Too much to write so let me just say something... more will come soon

Okay so it has now been over two weeks since my last post but I can tell you God has done great things and people are being set free all over the country of Honduras and its’ islands… It great to see the Kingdom of God at work in a global manner and see that the same God you worship in Cleveland, Knoxville and throughout the U.S. is the same God we are worshiping down here. I made an attempt to recapture everything that has happened since I last wrote but I just couldn’t do it and capture the true meaning so what I’ve decided to do instead is tell a few stories and then edify you who are reading this.

First, I want to tell a story of a young man who I was able only to talk with for just a few moments last week at the orphanage. His name was Jose and I don’t know much about him even now but I will tell you this my heart is sinking for this little boy even as I write this. I saw him as I was leaving last Tuesday. The Spirit of the Lord spoke to me as I saw him and so asked him how he was doing but I asked in such a way as to reveal true care and concern for him. Without anther word Jose began to cry trying to release some of the built up hurt and anguish while trying to keep any of the others see him do so. All I did was hold him close and wrap my arms around this young man know that I might not see him again but knowing that for God to touch his life I wouldn’t have to. He had only been at the orphanage for 11 days and for what reason I do not know but I knew one thing and that is that we serve a God who Loves, who is Love who see the pity of his children and is not overwhelmed by there tangled mess but lovingly is drawing them nearer to him.

Let me make this statement. GOD WANTS HIS CHILDREN BACK!! Make no mistake about it. Our life is not our own and even if you think it is who will surely loose it. This isn’t something to I’m saying to bring guilt or to make you question your relationship with God but it is a question asking you what are you doing with your life? I’m not asking what are you doing with you money… I’m not asking what are you doing with your possessions because those things with reflect a deeper dependence. We know that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks but also out of the heart the hands work and the eyes see and the feet go. Listen stop going around trying to achieve somewhere in life. YOU ARE THERE!! You will never live your life outside of the present moment. The future doesn’t exist and the past is forever gone. For the future God knows the plans he has for you and oh are they good! As for the past… It was for freedom that Christ set us free so walk in that same freedom. So many people strive to stand behind the pulpit or to be a vibrant missionary in a foreign land living every moment for God but forget that we are a priesthood of believers called and equipped to bring people to the Lord. Stop walking in fear and living as if you haven’t yet found your purpose. Be confident in your place as a son or daughter of the Living God.

I want to write a prayer I felt God lay on my heart. It is weird because it was God speaking to me but I wrote it as if I were God while also writing it as if I were writing it to others (some of you understand…) here it goes…

Michael, when you are following me, continue to do so. When you wonder, no matter where you go you can turn back to me. Michael do not worry about your life as to what you will do or your future as to whom you will marry. Isn’t life more than these things and isn’t life lived only one day at a time? Son I have made plans for you way in advance. I am not scurrying around trying to fix the mistakes you’ve made nor am I trying desperately to provide new opportunities to replace the ones you’ve missed. Michael I know the plans I have for you and they are to give you a future and a hope more than you can imagine. Commit your way to me son and you cannot be disappointed. Michael I know you’ve been disappointed in the past, sometimes it has been in your control and other times it hasn’t been but you just need to know that I AM FAITHFUL!! There is nowhere you can hide from my presence in your life. If you go to the apartment across for the Route 66, (The place of darkness from your past) I am there. If you make your bed in May Acres, (A second place of darkness) I am there. If you run you will never gain one step ahead of me. Michael you are not as big of a mess as you sometimes think nor am I as small as you sometimes have created me in your head. I am alive and working to perfect you for my own pleasure and for your own good. I am not an egotist but I’m not Santa Clause. I am a relational God meant for you to have a relationship with. Michael life is painful but this is how you grow. Don’t live as if I could one day just leave you nor should you worry as if I might not be there in the future. Sometimes when you worry about the future, you rarely imagine it with me as your guide. Do not loose heart Michael but don’t try and keep heart for the sake of thinking you will separate yourself from me. You aren’t meant to pull yourself up by your own boot straps son. That is what I’m here for but I’ve also set you free from your sin so in that same way walk. Whom the son has set free is free indeed, not to live as we desire but to live in victory over sin, death, the past, personal hatred, anger, hurt, lies, lust, failed relationships, broken hearts or horrible images. Michael, as my son I love you, even if you didn’t call me father, but because you chose to love me you have been set free to do so. Live your life to me because outside of me there is no real life just wondering. I love you and adore you. I won’t leave you or forsake you EVER! Jump to me son and I will catch you, run to me and I’ll run to you. Strip yourself of the sin that is holding you back and I will cloth you in my very best. Son you can trust me. I created trust and was the first one to carry it out. I love you son, Live like it…

