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Small Shrimp + Big Faith in Honduras, with Jeremy Wainwright – EM278
Episode 278 • 10th March 2021 • Engaging Missions • Bryan Entzminger
00:00:00 00:41:50

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Isn't it just like God to use something seemingly small, like shrimp, to make a MASSIVE impact in the Kingdom?

It might seem like Jeremy Wainwright just suddenly decided to make a change, but really, God was working in his heart long before his friend said, "Would you like to go to Honduras?"

It didn't take him long to decide that this was the opportunity God was giving him and that trip changed EVERYTHING. Now Jeremy has started Shrimp Matters and is actively working with partners in the United States as well as Honduras to bring sustainable shrimp farming to communities.

His work, despite the challenges of COVID-19, is making a difference, and he believes that God has more!

It was exciting to talk with Jeremy and I believe you'll be as encouraged as I was.

Listen to Discover

  • When God started working on Jeremy's heart
  • How key relationships have helped Jeremy along the way
  • The power of waiting patiently, trusting that God is moving
  • How Jeremy has grown as a Believer and as a leader
  • What impact the COVID-19 pandemic had on their shrimp farm
  • Jeremy's heart for ministry led by the local Church
  • What a small payment, a $100 bill, and shrimp have to do with the Kingdom
  • And much, much more

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Transcripts

Bryan:

This is episode 278 of the Engaging Missions Show.

Bryan:

Today we're talking with Jeremy Wainwright of Shrimp Matters about little faith, a

Bryan:

big God and stepping into the unknown.

Jeremy:

You would think God speaking to me so clearly the way that he

Jeremy:

did that, I wouldn't worry anymore.

Announcer:

Welcome to the Engaging Missions Show, where

Announcer:

we are bringing missions home.

Announcer:

Here's your host, Bryan Entzminger.

Bryan:

Today.

Bryan:

I'm just so happy to be able to introduce to you Jeremy Wainwright.

Bryan:

He's the founder of Shrimp Matters with the goal to share the love of Jesus

Bryan:

with the people of Honduras and to equip them with resources, but with shrimp

Bryan:

playing a pretty big part of this now, personally, I'm not a huge fan of shrimp,

Bryan:

at least not for eating, but I do see some of the creative ways that God can

Bryan:

use this to provide through Jeremy.

Bryan:

So Jeremy, welcome to the show.

Jeremy:

Thank you so much.

Jeremy:

Thank you for having me.

Jeremy:

I really appreciate it.

Bryan:

Oh, it's totally my pleasure.

Bryan:

I'm really glad that we were able to do this.

Bryan:

And, and frankly, I'm glad that you reached out to me to, to just ask if this

Bryan:

was an option, because I'm really glad to be able to do this as we get started.

Bryan:

I think probably the name shrimp matters.

Bryan:

A lot of people might not know what that is.

Bryan:

So can you maybe share with us a little bit about what shrimp maters is?

Jeremy:

Okay.

Jeremy:

Shrimp matters is actually, I started in the beginning of 2019.

Jeremy:

The whole idea.

Jeremy:

I actually went on a mission trip in October of 2018.

Jeremy:

My very first mission trip short-term mission trip.

Jeremy:

And when I got back home, I was praying about opportunities to help.

Jeremy:

I saw the poverty and in Honduras, and I saw the crime.

Jeremy:

There's so much crime and.

Jeremy:

Andras as well.

Jeremy:

And just so many areas of brokenness there and it really touched my heart.

Jeremy:

So I started praying about opportunities, what I could do to

Jeremy:

help out in any way whatsoever and, uh, remained very good friends.

Jeremy:

Even after the mission trip with a man there named Augustine Garcia, he

Jeremy:

was a local there that would go help serve his community alongside of us.

Jeremy:

And I got in touch with him and.

Jeremy:

We just would talk back and forth and we'd pray back and forth about the people

Jeremy:

of Honduras and the brokenness there.

Jeremy:

And shortly after that at work, I had a conversation with a friend that

Jeremy:

had been on a mission trip to central America, actually in Guatemala.

Jeremy:

And she had actually been to a village that had a tilapia farm that had funded.

Jeremy:

The entire village, it had a small hospital, it had several

Jeremy:

other things there, but it was all started by just this a tilapia farm.

Jeremy:

And it was intended just to feed the people there, but it wound up producing

Jeremy:

a sustainable income for that village.

Jeremy:

So I thought this is wonderful.

Jeremy:

So, uh, got in touch with my friend Augustine Garcia, and I said, uh, Can we

Jeremy:

look into this as an opportunity in, uh, in Honduras and through a lot of prayer

Jeremy:

and research, we discovered that in the Southern part of the countries, there

Jeremy:

were areas there that had shrimp farms and that we could lease the property.

Jeremy:

And we did all the research that we needed to figure out, okay,

Jeremy:

how do we even go about this?

Jeremy:

And we figured out where we could buy the larva, you buy the

Jeremy:

shrimp larvae and you feed them.

Jeremy:

And they grow and act before much everything can be sold.

Jeremy:

And from that, we were thinking, well, there could be jobs there.

Jeremy:

Wow, this has been done.

Jeremy:

And after that, with, with all the funding that come from the sale,

Jeremy:

we could build homes that we could, uh, help with the clean water.

Jeremy:

There there's a lot of areas that doesn't have clean water at all.

Jeremy:

We, and we can help out with a lot of things such as that, and even

Jeremy:

feed the people that are hungry.

Jeremy:

So it was a very self-sustaining kind of idea.

Jeremy:

So that was the initial idea of, of shrimp matters.

Jeremy:

What later came, I guess that where the name actually drive was after

Jeremy:

we basically had this idea and God revealed this great idea to us.

Jeremy:

We kept praying for further opportunities.

