that is when helping hurts.

Told us was going to happen, you know, a little bit before.

I mean, I struggled when I got back because I felt I got to the end of my peopling, which I didn't think was possible.

I mean, I was there for 16 days and living in close quarters with people.

And the second week was much harder than the first week as far as living quarters for me.

We weren't go home.

It was, it was because you guys were gone.

It didn't have the same feel, you know, as I'm sure it didn't.

And part of that, honestly, was on me.

I didn't take those other Guys through the same stuff that we went through to team build, to.

To get.

To get to that point.

Right.

Like I should have done.

They've been on a lot of mission.

Trips, so they've been on a few.

But more experience than we did.

Sure.

But each time we go, we're gonna do the same kind of thing so that, you know, we reconnect with the newer people and we reconnect with each other and that sort of thing.

So I should have done it with them, too.

But it was a very different week.

And by.

Probably by halfway through that one, I was done.

I was just done with people.

I was done, you know, ready to be home.

And it took until Monday this week to have any sort of, like, feeling of normal anything.

Like, I was so exhausted and drained, and I just.

I didn't desire to do anything at all whatsoever.

Like, I was so just, like, apathetic to everything.

Like, today was the first time I worked since I've been back.

Like, which is not surprising, but it's.

It was.

It was like, just I wanted to be at the church all week.

Last week.

I just came and in with Lizzie and, you know, got serenity when it was time to get serenity and went home, you know, And I did some things around the church, but it was just like my whole.

Everything felt.

I think you were mentally stressed.

You were kind of just an understatement.

Yeah.

And so, yeah, I mean, the impact of leading a team.

I think we were your first.

Right.

So, you know, that's a lot of.

That's a lot to have to worry with.

Worrying about what's gonna go wrong, what's going right, you know, and it's the.

First time I've led a group of adults to anywhere to do anything, honestly.

I mean, teenagers are easier because I'm authority.

Because I'm an adult.

I mean, there's just that natural separation as adults.

Yeah, we're adults.

Right.

Like, it's weird.

It's.

It's.

And especially the youngest.

I was the youngest person on the trip.

I didn't even think about that by.

By six.

Six months.

So we were.

Who was six months?

Logan.

Six months.

So we're his elders and we were letting him tell us, well, technically.

I'm your elder.

Let us know now.

Yes, you're Are.

Technically, I'm your elder.

Just kidding.

But, yeah, you're right, there was a lot of that because I didn't know what I was doing.

And.

And I mean, Shaliza, that comment that she made really helped calm some of that about, you know, the whole.

We trust you.

Yeah, you guys trust me.

And so for some people, yeah, that's hard to do.

Right.

And so that, that changed a lot of, of that for me from that point.

But then everything else ramped up behind it and so that was fun, but it was good, it was a good trip.

So.

So coming back was hard.

What, what, what's your plan next?

I'm asking you guys to make commitments to things that, you know, you haven't on the spot.

But I mean, for me it was.

A just a reconfirmation of kind of where God's pulling me to serve.

And it's like Michelle said, with women and more of a one on one for me, connecting with women.

That's where I really feel the Holy Spirit moving through my life and it's just like nothing else.

And I had several moments that were incredible, life changing to me.

Ditto with.

People, and just confirmed that, you know, that's where my ministry is headed.

As much as I'd love to go off and be an incredible foreign missionary, I didn't feel the calling there.

Even though we went for a good reason and there was a lot of purpose in it.

I don't see myself up and moving unless God changes that.

I do sense that as not just me as an individual, but as a church, that we need to be doing more.

Amen.

More.

Whether it's here, there, we're both here on the ground in our Judea and both of it, we need to be here and there.

I want to challenge your word more.

I don't think we need to be doing more.

I think we need to be doing better.

Better?

Yeah.

Well, the better things, the right things.

When I say more, I mean as in more evangelism.

Right.

I don't see us doing.

We do a lot of evangelist stuff as far as having things here, but are we.

Jesus was out amongst the people, right?

He was hanging out under the trees or wherever.

I don't see us doing that.

Let's, let's do a street walk.

Let's go down to Veterans park, hang out, give tracks maybe.

