Honduras Wrap-up

The church blog on Adel's trip to Honduras is finished.  If you are interested in what he did there you can scroll through the 7 posts dated between August 4 and August 20, 2012, which are all but 1 on the Honduras trip. The site is: 

http://www.thegosite.org/

Specifically, if you want to skip to the most relevant stuff to our family, this post was about Adel and his two friends he went with:

http://www.thegosite.org/2012/

08/go-honduras-the-impact-of-
our-stories/

And this post was about the lessons Shannon and I did with our kids while the daddies were on the trip.  It's fun to read about it from a third-party perspective.

http://www.thegosite.org/2012/

08/go-honduras-a-new-way-to-
go/

Reflection: A Lesson in Thankfulness

Reflection (Day 6)

Explain to your kids the purpose of the lessons this week.  Ask them to list the differences between the way they live and the way the barrio kids in Honduras live.  Make sure they understand that it is okay to want or have things, but the attitude behind it is what matters.

Eye Opener Activities

• Take out the collage posters the kids made on Day 1.  Ask them how they feel about the list of wants they made.

• Brainstorm a short list of what humans need to live (water, shelter, food...).  Take out the magazines again and have kids make a simple collage poster representing needs.  Compare the “needs” poster with the “wants” poster they made earlier in the week.

• Read the story of how God provided for His people in the wilderness (from Exodus 16-17).  A good one is “Ten Ways to Be Perfect” from The Jesus Storybook Bible (page 100).  Talk about how God will meet our needs and that He wants us to trust Him (rather than fight and argue for our wants).

Discussion Questions

• What was the hardest thing to give up this week? How did this week change the way you view your needs and wants?  What do you think we can do to help kids who don’t have all the things we have?  What do you think we can do to remind ourselves to be thankful for what we have?
• God chose to place you in this country, with these parents, and has chosen to bless you with all the things you have.  These are good things and we should not feel guilty for them.  But the real question to ask is how can we use all the blessings God has given us to share His love with others and to bring Him glory?
• Read 1 Timothy 6:17-19.  Have you ever considered your family to be rich? What about compared to the people of the Honduran barrios? Where are we supposed to put our hope? What does that mean?  Who gives us what we have? What does He intend us to do with it?  By telling us to share, is God telling us we can earn our way to heaven?  If not, then why should we give? 

Prayer

Thank God for everything you have.  Confess any greed, discontent, or lack of thankfulness in regards to the way you view or use what God has given you.  Thank God for His grace that He loves us even when we make mistakes or have wrong attitudes.  Pray for the people of Honduras and those in our country who live below the poverty line.

Our "needs" (green sheet) vs our "wants" posters.  Isaac said, "we have a lot more wants than needs."  Exactly.

Lessons in Thankfulness

Last week Adel traveled with a team from church to serve the people of Honduras.  
Here are 2 links to 2 slideshows that show what he did there:

Slideshow 1

Slideshow 2

While he was gone, the kids and I (along with some very dear friends) spent a week learning about life for the poverty-stricken kids there.  

The kids were impressed with the trunks of soccer balls and medical supplies that Adel would be delivering to Honduras.

Those family members who do not go on a mission trip can still participate in the  mission experience.  Our kids have no idea that the things they take for granted are often things that most of the world does without.  Here are some ideas for how to use the Honduran mission as a launch-pad for awareness and heart-change in our own children (and us).  

Feel free to use and adapt any of the ideas here.  They are intended as a starting point for your own family experiences and discussions.  As you lead these activities and discussions, keep in mind that the purpose is not to incite guilt in our kids for their attitudes or for their blessings.  Rather, the purpose is to open their eyes to how truly blessed they are (something all of us in this culture easily lose sight of) and to ask the question of how can we use these blessings for God’s glory.  Also remember that while parents can and should provide opportunities for growth, heart-change is God’s business.  Pray during this week that God will change your heart and your kids’ hearts as you support your family member on mission, and learn about how blessed you truly are.  

These lessons are organized for families to do one each day during the week when a family member is on a mission trip.  However, they could be done at any time and in any way.  Some other ideas are:

• Plan ahead and combine all the elements (stuff, housing, food, electricity, and water) in one day.  Spend the rest of the week selling toys or earning money (car wash? yard work?) to donate to World Vision.  Through World Vision, you can purchase clean water or an animal for an impoverished family that will help bring them food and a livelihood. 
• Calculate how much money you spend per week on food, entertainment, and electricity.  For a week, turn up the temperature on your AC, eat much more simply, and only choose no-cost entertainment.  Donate the money you save to World Vision or another charity.
• Check out Hope For Honduras and see if there is another way your family can get involved.
• Find or create a ministry where you and your kids can serve together.

Departure Party

Day 1: STUFF

Day 2: HOUSING

Day 3: FOOD

Day 4: ELECTRICITY

Day 5: WATER
Day 6: Reflection

Welcome Home Party
Honduras Wrap Up

Welcome Home Party

After a week of serving the poor in Honduras, our Daddies (Adel and Mike) came home today.

