Antonio: An inspiring transformation

By Michael Carson

-ANTONIO IS NOW SPONSORED FOR BEACH CHRISTMAS!-

I’m in awe of how God has worked in Antonio’s life since I have known him. Antonio brings joy to my heart every time I see him and hear about how well he is doing outside our ministry. He continues to better himself and become more responsible.

In Antonio’s final month of living in our ministry house, he developed a strong addiction to crack cocaine. He immediately requested for us to place him in rehab, and he entered Cerepa, a facility outside the city, in early 2015. Antonio came out of rehab in May of 2015 and has lived with fellow missionary David Logue since graduating from the program. A year and a half later he continues to remain drug free despite having recently suffered the loss of his mother.

Antonio helps David’s teams and occasionally our teams build houses, and he holds down a job working construction projects. He also just completed his school year in second grade, having never learned how to read or write when he was younger.

God has outdone himself over the past two years in Antonio’s life. I’m so glad Antonio has David and all the boys Mountain Top Ministries serves. But what I enjoy seeing the most in Antonio is his new-found self-confidence and willingness to open himself up. He’s happier, gentler, kinder and more loving than ever before. He has come so far since that scared, guarded 14-year-old boy I first met all those years ago. I feel truly honored to be able to witness Antonio discover who God intended him to be.

Antonio continues to remain a part of our family. Please reward his hard work this year by sponsoring him for Beach Christmas this year!

Arturo: A shy, sweet spirit

By Michael Carson

-ARTURO IS NOW SPONSORED!-

If there ever was an embodiment of the expression “a man of few words,” you would find it in Arturo. This sweet boy is always a quiet presence around our ministry house.

Arturo loves to work and stay busy, but he does NOT love to talk. He’ll talk if he should, and he treats us with respect, but speaking isn’t ever his first choice. Arturo is one of those kids we always have to start the conversation with and check up on him; otherwise, we might never know he has something we need to hear.

This quiet kid lost his mom this year, and we hated to watch him suffer silently. We worked very hard to check on him and push him to talk. Often, we were the only ones talking, but I think we showed this shy kid unconditional love in this way. I could tell how moved he was to see how much our team cared how he felt and how he hurt. God allowed us to use this sad situation to be a family to him.

Please help us show more love to Arturo and sponsor him for Beach Christmas 2016!

It's time for Beach Christmas 2016!

Originally published Nov. 25, 2016

It’s that time of year again, friends! Our education students and young adults have worked hard all year, and now it’s time to celebrate with Beach Christmas.

Each year just before Christmas, our BC families and young adults sneak away and take a trip to the southern beach of Amapala. This annual tradition has become a treasured time for our BC family and is something we look forward to all year long.  It is a chance to trade in the noise and crowds of the city for the peaceful waves and open air of the coast. We enjoy time with one another, renew relationships and thank God for a year’s worth of blessings. We also eat some delicious food prepared by our beach family hosts and open a few presents that generous sponsors provide.

This year, beach Christmas will take place Dec. 17 and 18. We’ll load up on Saturday morning and begin the two and a half hour ride to the coast. Once we get as far as we can by bus, we’ll load everyone and everything onto a couple of boats and take the scenic ride to the island.

Once we arrive, we’ll be greeted by Diastefano and his family, our local friends whom we have come to know and love over the years. They’ll let us use their beach shack as home base while everyone plays in the ocean, and at lunchtime they will prepare a delicious meal – a choice of fish, chicken or shrimp.

We’ll spend the day just being together – making sandcastles, playing in the water, kicking the soccer ball around the beach or just sitting around sharing stories. As we look out at everyone laughing and enjoying one another’s company, we are always overwhelmed with gratitude for the way that God continually watches over our family.

Just before the sun starts to go down, we’ll gather everyone in a circle to open presents. Our sponsors provide the funds for each person to receive a new outfit (shoes, shirt and pants) plus one extra gift. As each name is called, the individuals pass to the center of the circle and open their presents while the rest of the family watches and cheers along.