Jeremy:

And at one point at my church, we were doing a series and I had spoke

Jeremy:

to, uh, the campus pastor there about my dream and this whole mission.

Jeremy:

And he said, you know, I've got a series coming up and.

Jeremy:

It would be perfect to share this with everyone.

Jeremy:

So when I shared it, that was when everybody started coming

Jeremy:

up to me and saying, Hey, I want to be on board with this.

Jeremy:

So that's, that's how the whole thing initially started.

Bryan:

It's really interesting to me because you, you shared that this

Bryan:

essentially came out of an experience on a mission trip and then kind of

Bryan:

maintaining a relationship, but there are.

Bryan:

Lots of people that go on mission trips, then don't have this kind of response.

Bryan:

Is there a reason why that trip spoke to you in such a way that you said,

Bryan:

you know what I have to step in?

Bryan:

I don't want to say step in and do something like I'm going to save people.

Bryan:

Right.

Bryan:

But I have to be part of what God wants here.

Bryan:

What was it that really spoke to you?

Jeremy:

I spoke about my friend, Augustine, that I've,

Jeremy:

we talk pretty much on a.

Jeremy:

Weekly basis.

Jeremy:

And we have pretty much since that first trip that I had, but something

Jeremy:

that he told me that has never left me that initial week in 2018, he

Jeremy:

said, I have been part of these, what they refer to as brigades.

Jeremy:

It's a lot of North Americans that will come down every week

Jeremy:

on short-term mission trips.

Jeremy:

And he said, I have been part of this for nearly 15 years.

Jeremy:

He said, I've helped serve alongside.

Jeremy:

And he said, I can count on one hand the people that have even responded back to

Jeremy:

me that I've even spoke to a second time.

Jeremy:

And.

Jeremy:

I just could not believe that weekend and week out there was so many

Jeremy:

people go in there, but very, very, very little follow up whatsoever.

Jeremy:

And, you know, God really touched my heart with that.

Jeremy:

So that's when I, that's, when I really decided I'm going to be very,

Jeremy:

very intentional about reaching out to him and seeing what I can

Jeremy:

do to help the people founders.

Bryan:

Well, I, I appreciate that.

Bryan:

I mean, it sounds like you, you really have a desire to be a

Bryan:

man of your word and to follow through in a manner of integrity.

Bryan:

Is that, is that accurate?

Jeremy:

I don't know how I would say, you know, I guess I'm someone

Jeremy:

where I would never probably say that about myself, but that is something

Jeremy:

that always staying has said.

Jeremy:

He said, you have always constantly been whatever you

Jeremy:

say, you can take it to the bank.

Jeremy:

And that does make me feel good to know that, that he actually

Jeremy:

feels that way about me.

Jeremy:

So that's, that's great.

Bryan:

You've mentioned a little bit about the vision for this, that perhaps in a

Bryan:

few years, this might be self-sustaining to provide jobs and income and

Bryan:

infrastructure education, like all of the things that can happen because of that.

Bryan:

I'm wondering as you look forward to that other ways that you also

Bryan:

see this being self-sustaining, besides just the money keeps kind of

Jeremy:

recycling, if you will.

Jeremy:

Yes.

Jeremy:

I see it in so many different ways.

Jeremy:

I mean that you have, the money will actually be.

Jeremy:

You know, recycling, but something that I want to make sure that happens is

Jeremy:

that the local churches are involved.

Jeremy:

That there's a lot of community effort as a whole, when a lot of these

Jeremy:

activities are being done, whether that be the building of homes, I would like

Jeremy:

to see a lot of scholarship programs with a lot of the children, because

Jeremy:

what tends to happen in Honduras so often is, uh, the presence of the.

Jeremy:

You know, Ms.

Jeremy:

13 is very, very present there.

Jeremy:

And in Honduras, Ms.

Jeremy:

13, Ms.

Jeremy:

13 has a lot to do with the drug cartel.

Jeremy:

A lot of it you probably heard of in Colombia.

Jeremy:

Well, it's present also in Honduras and there are local gangs there in the

Jeremy:

capital city, around the capital city.

Jeremy:

And what happens between 11 and.

Jeremy:

Cite 15 years old.

Jeremy:

A lot of kids are brought in at a very, very young age into this organized

Jeremy:

crime and that becomes their life.

Jeremy:

And they wound up either someone that is later killed or maybe

Jeremy:

someone that winds up killing others.

Jeremy:

And it that's, that's basically how this whole thing starts

Jeremy:

is at a very, very young age.

Jeremy:

So if we can somehow or another provide something that.

Jeremy:

These kids can see another direction, maybe some type of hope in some other

Jeremy:

way that that would get them away from those types of environments.

Jeremy:

That's something that we're really, really looking forward to as well.

Bryan:

I like that.

Bryan:

I mean, that's a great vision, right?

Bryan:

To provide alternatives as well.

Bryan:

I think that's important.

Bryan:

You mentioned the local involvement of the church.

Bryan:

I think that's stellar.

Bryan:

I think that's almost required for this kind of thing.

Bryan:

What do you think that involvement needs to look like?

Jeremy:

Well, I think in so many different ways that if we can

Jeremy:

partner, you know, the, the shrimp farm itself and other opportunities

Jeremy:

that we see in the future, that's, uh, that is, uh, a source of income.

Jeremy:

That would be just there and in Honduras.

Jeremy:

But, but if, if used effectively, if done effectively, like we're wanting to do

Jeremy:

in the future, hopefully we can partner with these local churches to where, when.

Jeremy:

We are in these, when these churches are located, say in these areas that

Jeremy:

have high levels of poverty, that the charts themselves can go and serve the

Jeremy:

people directly in their area and reach out to them, maybe partner with them.

