True-hee-yo

Our hearts are breaking

2010-07-07T07:51:00.002-05:00

We just learned that a dear friend, deacon over youth at West Metro, and amazing Christian brother fell ill and left this world suddenly and unexpectedly last night. I can't even describe to you the pain we are experiencing here this morning and the shock. I can not begin to imagine what it is like for his precious wife and children.

James baptizing their oldest son Michael

What an amazing Christian father, husband and friend

We're blessed to have been touched by him and will treasure our memories of this great man.

We look forward to seeing him again!

Please all of you reading, if you will be in fervent prayer for the Olson family.

Saying Goodbye

2010-07-07T07:37:00.000-05:00

By now, many of you have heard from loved ones and know that we are in San Pedro Sula. just FYI if you haven't heard from your loved one...don't take great offense...it's those that can get internet access on their phones that were able last night to email and such. And not even all of them.

Anyway we made it to San Pedro Sula with no problems. We're about to go eat b'fast in the hotel and then head for a quick stop at a market a block away. Then it's off to the airport to begin our journey's home!! Thank you for all of your prayers and love while we've all been away!!

Irlinda (she teaches in the school) came the night before we left to paint toenails.

She was there til midnight painting away.

Jennifer getting some sweet love

One class after receiving their futbol socks (boys) and dresses (girls)

eating at a family's home. Precious precious family!!

We're really proud of this wall!!!!

Fun together in the hotel

2010-07-05T10:13:00.001-05:00

Charlton cleaning the "Great Wall"

Antonio...with the bees nest that was cleaned off the wall in the prep work.

Beach Clean up

Melissa working at the school

Kevin leading singing at the Limonal congregation

MaryKyle playing the flour game at the youth devotional

I just kept meaning to upload a better picture of our iguana friend

so thought I'd go on and do it!!

Currently we have people at the hotel preparing for a festival that Bruce and Julie are heading up for the school children today. We also have a group of volunteers down at the wall giving it a 2nd coat and working on the columns .

We also have a small group finishing work at the Mision del Caribe congregation with Santiago.

Also some at the school finishing the paintings for the sponsors, and another small group doing their best to finish the ceiling, wiring and fans at the school.

Our last day will be filled to the brim!

After lunch we go out with other Christians to distribute the clothes to families that live on the mountain.

And then....a special treat for the ladies tonight.....

one of the teachers from the school is coming up to the hotel and giving pedicures, no doubt while the guys play in the pool!!

A fun ending to an amazing trip!!

We thank you again for sharing your loved ones with us. Without them so much work could never have been accomplished. So truly....THANK YOU!!!

Happy 4th!!

2010-07-05T08:47:00.002-05:00

The stars and stripes were flying in Trujillo today to honor the US.
Really!!
If you didn't know, Trujillo was the first capital of Honduras. So the US had an embassy here at that time. Of course, the capital is now in 'Teguc' and the embassy is not here, but on the old beautiful bldg that was once the embassy many years ago they flew an American flag today in honor of the 4th of July. So cool!!

And really...what's the 4th without ice cream? It wasn't homemade (boo-hoo) but we did enjoy it immensely! A few of us did get homemade liquados (like a milk shake or closer perhaps to an orange julius). Not sure, but I think mostly all who did got mango....YUMMO!! One of my favorites.

We had a super end to our campaign this morning!! Another HUGE crowd! Ricky did an amazing job (not a bit of surprise there) speaking about Our Christian family, the Church (Dago's last night was on raising a Christian family).

We also went to families houses for dinner. We mostly divided up into 2's or 3's. I haven't heard a single person who didn't have an amazing time and just love it!! It was fun listening to all the stories.

Candido and Wendy came to the hotel after dinner. Candido was dressed to swim, but Wendy looked gorgeous, as always, and was fully clothed.
Long story short, she and Jennifer Mills (GA) ended up jumping into the pool together both fully clothed and joining all those in the pool for races and a game of Pollo Frito (think Marco Polo). It was a super fun night!!

Hope you had a blessed 4th as well!!!

Saturday

2010-07-04T09:10:00.001-05:00

So another good day was had by all.

A group of us:

Sara, Jack G., Cole, Ricky, Raquel, Christian, Revonda, Beth V., Savanna, & Jessica P. Headed to the Museum in town....we warned them all it would be an interesting experience and it did not disappoint.
We played with the monkeys out back and waded in the river fed by a natural stream to cool off afterward. We also stopped by the grave of William Walker (look him up...interesting Trujillo history. Perhaps I should offer a prize to who finds out first who he was and why his death is significant to Trujillo and Honduras....hmmmmmm)
Anyway.....then we stopped by a local grocery store so I could get a few supplies for an afternoon activity.
Of course seeing things like that and just experiencing the culture here can be fun...the trip ended for some by a fully cultural experience....piling into a taxi. Jack, Cole, Sara, Savanna, Jessica and Revonda all piledi into a little bitty cab and headed back up the mountain.

Another group:
Tom, Jack V, Bruce, Julie, Walter, Leigh and Annina went back down to the school to work some more on the ceiling, lights and fans.

And the rest either went hiking in the rain forest with 'Pablo' or stayed to rest at the hotel.

After lunch, a few girls (Jessica P, Savanna, Jennifer, Beth V, Raquel B., Annina and myself) headed out here to Little Hands where we were met by 3 women from the local church. They taught the girls how to wash clothes by hand in a 'pila' Think washboard and huge concrete holding tank for water attached. I have a picture a few posts back I think of my kids from behind washing their hands in one). They got about halfway done before the rain picked up and it was just about time to go. To treat them for their efforts I made a mango cobbler (and since I'd promised Annina one!!). We were joined with our cobbler by Brenda Young and her crew from Washington who had just arrived and were getting settled in. They will be here a couple of weeks working with Little Hands Big Hearts.

We had a great campaign tonight!! I can't remember how many kids Aaron said they had in children's class tonight, I want to say 56, and that was with age limits so that it didn't include the youngest or the older kids. Dago did a great job delivering a message on being a Christian parent in this world!

Tomorrow we will have our final campaign meeting. 'Pablo' will be taking the rental van out to pick people up early! We will also be dividing up to eat dinner in church member's homes.

We thank you for your continued prayers and for your words of kindness!!

I pray you have a wonderful 4th of July!!!

And now what you all want.....I'm doing my best to get pictures uploaded and looking for different faces, but please please understand uploading pictures here is not at all like at home. It takes 5-10 min for each and every picture. Last night I would click upload and then doze.....until finally I just slept too soundly to wake and click again. I woke up this morning and that picture was still attempting to download several hours later. ha ha ha ha!!

Raquel (not me), Savanna, and Jessica P

working at the school.

Jeremy, Walter and Daddy (aka Jack) at the school

Laura, Kenzie, and Annina

(3 states represented in this picture!!!)

preparing the children's Bible lessons for the campaign

Left to Right

Barbara, a tiny bit of MaryKyle, Jennifer, Katee Jo, Sara, and Jessica G

doing some hard HOT work on "The Great Wall"

Bruce, Tom, Katee Jo, Jack, Cole, Jessica G, and Beth Ann enjoying some down time at the hotel

(again 3 states represented in this picture)

Katie C taking advantage of a little downtime and a cool breeze to update her journal

Tim cutting out an elephant trunk in preparation for children's Bible class.
Seen in the background: Leigh, Aaron and Roxanna (the teacher her at Little Hands)

pictureless update

2010-07-03T09:03:00.001-05:00

okay I need desperately to get ready to go...or we'll be late to pick everyone up to go for our field trips today. So when they get home and talk about how we were late in the mornings be sure to explain it was all for you...so you could see or hear about their work here!! :-)

Since I got some pictures to upload I wanted to just give an update of our efforts here since lack of time...and internet connectivity have kept me from posting the last few days.

We are all doing FANTASTIC!

Truly. So much so, that we had scheduled a team that had worked hard the day before to have some down time and rest time at the hotel yesterday morning, and first thing that morning our phone rang here at our house and it was someone saying “just a heads up no one that is schedule for rest time wants to, they want to work!!”

I mean really…wow!! What an amazing group of people we are blessed to be serving alongside!

So we reworked the schedule and happily factored those folks back into work projects!!

Several have VOLUNTEERED to get up with Walter and Daddy & be at the school this morning by 6am to work some more on the wiring and ceiling they are working hard to complete. Let me tell you, it was amazing with all the new fans Walter (AL) and Aaron (MS), Daddy (GA) and team have installed and the eave vent/fans that we brought and have been started....just how cool that building in the school is now. Wow!!!!! Last night sitting in there even with standing room only at our campaign it was getting a little cold for me amazingly!

Speaking of our campaign…..God is GREAT! As I said, it was packed.

We had taken our van out to an area called “Honduras Aguan” where the Mision del Caribe church is. The minister out there, Santiago, planned to bring his truck as well. It had looked like a storm was coming and rained just a little so they thought that would be PLENTY of car space to get everyone here as they thought some wouldn't because of the threat of rain. But the church members out there invited neighbors and relatives just as they had talked about the importance of…..and 23 people loaded into our 15 passenger van and more than that were packed like sardines standing in the back and crammed inside the cab of Santiago’s truck. 10 people or more were not able to get here….sigh….so tonight we are arranging for another vehicle to drive out there and perhaps more trips

We had a ladies class taught by Evelyn (The principal at the school) and translated by Maybelline (the director or Little Hands Big Hearts). Then, a Men’s class taught by Ricky (minister at the West Metro church in Georgia) and a children’s class planned and taught by our North American and Honduran young people that are college age…ish.. It all went wonderfully. The topic for last night was living as a Christian Woman/Man God’s expectations are the same for Christians in North America and in Honduras so it applied to ALL of our lives! It was a blessing to share in a class with my Christian sisters!!!

Tonight the men and women will be together and the lesson will be taught by Dago (one of the church leaders here), and then tomorrow for worship Ricky will be preaching.

Please, if you will, keep these efforts in your prayers.

This afternoon a group will join the Limonal congregation to do some evangelizing and also inviting to the meeting tonight. Another group will head out here to Little Hands where ladies from the Buenos Aires congregation will be teaching our ladies/girls to wash clothes in a pila (I'll take pictures don't worry) meaning by hand with a washboard. We will be washing all the clothes we plan to donate that we've been wearing so that Monday we can get those distributed! Then tonight after dinner it's night 2 of the campaign....another blessed day here in Honduras serving a loving Savior!!!

Your families are blessing me each day….I thank you for sharing them with us and with our Honduran brother and sisters!!!

2010-07-03T08:55:00.000-05:00

team building...merging from multiple teams from all over the US into ONE team working for the Lord!

Franklin (caretaker of the school) and Christian working hard

working hard to plan the Bible classes that take place during the campaign.

playing a fun/silly game at youth group Thurs night! Beth Ann being a GREAT sport....as always!!!

some girl chat time by the pool.....notice Savanna over to the left is braiding Revonda's hair. So Revonda has limited head movement in this picture (thus so little of her head is showing!)

Need some help!

2010-07-03T08:04:00.000-05:00

okay so it's come to my attention that the blog address was put in the Goodwood Church's bulletin incorrectly. The Goodwood folks would love to have messages from home as well.
I have no contact info for anyone at Goodwood here at my house and will not have the modem with me at the hotel with the group today.
Is there anyone out there that can help me out and get a message to some folks at Goodwood that can pass the blog address along.....

Laura or Phil perhaps?? or if you are reading this and know someone that worships with that congregation....please help!!

These team members love your messages of encouragement...whether they know you or not. They also love hearing messages from home (don't worry you can't leave too many and completely embarrass your kid or loved one...they are all appreciated).

Thank you so much!!!

a few pictures

2010-07-03T07:57:00.003-05:00

I'm attempting to load some pictures, but wow is it challenging!! I'll keep trying as I have time though so hopefully more of you can spot your loved ones!! By the way, if you don't know, you should be able to click on the pictures and make them larger. If you want to spot more gringos you'll especially have to in the first picture!!

This was before more came in tonight at our 'campaign'. It was a great crowd!!!

Can't wait to see tonight and tomorrow!!

Friends and brothers. These two hit if off 3 years ago....and nothing has changed!

It's great to see them together again!

At 'the wall' We've joked about having t-shirts made up or to signify

"I've been to the wall...and survived"

Notice the angle at which everyone working on 'the wall' must stand while working. Now imagine those stones wet with the soapy water you are using to scrub it with....this is the first crew that headed to the wall the first day. The wall is now clean and pink!!

My heart is filled with Joy from the Lord

2010-07-01T00:50:00.000-05:00

In addition to all the many directions on projects we went today, we also divided up and worshipped with 3 different congregations.

My family worshipped with the congregation at Limonal. We were, as always, was asked to lead some songs in English as well. 'Pablo' and I happened to have their youth group song sheets with us which includes a lot of songs in English and Spanish. So he and Kevin used that to lead songs so we could all sing in our own language, but together. It was beautiful. Just before the sermon 'Pablo' lead "I love you with the Love of the Lord" and switched to Spanish for the 3 time through and the praise lifted up in that building gave us all chills I think. It was amazing!!

We had some share some wonderful experiences tonight at our time together as a team after dinner and worship.

Barbara and Jennifer both talked and shared about their experiences out distributing food to the families served by Little Hands Big Hearts and how amazing of an experience that was for them.

Beth Ann spoke of how amazing it was to get to hold a precious little baby tonight at church and snuggle with her and just enjoy spending time with the people.

It was great to hear the experiences so many have had all over Trujillo!!

So far no one is sick just so you know. We are all trucking along and doing great!!

Well, all but our fearless amazing leader, Emilson....the Honduran administrator at the school. He's not feeling well at all. So please if you will be in prayer for him!!

We thank you for your prayers and love the comments. If anyone from Kansas, Louisiana, etc are reading....please please we (And your loved ones) welcome you comments!!

We all love reading them all so we thank you for them. It's a such fun to share with everyone the messages of encouragement. From those they know and those they don't....so Washington folks, etc....

You know how we love comments and getting messages. It's fun for all at night to listen to them!

we're famous

2010-06-30T16:25:00.000-05:00

So it's been an adventurous day for some. There is no gas in the gas station in town. Another gas station had gas, but they were closed til 2:00 for siesta. So heading up the mountain after a HARD day of work (they did a fabulous job!!) the van ran out of gas. So it had to be pulled to the side of the road, and that group had to walk the rest of the way up.

I was told by my good friend here, Eda, that her Mom and another lady from the congregation made donuts for the crew that was working on the wall efforts and children's classroom floor efforts at their congregation!! So kind. They wanted a way to thank the group. One lady who made the donuts, her grown daughters gathered last week to make and then sell on the streets 100 tamales. They were able to sell them all which raised enough money for their mother to have money to live on for a little over a week. She shared some of that with the group today by using her pantry supplies to make donuts!!
Of course, they don't realize that yet (I've not seen that crew yet this afternoon to tell them), but she returned their sacrifice with one of her own.

Then on our way to our home for lunch the radio was on and we heard something about "Escuela Cristiana" (The Christian School) so we turned up the radio. It was an interview with our friend Alfonso about his work and effort to get the beach cleaned up. The announcer was saying telling the citizens of Trujillo that foreigners came in and worked together with Hondurans to clean an area of the beach yesterday, that they should now do it for themselves. Then Alfonso answered questions about the work and what we all did yesterday and what it means going forward for the citizens of Trujillo. He did a super job!!

We're FAMOUS!!

I can tell you that the crew with me today working on the sponsor project were great. I had Jessica P, Jessica K., Leigh, and Beth Ann....and then my Mother and I.

I also know Yefrin and Maybelline said those with them visiting families and distributing food had a very good morning. They had with them Tim, Christian, Jennifer, Barbara, and Katee Jo. I've heard great things about their trip so I can't wait to hear from the group themselves.

Also at the school were Walter and his trusty assistant and translator Aaron!! Wow....they worked!! They were working on figuring out the electrical challenges at the school and also where to put new fans that we bought and if we'd need more and also what all would be required to wire new ones, etc etc....
trusty Walter, he even rewired his hotel room last night to get lights working and such!! Wow...what a skill to have!!

It's thus far been a great day! The group has enjoyed lunch and a bit of a siesta (hopefully) and now will divide up amongst projects yet again. They were able to get some gas from Yefrin to put in the van and will go fill up at the other gas station soon.

Thank you to those praying and thank you to those that shared their loved ones with us or made it possible for group members to be here!!

A quick overview of our Wed

2010-06-30T07:49:00.000-05:00

A busy day is ahead. Prayers are appreciate as we start into our busy busy part of the trip.
Just thought I'd let you know the things that will be happening today....quickly or I, myself, won't be ready and make it.

One group will be at the school helping with the Sponsor project..overseeing all the students painting pictures for their sponsors.

Another will be heading out with Yefrin here at Little Hands to visit the families they work with and help with their regular rice and beans delivery.

Another group will be heading to the school to look at the wiring and get started installing some new fans.

Another, is coming here to the Little Hands campus to start the clean up of the wall along the front road and prep it for painting.

Still another will be going to the church at Eduardo to start mixing concrete for the floor in their children's class area and also to start finishing the wall around the building for securities sake.

And the last group will head out to Honduras Aguan to the Mision del Caribe congregation to work on finishing their children's class area. Which will involve both carpentry and concrete mixing work.

