Samuel´s Birthday Party

Last week was the week of parties for us, we were on the Honduras party planning committee and didn´t know it till last week, ha, but it was fun. We ran errands picking up supplies and decorating for our first party which was a going away party for the psychologist at Jovenes en Camino who spent a semester at JEC. Then next day we helped orgainze another party at JEC for October birthdays for all the boys and bought a huge cake and presents, it was fun too. Then on Saturday we had over Henry and Xiomara from Mogote and their extended family at out house to celebrate Samuel´s first birthday. It was in the middle of a tropical storm so our house was in the clouds all day, but we managed to get a break from the rain and have a traditional piñata outside.

Samuel at age 1 with his piñata.

It was really fun to have friends over at our house, I think it was fun for them too to get outside of the city for a day. Xiomara and her sisters made a traditional Honduran meal of chicken with rice, refried beans, tortillas, carne asada, pico de gallo... I pitched in where I could and made some gringo jalapenos filled with cream cheese with bacon on top, but I left the expert cooking to the experts. There was about 17 of us in all. We all had a really good time and our Honduran guests showed me multiple things in my yard I didn´t even know I had. They filled grocery sacks I gave them with the abundance of fruit that grows in our yard, way more than I could use. They found some kind of herb that they make tea out of that is supposed to have some sort of medicinal properties, but to my untrained eye it looked like a weed, haha. It was great to be able to share our house with people we have become friends with.

Will and Darwin pumped about some awesome food.

I learned more about Honduras culture today too. This was interesting. As you can see in the picture, I as an American set the food out in buffet style so everyone could help themselves... well after the prayer when I kept trying to get the men to start they line, they all just sat down even with my invitations to come get a plate and get some food. Turns out even at a party the women make plates for the men and children and then themselves... haha, but my Honduran friends didn´t skip a beat and in their own way everyone did eventually get food. I´m not sure what the men thought about my invitation to come serve themselves... haha, but they seemed to be understanding that I was just a crazy gringa who does things in a weird way and it all worked out.

So are you Bob Marley fan, or are you church people?

So it was that time again to renew our visa. This time we headed for Belize on a boat that leaves from the north shore of Honduras in Puerto Cortes and goes straight to Placencia, Belize. It was a long journey and took a couple of days but it went smoothly. We had a great time relaxing in a beautiful country we had never been too.

I loved the culture of the people in Belize. Placencia is a mix of people from all over the world. Many of the locals speak Criole which sounds like a mixture of languages with some English thrown in their but most people speak English with a really cool island accent, kind of Jamaicanish. Everyone is sooo friendly too. You can't walk down the street or the sidewalk in town without saying hello and having small conversation with everyone you pass. One man we passed on the street and became friends with stopped us and asked, "So are you Bob Marley fans or are you church people?" I replied to him that we were both, haha, and I think that blew his mind. We ended up having a conversation later with him sitting on the beach about life, love, and respect.

We had a great time of relaxing and discovered a really cool place in the world that we can't wait to visit again to renew our visas.

The "Campout"

Last Saturday was the big day. The boys in Will's Wednesday night bible class had been looking forward to this day for a long time asking about it just about every time we were in Mogote. The "campout" at our house. Many of the boys don't get to get outside of the city very often so they were thrilled to come to our house "in the country".

I will let Will tell more details, I just wanted to put these pictures up while the internet was working well.

Family!

Well, this blog is a little late, it has been a busy week once again, but we had great visit from the women folk in Will's family a week ago. Will's mom Tamara, sister Jessica, and Jessica's mother in law Janet, all made the trek down despite the political unrest.


As soon as they got off the plane, we hit the ground runnin. With a gift from the church Will grew up in, the Bristow Church of Christ, we were able to purchase 63 needed pairs of tennis shoes for every boy at Jovenes. So we piled suitcases and shoe boxes in the back or our truck, and dropped them off, so that we could drive to the stadium and feed people with Amber. The stadium can be an intimidating place and we took the ladies there within hours of their arrival, but they did great and were a huge help passing out soup. I always enjoy when we have extra people with us at the stadium because it frees us up to be able chat with people more freely.


We didn't slow down much the rest of the visit. Friday, we spent the day at Jovenes passing out shoes, figuring out whos was whos, playing some soccer, and sharing some of our favorite new eating places. Saturday we went the the Jesus statue, La Tigra the cloud forest, and La Cumbre a really neat restarant that overlooks the seemingly infinite shining lights of Teguc. Sunday we went to Valley of the Angels in the morning, and church in Mogote in the afternoon.

We were so happy to have our family here. It is so refreshing. I'm so glad that we had the chance to share our life here with our loved ones that live there... in person...it is just a neat thing.


This is at La Tigra. We had a blast hiking around and the clouds were amazing that day, we hiked through the clouds for a long way making the forest really dark and cool in the middle of the day.


We love you guys. Thanks for making the effort to get here. It means a lot to us.

Spontaneous Parades Throughout the City!

Honduras qualified for the world cup tonight!