Jeremy:

There can be a lot of even, uh, one instance that I know of for example,

Jeremy:

is there's one small local church I saw there that had a small sewing ministry.

Jeremy:

That they would bring people in.

Jeremy:

And it was a job opportunity right there for some of the people.

Jeremy:

So that was the local church reaching out and giving.

Jeremy:

It was several widowed women, the opportunity to be able to provide

Jeremy:

for themselves and just opportunities like that is what I like to see

Jeremy:

more of coming from the revenue from, from the shrimp farm itself.

Bryan:

Wow.

Bryan:

That's that's great.

Bryan:

This is, if I remember it, this is a fairly new ministry.

Jeremy:

No, it's very, very much new.

Jeremy:

Like I'm still, it's very safe to say that, you know, God

Jeremy:

has just opened up the doors.

Jeremy:

Cause I there's so much that we still don't know, but just how far God has

Jeremy:

taken, this is just amazing to me.

Bryan:

One of the things I've been wondering.

Bryan:

Cause I think you're maybe one or two.

Bryan:

Are they called crops?

Jeremy:

Yeah.

Jeremy:

W w we refer to them, I guess, as a harvest, more is

Jeremy:

what you do than anything.

Bryan:

So you're a one or two harvest in there was at the time that we're

Bryan:

recording this about nine or 10 months ago, there was the start of the

Bryan:

whole global pandemic COVID-19 thing.

Bryan:

I'm assuming that impacted your travel.

Jeremy:

Uh, it impacted travel, but it also impacted the second harvest as well.

Jeremy:

Uh, that was the negative part of what has went on in the, during

Jeremy:

the global pandemic was what happened during the second harvest.

Jeremy:

The first harvest went well.

Jeremy:

We were able to harvest 5,500 pounds.

Jeremy:

And from that harvest, there was someone that pulls straight

Jeremy:

up to the shrink form itself.

Jeremy:

They purchased the shrimp there and they leave.

Jeremy:

So it was a very, very simple transaction there and yeah, it was amazing.

Jeremy:

So we had the funding to reinvest and we also had the

Jeremy:

funding to help the community.

Jeremy:

Cause that's basically all that was, do we want it to be able to provide jobs

Jeremy:

during the shrimp farm itself while shrimp forum going on, but on the back end of

Jeremy:

that, we wanted to be able to reinvest and everything left over would go to rot

Jeremy:

back into the community, whether that be.

Jeremy:

To build homes to help clean water, to feed those that are hungry.

Jeremy:

So first harvest went well about the time we started.

Jeremy:

The second harvest was when the global pandemic really hit,

Jeremy:

uh, Honduras extremely hard.

Jeremy:

And their government was very, very, very strict because their healthcare

Jeremy:

system and Honduras is not anything like it would be in the United States.

Jeremy:

So their government got very, very strict as to who could be out.

Jeremy:

And when.

Jeremy:

And it got to the point that you could only be out one day every two weeks.

Jeremy:

And that was not enough time for us to be able to get the food we needed to feed

Jeremy:

the shrimp and to do the things that we needed to do to keep the shrimp alive.

Jeremy:

So the shrimp, I actually died in the second cycle, so I am currently in the

Jeremy:

process of getting it back up and go.

Jeremy:

And again, since that has happened,

Bryan:

so what does it look like to get it back up and running?

Bryan:

Is it what's

Jeremy:

involved?

Jeremy:

It would start with just the total, uh, startup cost.

Jeremy:

Uh, and the total startup cost is just below, uh, around $8,000 just shot $8,000.

Jeremy:

It would be that would cover the lease of the property that covers the bond,

Jeremy:

the shrimp larva fading the shrimp lower for those four months and providing

Jeremy:

three jobs for those four months.

Jeremy:

And on the back end of that.

Jeremy:

That's where we will harvest and that's where we will do this again.

Jeremy:

I, and the thing is that the wonderful thing about it is God

Jeremy:

showed me through the first one, you know, with the first harvest.

Jeremy:

Everything went wonderfully.

Jeremy:

And God showed me that this is something that can truly happen.

Jeremy:

And the second cycle is just an example of, we live in a broken

Jeremy:

world where we try to plan things.

Jeremy:

We try to do things, but in the general scheme of things, sometimes in this

Jeremy:

broken world, things don't go as planned.

Jeremy:

But I do understand.

Jeremy:

That through those times, God can use those for something good.

Jeremy:

And the thing that I see now is it really allows me to just look at everything as

Jeremy:

a whole and say, okay, in the future, when we get this going, what can we

Jeremy:

do to be able to worst case scenario?

Jeremy:

How can we really be prepared next time for worst case scenario?

Jeremy:

Because I didn't think about that until this happened.

Jeremy:

Yeah.

Bryan:

So have you already raised the money for the second one?

Jeremy:

I've raised almost half.

Jeremy:

And some of that funding I sent actually down for the relief

Jeremy:

from the hurricanes that hit.

Jeremy:

In October.

Jeremy:

So I sent some emergency funding down for it.

Jeremy:

So I'm just short of half of what we need to, to get the initial cost back going.

Jeremy:

But, but my goal is in the future to have even more in reserve, just

Jeremy:

in case something like that happens again, uh, like, you know, like

Jeremy:

the global pandemic was something that, that really set us back.

Jeremy:

So hopefully we can.

Jeremy:

Really, really, uh, just plan ahead in the future to where it wouldn't

Jeremy:

really set us back this fall.

Jeremy:

Yeah.

Jeremy:

Wow.

Jeremy:

That's

Bryan:

I mean, I'm glad that you're that far along, I'm thinking about

Bryan:

maybe the people that are listening.

Bryan:

So if you're listening right now and you've been looking.