As you can see we are going in many different directions. Our family along with our Honduran brothers and sisters have worked as best we can over the last week to prepare for this as much as possibly and do as much prep work as we knew to do. As always there are always things we think of RIGHT NOW going into it that we overlooked. So I ask that you pray for a smooth day with great attitudes, patience and love as we work together and maintain, as we always say, our "Rigid flexibility"
Because things will always come up and plans will always change. Here in Honduras we can plan and plan and plan, and things will always change or not be done beforehand or whatnot. So we always prepare everyone to be extremely flexible and expect the unexpected!
Our prayer is that today goes as smooth as possible and when we gather back together today at lunch and then tonight at dinner, everyone is bubbling about the new things they discovered about themselves and the experiences they had today and that in some way they find a way to touch a life or make a new friend!!

We thank you for all of your messages and the love you send our way!!

(please excuse the typos...I'm typing fast)

tired...in a good way

2010-06-30T00:08:00.001-05:00

Well....it's late. And we are ALL tired!
The team made it to Trujillo exactly on time with no problems at all!
They unloaded, got settled in and we all headed to the school where the teachers and one of the teacher's wives had prepared a fantastic lunch for us of some typical Honduran foods.

Then we headed down to the beach along with students and teachers from the school and cleaned and cleaned. We cleaned land owned by the municipality. they helped by hauling it all off. The private land all around us we left with trash...in front of restaurants and such.. The goal of this program is to push the businesses into keeping their own property picked up as well.
The school decided to adopt one piece of property and they worked HARD on it today getting it looking great. They will continue to go down and pick it up and work on it as time passes.
The push is to get the citizens to take ownership and take notice and care.
My family is now back to our house (on the opposite side of town) we left the group sorting through supplies and such before they headed to bed and after a wonderful devotional time together. Off to bed now, work will start early in the morning. We will be dividing in 6 different directions, I think it is, tomorrow. Lots of good works going on. Everyone is doing great!!! We all appreciate your prayers and words of encouragement!! More to come later.

They are here

2010-06-28T13:37:00.001-05:00

UPDATE:

EVERYONE is here with no problems...if you read the other post the bridge is now reopened (talk about an instant answered prayer!!). The van will meet up with them along the way somewhere I think.

Everyone is safe & starting the next leg of the journey!! My only concern with the bridge being closed was lack of bathrooms on the longer route with this size of a group. So no worries there :-) HOORAY!!!!

Answered prayers aplenty!! It's a beautiful day in Honduras!!!

Oh and super cool....Irma (the maker of the crafts/baskets in previous post) showed up a while ago. I had given her a part of a book of mine on crafts to make with palm leaves. Sure enough she figured one out and came to show me.
She took a knife from my kitchen and chopped down a palm frond and started weaving and teaching me.
'Pablo' has the camera with him or I would have taken lots of pictures. But it's a graduated set of 3 baskets hanging on the heart of the frond. SOOO cool!! (Sara if you are by chance reading this it's the one on the cover of our books!)
I MIGHT could make one by myself now...well with a lot more practice. Pretty cool though for sure to see it happen so quickly from the tree to hanging on my door!! AWESOME!!

Family members, friends, church family etc of Team Members

2010-06-28T10:00:00.000-05:00

I'm sure your loved one has told most of you, but if not, they won't have internet access while they are here in Trujillo.
We will do our very best on this blog updating (just FYI our internet access isn't a constant either....so again...we'll do our best) and posting pictures.

We welcome you to leave comments for them and encouragement here and we'll read them to the team each night at our devotional time together!

This time tomorrow

2010-06-28T08:49:00.000-05:00

I'll be scurrying about getting room assignments completed, etc.....

All Team Members are currently enroute from all their various locations; Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and Kansas.

I've checked and all flights are on time which puts them arriving in Honduras within just a few minutes of each other.
Bruce, Julie and gang from Kansas have had a long night already. Their flight into Atlanta was delayed and they only got 2 hours sleep before getting up and meeting up with the rest of the team departing from Atlanta to board the flight for Honduras.
Hopefully they will get some good rest this evening where they are staying! Hammocks are a plenty there along with the relaxing sound of ocean waves so hopefully it will help them recover before completing their journey to Trujillo in the morning!

I'll be surprised if any team members got a great night sleep last night. At least for me, I've just come to terms with the fact that I will not sleep the night before I head to Honduras. Excitement and last minute things to do always prevent sleep.

The 6-7 hour drive from the airport here is somewhat helpful, but not completely as you don't want to sleep and miss something and....well driving on Honduras highways is just a different experience altogether and doesn't really lend itself to lots of resting....at least for me.

All team members should arrive within about 20 min of each other to the airport here. There they will be greeted my 'Pablo' and Emilson who are using the morning to tie up loose ends running errands before they (and the bus drivers) meet the team at the airport and begin another part of their journey.

They will travel halfway tonight so as not to be on the highways past dusk for safeties sake and make the rest of the journey tomorrow morning where will be waiting to greet them!

It's going to be a great trip!!

The sun is shining

2010-06-27T16:55:00.002-05:00

('Pablo' and Jose working on getting Pablos trick kite in the air a few evenings ago)

Well the tropical storm has moved on and we are back to sunny and hot.

Today the city is recovering from the Carnival festivities yesterday. There are people out with rakes (yes really) raking the trash in the streets and everywhere! It will be a long hard job for them, it's amazing the amount of trash everywhere!

The restaurants must have done very good business last night because they were all closed today. Which means they were either out of food to serve or they were sleeping off the nights activities.

We went from one place to another after worship only to find them all closed!

We finally found one place with the owner and some family members there. They didn't have any food on their menu available but said they'd be willing to prepare us a typical b'fast plate and promised it would be delicious. Then she came out to take our drink orders

"Juices or Cafe con leche" she offered. "What type of Juice?" we asked

She had to go check what might be left.

Then came back and said "sorry we are actually all out of juice...only coffee and sodas"

No problem...."what type of sodas? Do you have banana?" the kids wanted to know.

"sorry I don't actually know what we have left, let me go see...."

"sorry. We only have Coca Cola left...no other types"

We just laughed with her and ordered 4 Cokes ('Fonso was with us) and 1 Coffee.

But they were right....the food was DELICIOUS.

First they brought us some little 'pan de coco' rolls (coconut bread....really it's just like a dinner roll, but made with coconut milk so there is a hint of sweetness to it) with some peanut butter and some jelly in little bowls along with some pats of butter. Even peanut butter and jelly can be made attractive on a plate with pretty little bowls!

On the menu for our thrown together meal:

grilled beef kabobs

guacamole (no doubt freshly made right then and OH so yummy!)

cheese slices (the cheese hmmm hard to explain,but often a side on a typical platter)

scrambled eggs

mantequilla (again sorry can't explain...but sooo good to dip your beef and tortillas in!)

freshly made tortillas

tomatoes

It was PERFECT!!

Delicious and I didn't have to cook!!

We sat up high overlooking the bay and felt the breeze blowing off the ocean and enjoyed seeing the sun glistening on the water!! It was a great way to spend some time together after worship. Just relaxing and overlooking the wonder of God's creations!!

(my wonderful husband doing one of his favorite things.....

he LOVES the beach and kites and the combination of the two especially!)

Prayer request

2010-06-27T01:00:00.001-05:00

UPDATE: Thank you to any of you who might have read this message and said a prayer. He did a SUPER job. God was with him!! So so proud of my amazing husband and thankful for a God who listens and answers!

It's late Saturday night. Tomorrow 'Pablo' is preaching......

Tomorrow 'Pablo' is preaching in SPANISH!!

So please if you will pray for him. Pray for those listening to understand him and take something away from his message that they can use to grow as a Christian (or become one). Please stop and just say a prayer if you will for him and for the congregation who will be hearing him!!! I'm so proud of him and I know he'll do a great job. he's sure put a lot of effort and heart into it!!

PS if you are reading this blog and wonder why on earth I call my husband 'Pablo' and then you wonder if you are reading about the right person because well his name is nothing like that in our North American life. Well true. It's not. But his first year coming here he didn't think on his feet quickly enough when asked his name to give the Spanish translation of his name. All he was thinking is that there are parts of his name North American name that's not easily pronounced in the Spanish language because the sounds don't exist.
So instead he went with the translation of his middle name which he knew easily....'Pablo' and it stuck. He soon realized the Spanish translation for his first name, but by then he was already 'Pablo' to friends, taxi drivers, etc Then for the blog we like to not plaster our given names all over, just seems wiser. So it works for that too.

Mangoes keep falling on my head

2010-06-26T18:12:00.000-05:00

Okay perhaps really not on our heads (although it COULD happen), but all day long you hear loud BOOMs and BANGS where they are falling on the rooftops of the buildings here. We have had fresh mangoes just about every day. Several people have come and gotten bucketfuls. The best ones are up in the tree though. The ones that aren't over ripened and ready to fall. So how do you get them down?

Well one option that 'Pablo' thoroughly enjoys is

you throw your machete up at them to knock them down. Alfonso and 'Pablo' had a great time the other night doing this. 'Fonso' was able to take a bag full home with him and we have a bag full here.

Another option is climb....high...like Julio is doing (in flip flops no less)!

But no matter, there is always a tasty reward at the end of your efforts!

That didn't cost $1.79 like mangoes did at Kroger just before we left.

YUMMY!!

(if only I had some jelly canning jars to make some mango jelly that I could carry home....sigh)

oh and not to rub it in any more or anything, but yesterday for lunch we had bananas grown right here on the the property, there are also papayas, icacos, and every day the first week we were here someone was kind enough to chop down a fresh coconut for John Mark to drink the milk from.

He loves fresh coconut milk!

Tropical Storm Alex

2010-06-26T12:40:00.000-05:00

Tropical Storm Alex seems to have moved on past Trujillo and is moving more Westward. We have had a lot of rain here. It rained most of yesterday and poured all night last night and has done that several nights this past week.
Yesterday the plan in the city had been to postpone Carnival until next weekend because of it. But today it's moved on west and the rain has stopped and the sun is pushing through the clouds slowly and thankfully Carnival is back on. I say thankfully, because it would have been a pain with our plans with the group to have Carnival here next weekend....meaning all of downtown is shutdown and extremely difficult to navigate through and such.

We appreciate the notes of concern we were sent, and just wanted everyone to know that we are fine here!

Comments on the Blog

2010-06-25T22:25:00.000-05:00

In today's blog, I will be soliciting our visitors to start commenting on our blog.

So here it is... Please start commenting on our blog posts. We love to hear from you.

Thanks, Pablo

Fiesta time!

2010-06-25T18:01:00.003-05:00

As I said in an earlier post it's been a super busy week here at Little Hands. If you don't know, our family is blessed to be staying on the property of the Little Hands Big Hearts Ministry. Little Hands works with the families of special needs children from all over Trujillo. They see the children receive medical care (most when they come here have never seen a Dr of any kind), have classes for the children, help with beans and rice, etc etc (you can learn more on their website, maybe you will even be moved to help!). This week they invited all their families to come. All day each day they have worked with the families. Some teaching them physical therapies they can do from home, some overseeing dispensing medications and ensuring parents have a full understanding of what is needed, also classes and therapy were done here on site. The families would arrive around 8-9am and stay til around 4pm each day. Today however, was a fiesta day.

They did some work this morning and then we had a big lunch.

Bean soup, plaintains, yuca, chicharrones (pork skins), watermelon, rice, etc

It was delicious!! That's Myra the cook in the orange and yellow dress....and Maybelline in the foreground (she and her husband, Yefrin are the directors of this work that is overseen by the Summit View church in Washington State)

After lunch the kids were SOOO surprised and overall (minus one) delighted when 4 clowns came out and sang songs with them and played games. And then the clowns led them up the path past our house to the entrance gate. Where each child put their handprint and name on the big black entrance gate.

I love it!! It makes it look like such a happy place to enter now!! I just love it!

(I didn't get to watch too much. I took one little boy, Elton, who was quite fearful of the clowns to our house to help to try to distract him while the fun was going on. because the clowns moved the kids back down to the main building as soon as their handprint was done for more activities. He did go later when all the clowns were not at the gate and do his handprint though!!)

and what's a fiesta without a pinata??

here at Little Hands it doesn't matter if you can't see (like Isabel above who sees very little) or walk (like the boys in the background of this picture). It was fun seeing all the families interact with one another this week and help each other. Each child, no matter their challenges, got a swing at the pinata and had a great time and were made to feel very special today thanks to all the hard work of the Little Hands staff!!

The day ended with my tiny contribution to the celebration.
Maybelline had asked me if I could make a cake.

A great big cake that thankfully stretched and everyone was served!!

our overnight visitor

2010-06-25T00:40:00.000-05:00

I've got better pictures of her (yes it's a female so they thought....they could feel eggs in her and they think this was the reason she was being so calm and letting us touch and carry her, etc) but they are still on the camera and it takes forever for me to upload onto here. So for now I'll just stick with this one.

Orlin found this iguana the other day and brought it home with him. He said it made up for Honduras losing to Spain. ha ha!! Yefrin chained it up and took John Mark and MaryKyle to have a look.

He had to be put it up in the tree so that Max (Yefrin's dog) wouldn't eat her during the night. Since Max has devoured my flip flops, John Mark's favorite oragami book (there were tears over that one), an entire pot of oil off my stove, & tonight a pot of spaghetti off my stove and a few other things here and there....well I had my doubts that the tree would deter him from eating the iguana. But thankfully it worked.

This is Max sleeping...yes he's soooounnnd asleep. This is one of his favorite positions on our porch. It's after 11pm right now and I can bet you that Max is out there looking just about like this right now!! I wish I had time to count in a day how many times I hear someone yell "MAAAXXX!!!!" or "Max NO!" or "noooooo MAaaaaxxx" (imagine this one more sweet sounding) it's pretty much a constant! But as crazy a dog as Max is, you can't help but love him. he's just completely loveable....even when he's knocking a pot of spaghetti off your stove and into the floor for which you do not own a mop. But no worries, Max was kind enough to handle the clean up!

(Today all the materials and supplies were purchased and ordered for the many projects the team will be working on. We are ready for the their arrival on Monday!!)

"Canastas" (aka Baskets)

2010-06-23T09:22:00.001-05:00

sorry for the closed eyes. Just couldn't get one with her eyes open.

For those of you at West Metro church in Hiram, you will recognize the baskets above as our contribution/offering baskets. Irma, the basket maker dropped by the other night with her kids bringing the 4 more contribution baskets that we'd asked her to make and one more one of our elders requested when he was here back in March and also to show me some of her newest creations. Just thought I'd introduce you to sweet Irma and some of the lovely crafts she makes.

She is married to Adelaid and they have 3 sweet children. Adelaid is the brother of my friend Eda.

The jewelry she's holding up is made from seeds from a tree that is found along the river here.

Don't mess with that Gringo!

2010-06-22T22:35:00.000-05:00

Carnival will be this Saturday in Trujillo....a time to avoid downtown, as the city will filled with people and music and bands and such will go on all night. But it also brings along with it game booths, vendors, etc that always set up a little early. We met Emilson and his family downtown the other night and ate baleadas (handmade flour tortillas with beans, cheese, etc) and watched fireworks, ate ice cream and wondered around some of the booths. One of the games was a target shooting. They had BB guns and on shelves were all sorts of little army men figures. Lots of men and boys were lined up to play this game and were working hard to shoot down the little figures. We passed it once and watched a bit. As we walked by again later Alfonso, very kindly, asked John Mark if he wanted to try. John Mark was pretty excited when Alfonso (my other son as Eda says) paid the guy so he could have a chance. I think everyone was watching the gringo kid laughing. 10 limps gets you 4 shots. And John Mark made every shot, knocking 3 men over and the other he hit, but it wobbled! It was hysterical watching the people around. Everyone was cheering by the 3rd shot! Alfonso and Emilson heard one kid that was standing near them say "wow, if you see that gringo on the street with a gun** you better run the other way" hee hee!! So now all of Trujillo knows that John Mark is not to be messed with! Our friends reactions were great. They were all pretty impressed and surprised!! John Mark was thrilled and my favorite of all was MaryKyle who went RUNNING over to her brother and wrapped her arms around him with an "AWESOME!!"

**insert name of some automatic weapon here. I just am totally female and if I attempted to write what I think I remember the kid said I'd make a fool of myself!!

The Big Day

2010-06-21T11:01:00.000-05:00

Honduras VS Spain today at 12:30!!!
We ate on a street corner downtown last night to enjoy some fireworks. There just isn't anything like a baleada cooked on a grill on a street corner!! The best!!
The restaurants and stores were hanging blue and white balloons. Everyone seems to have a TV up. When eating our lunch yesterday the restaurant where we ate always has a small TV on usually with kids shows on for their children. But while we were eating he opened a huge case to reveal a GIANT screen TV. I told Thad "A futboal game must be about to start" sure enough....

Can't imagine what it will be like downtown today. Decorated, yet also no one shopping....only watching!

I am about to go help Yefrin, Maybelline and Roxana for the morning. they have some huge plans this week with the families they minister to here at Little Hands Big Hearts (aka Manos Chicas). MaryKyle is already with Myra in the kitchen helping and working to prepare lunch for a lot of people. Roxana just returned from taking one of the children to Tegucigalpa to meet with Operation Smile people about getting his cleft palette repaired. While there she was also able to learn some helpful physical therapies to use on the children they work with. So this week one thing will be to teach the parents what she learned so they can be doing it with their children.
Today Pablo is working on the sermon he will be giving soon.
After lunch, we will head to Emilson's house to watch the game!!!
And just after the game.....Pablo has another meeting about the work for the groups!

a busy yet blessed day for all of us. Even John Mark has a friend over playing futbol and such!! Yes we are blessed immensely. thank you for your continued prayers!

Fish fun!!

