GLO Podcast
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''Gods Little One'' is a non-profit organization. Our podcast is dedicated to sharing stories about our mission. And the work that we do in the mountains of Honduras. it is our intention to inspire, uplift, & encourage others to join and support our efforts. And to send out the call '' Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel'' (Mark 16:15.
GLO Podcast
From North Dakota to Africa and more with Bro. Preston Sis. Kem Moreino part 1
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Preston and Kem Marino's journey from teenage mission trips to global ministry reveals the transformative power of cross-cultural service.
The couple's first experiences—Preston at a North Dakota Native American reservation and Kim in Guatemala at age 15—planted seeds that would grow into a passion for missions. Their raw descriptions of reservation life paint a stark picture: homes in disrepair, rampant substance abuse, cultural rituals involving painful bone piercings, and pervasive hopelessness manifesting in high suicide rates. Yet within these challenging contexts, they witnessed powerful moments of spiritual breakthrough.
Their ministry expanded to multiple countries including Zambia, Haiti, Guatemala, and Honduras, each presenting unique challenges and remarkable stories. From witnessing a man literally raised from the dead during a service in Zambia to breaking spiritual barriers in Haiti when a young girl received the Holy Spirit despite cultural beliefs it "wasn't for Haitians".
Navigating burning roadblocks during Haitian riots, being stopped at gunpoint by vigilantes in Guatemala, and receiving warnings about targeting gangs in Honduras. These encounters highlight the real costs of answering God's call to "deny what's comfortable" and venture into unfamiliar territory.
Perhaps most relatable are their humorous struggles with cultural differences, from attempting to politely navigate overwhelming food portions to adjusting to three-hour worship services in African churches. As Kim wisely observes, "Blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape"—a perfect summary of the mission field mindset.
Once done with our conversation a question is asked. What are you willing to do for God? Whether you're called to overseas ministry or local service, their experiences remind us that following God's will requires sacrifice, flexibility, and courage—but offers the profound reward of participating in His global work and forever expanding your spiritual worldview.
Hey everybody, welcome back to the God's Little One podcast. I'm your host, kent, and today we're going to be talking to Brother Preston and Sister Kim Marino. They're both youth pastors at Faith Tabernacle Assembly of God in Denton, texas, and it's good to have you all on today in Denton, texas, and it's good to have y'all on today.
Speaker 2:Man, it's so good to be on this podcast with you, excited just to have this conversation with you today.
Speaker 1:So, to start this podcast off, we're going to talk to y'all. Y'all got involved with God's Little One in the last few years. So before we talk about getting involved with God's Little One, I first want to talk about y'all's missions work before that. So how did y'all first get involved with missions work?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we both actually got to go on our first missions trip. I believe it was back in around 2013 or so and we were able to go to North Dakota and there's an Indian reservation up there Native American reservation that we were able to go and have an opportunity to do a kids crusade. Kim is originally from Missouri and so our church and her church met up there and were able to help out with kids crusade and that kind of sparked interest in and a love for missions work in us as teenagers at a young age.
Speaker 3:Yeah, when I was 14, I actually felt like I felt that burden of missions on my heart, and specifically medical missions. And so Brother Terry Miles was my youth pastor and he saw that desire you know I had talked to him about it and so actually that next year so I was 15. This was my first mission trip in 2012. I went to Guatemala and I remember that just really shaped and like kind of shifted my life and gave me a new outlook and I felt that burden of missions even heavier on my heart and I've been going since.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's I didn't, I didn't hear about, I didn't know y'all's first trips and stuff. So it's so go ahead and just tell some stuff that happened on those trips, if y'all got any impactful stories or anything impactful that happened that you want to talk about yeah, I'll let kim go ahead and go first on this one.
Speaker 3:Well, it's terrible, but the things I remember were not necessarily spiritual. So we had some funny experiences on this trip to Guatemala. So one of the churches that we would go to was down on the coast. So you drove several hours and it was extremely hot and humid there. And I remember we got there and the church had a meal for us and that's so kind, you know and so they had set up the table.
Speaker 3:They have everything set out really nicely for us. Well, they start bringing these plates of food and it was like a chow mein noodle and it took up three-quarters of the plate and was like three inches high. And then there was a little bit of like chicken on the side as well, and I remember all of our eyes got really big and we were like wow, that's a lot of noodles. How are we going to eat that? And before we had got there, they had shared with us that it's rude to leave anything on your plate. And so we're sitting there looking at this huge plate of food and then they bring out this horchata.
Speaker 3:Okay, and anytime you drink a little bit of your horchata, somebody would come around and like immediately fill it back up to the top. And we're sitting there feeling a little overwhelmed of your horchata, somebody would come around and like immediately fill it back up to the top. And we're sitting there feeling a little overwhelmed, like how are we going to get out of this situation without them thinking we're rude? And do you know who Bobby Dale Thomas is?