Michael

Earthquakes, milkshakes and no breaks!

Wow, so today I write my first post in nearly two weeks. I've been communicating mainly through facebook because I wanted to use this mainly for videos which I was going to put up but since it takes so long to download them I'm not sure how often those will take place.
So much has happened lately but here is the best synopsis I can come up with... I was involved in the earthquake in Honduras as you probably heard from one of my family members. It was a good ways from us, about 80 miles of the coast and we are another 3 hours from there.. Basically Thursday morning I awoke to the unfamiliar sensation of my bed rocking back and forth... Of course there are only a few possible plausible explanations for such an event ranging from the natural to the supernatural and unfortunately none of the former came to mind (I won't go into detail there... :) ) After it was over I went out into the hallway where I met Paul who told me it was an earthquake (so completely natural after all...) Turns out it was one of the biggest in the history of Honduras! It was amazing though because the epicenter was far enough off the coast that it didn't damage the land too much and close enough to the shore that it didn't cause a tsunami... Also it took place at 2:30am, too late for anyone to be out and too early for anyone to be up. God is so good. Most of the time we ask why things like this happen... This time we should only thank God that this massive earthquake met its minimum destruction.
This week we finish up at the orphanage and the school. Today was possibly our last day at the school and tomorrow will be our last day at the orphanage... Going into yesterday I really felt and had been feeling for sometime the Lord leading me to share the gospel with some of the kids that I've gotten to know. Oddly enough though I didn't expect Lydia to be gone this week so yesterday I had to step out a bit and share my faith with them in their own tongue... It was amazing because I spent most of the day with Frankie, a young boy who was almost killed by his father 5 years ago. We sat and talked about everything from the earthquake to his painful past. He loves the Lord and realizes his presence in his life. Later on I got to spend 15 minutes or so sitting with a group of about 5 or 6 sharing scripture verses with them. One boy who was in the orphanage due to his parents getting deported, began crying. I began talking directly to him and I reached out and held him close to me. Amazingly enough, it wasn't 2 hours later and his aunt and uncle arrived to tell him his mother was on her way to pick him up! It was so great and before I left I asked him if he wanted a bible. He said yes and it seemed to add to his excitement, so maybe God brought him there just for this last week to have this seed planted in his life! If that ain't Romans 8:28 then I don't know what is...
So here are the upcoming events... Friday we are going to be staying home to work on three dramas we have been asked to do by Paul for possibly two youth services next Friday. We already have the dramas, I think we just have to coordinate them. I've been told I'll be Jesus since I'm the only guy... I hope they're okay with a white, 21 year old, bald Jesus. It's sort of ironic because the town we are going to is called Oak Ridge! Except this Oak Ridge is a mostly black town as apposed to the Oak Ridge near Knoxville which is known for it's... demographically converse layout :) gotta have political correctness.. Anyway I will be speaking as well at this service which will be a lot like preaching just called speaking since preaching is what preachers do... haha... I've already been in prayer about what to speak on and I'm leaning toward Hebrews 12:1 so check it out and tell me what you think... This weekend we will be going to the local dump to hand out Baleades, a local but tremedously amazing food, and minister to the people there. Also don't forget... The U.S. plays Honduras in a World Cup qualifying match on Saturday so turn on the tube if you can, as long as ESPN isn't playing wemon's church league softball or the 1986 Rose Bowl you will surely be in for a great game. I will hopefully be hanging out with some 200 or 300 Hondurans at the church we go to, wearing my new Honduras national team jersey on the outside and my red white and blue on the inside. I think it is going to be an amazing time of fellowship and bonding for me!
On Monday we will head out at Roatan, a very poor part of Honduras on the Caribbean coast. It is also known for its coral reef, ranked 2nd in the world! We will be there all week long for not only the youth services but also for a conference for all English C.O.G. churches in Honduras.