Well, and this might challenge something like that.

Challenge you a little bit.

Something I'm getting ready to say because, you know, you talked about loving the Bible studies and doing that stuff.

Something that these guys on here very familiar with me saying is I believe Bible study has killed the church.

And by that I don't mean we need to stop Bible studies, but I think that we've, we are more readily available to go to a Bible study than we are to or to start a new Bible study even than we are to do exactly what you're talking about going and witnessing to people just being in people's lives to a point where the relationships are built to where you actually know what is needed and what you can actually provide versus just the handouts and you know that you can actually be someone who, that can give a hand up.

But I am a firm believer that Bible studies have killed the church because it's just so much easier to hear the word than to do the Word.

And I think that we need to have them.

I think we need to be more strategic and I think that intentionality and, and strategy, I think is something that we need to bring to our specific church.

You know, I think that we have a desire to do and we have a desire to learn, but we're not being intentional or strategic about everybody being included in that, in a strategy wise and the leadership being intentional with how we then get everybody on board and that sort of thing.

I think that this last Bible study is a great first step, right?

That experiencing God like whenever, whenever they said, well we're going to order 200 books.

I was like, that's nuts.

That is way too many books.

That is the entire budget.

You're going to blow out the entire budget of curriculum for the entire year.

I was like, that is wild.

And being the treasurer, I'm like, I don't think this is the right thing.

But I was just, I was reassured that you know, see what happens, you know, and she's had Lizzie, Lizzie, my wife had to order an extra 60 books because that many people showed up and enjoyed.

And that's not even including like the teens books, right?

Like, that's just the adult books.

So we had 260 people who got books.

That's awesome.

That, that have been doing the study out of the 420, 450 people that regularly attend.

Like, and that's not Wednesday nights necessarily, that's Sunday mornings, you know, off and on.

But I just think that that's a good first step.

But now, as I say, all three of you women are leaders in our church, right?

Like you, you have the ability to lead and teach a Bible study.

I think that all three of you are going to be great at helping us do that here in the future.

But I think that knowing what you know now about like, okay, we need to be more intentional about what we're doing.

I also know that you ladies, I think would be great examples to be on board with let's do this intentionally.

Let's do this strategically.

Let's get everybody involved in starting some ministries and getting things that are going to actually impact our community versus not.

And I think that Bible studies are going to have to be a part of that.

I think we're going to have to have Bible studies that teach people what the gospel is.

Right.

Because I think there's a misunderstanding when it comes to the gospel a lot of times and how to share it.

It's not as hard as it looks, but it also.

You can't leave stuff out, you know, like, you gotta.

You gotta have it also.

It's gotta be simple.

We sometimes make it so hard.

It's gotta be simple.

Right.

And that's why we don't see people wanting to go out because they are afraid.

I don't know enough.

No, you don't have to leave some.

You don't have any scripture lead somebody's cry.

But you need to know scripture.

Right?

You need.

So, you know, when I look at something like, I was used to be so afraid to share my faith, but when I went through Share Jesus without Fear three times, because I wanted to be able.

Whether you use the Roman road, you need to know some of those steps or however you do it.

And that gives people.

It gave me more confidence to not shy away when we would go out.

I felt, you know, I got better at it.

Right.

And when people.

When people understand it.

Yeah, right.

Then you can start taking your story easier and being like, okay, I mean, their story.

Right.

Once you get to know them, like we did at the market, right.

Where it was like, we got to know people and.

And weave their story into the gospel, you know, in the midst of it.

So Peter took what was really awkward for most of us and just made it natural.

Right.

But we got to be.

People got to be trained to know how to do that.

Yeah.

Well, even.

Even for me, though.

Yeah.

It's practice, but most people aren't practicing.

So if we were.

Exactly, exactly.

That's what I'm saying.

So in order to take that out into the community, you gotta be trying.

You gotta be.

Yeah, that was hard for me.

Yeah.

The first doll that we were at was Peter was like, all right, share the gospel.

And I'm like, uh, like.

Because, I mean, the guys had been discussing salvation all week, you know, and it had gotten me so flustered that, like, I was to a point where I was like, I don't know if I can do this.