2010-06-20T16:20:00.003-05:00

'Pablo' has always wanted to take the time to get out on the bay to fish. So in March a friend invited him to come with him as soon as 'Pablo' came back this summer. So yesterday, they made it happen. They left at 5am and came back after lunch time.

'Fonso' was here when 'Pablo' returned so they immediately sat down and got to work

cleaning the catch.

The sack of 'gringo' fish Thad brought home after his day on the bay in a little dug out canoe with Santiago (one of the ministers) and Franklin (caretaker at the school)

We laughed that in the states we might be arrested for keeping these little fish...some were just tiny. I thought they looked like good bait. But they were really tasty. They also caught a sting ray, but seeing as how I have NO clue how to cook that, Franklin took it home!!!

(there was one bigger one)

Maybelline and I decided to wait til after Ladies Bible class last night to cook them for a late dinner! I went on and put some sides and a dessert together yesterday afternoon and after Bible study we got to work frying the fish (we'd marinated it all day) while the guys worked on creating the schedule for the 'campaign' that will be taking place when the group is here. Here fish often is fried whole. Can I just say fish eyes frying...well they just freak me out a bit! But didn't stop me from enjoying the yumminess (minus the eyes...I have limits)!!

Our dinner was so late that John Mark put himself to bed and never ate. Jack (2 yrs) slept on our bed for a while, but woke in time to eat and be the life of the party.

We said goodnight to everyone around 11:15pm and we all have leftovers from the day for tonight between the fish leftovers we shared with them and Maybelline's delicious Chop Suey she made for lunch yesterday and shared with us. It sure is nice living right here with so many people we love. Right on the same property we have Yefrin, Maybelline and Orlin. Just down the road we have Marleni and Hector and just over the hill (I can yell and they can hear me) we have Emilson and Eda. One of the closest pulperias (little convenience store) is owned by our friends Roxana and Marel's Mother a sweet Christian lady who just recently opened this new pulperia!

Although it has it's challenges being outside of town, it's nice too to be surround by such

wonderful people!! We are blessed!!

Quick Update

2010-06-20T14:38:00.017-05:00

Sorry for the lack of posting or returned emails, we've not had access to the internet and it's being very slow right now so I can't seem to get any pictures uploaded. So I apologize for the extremely wordy update!

Yefrin has been kind enough to allow us use of his vehicle. So today we were able to do something while here without a group that we've not been able to do before. We drove out to Mission Del Caribe and worshipped with some of the Christians there. They've had quite the struggle out there. There was a nasty rumor someone had poisoned the water source out there. So, the water supply was shut down and cleaned out and some pipes dug up...only to discover it was just that....a nasty rumor. But now this small community has gone 11 days with no water and it might be next month before it's all fixed and they have water coming from faucets again.
Yesterday Santiago and his family (the minister at the church out there) came here to Little Hands to fill some large containers with water so that they could take some back out there for bathing, washing clothes and dishes and such.

After worship, we headed into town for lunch. We ran into our friend, Angelina, on the way walking in the heat with her sweet baby, Noe (who she had just after we left last year...if you read last year we went to her baby shower and I made the cake for it). So I was excited to finally get to meet him. So she hopped in and we gave her a ride back up the mountain to her home where we passed friends all along the way returning from worship this morning. Reminds me of our days living in the small town of Dayton, TN where just about everywhere we went we would see someone we knew!! I LOVE IT!!!

After dropping off Angelina we headed back down the mountain to our traditional Sunday afternoon place (Chicken Express), where we were greeted with "WELCOME BACK!" as soon as we walked up. Yes, I just love it!! I wonder if they will say that to us at Moe's when we return to Georgia? Perhaps I'll imagine when they say "Welcome to Moe's" that they really noticed that we've returned!

Since it's been a few days since we've had the ability to get online and post.....for those interested, here's a just a bullet list of what we've been up to.

'Pablo' has had meetings to plan out the work for the groups. We are really excited about what is being planned to work alongside our Honduran brothers and sisters and the variety of activities that will be going on. Everyone here is working hard to prepare and get ready for the team's arrival!

MaryKyle and John Mark went with friends to the weekly Youth activity and can not wait til Thursday to be able to go again! MK especially loved working on learning the song "Here I am to Worship" in Spanish.

We worshipped Thursday with the congregation in Eduardo.

We worshipped Friday with the congregation in Limonal

I went to Ladies Bible class last night. We worshipped in the rain and dark as the electricity was out in the city. So we all gathered around one candle we found in the bldg. to praise God (until someone came prepared with a few more candles), laugh and enjoy time together......AANNNNDDDD I am now the designated speaker for the class next week. If you know me well, you know my heart about stopped when I was asked (pretty sure it dropped to my toes before it stopped completely)! Say a prayer for that PLEASE!!!

'Pablo' FINALLY went fishing. Santiago and Franklin invited him to join them and they headed out on the bay in a small canoe. They divided up the catch and we had enough for our family plus more!

Tonight brings some more fun time with friends, HOORAY!!! We are looking forward to, in just barely over a week's time, the group joining us and the preparations being put into action!!

Every short person needs a tall friend!

2010-06-17T13:08:00.004-05:00

It's always nice to have a friend who is taller when you (me) happen to be shorter! My friend Sara is taller than me. She can reach things that I can't.
We are staying in what was Brian and Sara's 'house' while they were in Trujillo....they lived here and worked with the Little Hands Big Hearts Ministry for 2 years, but are now living back in New Hampshire (and due with their 5th little one!! HOORAY!!). But my friend Sara's presence is still around me. A few of her beads from her lovely jewelry making are in a drawer, her hat is preserved in a bag, some of her dishes are mixed with mine for now, the lovely quilt she made for the bed on cool nights is here, her handwriting is still on the whiteboard in the kitchen and thankfully she left a hand juicer since I accidentally forgot mine that we purchased here previously in my kitchen drawer at home (so now I don't have to buy another)!!! Last night.....her height once again came in super handy!! You see I'm using her clothesline. And seeing as how she's taller than me, I can't reach it very well at all.....so 'Pablo' has to hang the clothes if we want them hung neatly!!

THANKS Sara!!!

Yes every shorter person needs a taller friend to help them out now and then!!

PS Readers please be in prayer for Rebin (seen HERE in a previous year) we don't know any details except that he is at the hospital and 'very sick'. His father, Antonio works here, and he left at lunch with food for them and to check on things. We will let you know, but in the meantime please pray a special prayer for Rebin's health!

In conclusion, an admission.....

2010-06-15T17:47:00.000-05:00

okay an admission. I ended the previous post with no conclusion because 'Pablo' walked in and said that my friend Angelina had a few pastelitos left from where she sells them at recess at the school, if I wanted to go get one. And whereas I love knowing that you all care and read the updates and be ensured that all our loved ones are informed.....well truth be told....I LOVE a pastelito!! And seeing as how it's been a year since I've consumed one, (my version just doesn't cut it). Well, that took precedence so I clicked post with no editing and no conclusion and rushed off to devour a bit of deliciousness!! And it was worth it!

But know we are safe, doing well and getting settled in. The entire country of Honduras is gearing up for their first game in the World Cup in many years tomorrow. It will be on at 5:30am - that's right AM...because the World Cup is being played in South Africa. Most schools are cancelled by gov't order, they are bringing in TV's to businesses. A friend who works at a dock is excited because they are bringing in High Def. TV's for the employees to all stop work and watch together. It is an exciting time for Honduras! I have streamers I'm about to hang up on our porch and our jerseys are ready! 'Pablo' is going over to Yefrin and Maybelline's I think to watch the game.

Emilson joked yesterday that they need to ask all the North Americans to pray for the Honduras soccer team tomorrow. This is a BIG deal to this little country....a BIG deal! Tomorrow 'we' play Chile!!!
Vamos.....HONDURAS!!!! So as you head off to work in the morning know that we will are up and crowded around a TV somewhere cheering on Honduras to victory!! Hey I might even break out some cheers from the good ol days......

naaaahhhhh....

Home again home again....

2010-06-15T10:54:00.001-05:00

We arrived last night just at dusk. PERFECT timing since we have a personal policy to stay off the highway after dark.

After a sleepless night filled with preparations and excitment, Daddy picked us up at 6 am and our journey began. We arrived in Trujillo around 6pm.....and exhausted would be an understatment. We had planned to just grab some bananas at a roadside stand and some corn tortillas and eggs and make a dinner of it, but instead some precious friends made some flour tortillas, refried beans, eggs and cheese and had it waiting on us as soon as we arrived!! WHAT A BLESSING!! They said they knew we´d be exhausted. MaryKyle insisted on washing dishes in return so they then got to rest and we got to visit a bit before heading over to where we are staying and crashing.

We are at the school now just saying hello to everyone and touching base. Then it will be home for lunch and unpacking!! The kids say this house is the ¨best ever!!¨ which Sara will appreciate reading since it´s their house we are staying in. So a big BIG "thank you" to Brian and Sara, Mark and Brenda and all the staff at Little Hands Big Hearts for putting a roof over our heads!!
Truly it´s already been a blessing. they had a hammock up and waiting for us, a jug of clean water, and brand new dish soap. 4 people had worked HARD to have the house spotless (Yefrin, Maybelline, Orlin and M's brother) for us and even sprayed for bugs for us. Sheets, towels and blankets were all washed & ready. So instead of walking in with nothing and having to set up a house completely we came home exhausted and were able to put our feet up!! What a true blessing!!!

"Tomorrow Tomorrow.....

2010-06-13T16:33:00.001-05:00

.......I love you tomorrow!!"

If all goes according to plan, Tomorrow night (June 14) we (our little family of 4) will be laying down our heads in Trujillo!!
We will be going down to make preparations for the Christians joining us later in June. Once again we'll do our best to keep everyone informed of what's going on in our lives from this little space on the web!!
We appreciate your prayers for safe journeys and changed lives!

Preparations underway

2010-05-24T14:32:00.002-05:00

Team members in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Kansas and Mississippi are preparing and getting excited about their upcoming trip to Trujillo.

The first members head down to Trujillo on June 14th to do the prep work so things are in place and ready for the team.

The teams arrive in Honduras on June 28th to work alongside their Honduran Brothers and Sisters!! It's going to be a great summer!! Please be in prayer as the teams prepare, raise money for their trips and also for their safe travels in June!! We will once again be using this blog as a way to inform our friends and family of our adventures while in Honduras!

No Luz

2009-08-06T00:00:00.002-05:00

(okay so this isn't Roatan, but La Ceiba but it still amazes me and power poles all over Honduras look like this

or worse)

So we've been on Roatan since Monday around lunch time and every day the power has been out. Monday and Tuesday it was all day. It went off in the middle of the night Monday night and was out til after dinner time. Today the cruise ships were in port so we hoped it might have it today and sure enough we did...til late afternoon and it's still out. Already the beaches are desolate compared to last year. the resorts and hotels are offering amazing deals to try to get people here and try to just keep their doors open. So why why WHY would they decide that this is the time to do "maintenance" on the power system???? Having come from the mainland honestly it doesn't bother us too much. Of course it's inconvenient and a little hotter. But what I say is it's still SOOOOO worth it!! Roatan is amazing....just amazing. And I've done none of the paid tour type things yet (maybe later in the week...we can't decide) just snorkeled and enjoyed the beauty of God's creation!! And let me tell you....the lack of power does not matter!! If you are looking for an amazing vacation and aren't looking to spend a fortune...I encourage you to check out coming to the bay islands! You can fly directly here from the states...generally on Saturdays and truly there are some amazing deals on all inclusive lodging and such to be had right now!! And at least for us, we don't care about the lack of power so much at all (plus it's only supposed to last a few days) we have hammocks and endless fruit and a nice breeze coming off the water. We have enjoyed every single second. Plus, our host at Keifitos has a generator.....and that's what I am using to type this right now.

2009-08-05T12:24:00.003-05:00

MaryKyle and John Mark hanging out just after coming in from a day of snorkeling on the reef!! A GREAT day yesterday (even though all of us but John Mark...of course... got a bit toasted)

We are enjoying a lazy day on Roatan Island (The cruise ships are in port. So might as well enjoy a lazy day and not get into that madness) So I took just a min and went back and added a very few pictures. Others are waiting to use the modem so I will try to add some more later. but wanted to let you all know that I will be trying to work on it over the next day or so!

Adios to Trujillo

2009-08-03T17:43:00.006-05:00

(evening from our balcony looking out over Trujillo)

Last night we said all of our final good-byes to our friends in Trujillo. Emilson came with his wife, children, and two of Eda's sisters and their children. They prepared baleadas (tortillas with beans and cheese folded inside), chimol (a type of chunky salsa), and some sort of fried tortilla that was filled with cheese. It was really nice to have someone cook for us, as we were busy washing clothes, packing, and taking care of other last-minute items on the to-do list.

We also had Angelina and four of her children in the house with us. It was really great to have so many people there to say farewell. And to top it all off, they washed all of the dishes after dinner, cleaned out the fridge, and completely packed up all of our kitchen supplies for us. We plan to store all of those things in Trujillo, so we won't have to set up house every time we go for an extended stay.

After everyone left, we were up late into the night finishing laundry and packing. We had heard that the campesinos would be blocking the road in Guadalupe Carney this morning, so we decided to get up really early to leave, in hopes of beating the protesters. We rolled out of Trujillo at about 4:30 am and were blesssed to have smooth sailing all the way to La Ceiba. We even arrived early enough to eat at Emilson's favorite pastalito restaurant before heading to the ferry.

Again, we were blessed with a good trip on the ferry. Nobody got seasick and the weather was great. We arrived in Roatan at about 11:30, went to the grocery store, and came to the place where we are staying. The place is called Keifito's Plantation and it's a fabulous place. We are staying in little cabins up on a cliff overlooking the ocean. There is some really good snorkeling just at the bottom of the cliff. We enjoyed that for a couple of hours this afternoon. Tonight, we are going to walk to West End to eat out. I think I'll have a hamburger. Trujillo has great seafood, but Honduras in general isn't known for it's beef, and definitely not for hamburgers. Even though Roatan is Honduras, it's very different here. The islanders speak English (it's a former British territory) and there is much more money here due to the tourism.

We are looking forward to a few days here before heading back to the states on Saturday. As always, it was difficult to say good-bye to Trujillo. We miss our friends there so much when we are away. Of course, we are anxious to get home and see all of our loved ones there as well. Please pray for our continued safety and especially for the school and church in Trujillo that we serve.

So long farewell....

2009-08-02T16:09:00.003-05:00

MK couldn't keep her hands off of their baby puppy. She named it for them "Run to" (it's from some book she read....of course...and was an Indian name meaning "fox eyes")

it's our last day in Trujillo.....

We aren't ready for it.

We need to be packing but who has time for that?

We worshipped with the Eduardo Castillo congregation this morning. John Mark invited 3 friends that came along too. Then we headed to Dago's house to eat lunch. It was great (of course!) and amazingly not fried. Dago's blood pressure is high so they have changed their eating habits and such which was neat to see!

now some friends of the kids are over to finish a sewing project and play (and eat popcorn)!

Thad and Chad are about to run some errands including taking some pictures of the school's other property in another part of town.

Then some of my friends are insisting on coming by to say goodbye and paint my nails ....they said they wanted them to look good for Roatan and for the states :-) Honduras does a number on your toes for sure...walking on dirt roads in flip flops....and they want to make sure I'm 'presentable' What wonderful friends I have...

then after that even more friends are coming with a cake...and the recipe for it so I can make it for my Daddy as he loves it (the pineapple upside down one Juanita made for the group a couple of years ago). So Daddy....get ready hopefully I'll be able to recreate it for you :-)

That's just the friends who have mentioned they are coming by....so it looks like we will be up most of the night packing.

We just rec'd a call that the plan is that the roads might be blocked starting at 4am. We'll see what happens. If that is the campesinos plan we will have to leave earlier than that to beat the roadblock. Our plan was already to leave at 5am....so we'll just see what comes. Perhaps if we leave super early we'll be so sleepy on the ferry we won't get sick like last year....that would be nice!!!

UPDATE on baby Rosa can be seen at Brian and Sara's blog:

www.bilodeaufamily.blogspot.com

URGENT PRAYER REQUEST

2009-07-31T14:50:00.006-05:00

Please look at Brian and Sara's blog for more details, but we ask that you please pray for little Rosa. I snuggled with her Wednesday. She is a beautiful precious little one.

Please pray for baby Rosa & her Mommy Vanessa. But also for Brian and Jeffrey (directors of Little Hands Big Hearts) as they try to communicate with the Drs and see how they can care for little Rosa. They just got home from the hospital a few minutes ago and someone will be heading back soon to take food to Vanessa. The Doctors are limiting who is with her, but it seems to be serious and lots of medical attention is being given to her.

THANK YOU For your prayers

2009-07-31T08:47:00.003-05:00

The other day we were invited to be guests at a party that was to be Saturday night. They weren't sure where yet, but would let us know. The party was to be a combined baby shower/retirement party for 2 of the school's staff members.

The Honduran gov't will no longer allow teachers to have contracts with a private school if they have already retired from the public school system. So Maria Teresa is retiring.

Angelina is expecting a baby in Sept. So it was to be a celebration honoring both. Apparently they liked my cupcakes and mini-cakes I made for the food sale and I was asked to make the cakes. No problem I'd have plenty of time to scour the city for the right ingredients.

Yesterday I worked in the school all morning. We were working to finish the art projects and then I helped haul the lumber from the ceiling project back inside after being sprayed with diesel and bleach to ward off pests. So I was getting pretty icky.

