Ordinary to Extraordinary:
Reaching Honduras for Jesus

By Lori Tabora

One great joy that we can all experience as followers of Christ is in being a blessing
to others. Jesus’ life exemplified this in everything that He did. Jesus, possessing many gifts given to Him by His father, did not choose to keep them for Himself, but chose to bless the world around Him, ultimately giving His life. Jesus chose every day of His life here on earth to turn people’s ordinary days and lives into extraordinary ones.

Alex and I are grateful for the vast amount of ways that God has blessed us. Not once has He let us down and we know that one of the ways to give thanks to God for all He has done is to follow His example and live our lives being a blessing to our world.

This past Christmas, we made plans to spend the Holidays in Honduras with Alex’s family. We were very excited about this trip because we only get to see his family once or twice a year. A few months prior to our trip, God put it on Alex’s heart for us to go with the mindset of being a blessing to as many as we could while we were there. While Honduras is a beautiful country, it is also afflicted in many parts with poverty and for many, Christmas is like any other day of the year; no presents, no special meal, no tree, and most importantly, there is no knowing of the real reason for the day.

After our arrival there, we met a young girl and I asked her what she would prefer for Christmas, a toy or some grapes. To my surprise, her answer was grapes. Grapes, to us, are a fruit that is very easy to find and something we all can afford, but in Honduras that is not the case. The poor people in Honduras do not have the money to buy grapes and many probably have never even tasted one.

Later we were speaking to a man who we know and he was telling us of a project he was doing in the mountains. He was building a school for the children that live there. Alex and I instantly wanted to go. We then bought every day supplies that a family would need such as corn flour, salt, sugar, coffee, etc. We also bought grapes and apples because we knew that would be a treat for these people. We were able to bless nine families each with a box of food. Along with one of Alex’s cousins, we were also able to bless over 30 children with small toys, grapes, and apples.

Being with these needy people, my heart was filled with joy as were able to bless them, and see the looks on their faces. We told them that out of all the places that we could have gone that God sent us there because He knows them and loves them dearly. The love of God that day turned their ordinary day into an extraordinary day full of unexpected blessings. Even though that day we went to that mountain to be a blessing to those people, we in turn were blessed and our hearts filled with a joy like no other. Because of our desire to follow Christ’s example, those people were touched by the love of God.

Each and every one of us as Christians, followers of Christ, have the ability to change people’s ordinary, mundane days and lives into something unexpected and extraordinary. It is not something you have to go to a foreign country to do, but something you can do where you are on a daily basis. Doing an act of kindness, writing someone a special note, giving someone a smile, letting someone know they are thought of and loved are every day ways we can show the love God. We are Gods hands and feet so the world will see His love through us. Make it a part of your day to demonstrate the love that God has given to you and turn someone’s ordinary day into something extraordinary!