Speaker 1:No, I really don't.
Speaker 3:You're not familiar. Okay Well, he was on that trip and you just have to know him. He's just a crazy guy. Okay Well, he was on that trip and you just have to know him. He's just a crazy guy. And um, uh, but he was in his mid twenties at this point and, uh, him and a couple of the other guys were like you know what? We're going to help the girls and we're going to eat these noodles for them. So anytime the servers would turn around, um, we would like scrape our noodles off onto their plate and they would like eat them. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Well, this is terrible. But I had been eating, you know, as much as I could of mine and I had ate some of the chicken, ate some of the noodles, and I forgot I had found a piece of like gristle in my chicken and, like you know, very politely, just like pulled it back out and like set it aside. Well, I forgot about it and when I put my noodles onto Bobby Dale's plate, it never crossed my mind. And Bobby Dale is chewing these noodles just a few minutes after I've given them and he like stopped and he looked at me and he said did you spit a piece of gristle out in your noodles? I almost died. I was so like embarrassed, but it was also so hilarious. Yeah.
Speaker 3:This moment, you know, and so it was one of those fun learning experiences of in another culture, learning how to politely say no, hey, I don't want any more noodles. I you know we're full and so, anyways, that was this.
Speaker 1:That's a memory that really stuck to me from that trip yeah, I went uh on a trip with, uh, my uncle joey, brother jared clark, his cousin and my dad and they. We went the last village. We went, uh, they gave us like I think it was either milk or it's water and rice. Well, they my uncle, my uncle danny and my uncle john, more my uncle danny and jared, they were in this in there eating it. Well, me jared's cousin and my dad were outside and well, I got two. They gave me two different times gave me some the first time I went and I think I gave it to somebody the second time. I just kind of just poured it out on the side where nobody could see me doing it.
Speaker 4:Yeah it was. That is an art right there on the mission field trying to figure out where to politely discard what is not edible. Yeah we had that.
Speaker 1:The food. You'll get different mixed arguments about if the food is good or not. I usually will find that it's not too bad. That one I didn't even want to try.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so Preston, you go ahead and tell your part, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I remember several things about that trip. One is just the way that going on an admissions trip binds people together. Going on a missions trip binds people together, and so we drove all the way from Texas to Missouri and then to North Dakota, and so I think it ended up being like 20 hours in the bus that we were in, right, and so that's just a long time to be around the same people you know. Right, but it was great and deepened friendships and memories made, and so that was awesome.
Speaker 2:But I remember getting up there and two things really stood out to me. One was the poverty and the hopelessness that was in them, and they had this ritual they had just done, where they would literally put a piece of bone through their skin, on their arm or maybe on their chest. The boys would do it and they would go around the pole until it ripped through the skin, through the skin.
Speaker 2:And so there's these little boys nine, 10, 11, 12 years old that have these scars, you know multiple scars on their arms or you know on their chest or something like that, and just that. Um, just I mean it was sad and it was, I guess, kind of eyeop yeah, to see the uh state that they were in and um, you know the hopelessness and them trying to reach for something. Yeah, um, but the other side of it was that they were so hungry for somebody to show them love and that there was hope. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And I remember there was this one little girl named Amira and me and her became fast friends and, you know, just became buddies over the course of that week and, you know, just getting that opportunity to build a relationship that allowed you to then share the love of Jesus as well as the truth of His Word that hopefully takes root in hearts. Sometimes you may not get to see the fruit of it, sometimes all you get to do is plant, but, uh, it was definitely a trip that that has impacted me. Uh, from that point forward, right, yeah, I uh something.
Speaker 1:I I didn't know that your first trip was a on a reservation and I thought that was. I've never been on a reservation in my life, so if you could. Why don't't you try and just paint a picture of what that experience is for those who've never seen anything like that.
Speaker 2:Absolutely so. There in North Dakota, we got there and pulled onto the Indian Reservation and in some ways it looks normal, right, it looks normal right. Uh, just that if you're just doing a very quick glance. But a lot of trailer homes, a lot of really small homes and one of the things that really stood out was the way they were in disrepair. Yeah, I.
Speaker 2:I mean, just you could tell, one of the huge problems there is drugs and alcohol, uh-huh, and because they get, or at that place they were given money by the government. There was this almost lack of even will to live or to make things better, and so there was kids that just ran around and, you know, no real parent supervision, no real, uh, involvement in their lives, and just this, um, you could almost see, I mean in every part of it.