Later in the day, we’ll roast hot dogs for dinner and make s’mores. After spending some more time talking and laughing, we will eventually head to bed. In the past, we have spent the night camped out under a pavilion on the beach. Over the past few years, though, the pavilion has gotten older and the roof has become rickety. When the wind from the ocean blows against the tin, the loud noises make it difficult to sleep. Because the whole point of the trip is to encourage rest and renewal, this year we have decided to book some rooms at the nearby hotel instead.

The next morning, we’ll eat breakfast provided by our beach hosts and spend more time playing and relaxing. After lunch we will pack up, say goodbye to Diastefano’s family, load onto the boats and begin the trip back to the city.

The idea of Beach Christmas is simple. There is nothing too extravagant about the places we go or the things we do, but the value it has is immeasurable. Life in Tegucigalpa can be tough, and our BC families and teens are no strangers to struggle and hardship. Beach Christmas gives everyone time to reflect, thank God for his faithfulness and renew their spirits to keep pushing toward their goals in 2017.

We need your help in order to make Beach Christmas 2016 possible. This year, each individual needs $150 total to cover the costs of their food, lodging, transportation and gifts. In the past, the sponsorship cost has been $125. Because we are staying in a hotel this year, we need to increase the cost by an additional $25 per person. You can choose to sponsor the full $150 if you are able. You can also choose to contribute $125 (the past amount) or $25 (the additional amount) and we will pair sponsors together to fulfill the full sponsorship needed.

We will be posting individual profiles over the next several days. If you wish to sponsor a particular individual, simply indicate so by clicking on the blog title and leaving a reply in the comments section. You can contribute via PayPal on the donate page here. You can also make check contributions out to “Breaking Chains Honduras” and mail them to P.O. Box 20454, Oklahoma City, OK 73156.

We thank you in advance for your generosity. We are always humbled by the outpouring of love we receive this time of year, and we can’t wait to share Beach Christmas 2016 with you!

Seeking applicants for our summer 2017 lead intern positions!

Originally posted September 30, 2016

Hey college-age students! If you are interested in spending your summer learning and working in urban ministry, we’ve got a great opportunity for you.

Breaking Chains is currently seeking applicants to fill our summer 2017 lead intern positions. Lead interns will spend the summer working with our ministry team, growing in relationships with those we serve in Honduras, helping with day-to-day ministry tasks and program development, and helping lead and coordinate our other summer interns and visiting mission teams. You can read more about the personal experiences of our lead interns from last summer here.

All of our BC interns (including lead interns) are responsible for raising the funds necessary to support their work in Honduras. However, attached to each lead internship position is a $1000 scholarship to help curb the cost of fundraising. A typical summer-long internship would require $2500, but with the help of the scholarship, lead interns will only be responsible for raising $1500 in support.

Interns must be available to work in Honduras from May 15 to Aug. 5, 2017 and must be of college age. Special preference will be given to individuals with an interest in missions/urban ministry and to those with an ability to speak Spanish.

The deadline to submit applications is January 1, 2017.

If you are interested, please check out our internship job description and application for more details about requirements and responsibilities. The application is also available as a downloadable Word document on our website here. Please contact courtney@bchonduras.org to submit your application or for assistance with any questions.

We had such a wonderful experience with our lead interns last summer, and we look forward to a great summer 2017. Consider joining us!

Bendiciones,

The BC Honduras team

Our lead interns reflect on spending their summer with Breaking Chains

Originally posted September 12, 2016

This summer, we were blessed to have our very first lead interns, Leah Sorrells and Vicky Hernandez. The lead intern program was a new initiative this year, and we couldn’t be happier with how everything turned out. Apart from our regular interns who come to work with us on a more flexible schedule, our lead interns signed on to work for the entirety of the summer to take on more responsibility and help manage the busy summer months.

Vicky and Leah truly became a part of our family this summer. They often kept us sane with their humor, friendship and helpfulness during the fast-paced group schedules. They dedicated themselves to getting to know the people we work with, and they were able to rejoice and mourn with us and them throughout the ups and downs of life and ministry.

We asked Vicky and Leah to share a little bit about their experience this summer. Their thoughts are featured here and also in our latest newsletter.

