My First Team!

Hey! Paul here! I am fairly new to the 61 Isaiah team and Taylor and I are learning so many new things. We have been here for about five months now and Honduras is starting to feel like home for us. Every season brings new challenges, and joys, we get to experience alongside the rest of our team.

March is when team season begins, and we have both had a ton to learn. Throughout the year, we host many church groups for the purpose of sharing the Gospel. Gospel saturation is one of our five core values and we can only reach so many people with 14 team members. Having mission teams come, helps us further our vision for Gracias and increases the amount of workers who help reap the Lord’s harvest.

When hosting a missions team there is a lot of prep work put in before the group arrives. While the trips usually only last about a week, we start planning months in advance so it can go as smoothly as possible. A week ago Taylor and I had the honor to support and lead Southside Baptist Church from Brownwood, Texas alongside with Josh. He took lead and was tasked with orchestrating everything from the schedule to what kind of tasks Southside was assigned. Taylor, Kylie, and I were his support crew and we were all excited to see how God was going to move.

Southside partners with a church in the village of Las Brisas. Las Brisas is about one and a half hours up the mountain and has one of the best communities around! One of the coolest things about this partnership is that Southside has been coming consistently for over five years now. The relationships that have been built and strengthened throughout the years are amazing to see. Many of the villagers know the Southside group very well and look forward to seeing them every year.

The Southside group was so large we had to divide them up and send half to Las Brisas and half to our hunger farm. Depending on the day, the group that went up to Las Brisas visited houses, attended church services, and visited with local church leaders. In the meantime, the other half went up to the hunger farm which was fun because we got to fish out the pond with cast nets. There is something so special about using a cast net to catch fish because it makes you feel like a disciple! We used cast nets to fish out the tilapia ponds so Micah can sell them. It was quite messy, but we used the time well, and I was able to have several very deep discipleship conversations the afternoon I was out there.

Fishing is such a great analogy for ministry and it was a perfect way to engage in discipleship. Jesus Himself uses fishing as an analogy and calls us to not simply fish for fish but humans!
It was a joy to have Southside here, and they were a great first team for Taylor and I. The Gospel was shared many times throughout the week and we are excited to see the many ways in which Southside’s investment continues to produce fruit.