Honduras Missions Trip Testimonies

Honduras Update

Thank you to everyone who helped make my recent trip to Honduras possible! I’m so excited to tell you about what God did in the two week we were in Honduras! I was so blessed with such an incredible team of people (pictured below) and together, we ministered to those working in government, lawyers, bank employees,  hospital staff and burn victims, women’s and children’s ministries, students in three different schools, mall patrons and multiple churches. The doors God opened for us were incredible and in this letter I want to share with you just a few highlights and personal stories from our trip.

Encounters of God’s Love in Honduras

Many were healed. Many were saved. Many people were touched by the power of God’s love. More than anything, I’d say this trip was marked by God’s love. His love in healing. His love in salvation. His love in reaching right into the heart and meeting it right where it was needed. So many encountered God’s love in Honduras, and God taught me, when we say yes in obedience, He will come. He will show up and He will touch people’s hearts. He is so good and full of love!

A Child Healed
One of the days in Honduras we went to a Christian school for kids who may have been raised in the garbage dumps. In the beginning of our time with them we prayed for many who were sick or in pain. I prayed for one girl who had pain in her leg. At first I didn’t know where her pain was so I just prayed for her. As I prayed, I felt God’s presence and she began to cry. I grabbed a translator to ask her what she was feeling. She didn’t say much, but she did point to her leg so I bent down put my hand on her leg and prayed briefly. Then I asked her, “mejor?”, which means, “better” in Spanish. She said yes and walked away crying. I didn’t know if she was healed or not but one of my teammates who spoke Spanish went up to her and asked her why she was crying. She told her it was because of what God had done and the pain in her leg was gone. My friend began to walk around with her and the girl then said it was totally better. Later I saw a new smile on her face! :) Thank you Jesus!!

Painting on Stage
In the first few days of our trip, I had the opportunity to paint on stage during worship in one of the services we ministered in. I’d never painted on stage before, but I put my fear aside and determined to do it. As I prayed about what to paint, one of my teammates began to sing “Jesus You’re Beautiful”, a song by Jon Thurlow. As she said the words, “I know that Your eyes are like flames of fire…” I instantly had a picture of a wave with fire coming out of the top of it as it crashed come to mind. I knew that is what I would paint that night on stage. Though I felt the painting could mean much more than this, I felt God speaking about the invitation to come in deeper with Him. That it begins in his blood, but as we step in deeper and deeper in His Spirit, we discover more and more the power of God. Later that night I saw a young boy staring at the painting and studying it. The second time I saw him studying it, at the end of the service, I discovered he spoke English and I asked him what He thought it meant. I managed to record a little video as He tries to tell me what it meant to him. You can watch it here. I gave the painting as a gift to the leaders of the minister there in San Pedro Sula and felt so humbled when one of them said to me, “That was the best gift God gave me this weekend!”

Salvation in the Mall
One day, our team broke into smaller groups in the mall to do some evangelism and pray for anyone God led us to. My small team of 4 met a young lady in the mall and one of the guys on my team began to share the gospel with her.   Though she seemed interested as he laid the gospel out for her, she kep t saying that it was a big decision she wasn’t ready to or was  afraid to make. To be honest, in that moment I would have left her alone and moved on, but my friend was persistent as he encouraged her that she didn’t have to wait. After a while, I asked the woman if I could hold her hand for a moment and she agreed. I looked her in the eyes and told her that there was no pressure to have it all figured out but that God was simply inviting her into relationship, to get to know HIM. After I finished sharing with her about the invitation, my teammate asked her if she wanted to feel the presence of God. She said yes. As we prayed for her, God came and began to touch her heart. After this experience, she was ready to step into relationship with Jesus and my teammates led her into a prayer. Her face changed and she expressed how glad she was that she had met us that day. As for me, I learned something that day. While I was ready to quit at the first sign of a “no”, my friends persistence led to this woman encountering the love of God and inviting Him into her life.  God’s love never quits and He isn’t willing that ANY should perish. The woman we met was worth fighting for, and GOD won her heart that day!

Speaking on Stage
If you were to ask me what I was most passionate about, I would say, “seeing hearts be healed”. I am passionate about seeing the heart of businesses healed, the heart of churches, the hearts of the hurting and the hearts of each individual healed, including my own. On this trip, God was so faithful to show up and heal hearts and to give me an opportunity to step out in what I believe He is calling me to do more in the future. I had a chance to speak a few times on this trip, but most notably, at the creativity conference in Tegucigalpa that we were a part of the last weekend we were there. I spoke about Intimacy with God through Creativity.  Two weeks earlier, before I left for Honduras I had worked on this sermon. I asked God to please show up for this... and that day, He answered with a yes. When I finished speaking, I was aware of all that hadn’t been perfect. Did I pace too much? Look at my notes too much? But God wasn’t waiting for my perfection before He showed up. He showed up because he is good, and He encountered so many that day. God proved to me that He would be faithful to come when I am obedient in stepping out, and I was wrecked by God’s love and seeing him touch so many hearts. “God wants our whole heart so that He can make our heart whole”,  I told them, and I ended my message with a challenge for each person to expose their heart to God and express themselves to him. My own challenge rings in my ears at times and as you read this, I pray you’ll take the challenge for yourself too. Intimacy with God requires Love and TRUST.  Will you trust him with your whole heart? Will you expose yourself fully to HIM? He won’t leave you hanging. He’ll come and He will reveal His love to you.

You can read part of my sermon and see a clip of it here.

FINAL WORDS

The above was just a snippet of the stories our team had from our trip to Honduras. I didn’t have time to tell you about the woman in government who was healed, or the 17 teenage boys who accepted Jesus, or the other encounters of God’s love on the people of Honduras, but I hope that the stories I shared were enough to wet your appetite and hunger for the more of God. Because, beloved friends and family, there is always more in Him.

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Love and THANKS,

Sarah Finkenbinder

PS! I am finishing up my second year in this school of ministry, and starting in May I will be starting a full-time job at Bethel as the Accounting Manager. I’m excited to see what God does in this next season! In the meantime, I am praying about some things on my heart and will be continuing to learn and grow as a leader, continuing to practice preaching and saying yes to God as He leads me wherever He may… Thanks for joining me on my crazy journey! There’s so much more ahead, and life is full of God’s goodness!