Two years ago, I was called to teach in Honduras. My time here has been both eye-opening and heartbreaking. I’ve been asked many times if I love living in Honduras. The truth is that though I am living amidst great pain and poverty, I am also continually driven to my knees witnessing redemption at work here. I am grateful for the brokenness I face because it keeps my heart soft.
Living here, I have become very involved with a ministry called the Micah Project. The Micah Project has two group homes for boys and an outreach to the street children of Tegucigalpa. The boys in the group homes, all of whom suffered painful childhoods on the streets or in very poor homes, are now receiving discipleship training, formal education, and opportunities to serve others who are in need.
The boys have taught me a lot, both about the world and about myself. I sincerely count them as a part of my family, as both brothers and sons. Knowing them has awakened in me a deeper part of myself, a fiercely protective side that flares heatedly to think on the violence they have experienced in their young lives. The extreme poverty and brokenness of families here leads to abandonment, physical and sexual abuse, expulsion from the home, alcohol and drug addictions, and gang involvement. By the merciful hand of God, the Micah Project offers hope to young boys living in the streets. But what about the girls?
Statistically speaking, in Honduras one in three girls will be a victim of sexual abuse before she reaches the age of twelve. Child sexual abuse is more than a nightmare, it is the sickening day-to-day reality in many families here. Some families prostitute out their daughters and nieces to men in the city to create an income, often to feed the addictive habits of the adults. Ultimately, poverty and corruption leave the police and government ineffective. Many older girls run away to the streets to escape the sexual abuse at home, but the street is not much of a refuge.
One evening in late November, a friend and I were discussing what a “Micah House for girls” would look like. Together we dreamed excitedly and without reservation, and within the week I mentioned the idea to the director of the Micah Project. He smiled and handed me the name and email address of a woman, Carol, who not only shared our dream but also had already started to create it: a group home for abused young women.
I met with Carol to discover she and her husband, Terry, had already sweated through the legal red tape of court systems, orphanages, and finances of purchasing a house. What she was in need of, she told me, were counselors-- women willing to commit their time to invest in relationship with the girls, to be ready to listen when they want to share, to offer help with homework, and to teach self-discipline and appropriate social skills. I am honored to say that after much prayer I am convinced that this is where the Lord wants me. I have committed to spending the next two years growing with these girls, learning from them and affirming them of their immeasurable worth.
It has been a huge blessing to serve at my school these last two years; it has been an ideal transitional period between college and life afterwards. The school has taken care of me financially and provided me with a group of new teachers my age to live in community with. But now the Lord is challenging me to fully trust Him for everything. If I was not entirely confident that this is what the Lord is asking of me, I would not be taking this step of faith. But I know He has created me with specific gifts and talents, and I was made to love these girls.
There are two great areas of need: prayer, and financial support.
Prayer: The girls and young women of Honduras are in dire need of prayer. Casa de Ester is offering hope and light to these girls in the darkest of situations. Please pray that the Lord would be giving them strength and preparing the hearts of those who will become a part of Casa de Ester. That includes accepting discipline, rules, and responsibilities for the first time and also changing certain unhealthy behaviors. Pray also for those of us preparing to work with the girls, that the Lord would give us unconditional, long-suffering love for them. Pray for strength in the staff and unity within the family of girls.
Financial support: I am in need of both monthly donations (for rent, gas, food) and one-time gift contributions (to renew my Honduran residency, to secure a means of transportation, etc.) to support my living here for the next two years. If you would like to help out in either of these ways, your tax- deductible checks can be made out and sent to
World Outreach Ministries
P.O. Box B
Marietta, GA 30061
(designate for Sage Johnson, Fund Code #104)
or the fastest way is to make an Online Donation via
www.WorldOutreach.org. Go to "Donate" and select my name from the list. The system can process USA & International cards. You can also set up automatic Monthly gifts with your credit card if you choose the "Monthly" option.
If you are interested in learning more about Casa de Ester and the economical crisis in Honduras, please check out the website at
http://www.arrow.org/church/internationaloperationshonduras/Casa-de-Ester.html. Thank you so much for letting me share this with you and for supporting these girls however you feel led.
Muchisimas gracias, y Dios les bendiga. (Thank you very much, and God bless you.)