One of the girls from the school came up to me and asked me if I was going to the dinner at Maria Teresa's house later and I told her I didn't know what she was talking about....we had been told one of 2 other teacher's homes...I figured this was a private gathering not the same so I kept working.

then a teacher came up and said 'do you know that the celebration is tonight?' WHAT??? NO!!! aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!

And I realized how insanely thankful I am for my 'things' in the states I take for granted....

* mixers

* sifters

* grocery stores less than 5 min away

* when I go to a grocery store I know that I will find what I need and it will be well organized

* cake pans

* BOWLS!! (I only have 1 here)

* my oven (my oven here is small, doesn't have a center rack and during baking the rack must be shifted and the bake good shifted so that it cooks evenly and you have no way of knowing

the temperature)

* drawers filled with kitchen utensils

* food coloring, cake decorating tips

* water....when you don't have any it means you can't wash the dishes and that means......FRUIT FLIES

* and more....you just don't realize when you're dreaming of that double oven or you are wishing for the nicest kitchen aide....that you have it SOOOO good already. Well I don't always anyway!

But you know what, even without all the conveniences I have in the states, the cakes turned out fine. I put a ducky with bubbles on one and an apple on the other. The party was fantastic...food amazing (grilled chicken, sausage, chimole, refried beans, enchiladas, tortillas). So as much as I wish I had some things like a mixer, I don't really HAVE to have one. Life is simpler and I learn to appreciate so much more the many LUXURIES I have in the states!!

2009-07-29T22:49:00.005-05:00

I'm waiting up for Nadine to let her know there is another person sharing her room tonight.

A mother of Alfonso's friend is here. She came into Trujillo for some tests tomorrow at the hospital but wasn't able to get the early morning bus (I think because of the roadblocks) so she was on the bench of the hospital prepared to spend the night there. I've sat on those benches and that was uncomfortable enough...can't imagine sleeping there. So she is tucked in fast asleep upstairs. We had an extra bed afterall. MaryKyle whose Honduran name is "Maria" is thrilled that her name is Maria also!!

When I went to take her a towel and washcloth, she was on her knees by the bed praying. It was a humbling sight!!

Back to school again

2009-07-29T22:24:00.003-05:00

Erick came back to school today for the first time. Candido (his Daddy) showed me his ankle. Although there is still some swelling and an open wound it looks much better! They apparently decided it wasn't broken. Still by our North American standards it looks 'icky' but pain tolerance is so different here. Erick was grinning from ear to ear today with his familiar mischievous grin! I was thrilled & thankful to see it!

FYI - in other news the roads are staying blocked again. The town is out of gas which we need to finish the ceiling frame project. I know sounds crazy, but we do. Thad, Chad, Santiago and Franklin came so close to finishing the spraying today....they spray a bleach/diesel mixture on the wood to 'treat' it against pests. They had hoped to start getting it up this afternoon, but not sure when that will happen now. We'll see if the roadblocks effect our departure on Monday morning for Ceiba. Currently Emilson is stuck on the other side of the blocks actually. he had gone to La Ceiba to purchase and pick up the new computers for the school....and now can not get back to Trujillo. Sure can be inconvenient...but it's not much more than that. There's no violence or anything here just so you know...just blocked roads.

Tuesday

2009-07-29T09:45:00.006-05:00

Chad and Jack being silly

Thad and Jeffrey (and Jack) singing while we girls pulled dinner together

So let's see....

Yesterday Nadine and myself went to the school and worked on art projects with the kids. Thad and the kids stayed at the house for Thad to work, and Chad headed out to Little Hands Big Hearts. He'd been asked to go with them to visit some families to take some pictures (he does photography). After he finished there a man who is working on creating a hotel for mission groups asked if Chad would go with him to take some pictures at Guadalupe Carne, etc....to help tell the story of the people out there.

When Nadine and I were finished at the school we headed to town for some groceries and came home and fixed dinner. We were having Jeffrey and Maybelline for dinner. As is usual, we ended up feeding Jeffrey, Maybelline, Jack and 4 others. Because just as they were arriving 4 friends of the kids showed up to play.....so didn't want to send them home hungry. And as always, we had a 'loaves and fishes' night where we were concerned there might not be enough food for everyone and we had plenty and some leftover to send home with the kids.

Today all 4 of us are heading to the school. Thad and Chad will be working on spraying the wood for the ceiling down to control pests and Nadine and I will be working more on the art projects. Once the wood is sprayed they will start making the frame for the ceiling. We only have a few days left and it's flying by....

locked out!

2009-07-27T16:48:00.005-05:00

Yesterday Thad was asked to preach. he preached on discipleship. He spoke of the difference between what the world teaches us and what God teaches us....what we must give up as a Christian and also what we gain when we are willing to lead a life focused on God and HIS desires for our life and not on our own desires. He did an outstanding job!! A Honduran friend went to Alfonso after worship and said "wow...that Gringo can sure preach good!"

I was so proud of him!

After worship ate downtown and then headed to the pool to cool off for a bit - it was a HOT day!

Thad and I both were ready for our Sunday afternoon nap (hey....it's tradition!!) So after a while of swimming, I gave the kids a 15 min warning and told him he could just go on back to the house & crash and we'd be up there in a few minutes...just be sure to unlock the door because I didn't have my key.

As the kids were getting out, Chad headed back to the house to dry off and get his camera and go wander around the city. But Thad hadn't unlocked the door, he had only left it ajar thinking we were just a few min behind him. So when Chad walked out of the house after getting his things, he pulled the door closed (I would have done the same) and quickly realized it had not been unlocked so as soon as it was closed it was locked...no biggie right? Thad is in the house afterall, just knock and he'll let us in....ha ha ha!

anyone who knows my husband and how heavy he can sleep is laughing a bit right now!

And although Thad can sleep through just about anything, the other issue was that he had gone in our room to lay down and the best way to describe our room is a cave. no windows, and a window unit AC (long story, but it's mounted on an interior wall no it doesn't hang to outside it hangs into another room that is attached to our room). The A/C unit is LOUD...we can hear NOTHING that is occurring outside of our room if we are inside our room. So I encouraged Chad to go on with his hike that we would be there until Thad got hungry and came out or Alfonso came home with his key (I tried calling and texting Alfonso but he was at the beach swimming). Chad insisted on waiting til the kids and I were back in the house.....but that ended up being THREE hours later!! HA HA HA HA!! And that was only because my kids started getting hungry and so Chad (who had money on him) and MaryKyle headed down to the pulperia to find some snacks (it was about 6pm at this point). Thankfully they ran into Alfonso who gave them his key!!

So we all went in and woke up Thad who had woken up a couple times amazed at how quiet it was and was enjoying every second of it!! ha ha ha!!

It wasn't anything to complain about though, the kids never mind being outside and they love playing with Chad! And it gave Chad and I an opportunity to catch up after 13 years.

Until January when we reconnected on facebook it had been 13 years since we last touched base. So the time wasn't wasted....just wasn't how any of us would have chosen to spend it. We have all gotten a great laugh out of it for sure!!

Over the River and Thru the Woods

2009-07-25T08:42:00.002-05:00

Chad and Nadine made it to Trujillo around 2pm yesterday. Nadine's flip flop didn't though. Not intact anyway. It was a casualty of their adventurous journey. Because of the roadblocks the buses were not running directly to Trujillo. So they took a bus to La Ceiba where they had to get out and walk around a road block then get a taxi to the bus station. But, the bus station was closed.

In the end, after weighing their options they ended up hiring a taxi driver to bring them to Trujillo. They encountered on more road block where it seemed the taxi would not be able to get around, but a little girl came up and told them she could show them a way around.

They ended up having to cross a river a couple times. A little boy from the village would go in front and wade and let the taxi driver know how deep the water was.

But then they came to a steep enbankment where even several 4 wheel drive trucks were stuck....uh oh...but they all worked together pushing and the trucks made it up and then the truck drivers helped them and their little Toyota Corolla (that's two back tires were spares) get up as well. Nadine's poor flip flop didn't survive the pushing and trudging through the muddy waters. But they were able to make it here with no more problems!

It was great to see them both. We hadn't seen Nadine since last summer and Chad...well I've not seen Chad in 15 years. So we were happy they made it and we enjoyed the afternoon and evening catching up!!

A huge success!

2009-07-24T12:35:00.005-05:00

I just got home from the food sale...and it's a huge success! I can't wait to hear how much money they made!! Parents are coming in continuously with pots of all different food. Even my cab driver, Juan, was going to get a plate. It's very cheap for here (30L per plate) and the plate is COVERED in food....and there are so many choices: Spaghetti, fried fish, pork, fish in coconut milk with plantanos, arroz con pollo, potato salad, vegetables, etc etc...mine was the only sweet...(not a surprise, but it's what I do so I stuck with it)! But the cupcakes and mini-cakes were sold within about 10 min of our arrival, so I was excited to be able to help. Although I think the staff was pretty shocked we walked up with something for them to sale too!! They were very appreciative.

The kids had fun running around and playing in the central park and I enjoyed visiting with other parents and employees of the school. It was half school employees and half parents working the sale, but the student's parents had provided EVERYTHING...foil, bags, forks, napkins, sodas, etc etc....and were still coming which is good because there was a steady stream of customers!!

UPDATE on Chad and Nadine: they made it to La Ceiba but the bus station was closed because of all the roadblocks. So after weighing their options they hired a cab and are enroute to Trujillo by way of private cab!! They should be here in couple hours!!!! HOORAY!!

working late

2009-07-24T01:29:00.004-05:00

This morning we hustled down to the school for the "Beautiful Indian" festival. It was incredible to see the intricate indian costumes that were made from leaves, beans, corn husks, etc etc!!

Can't wait til I can post pictures!

Listening to the entire school sing the National Anthem of Honduras together was wonderful! The Teacher Juanita told the story of the Spaniards and the Indians. Telling the story of the warrior Lempira...all the kids cheered when she was done! After the - 'most beautiful indian' contest we ate...and ate....and ate! Enchildas, tacos, homemade horchata, etc etc...we were FULL and needed NO lunch!

the roof work is completed for now and next week will come the new ceiling I think! It will be a very busy last week or so here in Trujillo for us. We are shocked at how quickly the time has flown!! It always seems to, sadly!

I am up tonight baking cupcakes

Tomorrow morning, in the the central park in town parents and some school employees are gathering. All the parents are making foods and taking them to the park where they will be having a 'bake sale' - although it could be something from a simple pastelito (meat pie) to a full plate of food....rice, beans, fried chicken, etc...to help raise money for some new computers for the school. With past sales they've raised enough already for a couple! We are so thrilled to see such teamwork and ownership!!

Me I'm making cupcakes and perhaps some banana bread.

Tomorrow Chad and Nadine arrive. They made it to San Pedro Sula. I spoke with them as they pulled into their lodging for the night. If you will please say a prayer for their travels tomorrow. Pray that there are as few roadblocks as possible so that the already long road trip on the bus won't be even longer!! If there are blocks they will get off the bus walk across the roadblock and catch another bus on the other side!! We'll be making some calls in the morning to find out with the campesinos their plans for tomorrow....but today the military kept the roads open right outside of Trujillo anyway (we've heard contrary reports for other parts of the country). If you don't know them, Nadine lived here for a few years working with the Little Hands Big Hearts ministry and she (along with the help of the Rochester Church) continues to run a scholarship program for highschoolers here, and Chad is an old friend of mine I met in Kenya on a mission trip 15 years ago (when we were both college students....cough cough...surely it couldn't have been FIFTEEN years!!!).

Thank you for your prayers!

2009-07-21T20:00:00.006-05:00

We enjoyed a fabulous (oh my goodness....insanely fabulous) lunch at a friend's house. On the menu:

Conch soup with Yucca (better conch than I've had in any restaurant!)

Honey Chicken

YUMMY shrimp (a mixture of shrimp, corn, and other deliciousness)

Salad

Fresh bread from Teguc

fresh Tajaditas (fried plantanos much like a french fry)

rice, etc

Did I mention it was all insanely FABULOUS??!!! MaryKyle and John Mark LOVED it and MK told me I needed to be sure to PLEASE get the recipes!! The kids had a ball playing with her grandchildren and MaryKyle will be heading back Friday night for a sleepover with Juanita's granddaughter Valerie! She and Valerie are SO excited!

After lunch, we headed to the hospital for visiting hour. We met Candido and Gerson on the porch of the hospital and sat and waited and were shocked to see Wendy actually bring Erick outside for visits. he had his IV port and his leg was 'wrapped' (tape barely hanging on) he wanted to run around (remember this kid has some insane energy on a normal day) but his parents sat him down and tried to get him to stay put. We took a ballon for he and Gerson (the only kind they have available in Trujillo that are inflated are the small mylar ones on a stick....winnie the pooh Valentine ones - ha ha....they loved them and didn't care) and the kids all 4 enjoyed a game of bopping each other on the head...until...Erick jumped off the ledge we were sitting on down into the fenced in visiting area. He collapsed down to the ground, but just smiled and giggled, pretty proud of himself. he's always been a bit of a daredevil...oh how I hope that foot heals properly!

The swelling was down and the sores looked SOOO much better!! We were amazed at how much better it looked. Still icky, but SO much better! They still don't know how much longer he will be in the hospital.

Thank you for your prayers.

After the tumble we decided we needed to get out of there so he didn't feel the need to take any more leaps. And we headed to El Centro for some liquados - I tried banana and carrot. no one else in my family liked it but me. It was a bit different, but with my dietary restrictions with my Crohn's I enjoyed the treat of tasting carrot and the banana added a touch of sweet! The owner had told me it was his favorite so I'm not too crazy....surely?!!

Then some grocery shopping, adding minutes to our cell phones and a call to our favorite taxi driver (thankfully we now have his number programmed into our cells...no more getting cheated...hooray!) and back up to our humble abode we headed. In time to put some food in the kiddos mouths and straighten things up for a meeting Thad had tonight.

A full blessed day!! Thank you for continuing to pray for little Erick, his family and the doctor treating him!!

And thank you for reading our ramblings!

Update on Erick

2009-07-20T20:13:00.006-05:00

Candido just stopped by our house. PLEASE be in prayer if you will for little Erick (Candido's son). Erick is 5 yrs old and in kindergarten at Trujillo Christian School (sponsored by the Galligan's) apparently he had an accident on a friend's bicycle. The doctor told them if they would have waited one more day the foot would have had to have been amputated because of the infection.

Truly I just can't tell you how pitiful it was.

On top of the infection it is broken at the ankle by my understanding.

Thad and I have arranged to go tomorrow to visit him.

Poor little Erick was afraid of the anesthesia and asked them not to give it. he'd had it for some dental work and was very afraid of it. So he tried to get the work done on it without anesthesia, and quickly changed his mind.

He will be in the hospital several days. They aren't sure how many right now I believe the focus is on the infection. We will hopefully know more tomorrow. But please pray for little Erick, his mother Wendy, father Candido and brother Gerson (who is not enjoying being away from his Mommy right now at ALL!)

Eric

2009-07-19T18:18:00.003-05:00

This afternoon, passing the hospital on our way to meet friends to tour the lagoon, we saw one of our friend's motorcycles. So we were watching for him and his family and sure enough there they were, in line outside the hospital.

We went over to check on them and he carried his son over to show us the problem. I almost wish I had a picture to show you just so you would understand.....but trust me, it was the saddest thing I've seen this year yet. Poor Eric (Candido's son) his foot was so swollen around the ankle area and then some open sores. It appeared as if some infection had set up in there. He couldn't stand on it or walk. We will be checking in a bit to see what the one Dr on staff that they were having to wait a very long time outside in line to see says....oh oh oh....how I wish I was a Dr!!

It made Thad and I feel so helpless and we know that is nothing for here. Eric wasn't crying. but he was far from himself either. I mean this kid has ENERGY to spare generally and he was just propped up in his Daddy's arms with his Mommy watching over closely.

Please if you will say a prayer for Candido and Wendy and their son, Eric, that the Dr was able to treat him wisely and his foot will be fine. We will let you know what we find out later on.

Still Breathing....barely

2009-07-18T09:40:00.004-05:00

So if you don't know me, you don't know that I am extremely fearful of speaking or reading in front of people. But I'm having to get over the fear REAL fast here. I don't know if Hondurans really relate to shyness.

Last Friday night at Bible study I had to SING in front of the group...in Spanish...ALONE. I am still figuring out the words to the song, but it's a lot like a song we used to sing in English at camp "Oh Boys do you love Jesus"and they answer "Oh yes we love Jesus" (but asking who you want to see in heaven)....etc....and then you call on someone else you want to see in heaven. So it was all of 5 seconds, but it felt like 5 hours.

Raul one of the teacher's at the school got the biggest most mischievous grin on his face when he got called on and was his turn to choose someone and I just knew what was coming...and sure enough when it was time for him to sing out who was next it was "Raquel" PANIC ensued as the group sang the next part....but I had been listening and memorizing and waiting for that to happen. So I only forgot the last 2 words...the simplest ones of all of course....oh did I mention I DON'T sing. My husband has a fabulous voice...me...I just "sing and make melody in my heart"....because to the ears, yeah, not so sweet. Thankfully Hondurans don't always worry about Harmonies, melodies, etc!!

Everyone was shocked & happy that I even 'knew' the words. Granted I couldn't tell you 2 min later what I had sung. And when I told Thad about it later that night I couldn't remember a single word or the tune (he wasn't there as he got called away to help someone with something just after we arrived). But I survived.

And I'm still breathing!