Which was weird and uncomfortable for me because it was like why am I even thinking?

I don't know if I could do this.

You know?

Like, this has been, like, all I've done in my whole life.

Like, that's been the focus.

And now I'm having a hard time when the moment matters and when it comes to push comes to shove.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah, absolutely.

And I think that that might have to be something that is handed to some of you ladies, too.

I know in my share, Jesus without fear.

You get a thin little New Testament about the size of a checkbook, and you open it.

I mean, you write the Romans road.

You do it upside down because you're showing them this.

But I think the first question was, if you died today, do you know where you was?

I don't even think it says eternity.

It says, do you know if you would go to heaven or hell?

I mean, it's just point blank.

Or you start out with, do you know Jesus as your Lord and savior and what that means?

But the first question is, if you died today, do you know whether you would go to heaven or hell?

And that was kind of the way.

It was one introduction to get the conversation started.

Well, and I think what you said there, it's one introduction.

I think that is just one.

Is amazing because that is.

Normally it used to be taught.

Here's how you do it.

Mm.

You know, and it's like, okay, no, because people are different.

That's right.

There's too many different people out there.

And some people push back.

Everybody ain't gonna listen to that.

Sure.

Well, and I think that the.

The more you are willing to tweak, how you're gonna say it based upon the person that's sitting in front of you, just like, whatever your testimony is.

Right.

Like, not always is your testimony something that's even aimed to bring somebody to salvation.

Right.

Sometimes it's just like, hey, I feel you.

You know, a story just to be like, it's it.

Your testimony is like, God pulled me through some of the same things that you're getting pulled through, you know, so to be able to take somebody in front of you and just talk to them as though they're the one in front of you.

You know what I mean?

Instead of just some person.

Some.

Yeah, very.

Making it personal.

It's important.

And I think that as a church in America, in North America, in the United States, got corrected a lot while I was down in Honduras.

Although they're Central American, just for the record.

Central America.

But a church in the United States, as we are, like, we don't Want personal.

We don't want personal.

We don't want to get into people's lives.

We don't want the hard stuff.

Right.

We don't want to share the hard truths with people because, well, maybe they'll leave the church or maybe they'll say something nasty back, but the reality of what scripture says is, yeah, that's a possibility.

But also, if you don't share the hard truths with people, they can't grow.

Right.

And you're doing them a disservice.

And you're doing the gospel a disservice.

We're not to keep it hiding on our bushel.

We depend on the Holy Spirit to.

However it lands, it lands.

Yeah.

If we depend on.

You know, that's right.

If we do it the way the Holy Spirit leads us to do it, it lands.

Like ever.

It lands.

Yeah.

And that's hard.

That's hard.

Like you say, people get mad, they leave church, but.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, obviously we shouldn't be trying to get people to leave the church, but we need to realize that being nice and being kind are two different things.

And that sometimes love is kindness without niceness, you know, and.

Yeah, it's just like, you can't expect a pastor to get up there and preach the unadulterated word of God and worry about hurting people's feelings with it.

Yeah.

I mean, we know that the word of God is divisive.

He's got to stay true to the word.

And unfortunately, there are people who are not gonna like it and will get up and leave.

And I mean, we just have to pray that God gets to their heart and draw them back.

We can't change it.

Or.

Or we help them find the right place.

I mean, that's one thing that I'm big on, is this is also not somewhere for everybody.

No, it's not.

Our location is not for everybody.

But are the body of Christ.

You know, maybe you don't need an elbow.

Maybe you need a kneecap.

Right.

Maybe, you know, God has a place for everybody.

Yeah.

And it's not the same place.

Right.

And so I think it's on us whenever we notice that it's not.

And people are, you know, leaving to come alongside them and try to help them find the right place.

Definitely reach out.

Yeah.

Don't let them.

Just takes intentionality.

It takes getting uncomfortable.

It becomes kind of a team thing, you know, now you're going against the team, you're at a competing team, and it's something that we've gotten so wrong.

Yeah.

You got that right.

Because it ain't but one body.

Yeah.

I think that this is the first church that I've ever been to that it doesn't feel like that.

