GOD'S AWESOMENESS!

On Monday I had the wonderful opportunity to share with the girls in the night session. I was praying about what I wanted to do in my time with them, whether or not to share a testimony or a current preview of my life, or share the Word with them. I took a look at what has been going on in my life and decided to be real with them and share about the importance of not comparing ourselves to others and operating in our individual strengths. Lately I have been struggling with this, and God has really been showing me some amazing things in my time with Him, so I wanted to share openly with the girls on the importance of their uniqueness and individuality. I had some things prepared, but God really was speaking to me during the training session and gave me some excellent ideas of how to explain things to the girls.

(I will share briefly what the talk looked like with them): "My name is Niccole Grimaldi and I am from the United States. I'm Italian and in Italy, when we want to say a girl is really pretty we say, Ciao Bella! (and wink) :)(The girls loved this and absolutely ate it up). Today I want to talk to you about comparisons. Have you ever looked at one of your friends and wished you could be like them or look like them or have what they have? How does it make you feel when you realize that it's impossible to be just like them? For me it makes me feel really inadequate and depressed. I feel like I have no peace when I try to be like someone else and not be myself. The goal is to focus on our individual strengths. We are all unique and special in our own way. Look at your fingers and to notice your fingerprint. Did you know that you are the only person in the entire world with that fingerprint? Even if we tried to cut up our finger and shape it like someone else's print, it would be impossible, just like it is impossible for anyone to be like you, and you to be like anyone. I picture God looking down from heaven and chuckling sometimes watching us compare ourselves to others and Him thinking, what are you doing!? I made you so special and with so many amazing qualities and strengths and you're trying to be like someone else? How foolish! (I shared with them the verse in Psalms about us being fearfully and wonderfully made and how God knew us before we were formed). We are each unique and special and one of a kind. God placed strengths on the inside of us that are for His glory and His pleasure and we need to discover what those things are and do them to the best of our ability. Just as you are unique and special and one of a kind, my best friend, Jesus, is one of a kind. And because you were made in His image, you too are one of a kind. I love Jesus so much and there is no one like Him in the entire world, just like there is no one like you." Then I played the song, Shout to the Lord on my guitar and sang with the girls. One of the exciting things was that a lot of the girls knew the song in Spanish so they were able to sing it along with us in Spanish. It was really a special and Holy moment and just absolutely incredible. God is really moving in this place!

On Monday we went to a little village that we had visited the day before that is in the rural area of Catacamas, Honduras. The people in this village are very poor, and don't have much at all. Predisan is working with the people (a man and wife who are pastors take care of the people in the village) about the importance of health and sanitation. Usually what happens is people will go relieve themselves wherever they want, and the problem is that it goes down into the ground and poisons the water for drinking. The water here is not safe to drink for them, so Predisan is teaching them how to build toilet facilities and maintain water that is healthy for them to drink. The man and wife have a home on the land along with their children and the others in the village and they are starting to build these toilets. They are teaching the people to relieve themselves in the toilet instead of just wherever they want. This is really huge for these people and instilling in them proper sanitation. The people in the village were so precious and we saw a small dirt soccer field in the middle of the homes that was on very uneven ground, with goals made out of sticks they had shaved. The girls don't play soccer there, and our hearts really went out to these precious people and we wanted to visit them again.

Yesterday evening we got to do the most amazing thing since we've been here. We went back to that little village with 22 uniforms, shoes, socks and headbands. The people had no idea what we were going to do when we got there, but when we pulled up there were several people just gathered around the church waiting for us to arrive. We had all the girls go inside the church and we made 3 teams of girls and gave them as many uniforms, shoes and socks that we had. Although no everyone got a uniform, we were able to give all of them something. The great thing is that this community of people will be able to share what they have with one another. Seeing their faces light up as we handed them uniforms and shoes--like I said, most don't even have shoes to wear, and they walk on hard ground with rocks and everything else barefoot. It was such a special moment and just absolutely incredible. We went out to that little dirt field and separated them into 3 teams and joined the girls and played soccer for the first time with these girls. THEY LOVED IT!!! Oh my gosh, if I could just explain the awesomeness of this experience! It was by far the most amazing thing we've had the opportunity to do. They were so excited and had so much fun. All the men and the families made a special day out of it and lined the field cheering for their favorite team and their sisters and daughters. It was amazing. We had so much fun with them and it honestly just brought so much joy to our hearts to see their enthusiasm and their excitement.

After the playing session with them, I had the opportunity to preach to the whole crowd that was out there. There was probably at least 70-100 people there last night. During the day I had been preparing what I wanted to speak about and was just praying for God to help me know what to say to them. I had asked Kyle, the missionary who works with Predisan, what they really needed most. He said that they really needed to hear about their uniqueness, especially since the stigma here is that women work in the home and raise the kids and nothing much outside of that. I decided to do a message on dreaming big. As I prepared my notes, I just didn't feel satisfied with what I had prepared. I had a feeling that when I got there God was going to have me scrap the whole thing and just go for it. Well, the bus had taken off to bring some of the other people into town, and my guitar, and my notes were on the bus when it came time for me to preach. :) I had been praying and praying in the Spirit about what to say and just decided to go for it from my heart, trusting God to give me the words He wanted me to say. I ended up doing a message similar to the one I had spoken the previous night, but I added in a little bit on dreams and dreaming big and how God put dreams in our hearts that only we can do. I remember looking at one of the girls holding a baby and asked if it was hers--it was. I said, "Did you know that only YOU can be her mom?" She smiled and it was a really special moment. I asked the men if they had ever dreamed to be able to provide for their families--they all raised their hands that they did. It was amazing to see them really listening and responding. I used the fingerprint analogy again, but God gave me a really neat thing to say to them with the whole, one of a kind thing...I told them if they ever started feeling down on themselves to point their index finger, look at their fingerprint and remind themselves that they are ONE of a kind. It was just neat how God dropped that in my heart right on the spot. I told the girls how beautiful and special they were and how amazing it was to get to share our passion with them and spend time with them, just loving on them. Then God put another thing on my heart right on the spot and I began to talk to them about how God had a huge dream to bring humanity back to Himself so that He could be ONE with them again. I told them about how He sent Jesus to die for us so that we could spend eternity with Him and have grace and love. I then gave a salvation call and at least 20 people responded--including my teammate that came on the trip with us that wasn't saved! :) GOD YOU ARE SOOOO AMAZING!!!!!! We prayed the sinner's prayer and I then told them that they now were my sisters by blood and they all loved that. We sang Shout to the Lord again in English and Spanish and just had a time of worship. It was so annointed...some people were crying and were really touched.

Joey (our leader from FCA) then followed up after me and challenged the men to step up as men and honor their women and lead their families. He really challenged them and encouraged them to be the men that God created them to be. He told them that FCA would be back to bring uniforms and items back for the men and boys in the village, but that they would be challenged them to step up in their walk with God. It was just an incredible moment and God was so glorified! God is just doing amazing things here and I'm so excited to be a part of what He is doing in Honduras!

Please pray for me as I go talk to my teammate about her decision for Christ. I'm not 100% sure if this was an actual commitment or not from her, so please pray for wisdom and the right timing for me to talk to her, and for God to really give me the right words to say. I am going to do it sometime before the trip is over, so please really be holding that up in your prayers!