Speaker 2:Uh mentioned the second, you know, but from the way that their houses looked, yeah and just not trying to mean but just junk out in the front yard and not taken care of and homes falling apart. It was. It was hopeless and there's a huge amount of suicides there on that reservation and I think in large part that was because of that hopelessness that just pervaded their lives and, you know, they tried to turn to other things that in the end just left them more empty than anything else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and did you just go there one time or did you go there more than once?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I only ended up going there one time. My church and Kim's church both went twice, but on our second trip our church or my church was trying to give some different people opportunities to go on the trip and so they asked if you had been before that you'd go ahead and stay behind. But Kim actually was able to go back that next year and be a part of the group and be able to minister to that same area again.
Speaker 3:Does that mean my church didn't want to give other people opportunity?
Speaker 1:I mean nobody said that directly.
Speaker 3:They just knew they had a good team you know, yeah I just remember like when you drive onto the reservation, it feels like you entered into a different world yeah like. It's like you went from america to like close to third world country I mean like people were living in a lot of like shack type buildings and the kids that we would see every day, a lot of times they would be wearing the same clothes every day. Yeah, and so it. It. Just it felt so crazy to know in your head that it was america, but to be there and feel so far away from.
Speaker 1:America. Talk about if you got any powerful stories you remember from the work y'all did uh trying to. If you got, can tell that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. Um, you know, I just I remember getting in there and we were doing a kids crusade, uh, that had to do with fixing it. You know, fixing the problems and fixing the things in our lives. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And there's this song that says he loves the broken ones, Right Ones that need a little patching up.
Speaker 2:And I remember just an altar service where, you know, there were several kids that I mean, you knew, you know had really rough situations and had even, you know, maybe been a little bit given some attitude at different times throughout the week and different things like that. But I remember, as that kids' program ended and we made an altar call, several of those kids coming down to the altars or finding a place to stay right there in their seats and just breaking in the presence of God, you know, and them allowing, in that moment, some of those things that were broken within them to be healed by, you know, God's power and his mercy. And you know that's one of the things I love about you know, the opportunity to have that time of prayer at the end of a service. It's fun, it's awesome, People laugh and joke throughout it and it's great. But it's in those times of prayer that most often God's able to step in and do what we can't do. Yeah.
Speaker 1:So, besides that going there, where else have you? Because I know y'all have been other places, y'all have told me about it, so where else have y'all been?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so, personally, I'll list where I've had the opportunity to go. I don't know if Kim may have been to anywhere else, but I've been to Zambia several times, Right to anywhere else, but I've been to Zambia several times, been to Haiti, been to Guatemala and been to Honduras Right, and then North Dakota. Those would be the five places I've had the opportunity to go.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and mine are the same, except with the addition of Germany. I went on a trip there with the Presleys one time, oh really.
Speaker 1:Yep, so let's just go ahead. We're not going to talk about Honduras right now, but let's just talk about all the trips. Y'all have been Talk about powerful stuff that's happened, funny stuff that's happened. So I'm just going to let y'all just pick a story and we'll just tell it.
Speaker 2:Okay, just gonna let y'all just pick a, pick a story and we'll just just tell it, okay. Uh, so I have a few things. The place that I've been to more than any other uh place is, uh, zambia, and there are two different places within zambia that we would go to. Uh. One was a place called Baleni. It was a slum area right outside the capital city of Lusaka, which is right there where you fly into when you're coming into Zambia. And then another place is Yawa, and it is a lot more rural and a lot more probably what you think of when you think of Africa.
Speaker 2:It's right along the Zambezi River. There's hippos, baboons, all these different things you know, animals that you see. We heard lions roaring a few nights while we were there, saw elephants and different things like that, things like that, but it was a place that really North Dakota was kind of, where that desire and that burden started in my heart. Yeah, but Zambia is where God drove that forward and really moved it from just an appreciation to something that you know I had a desire to be impactful in, and I remember the year before I first went, which I guess would have been in the summer of 2015, after my freshman year of Bible school.
Speaker 2:In the summer of 2014, my sister had gone and before she had left to go to Zambia, her and my dad and a few other people were going and she had said you know, she told my dad I'm excited for this trip, I'm excited for the opportunity to go, but I'm just going to tell you, like, this is not like my heart, this is not going to be a place that I'm going to love the way that you love, because my dad has always just had a real love for the country of Zambia ever since he went. And so she came back and I told her whenever she said that I was like you, better watch out, you know you're going to come back and your story is going to be changed.
Speaker 2:And so she came back and, sure enough, I mean, she just everything about it, she had just fallen in love with it. And so that next summer rolls around and my dad said, hey, I'd really love it if you could go with us. And I had the same conversation. I was like you know, I, I appreciate it, I'm looking forward to this trip, but I just want you to know I know you love this place. I just want you to know I know you love this place.
