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)!