My parents have made the trip down to Honduras every Spring break except for one since I was in 7th grade. I still remember my first trip to Honduras like it was just yesterday. It's a miracle that I ever wanted to go back to that place. I spent the first half of the week sick as a dog because I couldn't breathe which resulted in little to no sleep, somewhere towards the end of the week I fell down a tree and landed in a pile of glass and became the only medical emergency my parents treated all day in the medical clinic, and I finished off the week by catching a stomach bug and not being able to keep anything down for 24 hours. And yet, for some reason I LOVED IT!
I came back from Honduras that year and I couldn't wait to go back. I couldn't wait to go back and see the kids that I fell in love with during that short week. I couldn't wait to go back and see how the church that we had helped build had grown. I couldn't wait to go back and see families living in the houses that we had built. I couldn't wait to go back.
And so our family went back to Honduras, and we went back, and we went back, and we went back again, until somewhere along the line those Spring break visits started turning into short Summer trips. Those short Summer trips started turning into ALL Summer trips followed by Christmas visits. Those trips ended up turning into a girl going to college and majoring in Spanish and spending a whole semester in Honduras.
And that semester in Honduras played such a pivotal role in my desire to enter into youth ministry. It's amazing how God used a Spring break trip when I was a 7th grader to shape 13 or 14 years later where I would be. He has a way of working things out in such beautiful ways.
Had my parents not taken Braden, Brennan, and me on that trip 13 years ago I think my life would look totally different.
People often ask me what my home life was like growing up. I get asked often by parents what my parents did to help shape my faith in God. I tell them that I have two of the most loving parents that anyone could ever have. I have been blessed beyond belief. I tell them that I was encouraged and pushed to always do my best and dream big. But I also tell people that my family was not one of those families that would sit down and talk a lot about our faith. We would pray before meals together. We would go to church together every week, but we didn't have a whole lot of casual conversations about our faith or about God. BUT, I can also tell people that my parents lived out a beautiful story of loving and serving other people, and they challenged us to do the same. I watched my parents put their faith into action, whether that be in Honduras or right down the street in the Luther Christmas project.
But the BIGGEST thing my parents ever did to shape my faith was start taking us kids to Honduras when I was 12. My parents challenged us to live a better story. My parents opened our eyes to a world outside of the little Edmond bubble that I grew up in. My parents opened doors for us to share our faith and grow in our beliefs. My parents showed us kids the importance of loving and serving others. My parents helped us to see what it looks like to love sacrificially and serve those in need. I got to stand right beside my parents as we served our brothers and sister in Tegucigalpa.
So when I look back to the biggest defining moment in my faith, I would pinpoint it to Honduras. Not because it was thousands of miles away and poverty like I had never seen before, but because it opened up a door for me to live out my faith walking side by side with my mother and father, brother and sister. I was able to watch how they interacted with the poor, sick, hurting, and starving people around them and learn from them what it looks like to love and serve others. I learned that there is a world out there who is hurting and in need of not just physical things but also the Good News of Jesus (whether that be down the street in OKC or down in Honduras).
So my encouragement to parents is to find a way to serve with your kids. It doesn't have to be a huge trip to another country, it could be just 5 minutes down the road. Nothing will impact their lives more than serving alongside their parents. There eyes will be opened to a whole new world, and they will be challenged to step outside of their comfort zone and live a bigger story. I have been so incredibly blessed to have parents who have always been willing to serve in big and small ways , and I am so thankful for the times that they brought my siblings and me along to learn and to help. They truly helped shape my life through their actions!
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