Speaker 2:I just I don't think it's going to be a place that's going to touch my heart to the same level that it has touched yours, and my sister happened to be walking by whenever I said that and she was like you better watch out. Sure enough, got there and began to do kids crusades. Had, over the course of years, had as many as almost 5 000 kids come through in one day where we did the crusade and then we would feed them and uh, just a lot of awesome memories, uh, connections with people and made some great friendships. One of my closest friends, greatest friends, is Josh Rogers, and we have had some great moments laughing and joking over there.
Speaker 4:It's about a two-week trip and it's like a seven-hour time difference, and so you know you get tired and you get worn out and I remember this is terrible, but it's kind of funny, especially when we laugh and look back at it now.
Speaker 2:We'd gotten on the bus that we were riding after a day where we probably had 3,500-plus kids come through there and it was a long day and we're tired, and he made a little joke to me and I made a little joke to him and then I kind of poked him in his shoulder.
Speaker 4:And whenever I poked him in his shoulder he turned and he pinched me. And whenever he pinched me I started hitting his arm and he turned and started hitting me. And so we got a little bit aggravated and annoyed at each other and almost got in a fist fight, but it was.
Speaker 2:We sat down and Kim was like you need to calm down. But truthfully, you know, that's even one of those moments that, working together through the years, even though sometimes you're worn out and you're frazzled and it feels like you're at the end of the energy that you've got those are moments that not only god works in you but he also allows you to build friendships with people. And then some of the most uh, impactful brother, brother terry miles, had the opportunity to go to a lot of different places with him and he's become a great friend and mentor in my life, you know. And so, um eight, I've eaten hippo intestine. Uh, well, I chewed hippo intestine. That was one of those things I looked for a place to spit out and hide behind the tree.
Speaker 4:You know, yeah, way to go, keep it coming.
Speaker 2:Had some stuff they called capento, which was basically a little almost a kind of deal with minnows in it and you know some crazy stuff, but through all of it, just powerful moves of God and great memories and moments where you know God has allowed us to be a part of what he was doing, Right? So, kim, go ahead. Hmm.
Speaker 3:I'm just thinking like overall. Over all the trips that I've been on, one thing I felt like it really did for me was it changed my worldview. You know, when you grow up in church and most people I feel like they go to the same church for a long period of time in their life. And you know I've been at two churches, for you know, one church until I was 12 and then the other one until like 21. You know, so I had like long term stays at these churches and they were similar and so my whole worldview was based on what I saw at out you know that first time to Guatemala and then going to North Dakota and just like feeling that little box shatter.
Speaker 3:And what's amazed me throughout the years is just being able to go to these different regions of the world and see God's hand at work. Yeah, work and like be able to appreciate it, even though it's way different than what we have, you know, at home, like than our church culture, I remember. So it can't you just have to go to Africa Like it is so crazy. Like their church services, you know the way that they are not worried about time.
Speaker 3:They do not care how long church takes, how long it takes to worship God that day. You know, and I remember my little Americanized, you know, version of church. I get over there and they're singing for literally three hours on Sunday morning.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I've been there.
Speaker 3:I was like, like what in the world? You know, I'm like tired, worn out, I'm sweating. At this point it's like getting hot in the day and and they're singing with all they've got.
Speaker 2:They're dancing while they're singing. I mean it's like they're they're worshiping with every bit that they have.
Speaker 3:Yeah and I just remember, though, like it was so different but it was challenging to me, like, okay, you know what every culture that I've been to has had something to teach me, and there's been, you know, that value, like we live in a like we want everything now world. But when you go over there you realize you know what there's more to life than just getting things done immediately and taking time to slow down and see what God is doing. And I mean, we've just seen, I remember like God has done some powerful things in services, not only in the church services, but kids services in Zambia.
Speaker 3:Like those kids, not only are they physically hungry, but you see them come in and they like I mean their. Not only are they physically hungry, but you see them come in and they, like I mean, their eyes are on you. These kids are stacked in like sardines in this place and, truthfully, it was hot in there. They could be griping, they could be like throwing fits, but they were quiet, their eyes were fixed on what was being told to them and I feel like in that moment, so many seeds were planted and, um, it's just, it's been incredible to see God moving and all of these different cultures and how he moved through their culture, you know, and the? Um different ways that they live there. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you talk about that that go ahead go ahead.