After church tonight we hurried into a grocery store to try and be able to catch the end of the game. Honduras had to beat El Salvador and the U.S. had to tie or beat Costa Rica for Honduras to qualify. The stars were lined up for Honduras tonight because the beat El Salvador 1-0 and in the last minute of injury time in a game that should have been won by Costa Rica the U.S. scored making it a tie game 2-2. The games ended at about the same time and the entire country of Honduras errupted into cheers and honking horns. We left the grocery store into a lively city and decided to drive around a bit and enjoy the moment.

The city turned into a spontaneous parade. Everyone came out into the streets waving flags, wearing jerseys, and hollering. We drove around town, honking and yelling with everyone else. While listening to the radio we heard the president announce that tommorrow is a national holiday!

It is so exciting for this country. The world cup is HUGE! Honduras hasn't qualified since 1982, and this is only the second time in Honduras history to go. It is so great to have something so unifying, something so exciting, something going so well for the country. I believe that for tonight, and maybe tommorrow, this country has forgotten their political strife and is unified in celebrating this great feat. And it is so exciting. I'm happy to be in this country tonight! I'm so proud!

Current Situation in Honduras

As you may have heard there has been some new political turbulence in Honduras this week. The ousted president is back in the country and at the Brazilian embassy in the middle of Tegucigalpa causing many clashes between his supporters and those of the new government including the military. The new government in response has imposed a curfew since Monday night at 6 to keep people out of the streets. They are suspending the curfew today from 10am-5pm so people can get out and get food. All the airports have also been closed but will hopefully reopen tommorrow. The borders too are closed since there is a curfew but should reopen when that is lifted.

We are fine. We are at our house in the country away from the turmoil in Tegucigalpa, we have plenty of food and water. We are using this time to rest and get settled into this new house.

We just wanted to let you know the current situation here in Honduras, but also to let you know that we are fine.

Please pray for peace in this country.

"Tankless Water Heaters"

Before we left the states, I worked with my family building Homes. I enjoyed my time there and will always be greatful for the opportunity to learn from my dad, who've I've always looked up to, and work with my brother(my best man friend) and my mom-the sweetest lady I know. Building the houses I learned alot about working with people, different types of people, crusty old construction dudes, rich young people buying nice houses, good Oklahomans and family. I believe that I will always be involved in construction some how, It is two deep in my blood, being plumber and coming from a gene pool 4 generations deep in plumbing-it is fate. I don't want to quite working with my hands. I think my soul would die in an office, right now, anyways while my heart is still ticking normally. Having said this, now I can get to the point of this post. We moved into a different rent house this week. Before we left the states in working in construction and doing some plumbing, it was easy to see that "Tankless Water Heaters," were the future of trendy, "green", expensive add-ons and were all the rage in custom Homes. I have seen this version of the "Tankless Water Heater" here before, but now we have one in the new house. So they are not completely new here, just new to us....The first few showers are a little intimidating, but I think it helps me realize every day that I'm living by the Grace of God. Yes, that is 110 volts, bare, running directly into the shower head. Enjoy the pic.

Transitions

This is a view from the front porch of the new house we moved into. We love living in the country. Will has already been able to ride his bike and the dogs, including the new one, love playing in the yard. We are excited to be in the country among the chickens, cows, and horses, and with fruit trees in our yard including, orange, mandarins, guyaba, papaya, banana, and coffee plants.

As we move in our work from Mogote more towards working with Jovenes en Camino and Shine Honduras, this house is in the perfect location right in the middle of both. It is so quiet and cool too. We are glad that we got to know Tegucigalpa well in the last year but are happy to be away from the hustle and bustle of the capital city (and occasional street protests...).

A view from the side of the house overlooking the "orchard" and the mountains behind the Zamorano Valley.

We hope to be able to use this house for possible church retreats, campouts, and hosting other people.

Some Pics from Bible Class in Mogote

The kids are really able to pay attention to these paper dolls. Just giving them something to look at keeps their eyes on me.

I usually tell the story with the dolls, and then I let a few kids come up and "act" it out with the dolls as I tell it again. They seem to be able to remember the stories the next few weeks too.

Thanks to MaryAnne Barnes for making these for me and giving me some advice from her many years of experience.

August Newsletter

Happenings in Honduras!
It is hard to believe how fast a year can fly by. On September 8, we will have been in Honduras one year. We really feel at home in this country, our Spanish has progressed significantly, we are mostly familiar with the customs and culture, and we feel like we have made friends that have become like family.

Mogote Monthly
We spent a lot of time in Mogote this past month making up for lost time. The kitchen is coming along quite well. This month Will and Hector (Darwin’s uncle) installed a concrete canal in top of the wall, put the tin on the roof, and hired a man to weld the doors and windows and install them. The next step is to make the walls smooth (we don’t have a verb for this action in English like they do in Spanish…) and then to install the sink, and electricity.

This month our preacher, Jairo, lost his mother. He was gone for about a week to be with his family in another part of Honduras. Will took over running the services while Jairo was absent and even had the opportunity to preach, in Spanish!