Then last night at Bible study at a different congregation, I figured out that Fernando, the minister, was counting how many people in the class had their Bibles to figure out how many verses each would read. But, of course, he won't call on me right? I don't speak Spanish for goodness sakes! and FIVE verses was what was decided...I needed a verse like "Jesus wept" I might could handle that....

WRONG!!! He called on my FIRST for the 5 verses...why first, because we were all sitting in a circle for the discussion and I was the first one going clockwise from Fernando with my Bible (I won't do that again...ha ha!). Of course I didn't have the words in Spanish to explain I'd make a mess of it in my native language let alone SPANISH!! But everyone was looking at me....and actually encouraging me, thinking my fear came only from the lack of the language not realizing it was like doubled at that moment because of the fear of reading in front of people AND lack of language.

But I'm still breathing....

I did it horribly, but I did it! Yes really...you can try to tell me I'm being hard on myself and "You probably did just fine" but it in honesty it was bad, REALLY. And I'm okay with that. ha ha ha!! My sweet Juanita was there. If you've ever been to Trujillo Christian School Juanita is one of the teachers....and she never stops teaching. She helped me with the words I couldn't pronounce correctly....she helped EVERYONE with the words they didn't pronounce correctly, even the adults...ha ha...truly always a teacher! No one took offense she does it automatically and is so kind.

Fernando was sure to go back and explain to the group what I had read....he had to, I'd really butchered the language between my nerves and the lack of the language in my brain. But everyone was so kind and thrilled that I had made the effort.

Me....I'm still breathing!

(and realizing Honduras might be the perfect place for me to get past my lifetime fear of speaking in public. Because here if I struggle or stumble over my words it's expected of me!)

A trip to the grocery store/s

2009-07-16T20:15:00.006-05:00

Today the kids and I did our regular grocery shopping. The cupboards were bare and the threat of Mel supporters 'taking up arms' meant that we needed to ensure that we had a good stash 'just in case' we had to hunker down.

Grocery shopping doesn't mean going to one store...sometimes just for the basics it means up to 4 stores and that does not include your fruit or veggies...you must go to a fruit market area of town for that.

AMAZINGLY, I found all but about 3 things on my list at the first store today, so I was excited and feeling good...til I checked out. As they started ringing things up I realized I'd rushed out the door because we could catch a ride down the hill to town. But in the rush...I forgot the backpacks we put our grocery bags in to make it easy to walk from store to store and then up the hill home. So we leave the first store and within 2 blocks the bag with the meat in it had broken. So I had to put the meat into another bag (ick)....after a few stores we were ready to head up the mountain. I walked out and there was a cab - no hailing even needed...perfect!!

UNTIL he wanted to charge me a ton more than usual. Why?? because I'm a gringa...not just a gringO but a gringA....even better target....NOPE I'm too stubborn for that, got my stuff back out of the cab and just kept walking.

Even when I called Thad and Emilson (who were in town doing some school stuff at the courthouse and not expecting to be much longer) to check the current cab rate they said "Do not go with him he's cheating you" So we kept walking thinking we'd grab another cab. But none passed. So we kept trudging on....another bag breaks...(kicking myself for forgetting the backpacks again)

finally another cab passes. There isn't much more of the trip left but our bags are bursting (literally - at this point all 3 of us are holding our bags from the bottom because either the handles no longer exist or we are holding our hand over holes...or both) and they are also HEAVY..we're talking a couple frozen chickens, a large bag of flour a large bag of raw sugar, a few things of milk, large bag of beans, rice, etc etc...staples and a good supply...just in case....and that was just in one bag.....hmmm wonder why they were bursting...ha ha ha!

So it was a nice relief to see a cab!

But then he too sees 'GRINGA' & Gringa with her hands full, even better!! When I argue the rate he says "oh but you must go very high on the mountain so I need more" (what?? Seriously??)- we are almost there for goodness sake and he wanted to charge me more than the normal rate for going from the middle of downtown....sigh....stubborn me says "no gracias" and we continue our hike.

UNTIL.....the flour package in one of the burst bags bursts too...ha ha ha ha! I had flour all over me....

Not to worry, one little call and my knight in shining armor came galloping on his lovely white horse to save us....okay he was a bit sweaty & driving our friend, Emilson's truck...but we and our precious groceries were SAVED!! HOORAY FOR DADDY!!! MK said he was the 'best Daddy in the WHOLE world' for that!!

So as you are grumbling about not being able to find a close parking spot at Wal-Mart/Target/Kroger etc.....instead perhaps you can say a prayer of thanks for the ease and convenience and the lack of uphill walking to get to your car....oh and the buggies to carry your groceries to your car, that's a great thing to be thankful for too!! Even if the bags are cheaply made and horrid...you don't have to go far with them so you can even be thankful for that!

(Lesson learned today: get over the stubborn streak gringa and pay the extra $ so you don't lose your groceries...sigh....we'll see)

2009-07-13T14:09:00.004-05:00

Yesterday was Sunday.

The morning started with the regular turning off of the power in the city. Every week I tell myself "next week I'll jump up out of bed as soon as I wake up and jump in the shower so I don't feel like I'm showering in a dark cave" but I forgot...again kicking myself the second I heard the house go silent - no fans....no A/C...no nothing. I also forgot to put a big pan in the fridge to catch all the melted ice off the icebox - so had to dump a lot - not because it went bad but because it got filled with water....again! One day I'll remember.....or maybe not! Fortunately the fridge is small so there wasn't too terribly much to spoil....thankfully we brought some gladware with us to store things in!!

Thad led singing...in Spanish at worship. Friday night at the song service they asked him if he would preach in Spanish on Sunday. He told them perhaps in 3 years....but then they said "okay you can lead singing then" hee hee....pretty smart of them if you ask me :-)

At that point they said "well you lead 3-4 songs and then someone else can do the rest" Saturday night we had Dago (and his wife), one of the church leaders over for dinner, and he gave Thad the order of service, and never mentioned anyone else leading singing, but instead told Thad how many songs, etc. Thad realized it was all him...ha ha!!

He did fabulous...as always!! We were really proud of him. After worship service we headed to the beach (yes, for those that know us we were craving Moe's)....couldn't open our fridge and we didn't want a sandwich so why not go out for lunch. So we sat on the beach enjoying the tranquility of it all for a couple of hours, enjoyed some yummy fresh shrimp, etc! The whole town was quiet.

We walked back up the mountain home and joined in with the rest of Trujillo and did almost nothing all day....til friends showed up in our house to play...that's right, I happened to walk past the stairway and there are 2 quietly giggling little girls just waiting to be spotted waiting to play with MaryKyle and John Mark. As soon as they were welcomed in they multiplied.

We ended up with about 4-5 kids and the kids played relays - think egg in the spoon, but with lemons from the lemon trees out our door. And just in general had a fun evening!!

Life is good. We were told the campesinos were coming in town today to take over the schools to try to get the teachers to go on strike, but when Thad went to town for some supplies for needed work projects at the school there were guards at the public and Catholic schools, but no campesinos in sight. It's not expected by the way that this would effect our school if it were to happen.

Guess Who's coming to dinner

2009-07-10T19:31:00.007-05:00

A few times our congregation in the states has done a fun program called "Guess who's coming to dinner" you signed up to host or just be a fun participant. If you were hosting you were only told how many guests to cook for but not who. As a participant you were told who's house you were going to, but had no idea who else would be there. It was SO fun and a great way to get to know other member's of the congregation.

Living here is like signing up to participate in such a program. Although here, I never know how many mouths I'll be feeding at any given meal either.

Tonight it was 3 extras.

MaryKyle went over to friend's house today to sew and play. If you've been here to Trujillo with a group before, no doubt you know Carlos, Laritza, Karin, Antony and Daniel and their mother Angelina - our kids are great friends and spend a lot of time together. This past weekend they rescheduled Daniel's b'day party around us (NO we did not intend for them to - aaahhh).

After sewing and playing, 3 of the kids walked MK home and wanted to stay and wait and walk to worship with us (song service on Friday nights). Dinner was already on the stove and there wasn't a lot of it, but I added to the pots and extended it a bit to be sure I had enough.

One can never argue with unexpected houseguests who insist on washing their own dishes though...nope not ever!!

My life is blessed!!

The perfect Chicken recipe for Honduras

2009-07-09T20:41:00.004-05:00

So, I have been looking for a good 'company' meal to make while here. Last year we had a shrimp boil, but I just can't afford to do that too often and we want to have more people over. I didn't have any time to go through my recipes before I left home so I grabbed two recipe books - my Honduran one and my church cookbook. I am amazed at how few recipes I can make out of my church cookbook - wow...we North Americans rely on convenience foods like cream of ______ soups, crackers, salad dressings, etc etc.... I think I found 3 recipes in there I could possibly use...ha ha!!!

But one hit me as the most perfect Honduran dinner. COCO-COLA Chicken. In the land where babies drink Coke from bottles, I thought it was completely appropriate!

I mentioned on facebook that I had it in the oven and several asked me to publish the recipe. It's actually my Mother's recipe - sorry Mom I had totally forgotten about it. But my entire family loved it (yes even my kids) and I'll be making it for company Monday night!

So here's the recipe

COCO-COLA CHICKEN

1 chicken cut up in pieces

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup ketchup

1 small (personal sized) bottle Coke

Put chicken in pan, salt and pepper to taste and pour the ketchup and Coke over. Cover with foil and cook for 1 1/2 hours (at 350 for those of you who know the temp of your oven - ha ha). Then uncover and cook another 30 min to brown chicken.

I served over rice...it's a lot like a bbq chicken. Would probably be good with some fresh garlic along with the salt and pepper but hubby has decided it's one of his new favorite foods the way it was. Now I just need to think of some sides to go with it to serve to my Honduran friends. Tonight I just did rice and homemade rolls.....hmm.....but will have to keep brainstorming on sides!! If anyone has any great ideas, just let me know!

PS This evening I gave John Mark's friend Daniel a loaf of mango bread to take to his family. He ran it home and came back with a sister about the age of MaryKyle, Yessi. The kids all headed outside to play after introductions and welcomes were made. And outside there were 2 more sisters!!! The kids played til dark and I have a feeling we better not linger in PJ's in the morning.

The Washington Group continues to make us proud to know them!!

2009-07-09T09:57:00.004-05:00

HERE is their latest KNDU interview that I know of. Great job you guys!!

And a newpaper story is HERE

We are so honored to know this awesome group of Christians!!

Steve Martin should have lived in Honduras!

2009-07-08T21:50:00.005-05:00

Remember the scene in Father of the Bride where Steve Martin's character is freaking out about the impossibility of buying the same number of hotdogs and hotdog buns? A great scene because those of us from North America can relate to the frustration!!

Well no more worries...

Here in Trujillo all you have to do is rip open the package and you can purchase however many you need!

That's right...don't need or can't afford the entire package? Well, by all means, don't be limited by package size, just get what you want/need!!

yesterday while at the store it was two hot dogs one customer purchased from a package. She walked all around the store completing her shopping with one in each hand. Another customer tore open a package of diapers and bought just one (hope it was super absorbent!)!!!

yep....Steve should have lived in Honduras!!

Schooling in the Tropics

2009-07-08T14:58:00.003-05:00

I have learned that laying around the house in PJ's doesn't work here....there is always someone stopping by early in the morning...early to me for someone to stop by is 7:30-8am. here where the sun rises SO early (around 5am) people are up and out and doing stuff. So sure enough while eating b'fast and enjoying our coffee we hear kiddos outside asking our kids to play. Today though, John Mark told his friends he had school work...which must have been pretty odd to them, but they left.

About 30 min later he has to tell another friend that stopped by. He didn't go though and just hung around outside, I just told John Mark he'd have to finish his schoolwork before joining him.

Well just as the kids were finishing up washing the b'fast dishes and about to sit down to do our Bible reading.....we all of a sudden realize Daniel is sitting on the steps up into our living room...in our house...ha ha ha!!

he spends most of his days here and generally eats lunch and a snack with us. Yesterday when he was literally here ALL day long I asked Alfonso last night at dinner if his parents ever wondered where he was. Alfonso told me that he had 12 brothers and sisters that his Mom didn't have time to wonder where he is. Whew...don't figure I would have time to either!!

He was with us most days last summer too...funny in the states I'd probably worry about my kid hanging out with him. he's a sweet sweet boy, but pretty wild. Like two days ago he (in jest) pushed John MArk into the pool....problem is the pool was drained and only had a little water (less than a ft). As John Mark cried Daniel ran in fear. We mended john Mark's ankle and the next morning there was Daniel waiting to play. Thad sat down and chatted with him about how real friends behave toward their friends, etc. he's been tons more calm and kind the last few days and has even helped pick up the house, etc.

So this morning we, as always, invited him in (all the way - instead of just sitting in the window sill on our stairway). And he just sat down beside John Mark. John Mark rushed and got a Spanish/English Bible for our Bible reading time and Daniel actually helped John Mark follow along as I called out the verse #'s in Spanish as we went along to help him know where we were.

Yesterday found John Mark and Daniel curled up over a Spanish/English dictionary comparing words and trying to learn each other's language!!

but they don't need it for the universal language of "PLAY" they have created some games and built forts, will pick me mangoes or lemons when I ask, etc! They play for HOURS without being effected by the lack of knowing each other's language! But boy listening to John Mark play with him he really is picking up a lot of words...now if I can just get him to use them other places too....he gets SUPER shy about it in front of adults!

The learning that goes on doesn't always have to be in a workbook, or a school book I'm amazed at what my kids learn minute to minute here!

Life is good, tranquil and calm. We truly, thus far, are very little affected by the political unrest going on around us. Other than a lack of supplies in the stores, we hardly would know anything was amiss in Honduras!

A recipe

2009-07-07T20:22:00.003-05:00

Yesterday the kids discovered a mango tree in our 'yard' (if you've seen our house here you can laugh). With the mangos they are picking and then some left from the morning the group left that Dan, Rod and I picked in their friends yard.....I needed something to do with a ton of mangos. So I did some searches for mango bread......and we are huge fans now! Even our Honduran friends like it a lot. It's so yummy...a spice bread type

Here is the recipe I used....except that I had to do some tweaking - of course!!

MANGO BREAD

2 cup ap flour

2 t cinnamon

2 t baking soda (I used 4 t baking powder)

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup oil (I just melted some manteca/shortening)

2 1/2 cups mango

1 t lemon juice (we have a lemon tree too so I just squeezed some in)

1/4 c raisins (sadly didn't have any of these, but wow they would taste good!!)

I added vanilla...maybe about a tsp....I don't know. Mix all ingredients together.

I greased and floured the pans and then poured the batter in about halfway. I then sprinkled some raw sugar on top!

bake at 350 degrees for about 60 min (mine didn't take near that long, but my oven doesn't have a thermostat or anything I just cook it til it's done...but 60 min is what the recipe called for).

Makes about two loaf pans. I made 5 small loaves so I could share as gifts.

(PS the first crew of the group is home....the 2nd is enroute in a van about 2 hours from home!! HOORAY!! Saying prayers of thanks!!)

Home Sweet Home

2009-07-07T09:48:00.002-05:00

We spoke with the Washington group just a little while ago. They are safely in the US. They flew into JFK in New York and are heading West in two groups, since they couldn’t get on the same flight. I’m sure their families will be very happy to see them.

Their local news has continued to cover the story. Here is the latest link. Richland youths expected home today after fleeing Honduras

Trujillo continues to be home sweet home for us. After the excitement of getting the group out of here, we’ve settled into daily life. I’m back to doing work (paid work, not missionary work), and we’re just taking things a day at a time.

Work accomplished

2009-07-06T14:37:00.002-05:00

Their trip may have been cut short, but the team never stopped making use of their time here!!

They were such a huge asset to both ministries they served while here.

For the Little Hands Big Hearts ministry that oversees the needs of special needs children in Trujillo -

*they helped to complete a fence along the back side of the property - this involved digging holes, sawing fence post and stretch barbedwire. This was extremely labor intensive especially in the extreme heat!

*they installed a ceiling in a kindergarten room to help keep the heat levels down for the children

*they canvassed the neighborhood inviting neighborhood children to a weekly Bible class and had 80 children come!!

*dug a trench for a new water line

*installed a new sink in the kitchen that is more sanitary

*cleaned a room out to prepare for a medical clinic

*did some general maintenance and cleaning

*built relationships that will last a lifetime +

At Trujillo Christian School that helps ensure children get an education through the generosity of sponsors all over the United States.

*they installed a sidewalk between the first and second grade classrooms (please keep in mind there are no concrete mixers in Trujillo other than your own two hands and a few strong backs)

*worked with each student in the school to paint a picture for their sponsors (we have about 320 students in the school this year)

*taught Bible classes to the kindegarten - 3rd grade classes for 2 days

*repaired the concrete base of a fence that runs along one entire side of the school. (again strong backs and able arms were the mixers)

*Painted the large multi-purpose room

*played games and spent time with lots of precious children

*built relationships that will last a lifetime +

And through it all they kept smiles on their faces and a positive attitude!! We truly are just so appreciative of all they did and the joy they brought along with them to Trujillo!!

We are thrilled to know that they will hopefully be enroute home soon! But we want them to know that all that they did here and the imprint they left on our lives and the lives of our Honduran friends will be there forever!! We look forward to spending time with them again!!

Flights arranged

2009-07-06T11:26:00.003-05:00

Again, I know most of you in Washington already know, but for those of you elsewhere who I know have been praying for the safe return of the group to their home....
they have flights arranged!! Their itinerary is exhausting just reading it it starts tonight and it gets them home later tomorrow.
I'm sure they will be very ready for a shower and clean clothes since they had to leave their belongings in Honduras!!