Bryan:

For something to do, maybe God's been stirring in your heart that

Bryan:

there's some level of investment that he'd like for you to make.

Bryan:

I'd like to encourage you to prayerfully consider Jeremy and shrimp matters.

Bryan:

We'll have a link for you to be able to connect in the episode notes

Bryan:

so that you can go find out, pray about it and see if God would have

Bryan:

you be involved in this because.

Bryan:

We already know that God has the resources.

Bryan:

The question is whether or not he wants you involved.

Bryan:

And I don't know the answer to that, but I would encourage you to pray about

Bryan:

it because this could be an opportunity for you to invest in what God's doing.

Bryan:

So I just encourage you to do that.

Bryan:

I'd like to kind of take a bit of a step back, Jeremy, because we mentioned that

Bryan:

a lot of this kind of started with the, the mission strip, but there's this one

Bryan:

kind of burning question in my mind.

Bryan:

Why'd you go on that trip?

Jeremy:

I would guess the first thing that really got me to go and more so than

Jeremy:

anything was it had been a thought in my mind, I guess it was one of those, I

Jeremy:

guess you could say bucket list things.

Jeremy:

I guess I had at one time, I just, I thought, you know what?

Jeremy:

I really just need to go on a mission trip, uh, short term and just see

Jeremy:

what it's like and just experience a lot of things that I've never been

Jeremy:

able to experience before and see if there's any way, you know, that

Jeremy:

I can reach out and love others.

Jeremy:

And that was just the.

Jeremy:

The initial thought and it had been going on for years and, uh, a friend of mine

Jeremy:

from church called me and he said, he said, Hey, he said, uh, would you like to

Jeremy:

go on a mission trip to Honduras with me?

Jeremy:

And I said, uh, you know what.

Jeremy:

Ask think, I think I will.

Jeremy:

I said, I know.

Jeremy:

And when he called me that w there wasn't really that much time to, before we were

Jeremy:

actually going to leave, I had to hurry up and get my passport and everything.

Jeremy:

So, but I said, you know, what, if I can swing it all in time, I think this

Jeremy:

would be perfect time for me to do that.

Jeremy:

So, and you know, when I went on my first mission trip, I was probably.

Jeremy:

Thinking a lot of the things that anybody else would go in on a mission trip, you

Jeremy:

know, I mean, a lot of people probably worry about a lot of the, a lot of the

Jeremy:

things about leaving the comforts of where they live in the United States and, you

Jeremy:

know, We were told when we first got down there, do not drink any water, do not

Jeremy:

brush your teeth with any of the water.

Jeremy:

And a lot of things like that, a lot of people probably

Jeremy:

think about things like that.

Jeremy:

But as something that I want to encourage people that maybe are worried about

Jeremy:

situations like that are worried about being in a different environment like that

Jeremy:

is very, very, very quickly into the trip.

Jeremy:

It shifts from you not thinking about yourself to you pouring into others and.

Jeremy:

Anybody that I have ever talked to that has been on a mission

Jeremy:

trip will tell you the same thing.

Jeremy:

And I think for no other reason, we just get so complacent.

Jeremy:

I feel like day in and day out here in our normal jobs and our normal activities.

Jeremy:

And I feel like we're a lot of times the center of our daily lives, but I think a

Jeremy:

mission trip just changes to perspective.

Jeremy:

Of everything and it did for me.

Jeremy:

So I went from being very selfish, worried about getting sick from drinking the water

Jeremy:

there too, by the end of that week, I'm crying because I don't want to leave.

Jeremy:

And it was just amazing.

Jeremy:

So that's really how I started, but I just want to encourage

Jeremy:

people that may be listening to this, that, you know, maybe they.

Jeremy:

Are thinking about missions and never have went.

Jeremy:

I want to encourage you to go.

Jeremy:

It will change your perspective of everything.

Bryan:

Wow.

Bryan:

That's that's I mean, that's, that's so true, but yeah, I

Bryan:

appreciate you sharing that.

Bryan:

As you've been building these, you started from a trip that turned into

Bryan:

a vision and then some relationships that started you on the path of, okay.

Bryan:

I think this is something that we could do during the course of this.

Bryan:

Were there ever times when you thought this is too hard, I'm going to quit.

Jeremy:

There's been several times where I just felt like, I don't

Jeremy:

know if the word quit ever came up, but I will honestly say that I have

Jeremy:

questioning the timing many, many times.

Jeremy:

There's so many times I feel like God always comes through.

Jeremy:

Then I feel like every time that I get to a point that I don't feel like

Jeremy:

things are moving fast enough so quickly forget that God's timing is the best.

Jeremy:

So I will honestly say if I have.

Jeremy:

Taking anything from that.

Jeremy:

It's the fact that I've worried too much and I have not dressed it God enough,

Jeremy:

through this process, even though he keeps continually specifically showing me what

Jeremy:

the direction forward is, I'm interested

Bryan:

to know if you can share with us one of those experiences where

Bryan:

you weren't sure about the timing or there's something like that.

Bryan:

And God said, no, this is the way this is the time.

Bryan:

Yes, you can.

Jeremy:

Absolutely.

Jeremy:

This is why.

Jeremy:

The organization that, uh, that I am starting is called shrimp matters.

Jeremy:

At this point, I have the name chartered through the state of Tennessee and

Jeremy:

our next steps will be to completely establish the board and we will be a

Jeremy:

nonprofit within the next few months, but.

Jeremy:

The name is already charted as strep shrimp.

Jeremy:

Miters and that will be the story that I'm going to share with you.

Jeremy:

That really where God just, okay, God can just completely spoke to me.

Jeremy:

He's like, okay, this is what you need to do.

Jeremy:

And it's not, you know, it was as clear as can be that this was the past

Jeremy:

forward, but I was telling you earlier, How I was sharing this with my church.