Also this month Will started teaching a 3 month young men’s Leadership/Bible class on Wednesday nights teaching the young men more of the bible, and preparing them to take a more active role in the church services practicing reading scripture aloud, praying, singing, and being good examples. The boys really like the class and the attention from Will. Rachel taught a joint kids class with ages from 2-12 with some new materials and advice given from a sweet lady, named Maryanne Barnes, who attends Richardson East and has years of experience and expertise teaching bible class to youngsters. The kids have really responded to the new visual aides and seem to be able to really pay attention and have good retention of the stories.

The church has decided to start raising money for a sound system and to do so have started selling Nacatamales, a Honduran favorite food similar to tamales, but with a Honduras twist. They have a smashed corn layer, filled with vegetables, a sauce, and a piece of chicken or pork, rolled up in a banana leaf and tied like a package with a strip of palm bark. It is a great time of fellowship making tamales and learning from the women who cook everything over an open flame with wood kindling brought up the mountain on burros. We anticipate even more the finished kitchen so projects like these can thrive and grow.

Life in Mogote is not always easy, and we often hear gut wrenching stories of hardships facing the people. One very poor lady, Francisca, who recently starting coming to church lives about 3 miles away on the very edge of Tegucigalpa, with no electricity or running water was robbed of the few possessions she owned. As a single lady and a house made of very thin wood lined with cardboard and plastic on the inside she was, unfortunately, an easy target. The thieves broke through a wall and stole her bed, her small cook stove, her pots, and her small chest of clothes while she was gone. It is hard to imagine someone so cold hearted but also so desperate that they would rob such a vulnerable woman. We are going to help her as much as we can, but please keep Francisca in your prayers.

The Politics
Honduras is still in the middle of a confusing political situation. Sadly this problem is hurting the poor people. Countries have started pulling their aid money and the consequence is falling on the shoulders of the poor who would have received the benefits of that money. Both sides of the political situation are not budging on their demands. There is a billboard on a main highway here that states, “We don’t have oil or money, but we do have guts” (our “appropriate” translation). There are still a few demonstrations, but we just avoid these areas. We can only hope and pray for a peaceful solution. As of right now the presidential elections are scheduled for November.

Stadium Homeless Friends Ministry
This past month we wanted to avoid all appearances of being a demonstration so we hesitated to go down to the stadium where some violence had taken place and gather a large group of people. We visited once to announce that the next day we would be coming with food, but that day we were not able to go out because of some demonstrations blocking the roads (which is a normal occurrence by groups striking here). Now things have calmed down, so this past week was first week we have been able to return to the stadium. It was great to see some of our friends again. We were glad that they were not upset with our absence and we picked up right where we had left off. We had fewer people than usual but we expect the number to go back up now that the word is out that we have returned. Amber has gotten support to be able to feed people four times a week. We are anxious to see where the Lord leads us with this ministry.

Moving
We are excited to announce that we will be moving outside of the city of Tegucigalpa about halfway between Teguc and Jovenes en Camino, in Zamorano. For those of you who have visited our house you know that we live right in the middle of the city with sirens, horns, dogs, and neighbors’ mariachi musicJ. From our house we can hear the protesters marching and yelling in front of the Casa Presidencial, we are that close. We have never felt in danger at our current house but we are ready to move to a quieter place now that we have a vehicle and know our way around. We will be moving the middle of September.

October 2010
We wanted to let all our supporters know that after discussing our unexpected visit during July with our HIM director we have made plans to stay an extra month at the end of our two years. We received financial support for the month of July 2009 but were in the states the entire month. So we have decided to use that money we received July 2009 for October 2010. If you are supporting us this means no change for you. We will simply use the funds received in July for that month added at the end of out HIM contract. We want our supporters to know that want to use what you have given us for the work in Honduras.

Prayer Concerns:
· God’s blessings and direction with our work, where we fit working in Honduras
· The people at the stadium, that they will know God’s love and be able to change their lives with the help of God.
· The political situation in Honduras: Peace in Honduras, Both sides reach a solution that is beneficial to the people of Honduras and sustainable.
· Safety while doing construction projects
· Men in the Mogote church beginning to help serve

Ongoing/Upcoming projects:
· Finishing the inside of the Kitchen & installing appliances
· Working on plans of a possible technical program at Jovenes possibly
· Feeding people each Monday and Thursday night at the stadium

Amor y Frijoles. Love and Beans.

Honduras made it's very first movie, and it came out this week. It is about a girl who sells baleadas and it is called Amor y Frijoles. It is so Honduran. The plot is not that great... but it is about Honduras and made by Hondurans. We went to a sold out showing of it with 600 other people who were so excited to see it. The whistled and hollered when a part came on that showed Teguc. It was like watching old family videos I think because they have never seen "their own" on the big screen. Way to go Honduras.


Will and I were in Zamorano (just past Jovenes en Camino) yesterday and we happened to drive by this man... he is riding his bike and those are chickens tied upside down on the handle bars... you just never know what you might see driving down the road here in Honduras.