Anyway I hope everyone is doing great and I know many of you are following me even if it doesn't show it on the main page. Thank you for your prayers and support. God is doing a great thing here and I'm learning so much. Anything from cleaning the dishes to playing soccer with the kids, God is showing me that it can all be done with full enthusiasm and contentment. I think this opportunity for me in Honduras this summer is not only a great way to do real ministry but providing me with many opportunities to stretch myself and grow in my character, gifts and talents as well as develope a love for people of all kinds. Keep praying and seeking the Lord! I love you guys and good night and as we Hondurans say, En el nombre del Padre, el Hijo y el Espiritu Santo Amen!

Well, I know I have yet to put a video but I made one it was just too big load onto my computer... I am going to try and make one though this weekend since our trip to Rotan, aka the beach, has been canceled... Anyway I will make this short because I have to be up at 445 in the morn to help take Paul to the bus station so yeah... :( Okay the first picture is of the inside of the orphanage we work at and what ever your first impressions are it is actually not as nice as this most of the time, they just have people coming tomorrow to through a party for the kids so they are getting it cleaned up. The little girl in the other picture is one of the special needs children we are working with. She is probably around 4 years old and she can't really talk or really seem to understand when we talk to her but on top of that she can't walk due to some sort of cerebral disease. She is a very beautiful girl it is neat to think that there isn't a day that goes by that Jesus doesn't think of her (check out Psalm 139:17-18).

God is doing some great things and I will be putting up more blogs because there is so much to talk about. Pray for me please because I feel God laying on my heart to preach... Not necessarily long term but while I'm here. I've been worrying about it cause my Spanish isn't good enough to preach but then it dawned on me... "Why do I feel I have to do it Spanish?" Lydia can translate cause that is what she does... Pastor Paul even affirmed it and I hadn't said anything to him. When I say preaching I don't mean in a church but rather with small groups of kids and the orphanage and the school. I will be praying tough for the right time and I think God will guide us into it. Anyway I'm learning what it means to work in a team even though at times I find it very hard.

Well, I love you guys and even if I don't know everyone who is reading these. If you do read my blog and you don't officially "follow" me on the blog please comment somehow and let me know. It's good to know that you are because it encourages me to keep going. It is hard work, not like anything I've done before. The kids we are around are the very center the love of God but they are the very product of the fallen world we live in. The ends of the earth is where we are to take the gospel and I can tell you there is no one left after these little ones in that pecking order.

Hello there come estan? How are you in Spanish... Today was a great day we all went to church for the first time and it was quite exciting and not much different from a normal Pentecostal service in the US. My Spanish isn't the best in the world yet so understanding the preacher wasn't the easiest task ever but the whole experience was great because I knew we were all worshiping the same God and the same Jesus Christ. What a beautiful picture as people from different walks of life come together and seek the same loving and life giving Savior. As the service was ending I felt God lead me to the alter just to meet with Him not for some crazy experience. I've found there are times when God calls me to the alter not for weeping and sobing repentance but just to meet with me in a way that is more special than staying in my seat. Though talking to God in your seat is not bad I think it is wise that if He wants to meet you at the alter there is a purpose (somtimes that purpose is to dismantal a prejudice you might have against people who go there...)

