Our recent visit to La Mosquitia (Puerta Lempira), Honduras has made an imprint on my (Anna) heart. It is an hour and a half away from Tegucigalpa in a small plane. We flew over a beautiful landscape of greens and browns, with rivers twisting in all directions. We were told that much of this vast area was rainforest, covering a huge portion of Honduras, even stretching into Nicaragua. This immense region even has places where no man or woman have ever walked. It is also home to the Lost City of the Monkey God.
As we started to descend we could see a cloud of dust in the distance stirred-up by a helicopter that had just landed off to the side. What I saw next through this dusty haze were people walking across the runway, using it as a shortcut to get to where they needed to go. Many of the locals often choose to use the runway rather than go around. To me it seemed a little risky, but I guess for them, knowing plane schedules helps. It was an interesting introduction to this very unique region.
We came to La Mosquitia (Puerta Lempira), representing the Honduran Fellowship of Missionaries (HFMM) to serve the 9 missionaries that live and serve in this very remote region. We served them by putting on a one day retreat and taught on topics like grief & loss and conflict resolution on Saturday, leading a service on Sunday and counseling & encouraging. That’s how we served them. They served and taught us by their lives. We were deeply impacted by these servants of God. The area they are serving in has one the most unique cultures in Honduras. They even have their own language, Miskito, and the majority of the children come to school needing to learn the primary language of Honduras, Spanish, from the beginning. The missionaries in the area are reaching, teaching and discipling these mostly impoverished children & youth, fostering them in their homes, in orphanages and schools. Such love & faithful service! Their lives being the runway leading people to Jesus. Who would not be impacted? I know we were both challenged and encouraged in our own faith & ministry.
We love being on this adventure with Jesus! So many amazing experiences with Jesus, people, culture and language. Our 4 days in La Mosquitia were a rich blessing and certainly encouraged us to continue being a runway leading people to Him. Even though I (we) have many weakness, thank God He is still working on me, changing me and leading me to become better at being His hands & feet in Honduras!