In other news... Will started teaching a young men's class at church on Wednesday nights. They are learning a little bit more of the bible and are practicing reading scripture and praying aloud. it is good practice for the boys to start getting involved in the church services. The boys love the class. They are so excited to have something geared towards them and I'm love attention from Will. It is a neat deal.

Tommorrow is another tamale day with the chuch ladies. I'm am excited. It a great time hanging out and getting to know them better. Amber came back today, we are happy to have her back in our midst and hopefully the stadium ministry will get started and possibly be even bigger now feeding more days during the week.

Sunday service...

I just wanted to let everyone know that sadly Jairo´s (our preacher at Mogote) mom passed away Thursday. He left yesterday to go to the part of Honduras that they are from for the burial and wake. Our prayers are with him and his family.

With Jairo gone that leaves Will in charge of the the church service tommorrow afternoon including preaching! He is spending the day getting ready and thinking in Spanish. Good luck Will!

Nagatamal!

Nagatamal is the Honduran word for what we know as Tamales! The church in Mogote wants to raise money for a sounds system. It would be easy for a North American church of person to just donate the money, but the church wants to take ownership of their own affairs which is great. So without any influence from North Americans the church took the initiative to raiseing money for the sounds system. They started by selling tamales.

On Saturday a bunch of the women from church got together at one ladies' house and started the process. Wow, it is alot of work, but the end result is so gooood. I couldn't even tell you all the process, they had most of it done when I got there but here is a brief outline: wash/boil banana leaves, strip peices of palm to tie around them, mash corn, cook it, cook chicken and pork in an awesome soup of flavors, cut up carrots, potatoes, and green beans, wash rice. Then roll all of that up together in a banana leaf, then tie it up like a package, and cook it for another hour.

This is an all day process but it was so fun to get to hang out with the women from church outside of church talking, laughing, and working together. I am still amazed at the way these women live. They cooked everything over an open fire as you can see in the picture. I wanted to help as much as possible but I realized that I didn't even know how to wash dishes like they do without a sink and running water, much less cook tamales in a fire. They are neat ladies and accepted me with my poor cooking skills and culture mistakes like forgetting to greet everyone with a kiss...

After yesterday we are even more excited as the kitchen progesses. The women mentioned too how much easier it will be to do projects once we have a "large" kitchen with all the amenities. Will and Hector finished making a gutter out of concrete on the top of the wall yesterday so day by day we are getting closer.

Happy Birthday Will! and Pictures from our visit to the States

Will's Birthday! The boys went to the store by themselves and bought Will a cake! They said they tried to find candles that said "27" but they didn't have any... so they bought candles that said "30"... haha, they thought it was so funny, and it was... good cake too.

From our visit to TN on our canoe ride up to the mouth of the river that feeds the lake.

Rachel's brother's kids at the lake.

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Home in Honduras!

Hello to all! We arrived safely to a normal Honduras yesterday. Darwin and Arnold were there to pick us up. We all jumped in a taxi, bargained about the price and headed to our house to drop off our stuff and then go to one of our favortie restaurants with the boys, Palacio Real, and it all felt so normal. We are at the mall today, a stop on the way to pick up our truck from Baxter and things are totally tranquil.

We are still feeling things out for a while before we jump back into our old routine. We plan on heading up to Mogote today to check on the progress of the kitchen and say hello to our friends and church members we left without saying goodbye. I am very excited to see them all.

It was great to visit family and friends in the states and came at a really good time for us to be able to relax a bit in the middle of a crazy busy summer. But we are happy to be back here at home and back to work.

We are in the United States

We just wanted to let everyone know that we are back into the United States, just in time for some good cookouts and fun holiday. We will be traveling to Tulsa from Dallas Saturday morning and then plan on being at Memorial Road for church Sunday morning.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. Please keep praying that the situation is resolved soon and we hope to return as soon as possible. God's plans and timing are bigger than we are and we trust that but still would like to return soon.

We are safe and sound

We just wanted to let everyone know that despite the political situation that is going on here in Honduaras we are safe. Our groups are all heading home by Thursday. We just finalized tickets back for all of our interns too for the same day. We realize no one is giving out courage medals for those who stay so we are also heading for the states on Thursday to Dallas.

It is hard to leave, but we plan on returning to Honduras as soon as possible. We pray that things settle quickly so we can come back to working with people we have come to know and love.

Stories from the Stadium

The last week has been really good at the stadium with some cool things happening that are fun to share.

Suyapa, the gum seller, told me the other night that when she talks to her dad, she asks him to take care of Raquel and the other people in her group that bring the food. It took me a second to figure out that she meant when she was pryaing she asked God her father to take care of me. Wow. I was floored. She prays for me? Wow! The simple faith of people can be astounding.

One guy that we have been having some problems with in the past showed up last night. It had been a while since he had been around because one time he got so angry that he threw his food in Darwin´s direction and all over the truck. I was content that he hadn´t been around in a while causing problems, but he came back last night and apoligized to all of us individually. That is pretty awesome.

