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Here am I Lord- Send me!!
August 15 2007 / ShareHim in Honduras, May. 25 - Jun. 9 '07 #182by Mariela Blanco
Personal Testimony of Mariela Blanco.
The Honduras mission trip was an awesome experience! At first, I really did not know what I was getting myself into. I was excited about the whole thing until I actually got the CD’s and started practicing the sermons. I was not a religion major and I thought I did not know enough of the subjects to preach about them. Let me remind you that nothing is impossible for God. He got me through it and in the process I learned so much about my own faith.
I did not know where I was going to get the money to pay for the trip, but I had faith that God was going to provide. We got together with a few girls and we started a project for our mission trip. We went to Spanish churches in the area and presented the AY program on Sabbath afternoons. At the end we had a PowerPoint presentation about our trip and picked up a voluntary offering. As a group, we had to go through a lot, but God was with us all the way.
Finally the day came and I was set to go where God would send me. Once we got to beautiful Honduras, we went out in groups with our pastors to see our sites. The first time that I saw my place I didn’t know how seriously people would take it since it was a daycare. The place had pictures of Tigger and Mickey Mouse on the walls. My congregation was not an actual church yet—it was still a small group. They held their meetings in a very small place, and they had rented the daycare for the campaign.
I praise God for sending me to this place. The meeting was full of people. The first night we had more than 30 visitors show up. I will never forget the children. During the campaign, children were coming to me to ask for prayer. I hugged them and prayed for them. I loved the people. They were very attentive and sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
I have learned that God uses people when they are willing to accept His call. I never thought I would be calling people to come to the front. I will always remember talking to the people who were making decisions to be baptized. I prayed with them and the Holy Spirit did the rest of the work. In one of the final meetings, I said, “I know that there are people here who want to give their lives to Christ, but Satan is not letting you get off that chair. Today is the day you need to make the decision.” God blessed, and in total around 17 people were baptized.
This was an experience that changed me completely. I returned home with the fire of the Holy Spirit and worked in my home church for the summer. If God is calling you, just say yes and trust in Him! He knows best and He wants to use you as an instrument to spread His word.
I did not know where I was going to get the money to pay for the trip, but I had faith that God was going to provide. We got together with a few girls and we started a project for our mission trip. We went to Spanish churches in the area and presented the AY program on Sabbath afternoons. At the end we had a PowerPoint presentation about our trip and picked up a voluntary offering. As a group, we had to go through a lot, but God was with us all the way.
Finally the day came and I was set to go where God would send me. Once we got to beautiful Honduras, we went out in groups with our pastors to see our sites. The first time that I saw my place I didn’t know how seriously people would take it since it was a daycare. The place had pictures of Tigger and Mickey Mouse on the walls. My congregation was not an actual church yet—it was still a small group. They held their meetings in a very small place, and they had rented the daycare for the campaign.
I praise God for sending me to this place. The meeting was full of people. The first night we had more than 30 visitors show up. I will never forget the children. During the campaign, children were coming to me to ask for prayer. I hugged them and prayed for them. I loved the people. They were very attentive and sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
I have learned that God uses people when they are willing to accept His call. I never thought I would be calling people to come to the front. I will always remember talking to the people who were making decisions to be baptized. I prayed with them and the Holy Spirit did the rest of the work. In one of the final meetings, I said, “I know that there are people here who want to give their lives to Christ, but Satan is not letting you get off that chair. Today is the day you need to make the decision.” God blessed, and in total around 17 people were baptized.
This was an experience that changed me completely. I returned home with the fire of the Holy Spirit and worked in my home church for the summer. If God is calling you, just say yes and trust in Him! He knows best and He wants to use you as an instrument to spread His word.