Jeremy:

You know, there was a series that came up and I had the opportunity

Jeremy:

to share what God had laid on my heart and what possibly could be done

Jeremy:

through this idea of the shrimp farm.

Jeremy:

So I shared it with the church before I got up there, I talked to the

Jeremy:

pastor and he said, you need to, you know, specifically I ask people for.

Jeremy:

For funding, he said, go ahead and do that.

Jeremy:

And he said, you know, is there anything that God's laid on your heart?

Jeremy:

And I said, well, I said, I I've pretty much at the time.

Jeremy:

Uh, I told you the startup cost is just under 8,000, but at the

Jeremy:

time I had to undershot it, I was thinking it was around 7,000.

Jeremy:

So God had laid on my heart at that time.

Jeremy:

He's like, for some reason when I saw that number, I just, you know, I saw that

Jeremy:

if I could get 70 families, 70 people at a hundred dollars, if I could get.

Jeremy:

People to donate 70 families at a hundred dollars, I would be right

Jeremy:

where I needed for this thing to start.

Jeremy:

So I told the pastor about this and he said, okay.

Jeremy:

He said, you need to share that.

Jeremy:

And I said, well, I don't like ask it again.

Jeremy:

I don't think anybody is really comfortable just being like,

Jeremy:

Hey, can you donate to this?

Jeremy:

I mean, it, it's a very, very uncomfortable position to do that.

Jeremy:

He said, no specifically say that.

Jeremy:

So I got up and.

Jeremy:

I told her about the shrimp farm.

Jeremy:

And I told him about the idea and I told him at the end, he said, is

Jeremy:

there any way that we can support you?

Jeremy:

And as uncomfortable as it made me feel, I say that, I said, if I could get 70

Jeremy:

families or 70 people to donate a hundred dollars, I said, this thing can get going.

Jeremy:

And I said, that door will be open.

Jeremy:

And you know, we'll get to see what God's doing through this mission in Honduras.

Jeremy:

And at the end of the service.

Jeremy:

There was person after person, after person that came up to me

Jeremy:

specifically with a hundred dollars.

Jeremy:

And one woman in particular came up to me and, uh, she was crying.

Jeremy:

Her hands were shaking.

Jeremy:

She said, I have a hundred dollars to give you, but she

Jeremy:

said, I got to tell you a story.

Jeremy:

She said, you won't believe how specific this is to what I just heard you say.

Jeremy:

She said I was at red lobster earlier this week.

Jeremy:

And she said I was sitting there and she said, I noticed over at a couple

Jeremy:

of tables over that there was a woman sitting there and she was looking through

Jeremy:

her purse to try to pay for the shrimp cocktail she about, and I could tell,

Jeremy:

she obviously thought she must've had it.

Jeremy:

And she didn't.

Jeremy:

So she said, uh, motion to her waitress to come over.

Jeremy:

And she said, I paid for her shrimp cocktail.

Jeremy:

And she said, I settled up there.

Jeremy:

And she said a few minutes later, a man from another table came over and she

Jeremy:

said, he looked down at me and said, Hey, he said, ah, I saw what you did over

Jeremy:

there, pay it forward for that woman.

Jeremy:

He said, I just really, really appreciate what you did.

Jeremy:

And he.

Jeremy:

Went to give her a hundred dollars bill.

Jeremy:

He said, I want you to have this because it looks like you're someone

Jeremy:

that would do something good with this.

Jeremy:

I've already seen your heart.

Jeremy:

And she said, no, no, no.

Jeremy:

She said, I'm fine.

Jeremy:

She said, you know, I'm comfortable.

Jeremy:

God's a place me.

Jeremy:

I have money.

Jeremy:

He said, no, no, no.

Jeremy:

I want you to keep this.

Jeremy:

And when he handed it back, he said, shrimp matters.

Jeremy:

So that is the whole, when she told me this story about shrimp matters

Jeremy:

and the a hundred dollars of the a hundred dollars that she gave me

Jeremy:

was the same hundred dollars that he had gave her earlier that week.

Jeremy:

So, um, if I don't see how God could have spoke any more clearly, I think

Jeremy:

sometimes people refer to, you know, you hear God in his still small voice.

Jeremy:

I think God was shouting at that point.

Jeremy:

It's, this is the path forward,

Bryan:

man.

Bryan:

That's great.

Bryan:

As you've been going through this through the process, right?

Bryan:

There's a lot of things to build a lot of stuff to take care of.

Bryan:

Have you ever had to remind yourself, wait a minute, God told me back here

Bryan:

and so I can continue to trust him.

Bryan:

How, how does that work out for you?

Jeremy:

Yes, there's so many times that that has happened.

Jeremy:

I mean, especially through this pandemic when the first harvest went so well and.

Jeremy:

We, we got some extra donations to build other homes too.

Jeremy:

So three homes actually got built.

Jeremy:

There were many, many, many families that got fed through the pandemic, just

Jeremy:

from what we had from the first harvest.

Jeremy:

And so many of those great things happen.

Jeremy:

So that was the reminder, even after.

Jeremy:

The shrimp had died in the second cycle.

Jeremy:

That look how much God has done.

Jeremy:

Even through these times where we've seen the brokenness liquid God has still done.

Jeremy:

But also I want to say I am very, very, very quick to forget, and

Jeremy:

I'm very, very quick to worry.

Jeremy:

And you would think God speaking to me so clearly the way that he did that,

Jeremy:

I wouldn't worry anymore about the next step, but me as a fallible human

Jeremy:

being, I'm so quick to forget, but I do.

Jeremy:

I am so, so thankful for what God has done through this mission.

Bryan:

I can totally relate.

Bryan:

I have amnesia all the time about this stuff that God's done in his promises.