Speaker 2:no, you go ahead now. One other thing that just came to my mind, um, that has been probably one of the most impactful things from a trip that I've ever, um, seen is we had the opportunity to go to Haiti, uh, twice and uh and two or three times anyways, but, um, every other, for the most part, most of the other trips that we had been on, uh, we were working with local pastors, local churches, um, or uh, or missionaries that maybe were there for a few months at a time, or a few weeks at a time the Lloyds lived, where they raised their kids and where they personally became a part of the community. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And that right there, their life, their commitment, showed me the impact of what being consistent and being willing to give, to pour out and to invest throughout years and years of labor, through ups and downs, the difference that it can make. You know, and there's a lot of kids that would literally just be dropped off at their gate, right, and from little babies, you know, all the way up to older children. Right.
Speaker 2:And their willingness to say this is what we're here for. Yeah, their willingness to say this is what we're here for. You know, I'm going to give my life to make that impact, in whatever way I can. Right. That has been one of the most challenging things to me that wherever you know God would lead us and whatever he would have us to do. That's the kind of commitment that. I want to have, yeah, and the opportunities that I get to do work for God.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's yeah, I'm trying to think of something to say with that. But yeah, I agree, you've got to be committed to it if it's what God tells you to do, without a doubt to it, if it's what God tells you to do.
Speaker 2:Without a doubt. One other I know I mentioned him earlier, but there's some people that they're going to go and they're going to spend their whole life on a foreign field. Brother Terry Miles, and your uncle as well, Brother. Danny. Sweeney have also really challenged me that, while I may not ever go spend years in a different country, that doesn't mean that I can't make an impact and be a help in a way that pushes for the work of God and the spread of the gospel Right pushes for the work of God and the spread of the gospel Right, you know, and that's one of the things I appreciate about both those men is their commitment to not just sit on the sidelines I don't mean that in a bad way but not just to give.
Speaker 2:They give, but they also go to try to make that difference, and that's pretty awesome. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it don't matter if it's full-time to once a month, to just going every now and then. It's still getting involved and doing something, absolutely so. Do y'all remember any like specific, like any specific stories of someone get, like a certain person getting touched or like a miracle happening or anything like that we can talk about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so one of the probably most incredible miracles I've ever seen. We were in a Sunday morning church service in Zambia and we were having church and God was helping and worship was powerful. And God was helping and worship was powerful and all of a sudden one of the deacons stumbles up kind of to the front and clutches his chest and then all of a sudden he asks the pastor if they can pray and then all of a sudden he just falls to the ground and he has no pulse, he has no respirations, he's not breathing. And it was one of those moments where all of a sudden you know it's supposed to be this great, powerful moment of worship and it seems like you know it's over. Yeah.
Speaker 2:But Pastor Sinet was the main pastor we worked with there and he came up and he told a couple men in his church he said, stand him up. And he began to rebuke death in the name of Jesus Right, and he began to pray that God would bring spirit back into this man. And he prayed with authority and he prayed with anointing and as he did, all of a sudden that man began to breathe, that man was brought back to life by the power of God and they ended up taking him to the hospital. And you know, they said you know it looks like you had a massive heart attack and these different things, you know, and really shouldn't have still been there. But God did a miracle and that was one of those things that I mean.
Speaker 2:I was standing less than 10 feet away from the man whenever he fell over. But to see it's always another one of those things that just always challenged me that rather than just being satisfied with the situation, you know, the pastor began to rebuke even what we would consider to be the end and for the situation to be over. And God's still the one that raises dead bodies back to life. Right, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:So Go ahead. I'm sorry, no, go ahead you sorry, no, go ahead, you good okay, um, there was a instance when we were gone to haiti.
Speaker 3:I remember I think it was my first trip there and they had told us, you know, just kind of giving us some information about haiti. Uh, one thing to know about it is that years and years ago, they dedicated the people of Haiti. They follow a voodoo religion and they had dedicated the country to Satan. Oh, wow. And so the people, throughout the years, like they continued to follow this religion. And it's so crazy, the Lloyds, they would say, like this is partly why it's in such ruins and destruction. You know, yeah, like they're literally living after the devil. And so, all this being said, you know, throughout the years, they had been able to raise the young people completely in their home, and so there were several kids that they had sent to Figbee to go to Bible school and had come back. Those people were working in the schools, but this is just kind of a crazy thing. They had heard of being full, like, filled with the Holy ghost, but there was this stigma in the young people there at that school and they would literally say that no one in Haiti, like can be filled with the Holy Spirit. And it was this odd thing that, because no one there had experienced it, they felt like it wasn't something they could have.
Speaker 3:And I remember we were in this service and you have to know this culture as well. They're not just this very open culture. When it comes to prayer, they're very reserved. They didn't really know. You know, raising your hands wasn't something that they wanted to do, and so a lot of times they would just duck down for a few minutes and pray and then be up. Well, I remember this one night that I think they had actually talked about the Holy Ghost and the service, about the Holy Ghost and the service, about the Holy Spirit and being filled with the Holy Spirit and the change that it can bring in your life. And I remember we were in the altar and altar service. There was these girls that were praying and you could tell they were just pouring their heart out to the Lord and it was something that we hadn't seen yet, so like just that brokenness, being honest with God. And I remember it was crazy, but that was the longest altar service that they had had there and a girl was filled with the Holy Spirit that night. Wow.