One guy who is always happy and always wearing clothes that are too big for him named Carlos and I were having a chat last night. He was interested in how long we were going to be here and I said we are going to be here for 2 years for sure and after that we have a big decision to make about what we will do after that. I said it´s hard because we have friends and family in the states that we really miss, but if we leave we will miss people here in Honduras too. I asked him what he thought and he said, well that decision is yours. But he sat and thought for a moment and then asked me, well, where do you have more friends? I laughed and said well, that is a good question but I dont know, and he replied, Honduras of course! Haha, that made me feel special that he hinted at wanted us to stay.

Please continue to pray for the people at the stadium. They are great people, battling addicio

Chainsaw Framing, Churches with a View

This past week we have gotten to work with some great people on some great projects. The first project was the roof in Mogote over the classrooms. Norm, James, and Justin Easter along with Tom and Evelyn Poteit came down to make the church less leaky. It was a great project and the classrooms will now be much more functional and less musty during the rainy season.

Then Dudley Chancey, Bill Walters, and Don Drew came down to put a roof on the church in Isopo (and help finish the one in Mogote). The walls of the church have been built but with no roof leaving the building useless until that was finished. With the help of some chainsaw framing and lots of thought, the church in Isopot now has a roof. We were so glad to be able to help with these projects which were really usefull. The people in Isopo were so happy to have their new building. In the evenings during this last week there was usually about 100 people watching as the sun lowered into the beautiful mountains in the distance. On the last day when finished the church members gave us an official thank you letter with the stamp of the church on it saying that they were so thankful.

(The kids love to sit in the back of the truck)

(The finished product)

I think in this last week we have gotten be at some of the most beautiful churches in the world. This is a picture of the church in the mountain east 2 hours on a dirt road from Catacamas in Las Cabas. Then working on the roof in Isopo with a view of the green vallies surounded by mountains, wow, beautiful places.

I love renewing our visas.

It has been a long time since we blogged... things have gotten a little busy, but things are really good. My cousin JC and his friends have been here, along with Dudley who brought Bart and Melissa Dodson whom we are happy to now call our friends. Groups have started coming and are doing some neat things.

We just got back this morning from a visa renewal to Costa Rica. Just Will and I went this time since Amber is going back to the states next month. We had so much fun and it was perfect timing to go and be able to relax. We went to Jaco beach. While we were there, Will surfed until the jumping sting rays out of the waves made him a little timid, fished, I read, swam and just enjoyed the beauty. It was a great time.

Seriously beautiful.

Will fishin.

We are back in Teguc, refreshed and ready to hit it hard for another 3 months.

What a Week.

Last Wednesday night after church we invited some kids to come spend the night at our house. We ended up with 13 kids, it was a blast. We had most the of the family of the 12, and some neighbors. One boy named Carlos Alberto came over for the first time, and I'm glad he did, his father was shot working as a police officer a couple months ago and is now pretty much incapacitated, living as a vegetable in their house, so I'm glad he got to get away from his harsh reality for a night. We took the kids to KFC (they love this statue of colonel Sanders, they all call him Grandpa, Marla is kissing him in this picture), then on to our house and watched a movie. During the middle of the night some boys came in asking for a drink. I went in to give them some water when one of them asked for the drink that was in a bottle... I knew we didn't have anything in a bottle, but he (William) insisted that he and Carlos already had had some... I asked him to show it to me with a sinking gut feeling. He took me into the kitchen and showed me the bottle of cleaner we keep in a water bottle! After a little bit of panic of not knowing what to do, I called Amber who called the hospital and found out we just needed to give them antacid pills, that the brand of cleaner we use is not that corrosive... We have a little ways to go kid-proofing our house, I guess.

The pila, baptistry, is going well. The bricks are about half way up. We have gotten to know Darwin's uncle Hector pretty well, a preacher at another church in Mogote, who has been a great help.

Friday we got a suprise visit from Mark Thurman. The three of us decided to go to a national park fairly close called La Tigra on Saturday. We had a great time hiking to a waterfull 120 high, and being in the peaceful, quiet rain forest away from the hoking horns and constant noise of the city. The road up there is really neat, with fields of calalilies, strawberries and blackberries, people selling fruit on the streets, and kids selling boquets of flowers for 50 cents. We really enjoyed ourselves.

While we were at La Tigra we heard that the boys had been in a car accident but didn't realize how serious it could have been. Blessedly everyone is OK. But after the park we headed to the hospital to pick up those who had come to town in an ambulance while Amber brought back the rest of the crew who had been in the car. We are so happy everyone is OK, just a few bumps and bruises, it really is a miracle after seeing pictures of the truck. Poor Shakira the truck who rolled 5 times, RIP.

Wheels!

It is official. We officially have wheels. We love the truck and it is so nice to be independent. It is a '92 Toyota pick-up, 4 door, 4x4, diesel (which doesn't exist in the states). We are so blessed to be able to use this truck!

