Day 2 - Rise and Shine - Give God the Glory!!!

Day 2 - Sunday July 14 

Early morning walking crew

6:30am - Great to get exercise together and explore the town before it got too hot. We enjoyed building community with other team members as the Florida and Toronto team unite to serve together. It was so precious to hear team members’ stories of how they came to Christ and how God led them to serve in this mission. We were encouraged to see how God had orchestrated and ordained for each person to be here, each with different skills and different passions and different gifts to share.

Morning God story

Our team met the hotel wait staff who were serving us breakfast in the morning. She asked us what our group was doing for the day and we were able to share with them about the different girls camp events we would be running this afternoon. She shared with us that she has 3 daughters and right away we gave an invitation for her daughters to attend. The waitress politely declined as she doesn’t have the financial resources to pay for transportation to the free event. Praise God one of our team members heard this need and immediately offered to step up and provide her with money to give her daughters a taxi ride to the event. And what a precious event it was…over 150 girls attended the event. Minister Tara and Gianina shared words of encouragement to the girls attending.and we had lots of fun getting to know them and hearing their stories and enjoying times of bible teaching, crafts and activities together. And closing off the event by giving each girl a take away bag, with hopes for each girl to feel special and loved, as many may struggle to even have basic necessities met and may never receive a gift like that! 

Worship service at West End First Baptist Church

We were blessed and encouraged through a powerful worship time together, led by our Canadian worship team. It was beautiful to hear voices united in praises in English and Spanish, and hearing all voices giving Glory to Him together. It was a beautiful picture of heaven on earth as we can all unite worshipping God together, no matter what is the colour of your skin, language, age or cultural background. We were also encouraged through the preaching from Tio Charles, challenging us to consider “Are we Reasy?” What an encouragement it was to see attendees raise their hands and make a commitment to follow Him. 

God's Girls & Daughters of the King event

I had a chance to lead a workshop called “Beads of Blessing”. Why can’t an elephant who is one of the strongest land animals break away from captivity when all that holds them is a small rope tied around a stake? The elephant has been conditioned at a young age to believe it wasn’t strong enough to break free and full grown elephants are living their lives in captivity, while believing this lie about who they are and what they can do. I shared about how different lies I have struggled with and how knowing the truth of who we truly are in Christ can really set us free, like it set me free! The girls attending our workshop had the opportunity to make make bead bracelets with words of truth spelled on them. I was so encouraged as the girls shared their bracelet creations with us. I am a child of God. Valued. Important. Not alone. Beloved. Special. Worthy. Perfect. 

It was so precious for me to be given the privilege to be a part of this group..not only for me to be a blessing but for me to be personally blessed and encouraged through them. - Joanne

The focus of today's mission were two events for young girls and women. God's Girl and Daughters of the King is for ages ranging from 9 - 15 years old..

There was a keynote message given by Minister Tara and Gianina, then the girls went into creative workshops that had been organized by the team.As we arrived at the school and finished setting up our workshops, I headed down and sat at a table with some girls. I was a little nervous at first about being able to connect with them but I ended up meeting a girl who spoke English. We were able to talk and ended up talking a lot after the workshop as well, which was really special for me. 

After the workshop, they asked the crowd if anyone wanted to come up and share what they learned. As I looked up, I was moved by how many were waiting in line to share. I had noticed one girl that had been a part of my workshop and it was so special to see that she had remembered the craft and lesson I was teaching about, and wanted to share on stage. 

After that, all the girls got a sash with a marker where they could write “I am chosen.” It was neat to see how excited the girls around me were to wear it. 

As a first time Roatan team member, I’m super thankful to have been able to see first hand the way God used our crafts and lessons to connect with them. It was super cool to see the way these girls could identify with the lessons and personal stories we shared.  I think we could all say that the girls were open to get to know us. And I think I learned so much through meeting them as well!  - Hannah