They so worried about the numbers.

They're not as worried about numbers.

They're not.

Like when we did Winterfest, I was really nervous that it would be like, okay, write your name down here so that we can call you and make sure this comes to our church and all that.

And we do write their names down and we do reach out to them, but it's not a we want to snipe you.

It's just we want to get to know you.

And.

And we do want to make sure that they are plugged in somewhere.

Right.

You know, whether it's here or somewhere else.

But in a God believing, Bible believing church, that's our duty to follow up.

And I'm not saying any of these things, and I know none of you are saying these things to say that we don't have false.

Because we have lots of faults here at the.

But those are some things that we've gotten right, I think.

And it's really been cool.

What.

What do you guys have as closing remarks?

Just everybody, each person go through what.

What is something that, you know, maybe something that you didn't get to talk about, that you'd like to talk about.

And it's not like we have to rush, but just what is something you didn't talk about or a word of encouragement or both.

My word of encouragement is that if you've never been on a mission trip, there you go.

Short term, I mean, God calling you.

Long term, God bless you, you know, but if you have the opportunity, you need to go.

We've been called to go.

I'm not saying you got to go and stay, but we.

You need to go.

Mm.

Is you just need to go is all I can say.

I encourage you to go and see for yourself and let the Bible come literally alive to you.

That's good.

Because what you think in here and what you witness over there is completely different.

Even with reading.

I mean, reading the book that we were required to read, the what is it Helping or hurt?

Helping without hurting, helping without hurting.

That one opened my eyes to certain things, but still, when I got there, it was just a whole different thing.

So I agree with.

Do the experience at least once if you have the opportunity so that you can see for yourself it's impactful.

So I agree, Michelle.

Encouragement.

Do it, right?

Absolutely, do it.

And if you have any questions, come see the Team.

I mean, come see me.

I'm available to encourage anyone to definitely be part of that.

And so, yeah.

And it's a mandate, is it?

It's not an ask, it's a mandate.

Matthew 28.

That's right.

Yeah.

Yo, Judea, your Samaria.

I mean, it's not a suggestion.

It says go.

That's true.

Yeah.

That's true.

That's true.

And I think a lot of people worry about that they're not going to be enough for whatever it is that's going to happen.

They're not smart enough.

They're not knowledgeable enough.

They're not young enough.

They're not strong enough.

They're too broken.

And I think God showed every one of us that he bridged that gap.

And we are too broken.

We're not.

He is the one that made the difference.

It wasn't our strength.

It wasn't anything in our power.

It was learning to rely on him and not anything we could do.

So he is enough, we're not.

That's right.

And we saw that.

We get to see that in all.

We saw the growth in everybody.

It's different things.

It was just.

We were able to see it actively as it was happening.

Yes.

Yeah.

Wow.

And what he was doing in us.

I know.

I mean, we didn't even get into that.

Yeah.

That was huge.

We've been hanging on to some stuff for years that we didn't feel comfortable sharing, and we just.

Yeah, yeah.

Wow.

And the church got to become a safe place.

Amen.

You got Christians who are being Christians a long time, walking around, holding in stuff, reincriminating themselves with stuff Jesus has already forgiven them for, but cannot forgive themselves for.

And I was one of them, you know.

And then they find out they're one of a whole lot.

Exactly.

It's community.

Yes.

It's community.

And getting vulnerable with each other and having other people come up and say, me, too.

Yeah, yeah.

Well, and that also takes.

For those of us who have experienced that freedom.

Right.

Of that.

Like, it takes us knowing that, well, somebody's probably gonna hurt me with this at some point, but I have to keep.

I have to keep speaking it.

Like, I can't put the walls up.

Like, Christ is gonna be my shield.

He's gonna be my fortress, and he's only gonna let through what.

What he can, he can handle through.

You know, I can handle through him.

Right.

Like, so it.

And it takes us being conscious of intentional and saying, okay, this person has hurt me with something I shared with them, but it's not going to stop me from sharing with this person because this person may need to hear it.

So.

And that's hard.

That's super hard to do.

It's refining you too.

Yeah, 100%.

You learn a little more trust, a little more strength.