We got the families together once again to welcome them home, American-style.  What's more American than too much food?

Everyone dressed for the occasion.

They're home!

The kids had an elaborate surprise planned, to hide and jump out yelling "surprise" and throw red, white, and blue feathers (that had fallen off of the 4th of July feather boas we have...don't ask), but since we let them manage the surprise all by themselves, they of course got signals crossed, or stage fright, or whatnot, and the feathers were tossed too soon and half the kids decided not to come out of hiding.  Welcome home, guys.  

WATER: A Lesson in Thankfulness

WATER (Day 5)

There are still families in Honduras who live without running water and those who live without a dependable source of drinking water.  

Eye Opener Activities

• How many faucets do you have in your house?  How many bathtubs?  How many toilets?

• Give each child a bucket or large cup/container of water for the day.  Tell them it is their drinking water, tooth-brushing water, and hand-washing water.  See how long they can make it last.  

• Make a “turn off the tap” rule for the day.  Tape the faucet handles as a reminder.

• Have the kids help you wash the dishes using only a bucket of water.

• If you really want to drive the point home, turn off the water supply to your house for the day.  What a wake up call that would be!

Discussion Questions

• What would it be like to not have running water in your home?
• How would it change the way you wash your hands? Brush your teeth? Bathe? Drink? 
• What have you learned today about water?

Prayer

Thank God for your water supply.  Confess any greed, discontent, or lack of thankfulness in regards to the way you view or use your water.  Thank God for His grace that He loves us even when we make mistakes or have wrong attitudes. Pray for the people of Honduras and those in our country who live below the poverty line.

 I put tape over the faucets, not as a physical barrier (as it would be easily removed), but as a visual reminder of our "no tap" day.

I ended up giving each child one cup for drinking and another for washing (because without my help, they would just dunk their hands in the cup to rinse off the soap). 

Isaac asked me why the people didn't just install pipes for water.  Great question!  This lead to a discussion on poverty.  If a person is too poor to provide food for their family, how can they afford to install pipes for water?  

ELECTRICITY: A Lesson In Thankfulness

ELECTRICITY (Day 4)

More than 20% of households in Honduras still live without electricity.  You can explain to your kids that if you picked 10 houses on your street, that would mean that 2 of them did not have electricity.  As recently as 2009, the number was closer to 3 out of 10 households without electricity in Honduras.  

Eye Opener Activities

• Make a list of all the ways your family uses electricity.  Imagine what it would be like to live without any of those things.

• Turn off the air conditioning for the day (or boost it up to a higher temperature than normal).

• Spend a day without using electricity in your home (lights, air conditioning, electric appliances, television...)

Discussion Questions

• What is it like to go a day without electricity?
• What are some things in your house that use electricity?
• What would be the hardest one to give up?
• Do you think of your television or your computer as a need or a want?  What about lights and air conditioning?  
• What can we do to share our blessings with others?

Prayer

Thank God for the electricity you get to use every day.  Confess any greed, discontent, or lack of thankfulness in regards to the way you use electricity.  Thank God for His grace that He loves us even when we make mistakes or have wrong attitudes. Pray for the people of Honduras and those in our country who live below the poverty line.

My kids liked the candlelight but didn't enjoy the higher temperatures.  I wasn't the biggest fan of no TV.  We played endless board games and read endless chapters. 

FOOD: A Lesson In Thankfulness

FOOD (Day 3)

Almost 60% of Hondurans live below the poverty line.  You can explain to your kids that if you lined up 10 Hondurans, 6 of them would be considered poor.  To put this in perspective, the poverty line in the United States is currently set at $23,050 (total yearly income) for a family of four.  The average American household budgets 13% of income on food.  For an American family at the poverty line, that would break down to spending $8 per day or $57 per week to feed a family of four. 

Eye Opener Activities

• Most families in Honduras live on a simple and not very nutritious diet: corn tortillas, beans, cassava melons, plantains, rice, and coffee.  The very poorest eat only rice, beans, and tortillas.  For a day, provide only these options for your family.

• Take your family to the grocery store with only $8 in cash (or adjust the amount to fit your family).  Explain to your kids that the $8 is all you have to buy food for the day.  Have them help you decide what you will buy to feed the family for the whole day.  If you’re brave enough and your kids are old enough to understand the lesson, really live the day on what you can buy for $8.  

Discussion Questions

• What is it like to only eat rice and beans?
• What treats or foods did you miss the most today?
• What healthy foods did you not get to each today?
• What would happen to a person who never ate fruits and vegetables?
• How did this experience change how you view the food choices you are given?

Prayer

Thank God for the amazing abundance of food you enjoy daily.  Confess any greed, discontent, or lack of thankfulness in regards to the way you view the food you consume.  Thank God for His grace that He loves us even when we make mistakes or have wrong attitudes. Pray for the people of Honduras and those in our country who live below the poverty line.

