We just wrapped up our first week at the first-ever Honduras Leadership Training. We’ve settled in more quickly than I thought we might, and LT participants have been able to do a lot of ministry already. For this first blog post, I’ll give you the basics.

There are 11 college-age LT participants (eight gals, three guys), representing five Great Commission Ministries Churches, and one Great Commission Ministries staff couple, me and my wife, Beth. We’ve also been joined by Francisco Castillo, a native Honduran (or catracho in Spanish) who is living with us and helping us get around, translating for us, etc.

We’re in Choluteca for eight weeks, serving one of our sister churches that is part of Great Commission Latin America (sorry for all the organization titles; no more, I promise). The church has a variety of projects it has started to help its community, including an AIDS orphanage, AIDS support groups, a neighborhood of affordable housing, a malnutrition clinic, a preschool for children living in poverty, English and computer classes for teenagers, a microloan program, a tortilla factory, a coffee factory and other things I’ve probably missed. These projects are all done with a heart to serve and care for people and also to share with them the gospel of Jesus Christ. The church is taking on big issues in Choluteca and Honduras: malnutrition, unemployment, illiteracy, HIV, poverty and most of all, the need for a Savior. The church is well-known in Choluteca for its work in the community. (In fact, I met the mayor of Choluteca today at the opening of the English and computer classrooms.) Our hope this summer is to play a role in assisting the church in the challenges they are tackling.

Our living arrangements are nice. We are renting apartments, with four students per two-bedroom unit. We have air conditioning, a mini-kitchen and, most importantly, wireless Internet. We also have a pool but haven’t had much time to use it yet. The complex has a housekeeper who cleans our apartments each day, and the staff is very friendly. (I’m already Facebook friends with the main desk attendant.)

Well, there’s a brief introduction to what we’re doing this summer. We would love for you to pray for us this summer. I’m hoping to update this blog at least once a week to give you a glimpse of what we’re up to.

In Christ,
Ed

Ed Courtney is a pastor with Great Commission Ministries Churches and serves at The Rock at the University of Missouri-Columbia.