We are beyond thankful to know these girls and their hearts! Here are Leah and Vicky’s thoughts in their own words…

Leah Sorrells, Missouri State University:

Spending three months in Honduras working with Breaking Chains was the most rewarding endeavor I have ever gone on. Seeing the sights that Honduras has to offer was both challenging and humbling, heartbreaking and uplifting. Through all of this, I ultimately learned that through all the darkness in the world, Jesus is very much alive and working in it. This was exemplified through the transformations I was blessed to witness. Our teens became noticeably more open to being loved and returning that love. Likewise, the church accepted the interns and groups with open arms and hearts. Seeing the love that surpassed language barriers and financial differences showed how our God can truly use anyone to be his hands and feet.

Although uplifting, being in Honduras proved to be challenging as well. Being in a totally different culture was a shock at first. I am so thankful that I was immersed in it because it taught the lesson of culture competency. Seeing the despair that so many were living in daily was difficult to stomach at first. There are two options upon being faced with it: getting upset or using it as a vehicle to minister to those living in it. Learning how to use it as a ministry tool was rewarding because it let you see the person you’re ministering to person to person, rather than viewing yourself as someone coming in to save the day. I am grateful for the challenges I encountered due to the opportunity for growth.

Getting to work with those that we did was truly a blessing. Looking back on my time there, some of my most cherished moments were when I was simply being with people. The street ministry where we fed out of the back of a truck to those in the streets was one of my favorite things to do. It enabled us to meet people who desperately needed love where they were and show them how valued they are. Another one of my favorite activities was the intern-led Bible study with the teens. Getting to hear them talk about their lives, hardships and relationships with God was an incredible experience. It gave us as interns the chance to connect personally with them. It also gave us an opportunity to pour love into their hearts that are often calloused by their pasts and to let them know they are worth so much more than the world tells them.

Vicky Hernandez, University of Houston – Downtown:

 This was my first time in Honduras and working for Breaking Chains, and I enjoyed everything we did. Building houses, going to feed on the street and playing with kids all around Honduras are all countless memories I won’t soon forget.

Some of the best memories I will forever cherish are going to pass out food every Friday night and meeting my boy Daniel. I sat down with Daniel every Friday as he had a plate of rice and beans and talked about his life in the streets.

Before going to Honduras, a challenge I had was teaching and leading a class. This summer, the interns and I led devotionals with the Breaking Chains teens and taught the middle school class on Sundays each week. Now, I can say that I enjoy it a lot more and feel more comfortable compared to how I felt before.

It was amazing to see the difference from when we first met the “shy” Breaking Chains teens to the later outgoing, talkative and loving teens. We enjoyed planning and leading devo every Monday night for the teens. Toward the end of the summer we had some of the teens join the groups on house sites. They enjoyed learning and hanging out with groups. We are all so proud of their accomplishments and the growth we saw throughout the summer.

I was very nervous about leaving home for two and half months and being in a new country, but everyone was very welcoming and kindhearted, which made saying goodbye very hard by the end of the summer. I am very thankful for the opportunity and experience. It has been a huge blessing to be a part of the Breaking Chains family.

The latest newsletter is now available!

Originally posted September 7, 2016

The busy summer months have ended, and we are praising God for his continued grace and faithfulness. Our latest newsletter, available here, highlights some of the ways God has been at work at Breaking Chains over the past few months, and some special souls we ask that you keep championing through prayer.

In this issue, we want to take a minute to thank all of the volunteers who came and showed love to Breaking Chains through mission teams and internships this summer. You can also read from our lead interns perspectives about how the summer working with BC impacted them. We also praise God for Escarleth, one of our BC young adults, and the way God is creating beautiful things in her life. And we ask that you keep praying for our education students as our bilingual kids get back into the new year, and our regular private school students seek to finish their year strong.

As always, we are so thankful for your continued love and support. If you would like to become a partner with us and contribute financially to any of the needs mentioned in the newsletter, please email courtney@bchonduras.org or visit our website to make a donation.

Thank you for your generous love, prayer and support. We pray God continues to watch over your family as he continues to watch over ours.

Bendiciones,

The BC Honduras Team