Bryan:

I'm wondering going through this, this must have changed your relationship

Jeremy:

with God.

Jeremy:

Absolutely it, like I was saying earlier about the fact that I'd

Jeremy:

never, even before I'd been on a mission trip, I just felt like, um,

Jeremy:

I was more or less the center of my.

Jeremy:

Weekly activities.

Jeremy:

And, you know, I didn't really think of much more than what I needed to do.

Jeremy:

I have to go to work.

Jeremy:

I had to go do this.

Jeremy:

And I just honestly think through this process and through this mission

Jeremy:

and through me doing something that I'm not comfortable doing, and I've

Jeremy:

put myself in positions to where, you know, I've asked for funding where

Jeremy:

I don't really feel comfortable.

Jeremy:

I have been.

Jeremy:

In many ways, I've done a lot of things that I wouldn't ever imagine that I

Jeremy:

would ever do as far as stretching me as far as my comfort level.

Jeremy:

So if anything, my comfort level, and I truly think there is a direct

Jeremy:

correlation between spiritual growth and you being just out of your comfort zone,

Jeremy:

because I think once you walk in your comfort zone, if you sit there and your

Jeremy:

comfort zone, I have never felt gross.

Jeremy:

Like I have, when I am sitting somewhere where I'm like, okay, God, I really,

Jeremy:

really, really, really need you right now because I'm in a vulnerable spot or, um,

Jeremy:

you know what I mean, I'm uncomfortable or I'm really putting myself out there.

Jeremy:

So that's something that I've really noticed about my relationship is, uh, um,

Jeremy:

trusting him more and I'm just seeing him speak to me more through this process.

Jeremy:

So

Bryan:

you inadvertently headed down my notes to the next thing I was going to ask

Bryan:

you about, which is just great, because you mentioned that this has caused you

Bryan:

to grow, it's caused you to stretch.

Bryan:

And I'm wondering, can you think of a time where you had to grow in faith

Bryan:

or as a leader or something like that?

Bryan:

And tell us a story of how you, how God grew you through that?

Jeremy:

Yes.

Jeremy:

I think a lot of my growth would still.

Jeremy:

Go right back to, at some point through this ministry would be in some way.

Jeremy:

And my growth, I feel like the area where I feel like I truly need to

Jeremy:

ask for more growth is probably patience and understanding God's

Jeremy:

timing and time, and time and time again, he shows me I've got this.

Jeremy:

Don't worry about this.

Jeremy:

At one instance that I can think of was a.

Jeremy:

Shortly after I shared that story with you at church, that was funds that I

Jeremy:

had received, but I still was not even halfway to being funded to start this.

Jeremy:

And I thought, okay, this is another stopping point.

Jeremy:

I don't know what to do.

Jeremy:

And I'm worried.

Jeremy:

And I was getting impatient and I was like, God, what do I do?

Jeremy:

And I felt like I needed to start, you know, sharing this more.

Jeremy:

I felt like it was something that I needed to be doing.

Jeremy:

So I started looking for other opportunities and, uh, I would

Jeremy:

try every way that I could to try to whatever the next step was.

Jeremy:

I was trying to push it, but what God kept showing me was, you know,

Jeremy:

his timing is the best because at one point I had reached out to a friend

Jeremy:

of Augustine's the friend on Honduras.

Jeremy:

He had a friend in the United States, so I reached out to

Jeremy:

them and they were a journalist.

Jeremy:

Massive.

Jeremy:

Can you help me out with this?

Jeremy:

Is there any way that you can spread the word?

Jeremy:

And she said, sure.

Jeremy:

So she wrote something back to my local paper.

Jeremy:

And she said, I'm going to send something to your local paper to

Jeremy:

see if we can't get it out there.

Jeremy:

And I said, well, that's, that's fine.

Jeremy:

If he's like, that's the best thing to do.

Jeremy:

We'll do that.

Jeremy:

So I did that and that I heard nothing for, I don't know, maybe

Jeremy:

a month, month and a half then.

Jeremy:

Me, I'm getting impatient and I'm like, Oh, okay.

Jeremy:

I guess I'm going to have to try to get in touch with them

Jeremy:

again or do something like that.

Jeremy:

And so I was trying to force things again.

Jeremy:

So, and what happened was I called her again and I said, Hey, I

Jeremy:

never heard anything back from the paper is what should I do?

Jeremy:

And she said, well, you can reach back out to me.

Jeremy:

Do you want to, I hung up the phone and I drove about two minutes down the road.

Jeremy:

And the phone rang from the newspaper.

Jeremy:

And me being impatient that entire time, the newspaper gets in touch with me.

Jeremy:

And from that newspaper, the rest of the funding came because there

Jeremy:

was families that read about it and it came in and it was just one of

Jeremy:

those things again, where it was just like, God's like, I've got this and.

Jeremy:

It's really helped me grow.

Jeremy:

Wow,

Bryan:

man, that's a great reminder, right?

Bryan:

Because I don't know about everybody else listening, but I have a

Bryan:

tendency to try and do things myself so I can relate to that for sure.

Bryan:

Absolutely.

Bryan:

One of the things, and this is a little bit touchy to bring up, but

Bryan:

one of the things that can happen.

Bryan:

When we have a heart to minister to people is we can actually sometimes

Bryan:

end up doing more harm than good.

Bryan:

And I know this is something that when we were emailing back and forth, you

Bryan:

said, this is really important to me.

Bryan:

So can you share with me how you've tried to approach this so that you're

Bryan:

not leaving your thumb prints all over where God is trying to work if you will.

Jeremy:

Yeah.

Jeremy:

I think it all really started well, you know, when I did go

Jeremy:

on that first mission trip.