Speaker 3:And I just remember it broke that mindset and that lie of the enemy that had been in their mind for years. Yeah.
Speaker 3:And then all of a sudden it was like, oh, my word, like this is for us, like we can actually have that, and I just I remember how amazing that was to watch that clicking in their minds and then to see the gift, you know, of the Holy Spirit being given to this young girl and just you know the potential that she had in that moment. Anyway, that was just. That was something that really stuck in my mind and impacted me. Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, it's. Yeah, I didn't know. They believed that that's crazy. So, before we move on to anything else, is there any other kind of stories y'all got that y'all would like to talk about?
Speaker 3:Cause I want to hear everything y'all got to say everything oh man? Oh, I'm sure there are.
Speaker 4:Yeah, oh, man just a few little quick ones driving.
Speaker 2:Driving in other countries is something completely different than the US and so it's always fun, you know, whether it's on Honduras or whether it was in Zambia or Haiti or even Guatemala. There's just different rules and it always creates a little bit of excitement. And so I remember several times on our way to the Crusades in Chihuahua, which was a time where normally they would have worship like they would worship spirits, but there was a lady out there who was over the area. She was called the chieftainess and she had gotten saved, and so when everybody else was worshiping ancestral spirits, she would have a preaching crusade.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And so awesome, but it was several hours out to where they were, and I think I went to Chiala three or four different times, but every time we went out there our vehicles broke down.
Speaker 4:Oh man. So the roads were just so rough and so many potholes, and usually the vehicle that we were going out there in wasn't necessarily in the best state to begin with, and so we always ended up sitting, you know, on the side of the road for a little while, and so that was always, you know, always just one of those funny things I remember.
Speaker 2:I believe it was about a year and a half ago, so when I first went on that trip to Honduras with you, kent, and did the youth conference, was that the one where Anson no Anson wasn't with us, so it would have been a trip before that?
Speaker 1:No, it was just y'all me, my dad, Uncle Danny and Dre.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, the trip before that where we'd done some summer of 23, anson Miller, who is over OBI, guatemala, went with us.
Speaker 4:He speaks Spanish and he was our translator and it was awesome, but I remember he wasn't used to passing like y'all do there in Honduras, and so brother Danny sometimes would go and he'd, you know, shoot the gap and he'd fly around, and I remember Edson being like oh man, I don't know if I can do this or not. You know just kind of being nervous, but it's always an adventure whenever you're getting on the road.
Speaker 1:Oh, it can be wild.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was thinking so. I've had several instances. One we were in Haiti and the truck that we would ride in it was kind of like a moving truck, except the back part of it it had like a covering on it, but it was open at the very end so like where the tailgate would be and you had like a bench seat inside of that that you would sit in, so people couldn't see you from the sides but they could see you from the back.
Speaker 3:Well, I remember, you know, we would all load up in there to go maybe to the grocery store or if we were traveling to another church, and one of the times we were there which almost every time we were there there were some kind of riots going on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, there were some kind of riots going on. Yeah, and at this specific time they had riots going on. They would throw anything they could in the middle of the street, block off the street and set it on fire. Yeah, and I remember we had turned down this road and Brother Lloyd had heard that it was clear, Well, we get down there. And no, they have stuff like stacked up, it's all on fire. So we end up, we turn around you. It's all on fire.
Speaker 4:So we end up, we turn around you know at this point like okay, this is a little crazy.
Speaker 3:You know, we're actually seeing what was on the do, and so we like turn around, go down the street. There's another like little blockade, but this one isn't on fire, and he just takes the sidewalk and like drives on the sidewalk and gets back on the road and we're like, okay, like we see you, you know, and so that was just kind of like I remember, on that ride too, like hearing several gunshots while we were throughout the city. You know, it was just. You know, I've never truly been like scared for my life on a trip, but in those moments it kind of gave you a check of like hey, like, like you know, there's stuff going on. You're not promised tomorrow, you know, yeah right. And so the second instance was actually it was my first trip when I went to Guatemala and I remember we had gone to this church in the mountains and it was, you know, probably an hour away from their compound there.
Speaker 3:And so we're up there, we've had a service, it's dark, I want to say it's like 8 or 9 o'clock or so. We're leaving to head back and you had to go through, like, these cornfields to get away from the church, to get back to the main road. And right as you got out of the cornfields there was a few houses and then you would get to the main road. And as right as you got out of the cornfields there was a few houses and then you would get to the main road well I remember, you know, all of us were in this van and they have the girls split up and the guys are in one van.