Since we now have an extra vehicle we decided to put the extra room to use. After church Sunday night we invited the teenagers to come home with us so that we could take them to a water park the next day. We had so much fun. We loaded up our two trucks with 12 of us in all, ate at Pizza Hut, hung out at our house, then the boys stayed with us and girls stayed with Amber. We headed out the next morning and made it to the water park, Aquasplash. It was a great park with slides, a wave pool, and everything. We had fun with all the teens and got to know them a little better. After the water park we took them with us to feed people down by the stadium Monday night and finally took them all back to Mogote. It was a great day.

This week is Semana Santa, Holy Week. The whole country takes a break this week. Even the Honduran Wal-Mart shuts down. Families go on vacation and visit relatives. It is similar to our Christmas Holiday. The only drawback for us during this Holy Week is that there are police stops on many roads throughout the city. They are similar to what we might have during the 4th of July. It is usually no big deal and not uncommon to get stopped by the police here for random checks, but this week you can barely drive 2 miles between stops. Most of the time police are very difficult and encourage "greasing" the wheels of justice. And often it is the only way to start the proccess of sanity and justice moving foward again. I am still learning that sometimes things are just done differently and there are different expectataions in foreign places. But such is life to people living in Honduras. You do what you have to do to survive.

On Tuesday we poured the foundation and laid one layer of bricks of the baptistry with the help of Darwin and Ariel's uncle Hector. We hit a small roadblock today because the water trucks that usually fill our barrel of water to make concrete were on their semana santa break, but we hope to finish soon and put it to use.

Last night we had another book club meeting with other local missionaries here. It was so good to be able to fellowship and laugh with each other. We realized that we all live within walking distance of each others houses, and all have a connection to Oklahoma! Small world.

Flashlight Baptisms

After Sunday night church in Mogote 6 people decided to be baptized. It was already dark and it is illegal to be in the river after dark (I´m not sure why... but that is the word) so we made plans to go to the Mateo church and use their pila (a tank of water) to baptize them. We loaded up 32 people in 2 trucks and headed down the Mogote mountain towards the country of Mateo. It was a beautiful night and we arrived at the Mateo church but there was no lights. So with cell phones and one flashlight the 6 new christians were added to the family.

I am often amazed at the dedication of the people here. They could have waited, not crammed into a truck with 12 people in the bed, they didn´t have extra clothes, but they had made a decision and they were going to go through with it.

Busy Spring Break

Things have finally settled down after our Memorial Road Spring Break group has left. It was so busy, but it was so fun. We feel like our family has grown and we now count families from Mem Road as part of our extended family.

The group accomplished some really neat things while they were here. We had two carnivals, one in Mogote, and one in Izopo. In Mogote we have talking about the "Carnival of Prizes" for months now, getting the kids excited about it, and about coming to bible class. They had to come to bible class 5 times in the last 3 months to be able to attend. It was a huge success and so intricately planned with a cake walk, digging for burried treasure, throwing games, and a bounce house. It was so much fun for the kids to have something so special just for them. We all had a blast.

The group also built 10 houses, poured 32 bags of concrete in Mogote, built a pipe system in the creek at Baxter, held 2 carnivals, 2 medical clinics, and did more than I'm sure I even know about. It was such a neat group, we love them.

In Mogote the next project is a baptistry. The church is in great need of a baptistry. Right now if someone decides to get baptized they have to go down to the river rich is about a 20 minute car ride, they can't go at night, and only as many people as can fit in the truck can go to witness it. The neatest thing about this new project though is that each church member is contributing by bringing bricks to church each service. They bring as many as they can afford, usually just 2-3 bricks, but it is so neat to me that they are taking a stake in building it. It is also a sacrifice for most of them to buy bricks. I am learning more and more from the people in Mogote, they are such a blessing to me and I am honored to get to work with them.

Things are going well. We are still looking for a truck and hope we may be close to finding a good one. The people at the stadium continue to open up to us. Last night we all received bracelets from Hector which he would normally try to sell to make a little bit of money. Excercise class with the ladies at church is going really well, we now have an aerobic video in Spanish, which has made it much easier for everyone to follow, and we also have a few more pairs of tennis shoes from the group for the ladies to wear.

Special Delivery

After being here for almost 7 months we sometimes feel like we are fully adjusted to the new culture we live in and nothing really can suprise us or seems strange or different anymore, especially when there are groups here or people visiting. We are sorta like Honduras tour guides to visitors and mission brigades at times explaining the why´s and how´s of this part of the world that we have grown to love. But there are times when we are suprised and get a laugh at our ignorance of some ¨normalcies.¨

We had seen this type of delivery before and got a huge laugh. We were very dissappointed to not get a picture thinking that our chance was gone forever. Not true. While riding in the back of the truck the other day we saw another one. The guy laughed as we took his picture. I am continually amazed at the inginuety in the lack of resources. There is no way I could make this happend with 1 rope. Not to mention the balance it takes to keep this thing stable at 60 MPH while turning or going slow in the usual traffic jams here. In case you can´t see the picture because of the glare, this is a clothes washing machine.

