McKayla and I got to spend the week in Honduras, it ranks right up there with Pine Cove, one of our favorite weeks of our year. We are so grateful for the opportunity to come serve alongside Hope for Honduras. This week the Lord really worked on my heart and mind to trust Him with each step, to take it one step at a time and take my thoughts captive.

Monday morning we found out that the electricity would be off on Tuesday from 8am-4pm which meant we would need to adjust our schedule for the day. They cancelled school for the preschool and for grades K-4th, and they had late arrival for the upper grades. We were so bummed because it reduced the amount of time we would get with the kids. Trust me with every step.

Monday afternoon I got to help work on the house we were building with some of the H4H staff, it’s one of my favorite things to do, the building guys are so fun, kind and love picking on me calling me “la jefa”…I know just enough Spanish to get myself into trouble, they think I’m fluent and I most certainly am not. They got the house framed Monday morning, so Monday afternoon I helped them get the hardie board up. Meanwhile some of the other guys finished framing up the latrine. We were mostly done for the day, except we needed to finish the framing for the roof of the latrine, that’s a one man job so one of the H4H staff, Josue, hopped up on the ladder to do it. Josue, 24, has worked for H4H for the last 4 years and had just gotten sponsored to go to college, he was so excited about starting school! I was giving Josue a hard time because he was angling the slope of the roof to the front instead of the back, so in my broken Spanish I said “what are you doing, man”, he responded with “that’s how the family wanted it”. We all continued razzing Josue, telling him to hurry up, we were ready to go back to the center. I got a few pictures of Josue working, mainly because Jay would deem it unsafe because he was standing on the top of the ladder. Little did I know that it would be the last photo taken of Josue. He died in a motorcycle accident on the way back to the center. Trust me with every step.

Tuesday I drug my exhausted body out of bed, sleep had evaded me, my mind had run rampant all night with thoughts of Josue, his family and his loved ones. Having just lost Jays dad a few months ago, it stirred all of those emotions again. I had no clue how I was going to make it through the day? Take every thought captive. We were able to attend Josue’s funeral first thing in the morning with the staff because there were no kids that morning. I see what you did there Lord. What an honor it was to weep and mourn with them. A couple hours later we were out in the streets feeding hot food. Everyone in the colonia knew what had happened with Josue, so it was necessary, especially that day to be out in the streets spreading the Lords love and joy, even in our mourning. Trust me with every step.

Thursday we had the opportunity to hand out bagged food to people at the top of the mountain. We walked up and down rocky terrain for hours. I’m tired, it’s hot, I can’t go any further I thought to myself. Take every thought captive. When I would look down the road I was having to walk down, knowing I would have to climb back up I would get overwhelmed. One step at a time Heather Michelle. And when I would only focus on that next step, to avoid some sort of poo or twisting my ankle, it was much more manageable. I do trust you with every step, Lord.

These lessons are particularly timely, because we’ve got a road ahead of us, but I’m only allowing myself to focus on one step at a time. Hannah Hope had her annual liver ultrasound last week, it showed cirrhosis of the liver and lesions on her liver. Our next appointment is Thursday, an MRI to take a closer look at the lesions. Because of Hannah’s circulation she is predisposed to liver cancer. Our prayer is that the lesions are benign. One step at a time.

We are on our way home now, leaving part of our hearts in Honduras. Please join us in prayer for Hope for Honduras as they walk through the tragedy of Josue, pray for his family and pray for our Hannah Hope!

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and the sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews‬ ‭12‬:‭1‬-‭2‬ ‭