Yeah, they actually.

You guys actually help me release some of the fear behind the judgment of that.

And so at least for me, with what I did share, I'm not as afraid now, even though it's not this group.

But I feel like if there was an opportunity or someone was experiencing something, I would not be now afraid.

So you guys helped remove that safety net.

And it was so weird because we were just having a conversation and I all of a sudden just.

I felt the sense like, this is safe, because I have not felt that.

I have not feel safe.

I have not.

And I just felt that this is safe.

And then I shared, and then everyone had something to share.

After you shared.

I rose up like Lazarus because I was lying on the bed and, wow.

You do have a song for.

Okay, I didn't even catch that.

And then the other person up top rose up like Lazarus.

And I was like, me too.

And, you know, just the tears and.

The support and we.

It was like, oh, my goodness.

So at that moment, he used them to help empower me to where at least that thing that I don't feel like.

And I didn't feel so much like I didn't feel God had hadn't forgiven me.

I think that I was there, but just maybe the judgment of others, like, what were people going to say?

And because I never felt comfortable, because had I felt that another place, I.

Would have done it.

But that in there, that was locked in.

And God said, this is your opportunity.

And it wasn't just for you.

I know.

Isn't that the best part of your life?

It wasn't just for me.

It was for all of us.

And interestingly enough, and we had several sessions like that throughout the week.

And the first session I missed that they were talking about because it came down to.

I knew there was something going on, but I was too focused on getting stuff done.

And she was Martha.

I was being a Martha.

She was Martha, and I had a choice, and I made the Martha choice.

But then later on in God's goodness, he gave me another opportunity, and I got to be Mary.

I'm a Martha to the core.

Right, Right.

And, you know, choosing what's better really made a difference.

It does.

So that's why when we were at the church, then that all changed.

You know, we ended up and wherever there was going to be conversation, there was just a safety there.

Talking to April, it was like, that was awesome.

That was awesome.

So many times.

Definitely.

And I love your strength in how you see something.

And so I always like people to.

To call things out for me so that I have the opportunity, I may not be aware of it, to grow and you notice something right away.

And then it was like crying and crying.

I'm like, dang, Shalisa now got me crying.

I was like, every minute I'm crying and crying.

And then I felt like this whole weight.

And it was like she saw something, she saw me.

And I'm grateful that you were bold enough to come and say something because I didn't think that it was a problem.

And apparently it was because I started crying and the onions, you know, I started like, oh, my goodness.

And it kept coming up and I was like, okay.

And then we'd go do something and it kept coming up and I'm like, wow, this is something that I needed to address.

And so I thank you for having the courage and the boldness to just call it out.

But in recovery, we call that.

I spot it because I got it.

Okay, so you're recognizing hurts in other people because you're working on it yourself.

You articulate so well.

That's God.

That's 100% God.

We'll give him the glory.

Amen.

It's been an incredible trip on we joke, Brenda and I.

It was funny how we joked that we had to go all the way to Honduras to get clear with each other and to get to know each other, because there was some friction with us at the beginning and part of.

The process, especially at the very beginning when I said, here, plan this thing.

And then I was like, oh, I like sank like 15ft.

Because everybody was like, well, this is how we want to do it.

This is how we want to do it.

This is how I'm going to do it.

There was friction there.

I don't know if there was friction before that, but there was friction there.

Yeah, sorry, go ahead.

But no, no, because we had to go to Honduras to find out that the friction was because we're too much alike.

Yeah.

You know, we were a lot of the same issues.

And it was.

It was awesome, though.

It was like, really?

God, are we this hard headed that you had to take us 2,000 miles to another country to deal with stuff that we should be dealing with, you know, at home?

It was so I'll continue to harp on this you guys gotta keep doing harping, right?

You guys.

You guys can't let it end there, right?

You have to do it here, too.

And that's gonna be hard because it's not as.

It's not just as easy.

It's not just there all the time.

It's not just.

You know, you guys.

You guys.

You guys can use this anytime.

I'm gonna buy me two of these, and we're gonna get in a closet.

You guys can use these anytime you want.

I can come in.

I can set it up.