Work in Mogote

We are back in the full swing of things trying to get everything ready for the spring break group next Friday. We are pouring the rest of the concrete slab in this next week. We have had some awesome help from some of the boys in Mogote. They range in age from 10-13 and have been a great help to us. They love working, if we are up there and they know we are going to pour concrete that day they stick around and do whatever they can to pitch in. Some of these kids come from really broken homes, but as tough as they are they still love to give and get hugs.

Pouring concrete is quite the process. We order sand, rock, rebarb, and bags of cement in the morning. They deliver it outside the door to the church. After getting the rebarb in the holes we crank up the mahcine, then start the mixing. One bucket of water, 2 of rock, 2 of sand, add the 92 lb. bag of concrete, 2 more rocks, 1.5 more sand. Then Darwin and Ariel have worked out a system to push-pull the wheelbarrow full of concrete up the 5 steps and around the side of the church and dump it wherever Will tells them, then Will smoothes it and makes it nice.

It is hard work but we really enjoy getting to do it together with people from Mogote and are excited about the kitchen!

Family

We are so blessed to have such great families. It was so good to be able to go back to the states and be with our families again. Even though we live in a foreign country and so much has changed in our lives in the last six months family is the one thing that has stayed constant, and it always will be constant. Family never goes away and that is so comforting. We love you guys!





We are back in Honduras and back in the swing of things, riding in the back of the truck, grocery shopping, and playing with crazy Ranger. We have church tonight and I can´t wait to see all the kids and church members again. It is about to get busy getting the foundation ready in the kitchen for the spring break group to put up the walls, but we love it.

Connections.

We have some visitors here from the states so we set out to work since we have some good help. We have still been working on the kitchen and this week we got to pour the first 1/5 of the foundation. We mixed 10 loads of concrete in the mixer and got it done. It is coming right along. We also got a donation from the Life church group that works in the same area that we do for our kitchen. They donated a commercial fridge and sink that they weren't using that were originally at a Denny's somewhere. We are pumped to have such nice things to start out with.

Yesterday we held a clinic in a town about 2 hours away called Campamento. Two doctors doing their residencies at Vanderbilt Children's Hospital have been here and did the clinic at a daycare for the kids there. The kids were really cute. Most of them were from very poor families and the daycare run by a christian organization gives the parents an opportunity to work, and the kids an opportunity to be cared for and have two meals a day. It was a neat program to see. The director, Bob Wilkenson, just happened to have been the first preacher at 29th and Yale in Tulsa and knew our HIM directors from working in Germany with them. Small world. Neat connections.

Last night in bible class we set a "record" with 39 in my class and 40 in Amber's class. Teaching has been going well, and its fun to get cute kisses from the kids after class is over.

It looks like we'll be coming to the States Feb. 10-19ish. We are really excited to see everyone.

I just thought I'd throw a picture of Ranger on here. We like him, he's getting to be big and fun.

Man, a lot has happened since we last blogged. We have been having trouble getting the internet to work so sorry it has been so long. Last week I had the opportunity to help translate at a medical clinic in Guajire. It was a neat experience and we got to meet a lot of people. One lady stands out in my mind, we held the clinic in her house. She was an older lady that has 9 kids, three of which became wheelchair bound about the age of 10. The three kids still live with her and she cares for them all very lovingly. They have trouble speaking and cannot feed themselves. This would be hard to handle in the states, but this lady lives up in a small mountain village, I can only imagine... These beautiful flowers were in her backyard, it seemed to me a stark contrast of beauty against a background of hardship.


Last Monday we went to the only natural lake in Honduras called Yojoa. We wanted to thank/reward some of the boys that had been working really hard helping us pour the footings for the kitchen at the church so we brought Darwin, Ariel, and Benjamin home with us after church on Sunday night. The boys stayed up late playing Nintendo soccer, then we all got up early and loaded up with blankets and pillows in the bed and headed north for the three hour trip to the lake. The day was filled with adventures starting out. We asked some local where we could rent a boat and we ended up at a families house who gave us some oars and pointed down a muddy trail. It ended up being a crazy muddy cow trail that was barely passible and when we arrived there was no way we could all fit in the boat which was trapped in a weedy mess, and no where for anyone to sit. So we decided we would try somewhere else.

We drove back up the road and found a "resort" that would let us use their dock and fish. The boys got adventurous and waded out to flooded dock to do some fishin. No fish were caught at the dock but everyone seemed to have fun. For lunch we went to a local restaurant that overlooked the lake. We told the lady that we wanted to eat there and she guided us to a deep freezer where we picked out the fish we wanted to eat. Then she threw the whole fish into the deep fryer. It was good fish, although I'm not sure I will ever be able to eat a fish like the Honduran boys we were with who ate the whole thing, including the eyes...

At the restaurant we were able to find another boat to rent and the boys set out. The boat road pretty low in the water but it didn't tip and they boys had a blast. No fish caught all day but it didn't matter, we all had fun at the beautiful lake Yojoa.