Please pray that their flights go on schedule and that if possible at one of their layovers that ALL of them make it on the same plane. Because right now they are on two different planes hours apart to get home...and I know they are ALL ready to be reunited with their loved ones!!!

I can't wait for you to hear all of their stories of their adventure. We've been very selective of what we post both for their security's sake and for the confidence of those who have been protecting them. One thing we can say is we have always felt like they were safe, they've had well trained escorts who's #1 priority is to get them on the plane safely to the US!!

They have been a blessing...

but let's not forget in the madness of their evacuation what wonderful things they accomplished while they were here. I don't want that to be forgotten in the madness. This group was incredible in all they were able to get done....

Truly THANK YOU Richland team....we love you guys and we appreciate you and all you were able to accomplish SOOOOOO much!!

the adventure continues

2009-07-05T19:22:00.002-05:00

Well I'm sure many of you in Washington know already, but just in case there are those of you that don't and I know there are others keeping updated on their progress....they still aren't home yet nor do they even know their flight itinerary....

They got over the border. Their vehicles weren't allowed over the border though....but no worries "James Diego Bond" got everything worked out for them and their escorts continued with them along the way.

When we spoke to them a few min ago again they were headed to the buffet at the hotel to eat. Jared had told "James Deigo Bond" what country they want to see next ;-)

The fabulous thing is thanks to these wonderful, skilled and "Bond-like" escorts they have felt safe.

They still do not know their flight itinerary....they are just enjoying the adventure right now....why not right???

Sorry we've not posted more today. We rode out to an area called Santa Fe this morning with other church members on a bus. One of their members has been trying to start a congregation in that area for quite some time. He had obtained a building so they all went out there to support him and worship out there.

We worshipped in a 'club' on the beach...reminded me of the bar that the church rented when I did mission work in Kenya many years ago....ha ha!!

Afterwards everyone gathered at the home of the man who is working to get the church started and enjoyed some chips and sodas together.

Then we headed with the Bilodeau family to a new place called Banana Beach we had a GREAT day, amazing food, and just a great day. We ended up staying all day long. Visiting with the fabulous cook and owner, and eating and eating and eating!

It was a GOOD day!!

another update

2009-07-05T08:42:00.002-05:00

It appears the flights out of Honduras are being cancelled due to the reactions from the citizens at the return of Mel Zelaya. There is a possibility that the group from Washington will be driven out of the country to another airport with only a small bag of their belongings. If that happens the insurance company says they will ship the rest of their belongings to them at a later time.

Please continue to pray for them!

Made it!

2009-07-04T16:06:00.003-05:00

They made it to their destination for the night safely....they had an uneventful journey!

PRAISE GOD!!

Update

2009-07-04T14:53:00.002-05:00

We heard from the group a little bit ago and the are making good progress. There had had no roadblocks and were enjoying the trip. They said although the roads were dirt, they were surprisingly good roads (perhaps better than some of the paved roads).

God is Good!! We still don't know flight arrangements or anything. We will continue to keep you posted!!

Update 8:15am Saturday

2009-07-04T09:18:00.002-05:00

They made it through Tocoa with no problems! They've seen no more roadblocks.

They feel very safe with "Bond.....Deigo Bond" as they've deemed the leader of their convoy and are enjoying the adventure of it all, and giving God the glory for a wonderful trip!!

Through the Roadblock

2009-07-04T07:38:00.003-05:00

I just spoke with Jared. The group was stopped at a roadblock just out of town. The campesinos (pro-Zelaya farm workers) were in the road in Guadalupe Carne. This is a very common form of protest in Guadalupe. We have been here at least a couple of times when they have done the roadblock. The security people spoke with the leaders of the roadblock for about 25 minutes, and then they were let through, which is a really good sign.

The Convoy Pulls Out

2009-07-04T07:07:00.008-05:00

The group pulled out of the hotel a few minutes before 6 am. I had a chance to speak with Diego, the main contact, before they left. He is from Argentina and is a security specialist. He has been doing security work for the past 10 years and covers the Americas, including the Caribbean. I was glad to hear that he does a couple of these types of jobs every month, so this is quite routine for him. He also does protection work and works on kidnapping cases, mostly in Venezuela and Mexico. The rest of the drivers are from a sub-contracted security firm in San Pedro Sula. All of these men are former military and of course know the country quite well.

The original plan was for the group to go to San Pedro, but now they are being redirected. I'm not sure of the specific flight arrangements, but Jared and I will be in contact. I will let you know more as I get updates, so stay tuned...

Reality Check - don't read if you have a weak stomach (like myself)

2009-07-04T02:00:00.005-05:00

Okay so here is REAL life in Trujillo - it hasn't rained for....well too long....

so tonight we go to jump in the shower before we crawl in bed....no water.

it's 1am...why am I awake when I have to be up at 4am? My daughter just started puking (a bug that our friend Sara woke up with this morning so we kept her 4 sweet kids today so her hubby could do some much needed work)...'delightfully' she didn't make it to the potty and proceeded to puke all over the bathroom floor in our bathroom...which is in our bedroom....which we all 4 sleep in....

Thad and I just stared at it.....then my precious husband scooped/scrubbed it up with a towel. He decided to just throw the towel away. We haven't been able to wash clothes in days so who knows when we can wash the towel and where on earth will we keep it til we might could wash it??

Then....what to do??? So with no water, we use the bucket we have that our A/C unit drips into (that's right, we have a window unit...inside on an interior wall..hmm....ANOTHER story for another day) to throw on the floor to at least try to dissipate the smell a bit so we might can sleep...but we can't use much...it's the only water we have for handwashing, dishwashing, etc etc...it's a precious commodity at this point!!

So the bathroom floor is far from sterile and we are giggling...I mean really what else are you going to do at 1am??

Then....as we start to settle back down and climb back into bed. oh...and try to find something for her to have by her bed if she gets sick again...we only have little trashcans in our bathrooms. in our house and since you can't flush toilet paper in Honduras....that's the toilet paper bin and well.....even if I removed the bag, I couldn't bring myself to give that to her to hold onto and puke in. (I tried to warn you in the title if you had a weak stomach...sorry it truly is our reality though). She though assures us she is "FINE" now.....

ANYWAY...so we settle back down into our bed and my son totally unaware of anything that's occurred wakes and stands to take a midnight potty break..BAREFOOT of course....aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh.....so we jump up to stop him and scare him completely. But got him stopped before he just walked in there unknowingly.....

As he sat back on his bed after, he said "are you done making b'fast for the team yet?" ha ha ha....we assured him we have 3 hours, he could go back to sleep....

We, on the other hand are wide awake and I'm thinking someone else will need to cut the fruit, etc....I don't think the families in Washington would appreciate their loved ones coming home with this bug......

SORRY SORRY SORRY in advance......................................................

2009-07-03T23:54:00.003-05:00

http://www.tri-cityherald.com/945/story/635275.html

THANKS Scott for letting us know about the news story. We are all cracking up....well Thad, Alfonso, Jared and myself who were sitting in our house chatting when we pulled up the blog comments and then the article....WOW!! The perception from many Hondurans is they do not consider it a coup. I would guess that most Hondurans we know at least, would applaud Senator DeMint from South Carolina and the comments he made describing what's going on. I'd say the majority of the people we've spoken with would agree with DeMint, not all though.

Jared plans on telling everyone in the morning about the news story to help wake them up as they head out, they are going to get a huge kick out it! They plan on getting up at 4:00. Dan, Rod and myself went to town today and bought some fresh pineapples, watermelon, bananas and picked some mangos from a shop owners tree (that Rod and Dan have gotten to be friends with), and some small boxes of Kelloggs cereal for them to eat for b'fast. They will be eating at 4:30am and heading out. The escorts arrived today they have 4 Toyota Pradas and a Hyundai SUV. The guys were so nice! There is a curfew in place in Honduras so by the time the escorts arrived, the group could not make it to San Pedro before curfew - although it was a little frustrating at first with another change in the expected...everyone was happy to stay another day and were just disappointed they didn't know that or they would have done more work (seriously amazing people here!!)

The group had a wonderful time at the school today. they finished their Bible classes and the sponsor project. The pictures the kid's painted for their sponsors in the states are so wonderful. Each year I just look at them and smile at the effort put into them. The kids truly are so appreciative of the sponsors and making it possible for them to go to school and it shows in their paintings!!

After school the Teachers fixed the group some typical Honduran foods (Honduran Tacos and honduran Enchiladas...I'll let your kids tell you about them...they are very different from what you might evision.) I was sitting next to Dakota at the party and leaned over and said "well what do you think?" and he looked at me and said something to the effect of "everything I've eaten here has been amazing!" I so agree!!

To top it off they had two large cakes made in red, white and blue to honor our 4th of July....YUMMMMMMY!!!!! We all - the teachers and group - spoke and shared our experiences and thanks. Then were our goodbyes......

BUT....then later in the afternoon one friend the group had been around some in the week, showed up with some fresh Pinol (sp?) to drink (it's made with ground corn and milk but tastes like a mixture between hot chocolate and coffee.. Jared deemed it "better than Starbucks!" She also brough some freshly made mango jelly (took her two days to make) on fresh rolls for all the adults as a good bye and thank you treat!! Oh my goodness....and me...I got a WHOLE jar of the jelly....so after I serve b'fast to the group and then go back to bed....I know what I'll be having for b'fast!! HOORAY!!

After that we all headed to the beach and ate at one of my favorite restaurants!! Many enjoyed garlic shrimp, whole fish (I think they have pictures to show of their food looking at them), etc It was so yummy and we all enjoyed the wait for the food walking along the beach and such!!

(hmm....and I wonder why I gain a couple pounds every time I'm in Honduras!! )

We'll continue to keep you posted as the group progresses tomorrow as we can. We've had connection difficulties today (just getting a signal because of clouds...no political reasons). But we all have Honduran cell phones (Jared included) so he will be calling along the way to let us know their progress, etc!! And we will do our best to let you know as we can!

All the kids, and adults are seeing it as a grand adventure...and like Patty commented at one point...the kids are looking forward to when their teacher asks "What did you do over summer vacation?" Seriously this group has had the BEST attitude all along the way!!

Quick Travel Update

2009-07-03T16:03:00.003-05:00

The first truck that is transporting the group just arrived. The rest of the trucks will be here in the next couple of hours. They will go ahead and stay here one more night and leave here at about 5 am for San Pedro. We will update the blog tomorrow morning once the group is safely on their way. Jared is carrying a Honduran cell-phone, so he will be able to give me updates tomorrow, which I will post on the blog.

Bartlett Family and group plans

2009-07-02T17:22:00.003-05:00

Our family is staying put. We feel safe and just don't have cause to leave right now.

The group will be picked up tomorrow at 1pm and taken to San Pedro Sula, they will be flying out of San Pedro Sula on Sunday around noon, we will post the flight details when we have them. The people that will be traveling with them will be staying with them the entire time and have lined up the hotels, etc....This insurance company has been a true blessing. I'm so thankful this is something we always do for teams when they travel, we've always considered it back up for medical emergencies. But they have been great about everything and very helpful in this situation. I encourage anyone who does overseas missions to be sure to get such insurance! We've done it the past several years for our team and it's never been used....so nice to know it's so easy when it is used!!

So the good news is....the team will get to partake in the party at the school. They are planning (and wanting very badly) to go on to the school and do things as scheduled....their Bible classes, the sponsor project and the 4th of July celebrations!! School gets out at noon here so that works out perfectly!!

So it will be a grand sent off!! We will miss them dearly they have been such a great asset here in Trujillo and are disappointed their trip has been cut short...even if it's just by a few days!!

I'm so thankful for them and their GREAT attitudes!! But reading the comments of their parents and loved ones.....we see where that comes from :-)

THANK YOU!!!

(signing off to join the group for ICE CREAM!!!!)

FYI!!!

2009-07-02T14:54:00.002-05:00

I wrote that other post just before hearing about the call from the Insurance company...

but here is the latest news. After talking to the insurance company the group has decided to go on and leave. The details are still being worked out, but the insurance company had a group in San Pedro already that has transported two other groups to the airport there, so the timing seems right.

They will be taken to the airport in San Pedro Sula where the insurance company is working on changing their flights and tickets. We will let you know more when we know it.

Our family hasn't decided what to do just yet. We are still thinking and praying. We do not feel unsafe in Trujillo at all, yet we still must weigh the options and make what we think is the best decision for our family. Until just a few min ago we have been certain we would stay here. But with the knowledge that most groups planning to coming this summer are most likely going to cancel - we'll see.....We love it here SOOO much!! It's very difficult to decide since really Trujllo is quiet and calm.

At present time the group is packing their things. As of my last conversation with Jared, they weren't sure if they would be taken tonight or in the morning, logistics are still being worked out. But we wanted to let all of you family members know what was going on and keep you informed!!

But everyone is handling it well, calm and peaceful and I think a bit bummed. Some even went on out to Little Hands to do a bit more work there this afternoon.

Perhaps my family will just come to Washington instead of going home to Georgia for the rest of our time so we can get more time with this fabulous group (and I could FINALLY hold little Hudson!!)!!

Again we will do our best to keep you as informed as possible!!

Thursday

2009-07-02T13:06:00.002-05:00

Another GREAT day!!

The group had a wonderful morning in the school!! Each of their Bible teams taught their class two times and will do the same tomorrow. After getting the forgotten script by email from Amanda's parents (THANK YOU!!) all went without any problems perfectly!! The administrator at the school helped them with translating and had nothing but words of praise for this fabulous group!!

When they weren't in a class and those few not assigned to a Bible class. they played with kiddos and helped the kids paint their pictures for their sponsors.

We did 5th and 6th grades and a few from 7th grade. They have accomplished so much!!

The are eating lunch now and after a bit of a break they will head to an artisan shop on their way to get some more work done at Little Hands Big Hearts.

oh oh...I think we forgot to tell you that on Tuesday, the group that went out that morning with Little Hands to invite the neighborhood kids to Bible class that afternoon....they ended up with EIGHTY kids who came for the Bible class. If they had accomplished nothing more than that alone that would have been plenty while they were here, but yet as you read they have done SO much more!! We give God the glory for all that they have been able to do.....we are blessed by their presence!!

Our son has attached himself to Cade and Ryan. I'm sure he's driving them positively nuts, but they have been so sweet and kind which is a huge help to us. today I never had to worry about my kids. I knew that John Mark was with Cade or Ryan and MaryKyle was with Mariah. What a blessing to be able to work without having to worry about them too!!

And oh you should see how those kids were ATTACHED to Dan, Mark and Rod!!! ha ha!! How I wish the connection was faster and I could post some of my pictures...hopefully in the next few days I will be able to go where there is satellite internet and do just that.

In political news...all continues to be very quiet and peaceful here in Trujillo!! The fact is most Hondurans wish the rest of the world would stay out of it. What the world calls a "coup" ....well...I won't go into all that, but it's funny watching the international news and living through it. totally different stories!! Because the fact is most people here do not like Mel Zelaya and are very glad to see that he was 'ousted' by the supreme court! It's all very interesting to watch for sure...sad too, but interesting! But for those concerned. We feel very safe and are doing everything we normally do. Trujillo is a delightful little town...

and guess what?? the teachers at the school want to help us observe the 4th of July. They've planned a party for tomorrow in our honor and are making yummy treats, etc!!! HOORAY!!

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE Honduran food?? Oh I do...and this group does too!! Rod went chasing all over the school today looking for the lady selling Honduran 'Tacos' he'd already tried a huge miel (sort of honey) covered fried tortilla of sorts....when a teacher learned he liked the tacos she promised to make him some tomorrow :-) ha ha!!

The girls went for the fried donuts...those are hard to stop eating for sure!! And then the pastelitos with cabbage, cheese and a yummy homemade sauce on top (my kids b'fast every morning and what we crave when in the states). yes....Honduran food is FABULOSO!!

and on that note...it's lunchtime and all I have is PB&J....sigh....

Grocery Shopping and Other News

2009-07-01T22:46:00.001-05:00

We just got back from worshipping with the church in Limonal. Jared, Cade, and Mark all led songs and did a great job. We learned that the whole congregation is taking a bus to Santa Fe this coming Sunday for worship. Santa Fe is a Garifuna village where one of the Limonal members wants to start a new church, and this is part of that effort. We are thinking about going along with them, if there is room on the bus.

The group has been working really hard this week, and the heat really gets to you after a few days. This afternoon, all of the teens took a much-deserved break. I walked down to the hotel from our apartment expecting to see them playing in the pool. Instead, every one of them was sprawled out on lounge chairs and hammocks. I think most of them were asleep. Leslie said a few of them got in the pool at first, but as soon as they cooled off they got right out and lay down. Sometimes the temptation here is to be on the move all day, every day. I’m glad they took a little time off in the middle of the week, so they can finish strong.

Tomorrow morning, the entire group will go to the school to teach Bible classes, and in the afternoon, they will go out to do some more work at Little Hands, Big Hearts. They have moved alot dirt and dug alot of holes. A few of the men are working a ceiling for one of the buildings at Little Hands, and that is coming along well. Tomorrow, I am having wood delivered to the school to put a ceiling in the 6^th – 9^th grade classrooms. We may do some of that labor on Friday, but most of it will wait until the next group.