Jeremy:

I saw so many ways where I was like, well, you know, this is doing a lot

Jeremy:

of help for a lot of people just as helping out a lot of people that

Jeremy:

are living in poverty and need.

Jeremy:

And it was a great feeling.

Jeremy:

It is.

Jeremy:

It's a great feeling to go on a mission trip and to do all those things.

Jeremy:

And the problem is, and a lot of this came from a book that I read later

Jeremy:

that was called when helping hurts is so many people can come and approach

Jeremy:

missions from a really, really good place and still do a lot of harm.

Jeremy:

And I think the problem more so with that than anything is just the fact that

Jeremy:

we're not really taking the environment there into consideration or taking the

Jeremy:

people in general, how they feel into consideration when we're trying to help.

Jeremy:

A lot of times, I think we can alleviate things by just.

Jeremy:

Fixing what we see right there.

Jeremy:

If we see somebody that, that lives in poverty, a lot of times people

Jeremy:

will just like, well, we'll just give them some money or we'll just set up

Jeremy:

something here to where they're okay.

Jeremy:

But what we don't really realize is, you know, God is relational

Jeremy:

with all of his creation and, you know, we are created in his image.

Jeremy:

So we are relational as well.

Jeremy:

And not only are we relational with God, we're also relaters relational with others

Jeremy:

and we also have a self relationship.

Jeremy:

And the problem with poverty is it's not always about money.

Jeremy:

People that live in poverty.

Jeremy:

They have a problem with their self relationship

Jeremy:

because they experience shame.

Jeremy:

They experience fear being inferior or having no voice in these are lies.

Jeremy:

So, you know, that basically that they have within themselves because you

Jeremy:

know, the good news of Jesus crosses that, you know, he came to reconcile.

Jeremy:

And put all of, for relationships, whether that be a broken relationship with others,

Jeremy:

broken relationship with yourself, he came to reconcile all those things.

Jeremy:

So a lot of times by just giving money to something or just helping out, just

Jeremy:

to what makes you feel better just to what you feel like fix the problem

Jeremy:

might not be what the answer is.

Jeremy:

The answer might lie a lot deeper into, okay.

Jeremy:

Let's talk to this person and let's see what their talents are.

Jeremy:

And let's see if there's any way that we are actually can help the

Jeremy:

local church to walk beside them.

Jeremy:

And maybe they could possibly have a job in the future that way it

Jeremy:

might be, they can feel a little bit more like, okay, I am created in

Jeremy:

the image of God and I am special.

Jeremy:

And I am someone that does have talents versus somebody that's, I'm waiting

Jeremy:

on the next missionary to show up.

Jeremy:

So that's something that I've really picked up on that I

Jeremy:

didn't really know at first.

Jeremy:

So,

Bryan:

what does that look like in practice for you?

Jeremy:

To me looks more like, uh, especially like this opportunity with

Jeremy:

the shrimp farm, that's completely, the funds that were sent goes completely

Jeremy:

to a local it's Augustine, and this is not coming from the outside.

Jeremy:

And, you know, he has local churches that he is in contact with to where, when

Jeremy:

things are done, that's done in a, in a way like that, where it's not a brigade.

Jeremy:

Coming in, because what was happening is, you know, 40 weeks a year, you would have

Jeremy:

brigades coming from the United States and you have the same issues going on

Jeremy:

as far as the poverty, as far as crime.

Jeremy:

And as far as, you know, just no hope.

Jeremy:

And, uh, I think at the local level, reaching out and loving at

Jeremy:

the local level and doing a lot of those things like that will deliver.

Jeremy:

That message of hope more so than outside, allow the outside help.

Jeremy:

I want to see more change in the 51 weeks that I'm not there versus the

Jeremy:

one week that I'm actually there.

Jeremy:

I think that will deliver the message of hope more so than anything.

Bryan:

That's.

Bryan:

That's great.

Bryan:

And I appreciate your heart and your, your desire to, to essentially

Bryan:

give up leadership, right?

Bryan:

Because you've got Augustine, who's running this while you're there.

Bryan:

And I think that takes.

Bryan:

A real talent for understanding who's a good leader and who has that

Bryan:

heart, but also at least speaking for me from when helping hurts,

Bryan:

there was the elephant and the mouse.

Bryan:

If you haven't read it, go ahead, go ahead and read it from listening to this.

Bryan:

A lot of times I feel like the elephant and barely able to

Bryan:

hear what the mouse is saying.

Bryan:

And I realized that those.

Bryan:

Images might be off putting, but basically it's the image of a bull in a China shop.

Bryan:

And I appreciate your ability and your willingness to go.

Bryan:

No, no, this is how I need to do it so that I'm not doing that.

Bryan:

So I, I very much appreciate that.

Bryan:

That's, that's really great.

Bryan:

As you look over this, I'm wondering, is there anything that you wish

Bryan:

you would have done differently?

Jeremy:

I guess the one thing that always sticks out as far as

Jeremy:

what I should do differently is.

Jeremy:

The way, this whole thing is unfolded.

Jeremy:

Even the timing and everything.

Jeremy:

I'm just so thankful to God the way the whole thing's unfolded, because I think

Jeremy:

it's unfolded very, very, very quickly.

Jeremy:

But if there's one thing that I would do differently, I wouldn't have worried as

Jeremy:

much as I did because God's in control.

Jeremy:

And sometimes that's really, really tough.

Jeremy:

You feel like as you're going through the motions, it's really, really tough

Jeremy:

to let go of that control because we always want to feel like we're

Jeremy:

in control in some way, but God's ultimately in control and it's, it's so

Jeremy:

much better if we just let him have it.

Jeremy:

And let go of that anxiety and that worry.

Jeremy:

Wow.

Bryan:

Really good stuff.

Bryan:

For those that are listening, we are going to have a link for you

Bryan:

to be able to connect with Jeremy.