This week we managed to pour the last of the footings at the church. Will estimates that we poured a yard and half of concrete which comes out to about 2 tons. It was some pretty hard work, but we had good help and got it done.

"Con la Ayuda de Dios"

Well its been a while since I've posted last but somethings merit a posting and this story is not lacking in any way. Sorry it took so long to post this, but even though it is a couple weeks old, I think that it still rings true and I will probably never forget the simple faith of 4 children. So, a week or so right before the Christmas play we were hanging out with some of the new friends we had made during the production of the play. Rachel and I were sitting and chatting with a group of 4 children who are all related which is not rare- two brothers and a brother and sister who were cousins, ranging in age from 6-11. I had never really met these kids and didnt' know their story and was curious as to how they came to know the church in Mogote. Since they live in another colony named Australia(Australia is about a half mile or so walk further up the mountain on roads that can hardly be called roads). I was amazed that kids without any adult supervision, came to church so faithfully and happily. I asked in my spanish, so does your mom or dad attend church here? no. Do you have family here? no. After exhausting all possible questions as to how they came to attend church here in Mogote, I finally asked, So how did you end up coming here? The oldest and informal representative of the group answered quickly and confidently, "Con la Ayuda de Dios," which translated means,"With the help of God." Then was affirmed by the rest of the small group with nods and the repetition, yeah, "With the help of God." They were certain that God had worked in their lives to bring them there. This is the faith like a child that I believe the Bible speaks about. Wow. What a challange to trust God and give him credit from the example of these children. I almost fell over.

A kitchen, a sleepover, and some food.

This week we have been working at the church getting ready to build a kitchen. There is a space next the church about 12 feet by 50 feet that we are going to use. Will is in charge of this project and although his work crew has consisted of 3 girls, 2 teenagers that don´t speak English, and about 15 little kids, it is coming along.

One day after working on the kitchen in Mogote we decided to take some kids home with us. Will, Amber, Jenn, Darwin, me, and 11 kids, loaded up the truck and went to our house, dropped our tools off and then headed for the theatre so see the movie Bolt. After the movie we went to KFC for dinner and played at the play place. Then we headed back to our house and settled down for bed and gave everyone showers in warm water (which does not exist in Mogote), and finally went to sleep, the boys in our room, the girls in Jenn´s room. Then in the morning we ate some eggs and Will´s famous cinnamin toast, colored pictures, and played with Ranger. It was really fun to have them all over and we´d like to do this more often with more kids.

Amber and Darwin have been wanting to go downtown and visit some people there that live basically live in the street. So, last night we headed downtown by the stadium to feed some people. Amber and Darwin cooked all day and made 10 pounds of beans and 5 pounds of rice, got some tortillas and mixed some lemonade and we loaded up in the truck not really knowing what to expect. It´s hard for me to put in words this experience, it wasn´t what I expected but it was really good. I expected people to rush and crowd around wanting food, but it wasn´t like that, they came a few at a time and chatted with us a bit. An older man named Pedro asked us to pray for him. Another teenager named Noe started to sing a song we sing in church here, "you have a friend that loves you, his name is Jesus."

The place where we were at, right next to the stadium is a place where the Jesus statue that shines bright over the Tegucigalpa night can be seen very clearly. It looked as if Jesus was holding his arms up right towards us, shining brightly. How appropriate. Jesus does stand with open arms towards all of us, no matter where we are in life, if we live on the street, if we live in a mansion, Jesus is always there with open and accepting arms.

This probably isn´t something we will ever take pictures of to show you, but we ask that you do please pray for the people that live on the street by the stadium. Pray that they can break free of their addictions, that they have food, and most of all that they run to Jesus who accepts them with open arms.

A New New Year´s Tradition

The New Year was awesome! My best friend Jenn is here and with her she brought awesome presents from home. We had a great late Christmas. It was so fun to get things from the states! Thanks for everything, the letters, the gifts, all was great! I hung the curtains, Will has already been fishing, the helicopters were well broken in, the candels have been burned, and we have pictures up all over our house that the kids painted, its great!


This is our ¨Old Year¨ that we blew up... the Honduran tradition is to make a scarecrow filled with fireworks and blow it at midnight. Will and Darwin went out one day with a machete to get some grass to fill it and later Darwin put him together. This is a fun New Years tradition we would like to keep. Pretty exciting. We went to a park that overlooks the city to blow him up. It was neat to look out over the city and hear they entire town celebrating with fireworks.



We were able to have Dudley, Vickie, Matt, Leslie, and Jenn, join Will, Darwin, Amber and I for New Years at our house. We broke in our new furniture including the table Will built and had a really good time eating and playing games. We were pumped to have Balderdash (a gift from the states) to play too!

This is a picture of Will and I putting in our new tables we got from the side of the road on the way to the valley of the angels. One is made out of antique door. They are really neat and I´m excited to have a real living room with real furniture and pretty curtains (another gift I love)!