Brian, Jared, Alfonso, and I went this morning to Tocoa to buy food. We bought enough rice, beans, potatoes, carrots, flour, and corn meal to feed the group for several days, should that become necessary, although I feel fairly confident it won’t be needed. We talked to the travel insurance company today, and they are making arrangements to get the group from here to San Pedro, if the roads are closed. My guess is that won’t be needed, but it’s nice to know someone is working on it. The group still plans to take a chartered bus on Monday to San Pedro, stay the night, and fly out on Tuesday morning. We made reservations for that night at a hotel that is only 2.5 miles from the airport. God willing, the group will be able to get to the airport and fly out without ever going into downtown San Pedro.

Thank you all for your prayers. We appreciate you following along with us and especially the comments on the blog. We read them all and share many of them with the group. It makes us all feel really good to know that you here with us in spirit.

Our plans

2009-06-30T23:35:00.028-05:00

We know that many of you are watching the news and reading the State Department warnings, so we want to share with you what we are doing to be proactive here in Trujillo. Please understand -- Trujillo is very quiet. It is business as usual and things are mostly just like normal. However we are taking precautions and want you all to know what we are doing from here.

First, we have been in contact with the US Embassy. The embassy has advised us to stay put, cross no roadblocks, and enter no large crowds. There are no large crowds gathering in Trujillo. Trujillo is literally at the end of the road in Honduras and is a sleepy little town. There have been some roadblocks by protesters (supporters of Mel Zelaya) between here and San Pedro, which is the city we fly out of, so we will not travel those roads until the roadblocks end.

Second, today we contacted our travel insurance company. Our family and the group from Washington have trip insurance from the same company, and it provides evacuation insurance in the case of a travel alert from the US State Department. Tomorrow, we will learn more from them regarding the evacuation plans they can make on our behalf, if needed. There is a small airstrip here in Trujillo that we believe could be used for a chartered plane to ferry us to the airport in San Pedro, which still has regular flights to the US.

Third, as a contingency, we will go tomorrow to purchase rice, beans, fuel (for vehicles and cooking), and other basic supplies. The worst case that we anticipate is that the Washington group's trip could be extended until the roads are open, so we want to have plenty of supplies in case that happens.

Again, no one in this town anticipates any sort of problems here as far as protests. The pictures you see on TV are from Tegucigalpa, which is a 10 hour drive from here. We are fine here in Trujillo and feel safe. Tomorrow, the group from Washington will continue to go do the work projects as scheduled. Jared and I will be taking care of our contingency plans as listed above. Please understand that while the situation in Honduras is serious, we are doing everything in our power to be safe, and we trust God to keep us in His care. Perhaps He can use us to His glory during this trying time. Please continue to pray for us and the people of Honduras.

p.s. Rod says to tell you all "Feliz Navidad." (His way of letting you all know that we are OK.)

FYI

2009-06-30T15:02:00.007-05:00

I feel like I should let Dakota's (sp??) loved ones know that he's doing great and taking care of himself. The first picture I tried really hard to post in fact was of him helping a little boy paint today...it was so sweet. So without the pictures to show you I want to say, He's truly taking care of his leg and everyone is watching out for him. What an amazing group of kids. Walking back the dirt road from church the other night I look over and someone else was carrying the crutches and I look and see his friends carrying him so he didn't trip in the dark on the rocks or anything...the camaraderie is great to see!!

He has made a few buddies in the school that follow him around!! His ice pack is in our freezer at our house. our son took it down for him at lunch time a bit ago and it's back in the freezer now. What a trooper, with just a great attitude, I enjoyed working on a team today with him, Kristi, Leslie, Katelyn (sp) and Mariah (who my daughter has attached herself to!!) in the school.

Really to all parents of the Washington gang...THANK YOU your kids are doing great!! I know you are concerned about them, as a parent I can appreciate that completely! They are amazing kids with a great spirit about them and I truly am enjoying each and every minute that we are able to spend with them!!

Some even ASKED to go back on the fenceline today (HARRRDDD WORK!!!!!) because they wanted to see it completed! WOW....just wow!! And again, THANK YOU for helping make it happen for them to do the work they are doing!!

Also I passed on the comments left for them on the previous posts! They loved hearing well wishes from back home!! I hope that you will always feel welcome to do that, I just wrote down what was said and let them know that evening when I saw them again!

Tuesday

2009-06-30T14:02:00.005-05:00

What a wonderful day. It's lunch time here and the most of the group is up on the balcony enjoying the breeze, and a yummy lunch and mostly....a much deserved break!! I'm going to TRY to upload some pictures, but wow....they've done GREAT.

Some went to the school and started work on a pathway between the 1st and 2nd grade. Which involved framing the sidewalk, hauling rocks to put on the bottom layer (lots of the kids from the school enjoyed helping with this), and mixing concrete....volcano style by hand!!

Others worked on the sponsor project, helping the kids paint pictures to send to their sponsors. It's so sad/funny to see the kindergarteners come in. They are petrified. When they see North Americans they think that they will get an injection, so even though we have paint and paper sitting out they are so scared and crying. We only had one that just refused, but she is little bitty and her Mom is generally close to the school so her Mom brought her back and sat next to her. We got 2 classes done today which is terrific!!!

Still others of the group headed back to Little Hands Big Hearts where they are working some on a fenceline to fence in the property for safety and others on a sink (Which I'm told is pretty much completed already). Still others canvassed the area with invitations for the Bible class they will be helping with this afternoon. Amazing how much has gotten done really!!

This afternoon there will be some painting some walls at the school and others back on their projects from this morning and others helping with some general cleaning that needs to take place at Little Hands, etc!!

Again we want to assure you that all is quiet is Trujillo. We hear of the protests and such going on in the larger city, and are thankful that we are in the 'sleepy little town' of Trujillo....away from the fray. We appreciate your prayers that it stays that way and that things in all of Honduras will calm in the next few days as we have other groups hoping to come later in the summer, etc!!

ugh...the connection is to slow right now to upload pictures...I will try again tonight when sometimes the connection is faster.

but know we are all well, and having a GREAT day!!!

Another Monday update

2009-06-29T11:50:00.005-05:00

Thad just stopped in after escorting the group (on his MOTORCYCLE...more on that momentarily) to Little Hands Big Hearts where they are doing some work projects today.

He reports that everything in Trujillo is business as usual!! Even to the point that the bank has MONEY!! So exciting!!

So he, Jared and Emilson were on their way there to get in line and hope to get some. Please if you will say a prayer that they are able to. You could even pray for short lines and a fast trip, but that would mean a miracle as a 2 hour bank wait is pretty typical here on a daily basis....so we're more than willing to settle for the 2 hour line if at the end of it there is money to be had. It will mean the school and Little Hands employees are able to be paid, Jared's group will have $ for supplies, and our family will have money for our daily needs. Yes, it would be nice...but not a must have...we'll all be fine with out it too.

Thad reports that the only difference in town is that there is a stronger military presence. they are not allowing people to park or slow around the central park area and just moving them along. But other than that he said...all is back to normal for today!!! There was even gas at the gas station when his motorcyle ran out...

yes you read right, Thad has use of a motorcycle (I know scary, huh?) while he's here 'thanks' to our friend Alfonso...although I've threatened to not feed Alfonso if he doesn't take it back ;-) ha ha!

Every day we are here we become more and more 'Honduran' I don't blink at the fact that the water pressure in our house is odd...some places have it, other places don't....our toilet doesn't flush unless I fill a bucket and put it in there to flush. Our kitchen sink (about 1/4 the size of a typical American kitchen sink) requires a bucket of water beside it with a cup to dip in order to wash hands well or rinse dishes. We hang our clothes to dry (LOVE that) and wear rubber soled shoes if we cook with the electric cook-top in the kitchen (learned that one the hard way so truly now I really don't use it). I love my life here. My kids had fresh pineapple for a snack today and wake up without a groan at 6:30. They play with their friends and have a great time using lots of energy and beg to go to bed. Truly we are so extremely blessed, both here and in our home in the States. Sometimes though in the states we take for granted the ease of a flushing toilet, a fully functioning refrigerator, power that rarely goes out, money in the bank and food in the pantry. Please look around you right now and notice the littlest things that you are blessed with...perhaps it's the computer with a decent connection speed you are reading this from!!

Monday Monday!

2009-06-29T09:20:00.002-05:00

We had a good day yesterday. Yes, even with everything going on we had a great day. As we said we worshipped together here at the hotel since we weren't sure what to expect around Trujillo.

But Trujillo was very quiet. The police closed off the central park and were searching all cars as they entered the road to Trujillo.

Most citizens did just like us, and stayed close to home for the same reasons...just waiting to see if there was cause for concern. We were all surprised to read yesterday morning that the President was arrested. But there were no protests in Trujillo or anything of that nature. Stores closed and everyone stayed home.

The group from Washington enjoyed a day playing the pool, had a ping pong tournament....championship yet to be played, I'll let you know how it goes. We played a good bit of Wits and Wagers and just truly enjoyed being together. Everyone got rest which after their long journey they needed. And Cade fabulously got into our house for us after our kiddos locked us out and there were no other keys!!!

We enjoyed a lunch together along with some local missionaries the group will be working with. Lunch was Arroz Con Pollo...one of my favorites!!

YUMMY!!

Then in the afternoon leaders from the local churches and the school and the mission work Little Hands Big Hearts all came and we had a bit of an orientation to the works in Trujillo that the group will be working alongside of.

Last night we walked 'around the corner' and worshipped with the Buenos Aires congregation. When we arrived we were told that many church members would be staying home because of the unrest. But as we sang and worshipped some more filtered in. It was a wonderful service where we prayed together for peace in Honduras and spoke of the fact that sitting in that bldg were not United State citizens or Honduran citizens but citizens of heaven.

Each and everyone of us enjoyed the service. We sang songs some songs in Spanish and some songs in English and some songs we sang each group sang in their own language. It was truly uplifting!!

Today the group has headed down to the school for a tour. Some of the men already had but the group as a whole had not. So they headed down there for a bit. Then they will be getting started with some work out at Little Hands Big Hearts. Without Limps our supplies are limited, but we hope to have that resolved soon. But as we were reminded yesterday when disciples were sent out 2 by 2 in the New Testament they took no money or extra clothes...those things are not important. What we are here to do is spread the love of God!! We are excited about the week to come!! We appreciate all the prayers being offered up...keep them coming.

And FYI family and friends of the wonderful Washington folks. Feel free to leave comments for your loved ones here on the blog and we will pass your well wishes, etc on if you'd like!!

Hopefully we will be able to upload pictures soon...but as always the connections are slow and doing things like that can be challenging!!

Just please know we are all safe and doing well!! The Washington group has been just amazing!! GREAT attitudes and patience, and just truly great to spend time with!!!

Ballots or no?

2009-06-27T20:17:00.002-05:00

If you have been following the international news, you have likely seen some stories about what's going on in Honduras. Basically, the president is pushing forward with a vote tomorrow on whether or not to allow special referendums in national elections. Both the senate and the supreme court are against him on this. People here are very passionate about it on both sides of the issue. There are predictions of protesting on both sides. Rachel asked a Honduran if he thought it would happen in Trujillo. He laughed and said, "In Tegucigalpa and San Pedro, but not in Trujillo."

So even though we think everything is fine here, we are going to stay put at the hotel tomorrow, which is way up the hill from town. We are going to have worship here in the morning with the group from Washington, and we will worship just down the street at Buenos Aires tomorrow evening if all is calm. I sincerely don't believe there is anything to worry about here in Trujillo, but we will be conservative in our actions just in case.

Today, Rachel took the Washington group on a tour through town, and also finished our grocery shopping along the way. So, we are finally all set up in our apartment. We have gas for the stove, 5-gallon jugs of purified water, and plenty of rice, beans, and a couple of chickens, so we're in good shape. Our friends at Little Hands, Big Hearts also let us borrow a fan, which is doing an excellent job of keeping me from perspiring all over the keyboard on my laptop. It's the little things in life.

We are truly blessed.

No Money at the Bank

2009-06-26T22:39:00.000-05:00

So in the midst of our adventures getting to Trujillo, we never managed to exchange our dollars for lempira. No problem, I thought. I will have time to get some Friday and still have time to buy some materials at the hardware store. The bank will only let you exchange $500 at a time, so Rachel, Brian, and I planned to meet at the bank at around noon, when the lines are typically not as long, and each of us exchange $500. After waiting 2 hours in line, we were told that we could only exchange $100 apiece. Then, we were told that only two of us could exchange money at all. Apparently, the bank was running out of money.

I guess we should count our blessings, because by 3:00 pm, the bank had closed early, because they had run out completely. Apparently, this happened everywhere across the country today. I’m not 100% sure of the reason, but apparently it’s because there is a certain amount of uncertainty right now in the Honduran government. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about, but there is a power struggle between el presidente and the senate right now. Depending on whom you listen to, Mel the president is either trying to become the new Chavez or trying to return the power to the people by allowing national referendums on the ballots for certain issues. Fortunately, the majority of protests happen far away from Trujillo in the larger cities. Here, people are talking about it, but we’re not close enough to the centers of power to be worried about anything here. I hesitate to even mention all of this on the blog, because I don’t want people, especially family, to be alarmed. At the same time, I don’t want you catching something on CNN about Honduras and getting worried about us.

Also today, a group of 22 from a church in Washington State arrived in San Pedro at about 11:00 am. They planned to come all the way to Trujillo today. They were travelling in a chartered bus, which is actually a recycled US school bus. They also had a 15-passenger van they had rented to help with transportation while in Trujillo. For those of you from West Metro Church who came last summer, I’m pretty sure it was the same van we had last year. It will not be very surprising to you that somewhere around Tela, the bus gave up the ghost and breathed it’s last. The rental company didn’t have another van, but they brought another vehicle for them to drive. At about the same time they were getting back on the road, the school bus was busy breaking down in La Ceiba. The driver got it going again, saying it was a problem with the fuel filter. Jared, the group leader, and I talked on the phone, and we didn’t share the driver’s enthusiasm when he assured them that the bus was fine to make the rest of the trip to Trujillo in the dark. After a few phone calls, we found the group lodging in La Ceiba. They are split between Villa Helen’s and the Canadien Hotel in Sambo Creek, just out of Ceiba.

In the midst of all of these inconveniences, everyone has remained safe, and for this we thank God. Lord willing the group will make the rest of the journey here tomorrow morning and the situation with the government will settle down quickly. I expect that it will. As always, we ask for your prayers and thank you for following along with us.

On a funny note, our friend Alfonso just spilled sugar all over himself.

Home again home again....

2009-06-25T22:41:00.002-05:00

...jiggedy jog!!

We arrived in Trujillo today in time to visit with some friends and enjoy a FABULOUS lunch!!

We crashed for a bit, but headed down to to a close by pulperia (convenience store run out of someone's home) for some basic supplies to get us through the night and morning and turned out they were having the Flower Festival at the school All the teachers and students were there. It was so fun seeing the little girls all dressed up as flower queens and princesses and the tiny little flower girls!! They had the entire soccer field decorated with palm fronds, etc....and all the kids were just so excited!! So fun!!

We've had a good day!! Thank you for your prayers!!!

The group from Washington State has already begun their journey this way. After a few hour drive to the airport, they will fly out around midnight tonight and not arrive here until tomorrow evening. We are looking forward to seeing them. Please be praying for their safe travels and no cancelled flights or too crazy of adventures!!

One adventure down.....

2009-06-24T23:46:00.004-05:00

Well I can't upload any pictures right now. But what a day.......

We left our house around 2:45 am and we headed to the airport.

Our flight path was to be Atlanta to Miami, on to Tegucigalpa and then to La Ceiba.

When we checked in at the American desk first the lady directing everyone looked at our baggage and saw our 3 made for airlines boxes and said there was a "box embargo" and we could not take those boxes.....aahh!! We knew of the box embargo a few years ago thanks to our friend, Nadine, but she had gotten a bag to put her box in. To calm our fears I just went back and asked the lady about the bag option and she just explained that they just started the box embargo again a few weeks ago and we should have gotten a notice and we could not take them when flying into Teguc. So we head to the counter to figure out a plan and to check in and see what we can purchase or do....but we were told that our flight from Miami to Tegucigalpa, Honduras was cancelled. American Airlines was great. They put us on a Delta flight skipping the Miami leg and taking us straight to Teguc.

We were thrilled by that...it meant our luggage had an even better chance of getting there AND Delta doesn't have the box embargo (FYI if you fly American with boxes YES you can purchase a bag...the lady just thought they were out of them so she wasn't willing to commit when I asked) So we no longer had to think or worry about our suitcases and boxes!! Hooray!!

So we sat in the Atlanta airport until 10 am and headed with no problems to Teguc....and ALL our luggage got there.

We went through customs with no issues at all and headed to the TACA counter. And waited and waited and WAITED behind a couple having some sort of problem and were in a major discussion with the one employee working the counter. We started to get concerned we might miss our flight and were about to say something when that couple finished up and walked off to discuss whatever their issue was (we should have listened to the conversation so we could have prepared ourselves). Before we could chat with the TACA employee and get checked in we first had to wait for a La Prensa (Honduran newspaper) reporter to finish his conversation with the employee. I laughed something must be going on in Teguc when I turned and saw the cameras rolling toward the counter and such....hmm....another clue ignored out of exhaustion.

finally...our turn...

and we are told "your flight is cancelled" okay when and what flight can we get on?

"No more today and none tomorrow" we are told. (FYI flights run back and forth between these cities all the time all day)

Well I'll move past the crazy hour or so....and on to what happened.

TACA airlines apparently didn't pay some bills (according to a bi-lingual employee who came to help with us) and they were grounded. No flights at all.....and because of that all the other airlines flights to La Ceiba were full. So what did that do?? They chartered a mini-van and driver for us and we drove from Teguc to La Ceiba. They were willing to pay for it all the way to Trujillo, but that put us on the road for hours after dark and we have a "off the road at dark" policy we try to adhere to.