Our food options for the day included rice, beans, tortillas, and plantains.  This was the hardest day for me!  The kids actually like rice and beans so they didn't complain nearly as much as I thought they would but after eating nothing else all day, I think they had a healthy appreciation for variety. 

HOUSING: A Lesson In Thankfulness

HOUSING (Day 2)

In Tegucigalpa, most of the population lives in the slums, or barrios.  The barrios are made up of rows of windowless, dirt-floored rooms.  The average household consists of seven family members sleeping in their one-room barrio home.  During the week, the mission team will be building a brand new home for a Honduran family.  This new home measures 16”X20”  and it is nicer and better built than the average barrio home. 

Eye Opener Activities

• Tape off a 16”X16” area in your living room.  Have the whole family sleep together in that space.  

• Spend a day eating, sleeping, and playing in only one room of your home. 

• Take a drive around the city, looking at different forms of housing and levels of comfort.  

Discussion Questions

• What would it be like to only have one room for your whole house?
• What would you like about having a one-room house?
• What would be hard about having the whole family in one room?
• How does that change the way you view your own home?  Do you feel pride? Thankfulness?  Compassion?  What do you think God wants from those He chooses to bless with much?

Prayer

Thank God for your house.  Confess any greed, discontent, or lack of thankfulness in regards to the way you view or use your house.  Thank God for His grace that He loves us even when we make mistakes or have wrong attitudes. Pray for the people of Honduras and those in our country who live below the poverty line.

We combined 2 families (7 kids and 2 moms), and all ate and slept in the same room.  The kids had to play outside if they weren't on the family room rug which was our "home" for the evening.

STUFF: A Lesson in Thankfulness

STUFF (Day 1)

The lessons here are designed to help our kids understand how much they have to be thankful for as well as to help them find compassion for those who have less.  Explain to your kids that they may not realize how much they have to be thankful for.      

Eye Opener Activities

• Send the kids on an in-house scavenger hunt to count how many of each object you own (ideas: pillows, stuffed animals, books...). 

• Have the kids cut pictures out of magazines (or toy catalogs) of things that they would want to have. They can make a collage out of their cutouts.  Keep this collage to use for reflection at the end of the week. 

• With your kids, watch the Veggie Tales video: “Madam Blueberry: A Lesson in Thankfulness.”  Talk about the big ideas with them.

• Have kids sort their toys into two piles: keep and giveaway.  Make a plan for how your kids can share what they have with others.  (This activity may be best done after the discussion below.)

Discussion Questions

• What are some things that you have that are your favorite things?
• What are some things that you have that you don’t really use?
• What are some things you really wish you had?
• What do you do when you don’t get what you want?
• What would it be like to have no toys or only 1 toy to play with every day?
• What are some things you could play without toys?
• Why does God choose to give some people many things and others very little?

Prayer

Thank God for the things you have.  Confess any greed, discontent, or lack of thankfulness in regards to the way you view or use your things.  Thank God for His grace that He loves us even when we make mistakes or have wrong attitudes. Pray for the people of Honduras and those in our country who live below the poverty line.

My kids counted 61 stuffed animals.

Abby's "wants" poster.  She really had fun looking for new things to want.

When I asked what it would be like to have no toys, they said "sad."  That gave me the chance to tell them that the kids who don't have toys still find ways to play.  It was a big idea to them to realize that a child can be happy without even having stuff.  They are also very quick to get that God expects those with much to share with those who have little.  After a lesson like this, a practical follow-up, like a toy-sale for charity would be great. 

Rich?

I don't consider myself to be rich.  We rarely eat at restaurants, we drive used cars, we clean our own home and mow our own lawn.  We constantly have to make choices of where our income is going to go.  And I regularly catch myself wishing for more, comparing what I have to others around me.

On the other hand, I have had the wonderful opportunity in my life to travel to several other countries, most of them considered third world countries.  And this week Adel is traveling with a team from our church to serve a poverty-stricken neighborhood in Honduras.  These types of experiences open my eyes to how much we truly have.

Today, as Adel flies out to Honduras, the kids and I are kicking off a week of lessons to help us focus on thankfulness for the abundance we have.

I asked the kids to count how many stuffed animals we own.  61 was the final count.

And several times they have collected all the pillows we own.

Enough to line the floor of our family room all the way around the room.

And we won't even begin to count the number of Legos we own.  

We are rich.  We may not feel rich, or be in a position to buy everything our hearts desire, but we need to remember how blessed we are.  I'm hoping this week with Adel in Honduras will do just that.  We celebrated the beginning of our Honduras week with a Honduran send-off party for Adel and our good friend Mike, who will be traveling with the same team.

Shannon made pupusas from scratch. 

Adel fried up some plantains.

And we tried some new munchies too.

Shannon and the kids made a Honduran-flag piñata.  

And then we enjoyed some arroz con leche for dessert. 

 We are praying for Mike and Adel and Todd and all the rest of the team as they spend their first night in Honduras tonight.  I pray that our guys are equally impacted as the people they serve there.