Good Morning! It is going to be a humid day today! Yesterday was our second day of the medical center in Agua Aguria. We left the hotel around 8:00 and got right to work when we arrived at the village. We saw a total of 350 people over the last two days. 350 people who probably have not seen a doctor since last year when we were here. I was also blessed to be able to wash the feet of the women who attended the womens Bible study yesterday. This is one of my favorite activities here because it makes me think about Jeses washing the feet of his disciples. Christ not only washed their feet but he washed the feet of the man he knew was going to betray him in the very near future. We also gave everyone a new pair of shoes after washing their feet, I wish you could have seen the smiles that would light up across their faces as this process was happening. 
While all of this was going on we also had a construction team. This team was fixing the playground and working on building the new classroom for the church building.
At VBS we discussed Jonah and the big fish. Each child got a picture to color and a Jonah and the fish cloths pin. Then we had our gosple meeting again, if you ever are wanting to hear some amazing singing where you can feel passion for God I would highly suggest coming here. The singing here brings so much joy to these people, even the children. I wish that I could see that passion in the church in the USA more.
At devo last night Wyatt spoke about how we need to be obedient no matter whzt the plan God has for us is and we should be content with it. We will not all be called to be a Noah, Moses, Paul, Etc. God does not always call his people to have some amazing story of His power. We need to be content in being obedient to Him and in being a background character in his story. Whichever character you are it is still important. Wyatt talked about Sauls conversion story, a story many of us know very well. The person remembered and talked about in that story is Saul/Paul. The person you do not hear much about is Ananias. Ananias was the man who went to Sauk as he was prsying to restore his sight. This act was something that Ananias was not sure he wanted to do because he has heard the stories of things Saul was doing to Christians. It would have been easy for him to say sorry God I have heard what he is doing and I do not want to put myself in danger. Ananias did not do that, he was obedient to what God comamded him to do, he was content being in the shadows of the story of Saul. Even as a background chara ter he was still a part of Saul becoming the great apostle Paul.

What is your potato?

Buenos Dias! Yesterday was such a wonderful day! Our first full day of working was spent at the church in Choluteca providing a free medical clinic for the village. At the clinic we check their blood pressure, tepmerature, ect and provide free medication for about a month of use. I spent my day working in the "pharmacy". after the people went through the line we were given their prescriptions to fill, pack, and call out. Let me tell you after working in this pharmacy I better understand whynit takes so long for things to be filled at the pharmacy! You have to fill it, check it, have so eone else check it, and have someone else check it, etc because with medicatin you do not want to give the wrong medication or tell them the wrong dosage. The medical clinic lasted until about 3:30. I was very proud of the team because it was HOT in that building. We were very blessed to have fans all around but it was still a bit like an oven in that building. Then we had a short VBS for the kids at the church. We told the story of Daniel and the Lions Den, sang songs, and made lion puppets. Then we had a gosple meeting. You may remember me discussing Jeremys devos from last year, and I am happy to be able to hear him speak again this year. He told us a story about his daugter who one night at dinnernrefused to eat a potato. He then discussed how in our lives we will all run into things that we may not want to do but as followers of Christ we need to be obedient and do the task. There are many things that will cause us to struggle but we have an amazing and powerful God on our side who will help us overcome anything that we run into. With Jeremys daughter her struggle came in the form of hunger because until she ate that potato it was on her plate and she did not get anything else. She went to bed hungry, she woke up hungry, but when she woke up that potato was still there waiting for her to overcome and eventually she ate it. Soon she apologized for refusuing the potato and Jeremy said he was so glad to see her grow. We have a Father who is the same way, He will always help us overcome things and he will always welcome us back with open arms. No matter what your potato is try to remember that it is yours to overcome and it will be there until you work it out, it does not just go away.
After the gosple meeting we went out for dinner at pizza hut, I was beyond happy to get some food in my belly! Then we came back to the hotek and had our devo. We finally got to sing! Singing is by far one of my favorite things about this trip, I always wish it coukd be like my first year where we sing on the bus as well but that does not happen as much anymore. Wyatt is in charge of leading our devis this week. He is focusi g his devos on obedience. Hislesson last night focused on making obedience inti a positive thought instead of a negative one. We should be glad to be obedient to our God, our family, our bosses, our spouses, etc because we love and respect those people. He also told the story of the song lerice my eat, something that I have heard before but will always be amazed by. Here is how the song goes:

Perice my ear, Oh Lord my God.
Take me to your door this day.
I will serve no other God.
Lord I'm here to stay.
For you have paid the price for me.
With your blood you ransomed me.
I will serve you eternally.
A free man I'll never be.

At a point in a slaves life they were given a choice to continue serving their master or not to. Those who choose to stay had their ear periced. We are given the choice to follow Christ and it is our choice to do so.

Welcome Yo Honduras!