Speaker 3:So we're in this van and all of a sudden our van is like taken to a stop and and we like kind of look outside and Brother Miles, he says everyone get down. And this guy in a black hood has a AK-47 around him, and I remember he made Brother Miles roll down the window and what it was, it was a vigilante group. So they had had gangs that kept coming to their neighborhood and like stealing stuff, and so the neighborhood had put together their own like security system.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but at this point we don't know that you know and I just remember, you know everyone freaking out in the backseat like, oh my word, what's going to happen? You know. And so like, like, that was a pretty exciting time, you know, pulled over in the middle of the night and uh.
Speaker 1:So yeah, this is some key memories yeah, I've never experienced nothing like that on my missions trips uh, so in honduras this is actually the first time that I had gone.
Speaker 3:We were traveling late at night and I remember I think something had like broke down, or yeah so we had left San Pedro Sula and had gotten a little bit later.
Speaker 2:We were starting to get up a little bit into the mountains, but not quite yet. We were, I guess, really more at the edge of the city and our van started overheating, and so we pulled over on the side of the road to try to let it cool down, and Brother Danny was on the phone with the car rental company trying to figure out what we needed to do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and so we're sitting there. You know, I mean we're just chilling and waiting, trying to let it cool down, and we've sitting there. You know, I mean we're just chilling and waiting, trying to let it cool down, and we've sat there. I want to say we were sitting there, you know, a good 30 minutes, 45 minutes, and all of a sudden one of the locals comes up to his window and says just want to let you know that there's a gang that's heard that y'all are here and they are possibly going to come down here, that was in honduras essentially you know, americans, you know sitting ducks and so you know overheating or not.
Speaker 3:We got out of there.
Speaker 4:We got on the road at that point your uncle danny said I don't care if we burn this thing up, we are getting out of here. And so we all piled back in, put the pedal to the metal and thankfully we didn't burn up anything. It didn't get all right, but it was a little bit of a scary moment there for a minute.
Speaker 1:He's never told me that before.
Speaker 4:He probably didn't want to scare you. I've never.
Speaker 3:You better get it from him he might tell it better.
Speaker 1:Oh, my word, that's in Honduras. Y'all had that happen.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, just outside of San Pedro. Oh, my word.
Speaker 1:I know they used to have Before I started going. They had a lot of rides and stuff would go on. My dad and my uncle Jonathan, they actually talked about it on that podcast. They did. And I've never really experienced anything like that. Now, that one trip I went on with you was that time the people talking about flying, they kind of said that you should reconsider going, just in case. But hey, we made it back. We're in the states right now.
Speaker 4:So exactly, yeah, but made it back to tell the story. Yeah, we made yeah, so I want to keep talking about.
Speaker 1:Is there anything else that y'all'd like to talk about from y'all's missions work that y'all have done besides honduras, anything y'all want to talk about? Oh man if not, it's no problem.
Speaker 2:Yeah no, um, the only other thing I'd say is just the the opportunity to go on trips with different focuses, right, uh, is something I would encourage. I think everybody ought to go, uh on at least one missions trip in the world or in the, in the, in the life, um, but once they've gone on one, I think that everybody ought to go uh on a few more that have different focuses.
Speaker 2:Right yeah, Uh it amazes me even how, in the same general location, same country, same pastors or missionaries that you're working with are going on a trip with you know, maybe one is kid ministry focused and one is, you know we recently did a youth focused trip, you know or a work trip, and just the different value that can be added both to that local church and that local work that's taking place there, but also the way that it stretches you sometimes and gives you a better view and allows God to do some specific things in your life.
Speaker 3:Right, yeah, yeah, one thing that I've learned, but a friend of mine helped put it into words. One of my friends had gone on a medical missions trip and the leader of her group said this, saying and I just feel like it sums up missions trips especially. But he said, blessed are the flexible, for they will not be bent out of shape, and that's one thing that.
Speaker 3:God has really taught me over all of these trips like you can plan everything to the t and it's never going to go that way you know, some of the things may fall in line, but truthfully, these cultures, they don't run on that kind of schedule and so you know, I mean you know, just like we were on that trip just recently, like, yeah, like it said, they said we start at 8, but we started at 9 or 9.30, you know. And so just being flexible and learning that, you know, my way is it's okay not to go my way. Yeah, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that's a pretty good way to end this. What we're going to do is so this podcast, like another one I I did, is going a little long, so what we're going to do is we're going to cut it off here and we're going to have a part two. So stay tuned, be listening for the part two, and what we'll do on that one is we'll probably talk, start out talking some more about y'all's missions work y'all have done before honduras, and then that one will be more focused towards honduras and more recent stuff. So if you want to hear that, stay tuned. Thank you all for listening. I'd like to thank my guests for being here with me. Preston Kim, thank you all for giving me y'all's time. I know y'all got some stuff going on right now, so I appreciate y'all giving me your time and it's been good. Thank you.