I want my own, so it'll have to be moved.

Girl, well, that will.

I can help you start it up.

Getting it online.

If morning is with Michelle.

Yeah, there you go.

Michelle and crew.

Michelle and crew.

There you go.

Y' all the crew.

Yep, I'll be crew.

And I didn't necessarily mean this, but that's good, too.

I. I was meaning you guys can't.

You can't stop being in each other's lives, and you can't stop being there because there's more things to share.

And you don't know that until it comes up.

And if.

If you guys are together, that can be your safe place, you know?

So you get to see what's it's supposed to be like.

Yeah.

And then you see how fake other things are, you know?

And you're like, that doesn't satisfy anymore.

That's.

But once you've tasted and seen.

Amen.

You can't forget it more.

Yeah.

You recognize the fate.

Well, one more thing before we head out.

And I. I would be doing my father a disservice if I didn't have you share the story of us getting stuck in the mud.

Ha.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Oh, yeah.

Well, see, what had happened was.

Yes.

Love it.

I told y' all when y' all got in there that the back was heavy.

Well, anyways, get out there.

How many.

How many people do we have in a.15 passenger?

But the back was heavy, so y' all shouldn't have never let me set up front.

Cause y' all put me back there.

I was from.

I was sitting.

I was sitting up in the passenger.

See, at first, but then I don't know how all that got changed around.

So I said, well, I'm sitting behind Kurt because he knows exactly how to drive this thing.

I'm not worried about that.

And then everybody piled in the back.

Well, he ran through that little.

You couldn't see that it was.

It wasn't even ran through.

It was just.

It was just started to Move.

But it was grass, you know, but.

It was a muddy spot under it was.

It was grassy because it was wet.

We weren't going nowhere.

So I just.

I said, y' all got to get off.

The back was heavy.

Had 15 people, 16 people in the back.

I'm like, y' all got to get out.

And the thing.

The good part about it was, you know, we had just done all this.

I call it a big VBS on Jonah.

Yeah.

Jonah came to life.

Yes.

I told them they had to get out.

Me and Mr. Kurt had to figure this thing out.

They got out.

We got out of the hole.

Just like that.

Yep.

There was no pushing involved.

A little bit.

I sat in the van and looked at them.

I said, y' all were the problem.

Oh, man.

They still can't quit talking about that.

So.

Good story.

What had happened was.

Right.

And I would suggest pulling on that.

You know, in a year or two, we may be forgetting some of this stuff.

So I would strongly suggest write some of these things down.

Some of the revelations, some of the journal them.

So, you know, when you some embellish.

That story a little bit, though.

Yeah.

Well, you know, but I mean, there's going to become times in our lives where we're having hard days and bad days and we can't remember what we're thankful for.

We can flip back into our journal.

What they call the rainy day file.

Yeah.

I love that.

When I heard that here at the.

In the podcast, I'm like, that's brilliant.

I still been laughing about stuff, you know, to come across my mind, and I start laughing.

Write it down.

Yeah.

That Brenda is a trip.

I heard her talking to him.

Talking about Michelle had a hole.

She had two beds.

Yeah.

As soon as she left the room, my stuff went on her bed.

Yep.

Yeah.

Well, thank you, ladies, for coming in and sharing.

Thank you.

Sounds like you guys are naturals at this.

Might have a proposition for y' all in the future because our women's podcast has slowed down and slash stopped.

But so.

And you know, I could.

Like I said, I'll help you get set up if that's what you want to do.

Yes.

Material refers those equipment.

I can't give you this.

No, I can let you use this.

No, something happened to it.

I'm gonna buy my own.

Don't fix something.

Fix your own.

I feel that.

I feel that it will be amazing, but.

Yeah.

So I appreciate y' all coming.

Love serve.

Testify foundation.org is somewhere where you can donate to help the ministries that have been talked about.

It doesn't help our church.

It doesn't help any of us individually.

It goes straight to the mission in honduras.

So love servetestifyfoundation.org and you can buy merch, you can buy whatever you can donate, but check it out.

And we thank you guys for listening and God bless.

Hey, thanks for joining us.

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Thanks for joining us this week and God bless.