Anway after the service we came back and met with the children's ministry leaders to discuse ways of going about the ministry they have put together for the church (I think i mentioned it in my last blog.). The meeting was entirely in Spanish so Lydia had to do most of the translating but I was able to keep up just not really offer imput other than the occational nod of my head... Their heart is so on fire for what God has placed in them to do and that passion is spreading to me. I have felt for sometime now a draw toward children... Not in the sense of children's ministry but more just in the way they think and worship God. It's like when a child speak all I can do is smile and see God speaking through them. I do love children and even more so I love how God lives through them so easily.

The last thing I want to leave you with, and I don't know if this speaks to anybody but it does to me but... Today I had a sudden revelation that I want to return to my first love. That is, there was a time when I sat around thinking about God and the love he has for me and the love I have for Him... For some reason I have turned that love into striving and toiling, trying to keep my head above some self induced waterwark that continiues to rise with my efforts. Jesus really does want to be with us and when we truely grasp that we will stop thinking so much and just be.
When we are truely in the presence of the Lord we will not worry about today or tomorrow but we will simply focus on his love for us and live out our love for him and thereby do the exact thing we were meant to do. Anyway I have a ton of thought which are going through me head and I won't go through them all but know this. Our life is simple. Jesus loves you. He especially loves you. Our non-motivated response is to love him back with everything we are. If we truely understand that Jesus loves us we will be able to completely love him. If we lose our independance, which we've gained by separation from God, we will gain our independance in Christ. All I'm saying is we won't have freedom until we submit to the love of Christ. After all he sumbitted to us and that is what relationship is, putting the needs of others before ours with the trust that they will do the same.
Bye!

Well, this isn't a video, i'll put one up later this weekend but I wanted to put something up to tell you guys that we are doing great and God is already a work! From left to right my team is Ivie, Nay Nay, Me and Anna. Another girl on our team, Lydia, who is the spanish queen has been here before and is helping us new-bees learn the ropes. We've been here for two full days and so far we have taught english in a school, or escuela, in spanish. We walked in and immediately we were thrown into a class and were going through a lesson book. I was placed in a class with kids ages 8 to 12 roughly 2nd grade. A few of the kids learned english and were showing actual comprehension of the material. Of course they were a little ancy because i think they were in the class for nearly an hour and a half.
Today we the most draining of the two. We arrived at an orphanage (more like a prison for kids) at 8 o'clock and were greeted by a 9 year old boy who had somehow lost all his clothes and was running around stark naked... it was funny for me but the four girls were a little awkward. This orphanage is not one where kids come who have no parents... in fact they probably do just not good ones. And because this is Honduras the physical abuse which these kids have gone through would have had to be extremely bad. One boy had been shot in the face with a gun, most girls had been involved in prostitution and several had burn or knife scares. It was very sand and the fact that they had little supervision made the whole atmosphere evern more desparate... There is so much to tell you and i guess ill leave it for a video later on.
Please pray for us continously because God has great things in store for the children here. He loves them as much as the child who is closest to you, and that love is everything that He is. a few things to pray about which I will talk more about later is a children's ministry we are starting which as the potential to effect, long term, children ministry in all of Honduras. Also Lydia and I will be partnering up with a psychologist at the orphanage to begin a class for the mentally handicap. As of now these kids do not have a class of their own so they simply run free all day long. Neither of us have worked with special needs children before so this will stretch us,
thank you so much
I Love and miss you all
Michael

first impressions...

Well, it is 12:39am on tuesday morning only hours before I begin the 2 leg journey from Atlanta to Miami then San Pedro Sula Honduras! I want to thank everyone who has kept me in their prayers and also those who were able to give finacially to this trip. I do not consider this my trip but i consider it God's work so in your giving and my recieving it was God who got the glory! Please continue to keep me in your prayers for I feel God laying heavily on me for not only what he is going to do through me and my team but in us as well. we all works in progress and the Lord is not finished with us yet. Thank God! most of my blogs will not be typed out but i plan to use video as the main way to share experiences and thought... please feel free to comment and add feed back but at the very least please please please pray as the Holy Spirit leads you.
Thank you so much
In Christ
Michael Simmons