10/10/2024
Our September 23-27 trip to Honduras with Food for the Poor (FFTP) was eye-opening and life changing!
It wasn't the first time I have witnessed and experienced abject poverty, but it was one of the few times I saw a concerted effort to do something about it!
FTTP was founded 42 years ago as a Catholic Charity, and is now working in 17 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. Listen to some of the things that God has enabled them to accomplish over the past four decades:
* Built 95,087 homes for the destitute
* Provided more than $18 billion in aid
* Installed 25 water projects to provide clean water to thousands
* Shipped over 101,120 tractor-trailer loads to this in need
* Helped develop sustainable communities among thousands
Wow! And now they have extended an invitation to myself and 16 fellow Evangelicals to be some of the first to unite with them to join in God's purposes of seeing those in need -- the hungry, the thirsty, the strangers, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned -- and turn our compassion into action!
There is much I could share with you, but one episode stands out that really blew my mind!
It is a story that will never leave my heart, nor escape my mind for the rest of my life (partly because we were not allowed to take pictures!)
On one of the last days we were in Honduras, we were taken by FFTP to a sparse, crowded, dirt-floored, Honduran prison! At the invitation of those in charge, surprisingly we were allowed to preach the gospel freely and without inhibition!
Our Evangelist Friend, Tony, from the USA, accompanied by a terrific interpreter, preached passionately to over 500 inmates in a crowded, standing-room-only gathering space. Tony poured himself out in a way I had never seen or experienced, pleading with the inmates to place their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ!
To my astonishment, it seemed that every man raised his hand to believe in his heart and confess with his mouth, that Jesus is Lord! Unbelievable!
Then we were given permission to pass out Gospels of John to as many inmates as possible -- and to shake their hands or give them a man to man hug, as we pronounced blessing upon them!
Not one of the inmates refused our greeting, but seemed to welcome us and receive us and expressed gratitude that we had visited them!
There's so much more I could share with you, but why not come with me on a future trip? It is one of those things in life I can tell you about, but words simply fall short!
To read more about this hands-on ministry, go to foodforthepoor.org.
SOLI DEO GLORIA!
Pastor Rob