Speaker 3:It's a privilege.
Speaker 5:Thank you for this opportunity. We thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and looking forward to part two. Oh yeah, God bless.
Speaker 1:If I remember right, brother Preston talked about Brother Danny Sweeney and Brother Terry Miles and their willingness to do what God wanted to do. Something along that. I might be wrong, but I want to ask a question what are you willing to do for God? Are you willing to go where he sends you, do what he says to do, whether that's to go live overseas, whether that's to go on short-term mission trips, whether that's to go preach, whether that's to sing for Him, whether that's to go out in the streets and witness, no matter what happens to you, no matter what you face. What are we willing to do for God? Because he has called us. He has called us to do his will. He has called us to work for him. He's called us to obey. It is vital that we obey God. We've got to do what he says. Do Go where he says go.
Speaker 1:There's a verse in the Bible, or there's two verses in the Bible Matthew 16, 24 to 25 says. Then said Jesus unto his disciples if any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, for whosoever will save his life shall lose it, and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. It says whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. You know, we could face trials, or we will face trials in serving God. We will face difficulties in doing God's will, but that is God's will. He has called us to go and do. He has called us to do his will, do the ministry he has called us to. Jesus said to deny himself I want to put that as saying this says let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me, Denying our own pleasures, denying what we want to do and going and doing what God wants us to do. Denying what's comfortable, denying what's easy, denying what's safe and doing what God wants us to do, no matter how dangerous, no matter how much we don't want to, no matter what our ability is, no matter what we feel like our capability is to deny what we want and to do what God said to do.
Speaker 1:There's a preacher. Well, there was a man who was called and I believe my papa, daniel Sweeney, said this, or some preacher said this, and he told this preacher or pastor or preacher and he said I will go out and preach, I will go out and do evangelism once I've raised my kids. Well, his kids grew up and he said I'm going to go out, I'm going to go preach, I'm going to go do what God, I'm going to go preach once my kids get out of college. Well, over time he kept procrastinating, he kept waiting and he ended up becoming an old man and he had never done what God told him to do. We have got to do God's will. We have got to do what he has called us to do, whether it is to go out and be a missionary, whether it's to go preach, sing I know I say this a lot. That's how important this is. It is very important that we do god's will. It is vital. It is so important. So I encourage you, in whatever field god is calling you to do, whatever ministry he has for you, don't deny yourself. Deny yourself. Don't do what you Deny yourself. Don't do what you want. Deny yourself. Do what God wants you to do. Be willing to do His will and go after what he is doing and work for God.
Speaker 1:Well, thank you for listening to this episode of the God's Little One Podcast. We hope you enjoyed this episode and this is. It's cool that this is the first time. This is something cool. This is our first time doing a husband and wife team, like a husband and wife on a podcast together, so I thought this was cool that we did this. I uh, these are two wonderful people. I know them, I've been on trips with them and in our next podcast we are going to be talking to them again and I won't. I gotta let y'all know something about that podcast. I'm gonna warn y'all, it is long. We keep our podcast less than an hour. We get close to it. We might have, if I've gotten over an hour.
Speaker 1:Well, then, yeah, if I have. But this one is two, maybe two and a half to around that. Maybe it's a long podcast. So if you like that, let me know what you think about that Once you've listened to it. Say, hey, I like the longer style. Or hey, I don't really like the longer style as much. So just to let me know what y'all like, that'll help me know what kind of content y'all want more. If y'all want longer stuff or shorter, just let me know. But I hope you enjoy that podcast.
Speaker 1:But anyway, thank you for listening to this episode of the God's Little One Podcast. And if you would like to contact us and ask us any questions or let us know what you thought about the podcast or anything like that, you can call or text 318-491-1772. 318-491-1772. If you would like to send us a donation or if you would like to Send us a letter or anything, our PO Box is PO Box 904, oakdale, louisiana, 71463. Any kind of donation y'all give, we greatly appreciate it. We actually had somebody who gave and heard something on this podcast and gave to it and now we're able to do that. We're able to do that. We're able to do that project that we wanted to do. They're paying for the project and we really do appreciate it, appreciate it, thank everybody. I thank everybody for giving. We really do appreciate it. Anyway, thank you for listening to this episode of the God's Little One podcast. Y'all have a blessed one and I'll see you on the next podcast.