Wow, what a day! Yester began for me somewhere around 2:30am yesterday morning. Our fligt out of Pittsburg was at 7:00 and we conne ted in ATL to fly to Tegucigulpa. When we arrived here the advanced crew had lunch ready for us, a tasty choice of pbj, cheese, and bologna with cheese. We left for the hotel in Choluetca at 2:00. We were rolling right along when suddenly our bus began smoking, our bus had broke a belt. Welcome to Honduras. This is a common phrase down here stating that things will happen and we need to just go along with them. Our replacement bus got back about an hour afte we broke down. By 6:00 we were at the hotel, but don`t worry we still had plenty to do befor turning in for the night. We quickly unloaded and got put into our different rooms. The. We loaded up again and went to have dinner at Wendys. Back at the hotel we started getting thinga reacy for the medical center that we will be doing the next few days. I was beyond proud of all my girls with this because it would have been so easy to complain anout being tired, afte all we were up all day, but I did not hear a sound from any of them. All four of them were busy working untill about 10:30. I kept working, helping count out a few meds that were missed but was still back at the room by 11:00 and in bed by 12:00 (which would be about 2:00am our time.) I am not able to post pictures right now but I will be soon!

And So It Begins, 2014 TORCH Missions

It is hard to believe that a year has passed again already! Looking back a lot has changed from last year to this year. I have completed my first year of teacher, I have my own house, my own insurance, my own bills...it is crazy to think about. But here we are a small 5 hours away from the beginning of this next trip, and here I am not sleeping but blogging about it!

This year is my first year as a group leader. Tricky and I are the two leading the first group to Honduras this year. At 3:30AM we will be meeting at the church building to drive down to the airport, and although it is only a few hours away time can't seem to pass quick enough! From there we will need to get our stuff all into one car and be on the road by 4:00AM so that we can get to Pittsburgh and catch our 7:00AM flight. As much as I hate traveling days I always look forward to this particular one. On this trip it will be myself, Tricky, my niece Angel (no longer a rookie, as this is her 2nd year!), Hannah, Katie (Rookie), and Abby (Rookie). I always look forward to the new ones that come because seeing the change in them is truly an amazing thing.

I guess to finish up I just want to say please keep us all in your prayers about our travel the upcoming hours and the countless things that we will be doing in Honduras this year. I will do my best to update you throughout the trip with pictures and little messages.

Until then enjoy your shut eye, I doubt I will get much with my overload of excitement!

Randi

Opportunity

The summer of 2004, at the age of 14 my story began, after seeing my brother go to Honduras multiple summers prior it was finally my turn to go! I remember the excitement building up inside me before the trip, what I didn't know was how much the trip was going to change my life. Since 2004 I have been back to Honduras 9 times on 10-16 day mission trips. Each trip it became harder and harder to leave the country and the yearning to move their has grown with each passing summer trip. Something about the people of Honduras steals my heart and I know that God is calling me to do more work there.

I recently graduated college with a degree in Elementary Education. After applying to countless jobs I decided one night to Google international teaching jobs and came upon the Eternal Family Project, located in Pena Blanca Honduras and my heart immediately stopped. EFP is an all girls home that began in 2004 to provide young women with a safe, family environment where they would learn the love of God, while continuing their education to receive a high school diploma. Since 2004 the original girls from EFP have graduated high school and are all enrolled in college, both in the United States and in Honduras. The program is now opening their own school to provide an education for the girls and are in need of teachers. I am looking to commit to the school for the next 2 years but I need help. EFP is unable to provide funding for their teachers, it is strictly a volunteer opportunity right now, and therefore I need help from anyone and everyone to make my dream come true.

My budget is $1700 a month. If you break that down it would be about 34 people agreeing to donate $50 a month towards this cause. It is possible! I can not do this by myself I need a team of financial supporters and constant prayers. I have no doubt that this is what I am being called to do right now, I know that this is where God wants me to be. All I need now is the support, I am taking the leap of faith. If you are at all interested in helping me make this leap please email me at randilgrossman@gmail.com. Remember it doesn't have to be the $50 a month donation, it can be anything $5, $10, $20, $100, ANYTHING! It will help make this come true. Please take the time to pray about it and if you feel the call to join me contact me and I will give you my number. Ask ask many questions as you would like, I would love to answer them.

God Bless.

Digging A Swimming Pool

The last two days I spent at Mololoa. On Thursday we had 2 groups, one went on the final house build and then one group went to Mololoa to dig and work in the feeding center.

A few months ago their was a storm in Mololoa that caused a flood in the daycare. The flood ruined the flooring in the day care, so we have been digging this huge hole, we call a swimming pool, that we eventually will fill with concrete. Another group will be finishing our project because we are only about 5-6 feet down and need to get to about 8 feet.

Friday was our last full work day. Most of the team went to Mololoa again to work an the swimming pool and about 12 people went to the fresh food market, made food bags, and handed out food at one of the villages here in Honduras.

At about 1:00 we stopped our work in the daycare to do daugters of the king. Daughters of theking is a thing we do for the little girls in Honduras. We wash their hair, comb it, braid it, wash their feet, and paint their nails. One of the most humbling things that you can do is wash someones feet. It was such an honor for me to be able to serve the little girls in Mololoa by washing their feet.

One of my favorite things about Mololoa is the children who live their. Mololoa has the best children you will meet in your life. Today I was blessed to meet a group of siblings who attached themselves to me. After I finished my turn washing feet I had an hour or two to play with the kids. This is my favorite thing to do out of anything that we do on the trip.

Today is our final day and we will be passing out food in Mololoa and the  going to the Valley of Angels to do some shopping.