Bryan:

I think it's going to go to your Facebook page.

Bryan:

That's what you sent me, right?

Bryan:

Yes.

Bryan:

So you'll want to check out the episode notes, but for you, Jeremy, I'm

Bryan:

wondering for those that are listening.

Bryan:

If they're thinking, you know what I'd like to partner, maybe financially,

Bryan:

maybe some other ways, what are some of the ways that people can

Bryan:

get involved with what you're doing?

Jeremy:

Definitely like you were saying, I would love financially that

Jeremy:

that would be absolutely wonderful.

Jeremy:

But another thing is, you know, maybe somebody is listening that is a

Jeremy:

whole lot further along the process.

Jeremy:

And then this is in there.

Jeremy:

More seasoned as far as what is going on with some, a mission like this.

Jeremy:

I would love to have that conversation because there's, we have a relationship

Jeremy:

with our heavenly father, but we're all his children and he wants us to

Jeremy:

have relationships and he wants us to be able to communicate with one

Jeremy:

another and help one another as well.

Jeremy:

I would love to be able to learn from someone that may have been

Jeremy:

down that road before, or if.

Jeremy:

You know, if someone just wants to have a conversation and say,

Jeremy:

Hey, I feel like God's starting to lead me in this direction.

Jeremy:

Maybe I can help you as well.

Jeremy:

And just on my Facebook page, Trent matters is the Facebook page.

Jeremy:

Um, just message me there.

Jeremy:

I would love to have any type of conversation.

Jeremy:

So yes, anything financial would be great, but also if you just want to have

Jeremy:

a conversation, you know, I would, I would love to hear from anyone good stuff.

Bryan:

And before we close out, how can we best pray for you?

Jeremy:

But just especially prayed just during this, uh, just during this

Jeremy:

year, not just for me, but for anyone that's involved in missions or involved

Jeremy:

in church planning, it's just been a year where a lot of things have been

Jeremy:

shifted based off of the global pandemic.

Jeremy:

Just pray specifically that, that we stay thankful.

Jeremy:

That we show gratitude even in these times, and that we're able

Jeremy:

to readjust and that we're able to.

Jeremy:

See the good out of this and see how we can move forward as things

Jeremy:

start to get back to normal.

Jeremy:

But yes, please, please, please pray for this mission.

Bryan:

That's that's great.

Bryan:

And for those of you that are listening, I would encourage you

Bryan:

pause the recording and just take a second to pray, because if you're

Bryan:

like me, there's a really good chance.

Bryan:

You're going to wait until you go to bed.

Bryan:

And then you're going to forget now, who was I supposed to pray for?

Bryan:

That happens to me all the time.

Bryan:

So I really try to just stop and take advantage of those opportunities

Bryan:

because our prayers matter.

Bryan:

And our opportunity to be involved matters.

Bryan:

So I'd encourage you to do that.

Bryan:

If you want to connect with Jeremy through his Facebook page, we'll have

Bryan:

that link for you in the episode notes, just tap or swipe or click through

Bryan:

however you're listening so that you can find that connect with him and find

Bryan:

out how you can be involved or offer him that encouragement, whatever that is.

Bryan:

I would encourage you to do that.

Bryan:

Uh, Jeremy.

Bryan:

I just want to say seriously, thank you so much.

Bryan:

Not only for doing this, but for even just reaching out and

Bryan:

saying, Hey, is this a possibility?

Bryan:

I really appreciate it.

Bryan:

So thank

Jeremy:

you.

Jeremy:

Thank you so much for having me.

Jeremy:

I really appreciate it.

Bryan:

Thank you to Jeremy Wainwright for reaching out and

Bryan:

being willing to do this as well.

Bryan:

If you're interested in connecting with him, you can find all of his

Bryan:

links and all of that information.

Bryan:

In the episode notes.

Bryan:

If you're listening in your favorite podcast app, you can just tap,

Bryan:

swipe or click or however you.

Bryan:

You get to that and you can find all of that there so

Bryan:

that you can connect with him.

Bryan:

I am happy to report the leak.

Bryan:

Most recently, when I heard from him, he was funded and moving forward.

Bryan:

So that's really, really good, great news.

Bryan:

But if you're interested in connecting with him, that's how to do it.

Bryan:

Just tap, click, or swipe those episode notes, and you'll get to that information.

Bryan:

Now, as far as the show, I did mention this as a special edition.

Bryan:

Uh, Jeremy reached out to me and I really felt like this was

Bryan:

something that I was supposed to do.

Bryan:

And so here we are, took me actually a little bit longer than I'd hoped

Bryan:

to get this out to you, but that's, that's, what's going on with that as

Bryan:

far as future episodes for the show.

Bryan:

I don't, I still don't have any more plans.

Bryan:

So I just wanted to be really upfront with you and let you know that, uh,

Bryan:

if you want to stay subscribed to the show in case there's another one,

Bryan:

you're certainly welcome to do that.

Bryan:

And I'll be glad to get that out if, and when that happens.

Bryan:

And if not, uh, again, thank you for being here.

Bryan:

I really appreciate you.

Bryan:

And my hope and my desire is that God has spoken to you and given you something

Bryan:

that you can run with him with, whether that's something that you can run with,

Bryan:

that's connected to what Jeremy's doing, or maybe an answer or an insight that

Bryan:

you've gotten from today's conversation, or maybe just some encouragement.

Bryan:

But anyway, that's my hope.

Bryan:

And my prayer for you is that you have that with that.

Bryan:

I would like to say again, just thank you for being here.

Bryan:

I hope that you've have had a great time and that you're well,

Bryan:

and that your families are well.

Bryan:

And I look forward to connecting with you again, as soon as we're able to do that,

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