So here we are in La Ceiba. Our dear friend Brian was here when we landed in Teguc. already waiting for us to arrive ready to head back to Trujillo where we'd planned on enjoying dinner at his house with his sweet family. Instead, we got beds at a hostel and will be heading to Trujillo after a much needed night's sleep!!

Now let me clarify...

We actually had a good day. No whining or anything for the 7 hour drive. Our driver found us SPOTLESS restrooms with handsoap and toilet paper even (never take those things for granted...that's a BIG deal in Honduras!!)

If you look at the map.....because of the lack of roads, etc we drove from Tegucigalpa, to San Pedro Sula then to La Ceiba and then tomorrow morning we will get up and head on to Trujillo.

Just look at how much of this incredibly gorgeous country we got to see today.

And we had another adventure together as a family and we all agreed today that we loved our adventures even when they were a little bit exhausting what memories we created and what fun we had on our chauffeured 7 hour drive.

And we're off....

2009-06-23T19:47:00.002-05:00

in 7 hours...at 3am our journey begins. 6 1/2 weeks in Honduras.

Hmm...to sleep tonight or not to sleep tonight. Given the circumstances of this past week and that 'Pablo' has yet to even start packing, I'm leaning toward - coffee....sigh....

In our house it's the sign that it's time to return to Honduras when we run out of our favorite Honduran coffee we stock up on each trip. We ran out about a week and a half ago.

IT'S TIME TO GO!!!

Don't forget that if you click over on the right side "follow" you will be notified as soon as we post something new.

We have several layovers tomorrow...first to Miami, then Tegucigalpa, and on to La Ceiba. In La Ceiba we will be greeted by our good friend Brian who works with the Little Hands Big Hearts mission in Trujillo. We will join his family for dinner and head on to our home for the summer. We are all VERY ready to be there!!

We are hoping to be able to send out regular updates!! Perhaps even daily....but as you know nothing is ever a sure thing in Honduras.

We thank you for your prayers!!

a bit late....sorry

2009-05-29T10:23:00.006-05:00

Thought I'd share some pictures of our trip this spring to Trujillo. Our big task while we were there was to take all the school pictures of the students to send to the sponsors. For the first time ever we ended up with all but TWO kids pictures. One was sick the week we were there and the other was traveling. WOW!! We had such a great trip (as usual)!!! Hope you enjoy a few of our million pictures!

as part of their home ec. class the older students prepare (As in make the tortillas from scratch FYI) snacks and sell them at recess each day. They have really started to get into it. This day they all dressed up as chefs, had nice baskets and walked around selling! It was great fun...and who can turn down a fresh baleada?? YUMMMMM!!!

L-R Santiago, Fernando & Candido. The Bible class teachers at the school and local ministers

a student working during art class. Look close you will see tinkerbell!

The teachers had a feast for us the last day we were in town...oh my goodness. On the left are Honduran style enchiladas (YUM!) , in the middle are tacos (yes that's what they call tacos and they are SOOO delicious - here most would know them as flautas or taquitos), and on the right is a chicken salad type dish in a pretty toast bowl. We had cake, pineapple cookies, etc....They were so good to us and made us feel so special. It truly was all incredibly delicious.

before leaving town we met up one last time with Alfonso to see one of his work sites and learn more about the work this mission is doing. It is to put clean water & latrines into poor communities. this building is a water filtration building in a village. It was really interesting!

A local soccer club here in Georgia donated enough awesome Adidas soccer/futbol jerseys for each student and teacher. It would be an understatement to say that they really liked them!!

attempting to get the class to make silly faces...ha ha!

Earthquake 5/28

2009-05-28T10:54:00.007-05:00

IMAGED ADDED: click on it to link to a blog article with info on the earthquake and latest status of things.

also the missionary family who live and work in Trujillo at Little Hands Big Hearts has a few posts on THEIR BLOG as well, one after driving around Trujillo to check on all the families they serve. How wonderful to know that all are okay!
Most of you may have already heard that there was a 7.1 magnitude earthquake near the island of Roatan this morning.

It was felt all along to coast where we travel in Honduras. We have heard from Emilson and Brian and Sara (missionaries at Little Hands Big Hearts) in Trujillo and everyone there is okay.

There was an initial Tsunami alert issued, but that has since been cancelled.

There is a medical team from Mississippi scheduled to make the trip to Trujillo in one week. At present the reports are that the bridge between San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba is closed due to some fissures and for further inspection.

Please pray it is repaired quickly so that the group is able to get through with few difficulties. And of course remember in prayer those in Honduras that are dealing with the effects of the earthquake.

We thank you for all of your care and support for the work in Trujillo

Follow Us!

2009-05-20T08:41:00.002-05:00

We've added a new option on the right side of the blog in preparation for the summer trips. Our family leaves for Trujillo on June 24th and will be in Honduras until August 8th. During that time, we will have Christians from Washington State, Kansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arizona and Georgia working together to glorify God in Trujillo.
Internet is sketchy at times in Trujillo, as you might know from reading the blog during our trip last year so often people were checking the blog and we'd not been able to post any news. By becoming a "follower" you will be notified as soon as a new story has been posted to the blog.

April Report from TCS

2009-05-20T08:39:00.000-05:00

Dear Sponsors,

Greetings to everyone in the Lord's love and peace elaborate on each heart. It is gratifying to announce the good that happens about every child in school. And thanks to all that is still possible with the valuable help of our North American brothers.  

Once again it is gratifying to notice the advantages that our heavenly Father gives his children every day. We continue this hard work with dedication, diligence, dedication, love to every child in school every day we are committed to providing quality education in the lives of our Honduran brothers. It is no exception without the support of our brothers in the United States that with every letter, picture we receive in the mail box every month and every time a child receives a postcard, letter or gift from our brothers sponsoring them put a huge smile on his face with great joy, and happiness.

In the month of April 2009, our students enjoyed a holiday week from April 04 to April 12. These are due to the holiday tradition in Latin countries such as ours are celebrating the Easter season. So our students come to visit family, field trips, rivers, beaches, etc.. It is a moment in which from that time almost everywhere in the country enjoying the national holiday.

 School activities are going well in all aspects of education and thanks to God and we will finish the fourth month of classes this year and provided with all the efforts of our sponsors, teachers and administrative staff in schools who make such a noble work of education. On March 28 we made in local schools, Bible classes for all our students and faculty. This activity is carried out since 2007 for the spiritual strengthening of each child and teacher. The mission is to help households in each heart, and spread the seed of the gospel on anyone who is part of our institution.   Teachers now start to carry out activities such as cleaning the school, painting classrooms, collecting aid for the celebration of Mother’s Day (May 10^th) and many of them are enthusiastic about the activity. Some teachers in seventh to ninth grades are employed in polished concrete walls in the multipurpose building for the event in which all our appreciable mothers benefit with snacks and drinks in her honor.

Thanks to all our beloved brothers in the United States who still making of the education a reality for many spiritual and lives in Trujillo. Every day we pray to our heavenly Father for spill rich and abundant blessings in the life of each friend and brother, who sponsors the school.

Thank very much for your valuable assistance brothers.

Sincerely,

Students and staff employees

ASOCRIDE, Honduras

March update (pictures to come from our visit)

2009-04-03T09:41:00.002-05:00

Trujillo, March 19 2009

Dear Sponsors:

Once again it is gratifying to notice the advantages that our heavenly Father gives his children every day. We continue this hard work with diligence & dedication to every child in school. Every day we are committed to providing quality education in the lives of our Honduran brothers.
And this month is no exception. Without the support of our brothers in the United States that with every letter, photograph we receive in the mail box every month and every time a child receives a postcard, letter or gift from our brothers sponsoring them put a huge smile on his face with great joy and jump, to burn her in the classroom and they say, I have a gift! It's indescribable emotion that children reflect. And all thanks to the support of the good-hearted people who for 16 years help ASOCRIDE.

This month to be exact we celebrate "Father's Day" March 19th at school and we work with each parent in celebration of our students and where they share snacks and drinks to make every parent to know how valuable it is for us and they trust the school to send their children to receive a Christian and secular education. So in our country is recognized in all public and private schools holding our fathers in general.

Also we will have the visit from Atlanta, GA in a small group of our brothers who are in charge of the school here for operation of schools in Honduras. Our brothers come to get pictures of each of our students, some work like letters, and personal data from children to the sponsors. And without this valuable work we could not achieve the goals and achievements outlined in the school. It is an excellent work there in Atlanta that the brothers perform for the school to continue its spiritual education.
Thank you very much for the spiritual and material cooperation in which each month with great enthusiasm and performed well in this way are a great link in the chain of love and evangelism we call ASOCRIDE.

We ask for prayer because we want to do the best work every day. God bless each good heart.

Your brother in Christ,

Emilson Paz

“Instruye al niño en su camino, y aun cuando fuere viejo no se apartara de el”. Proverbios 22:6

February report

2009-03-06T14:34:00.001-05:00

Trujillo, February 20 of 2009

February Report

Dear Sponsors:
Incredibly, we already finished the second month of the year and we shared with each of the many students. On February 6th we met each employee of the school and many details are planned for the benefit of students and management of the school year. Wanted good classroom management, discipline, methodology, projects for school computers, and seek the cooperation of parents and in this way contribute to a quality education and care for the Trujillo population.

We have completed the purchase of several seats (desks) for students fourth grade and fifth grade, some still are pending. Teacher Waldina plans to change a few sheets (on the tin roof) of the eighth grade and at the same time placing ceiling roof (several of the classrooms currently have no ceiling, just open rafters) for more comfort in the classroom that is now approaching the summer months.
We are adding new employees at the school to continue with the idea, vision, love, and dedication to each child and who understand the mission of supporting with their skills. They are; Alma Nora Maradiaga, who is in charge of Mathematics classes, Franklyn Valladares, in charge as watchman, landscaping, and many work in the school, is he the son of our dear brother in Christ and a former employee Vicente Valladares, who for reasons of health stopped working with the school. Besides to mention as each year, we start on February 9th the devotional for teachers and administrative staff at the school. Every Monday this activity is to help and strengthen our spiritual life, knowledge and clear up questions for those new employees who are just beginning to know the Bible. In the previous year we have obtained good results with the baptism of new employees who have joined the institution and those who remain faithful in the church of The Lord. All the above is still possible through the kindness of brothers in the United States. Honduras since our gratitude and prayers for rich and abundant blessings every day for every sponsor, brother and friend with love, vision, mission, is in their hearts the desire to help many children, brothers and sisters in the churches and employees to conduct a work of spreading the Gospel in Honduras.
In the love of Jesus Christ.

Your brother in Christ,

Emilson Paz

Gracias, por ayuda!!

2009-03-06T14:28:00.004-05:00

a few new desks for some teacher's at the school who needed them!

"Gracias ..por ayuda" (Thank you for the help!) the teacher's said. They are excited to get new desks to store their materials, etc!

We appreciate each sponsor's help in making things like this a reality through your help and support of the school!

School's back in session!

2009-02-20T12:10:00.004-05:00

The rainy season has ended and we've begun another school year. Yes, that's right, if you aren't familiar the school year in Honduras runs from February - November. So just as we are looking forward to spring break and the summer to follow, they have just begun another school year!
Just as a brief update we got word about two weeks ago that they had just finally got a metal bridge up between Trujillo and Tocoa to replace the one that was washed away by the flooding.
below you will find a report from Emilson, the administrator at the school. We hope to be able to post a monthly report going forward. Thank you for all of your help and support for the school!

January Report

Dear Sponsors:

As every year it is a privilege to begin with the blessing of our Lord and Father, because without the help of the creator may not be so many wonders in our lives as is the work of the school in Trujillo, which has been of great blessing for many children for more than 16 years when operations start in teaching and education to every Christian in our small community. It has been very blessed the unconditional support of each of the sponsors every year and they have the goodness in their hearts to continue helping the school.

Each year this is no exception since last November I had a lot of work in order to leave school and also prepare uniforms for each following year. Part of December and January is to make contributions and the respective purchases of materials for uniforms for students and has been a month of hard work for me (Emilson Paz), and I have to constantly travel to the city of San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba to make further purchases of office supplies and have a 100% performance of the school. All this is possible thanks to each sponsor with their valuable contribution we make monthly for each child in the school received with great joy and a blessing pants, shirt, shoe, etc. to make it easy to both secular and spiritual education which is very important to train men and women who serve the Lord in a not far future. Classes begin next February 02th in which we expect around 320 or more students.

The teaching and administrative staff began the arduous task of registering each student and to prepare the building for everyone to have a proper place, nice and will receive their lessons. In addition we're very proud to support the community of Trujillo and thanks to the goodwill of the brothers and friends in the United States who make a chain of love and contribution.

Thank you very much to each member of the Churches of Christ in the US who make our educational and spiritual ... as children, adults, and individuals have received the gospel through the school for many years and continue this work to sow seed of the Word of God in every heart. Our prayers for each day that this year does not tell the news as a difficult year..... We do not believe that God pours rich spiritual and material blessings to their children with love and fidelity who do his work on the earth.

with all my love and dedication to the school, church, family and friends.

In Christ,

Emilson Paz.

PRAYERS NEEDED!!

2008-11-03T21:24:00.004-05:00

The picture below came from a peace corp volunteer in Trujillo

Collapsed bridge over Rio Chapagua

This picture is from the La Prensa News of the devastation to farmland, etc

The picture below was taken by a friend of ours. A missionary who works with a Church organization called Little Hands Big Hearts. We've mentioned Brian and Sara and the work they do for the special needs children of Trujillo before. Right now they are working tirelessly to help the citizens of Trujillo as they all weather this rainy season together. This is the road out of Trujillo.

be in prayer for Brian, Sara, Alyssa, Jeffrey, Maybelline and all of those doing what they can to help! Also pray for our teachers, students, adminstrators, etc at the school. As of a message from Emilson today there is no fuel and little food in Trujillo (trucks can't get there). The picture above is the main road just outside of Trujillo on the way to Tacoa (the one way in and out), also bridges along the way from the main cities are being reported as being washed away. The current situation is being compared to Hurricane Mitch as far as damage to the country. Here is a news article that will give you better info: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7695566.stm

Brian and Sara are updating their blog as they are able

http://bilodeaufamily.blogspot.com/

Here is a piece I took from it:

"It sounds like Niagra Falls all the time. We have not had much of a break in the rain since yesterday. Last night Brian, Jeffery and a few others took more soup over to the shelter. They went room to room talking about the Lord and handing out Bibles. One per family was the plan, but some young people insisted that they receive one because their families weren't there. A group of teens sat around and took turns reading to each other out of the Bible we had given them. How exciting to not only feed them physically, but more importantly, spiritually!"

We thank all of you for praying for the people in Honduras. We will update with any further information as we get it.

Also an update on Senor V. We are so grateful for the prayers. Emilson, Santiago and Candido and others drove to San Pedro a couple of weeks ago to meet with and visit him. he had been worshipping with a local congregation in Trujillo and studying with the ministers for some time before he got sick. When they visited with him he asked to be immersed in baptism!! What wonderful news! As far as his physical health, he was diagnosed with lung cancer and the last update was he was being sent to Teguc for more testing, but the Drs at that time were just keeping him as comfortable as possible with pain meds. Again we thank you for your prayers!

Prayers of healing

2008-09-26T10:31:00.007-05:00

Senior Vicente (known to most as "Senor V") has been ill the last few weeks. We are getting updates as things change, but please pray for him, for his comfort and for his sisters as they care for him.

The reports are varied, but the possiblity is that he has lung cancer. If you've been to Trujillo on a mission trip and helped with the school, no doubt you have been helped in some way by "Senor V" he is the caretaker and night watchmen of the school.

A shower room was built for him last year and improved upon this year by teams that traveled to TCS to do work projects.

He is who holds the keys to all the rooms, cleans up and burns all the trash, etc. He is a kind man who we love dearly!!

prayers of praise

2008-08-22T20:10:00.003-05:00

Emilson's brother, Julio, was in an accident this past week. He was taken to the hospital but is doing well and gaining strength. We thank God for this!! Also we are praying that the bread company whose truck caused the accident will accept fault and cover the expenses.

In regards to an update to the tragedy in the Guadalupe Carney area. Thankfully, no more killings have occured. Many of the residents (those that were squatting the land) that have been in Guadalupe Carney for many years have moved away for fear of more trouble. Please continue to pray for peaceful resolutions to these issues.

Prayers for peace

2008-08-06T08:32:00.009-05:00

(photos from the protest breaking up along the road while we were there)

We have learned of a tragedy that occurred in Trujillo on Sunday. We have been trying to get as much information as possible. There is a squatters community on the road leading to Trujillo called Guadalupe Carney. Some of you that have been to Trujillo may have visited there to do evangelizing or purchased things in the "Made in Honduras" shop where many residents of Guadalupe Carney make and sell their crafts.
On Sunday the anger over the land rights took a new level and 12 people (residents of Guadalupe Carney) were killed.

This is upsetting to all that live in Trujillo as it is a usually a very peaceful town. The Honduran government plans to send police to keep order. Please pray for that peace to be achieved quickly!

Here is a link to a brief write up about it, but it was also on the cover of Monday's La Prensa (Honduras newspaper) which you can look up online and was posted on Reuters and with the Associated Press.

We thank you for your prayers

edited to add...no students at Trujillo Christian were involved or hurt. I know of several students grandparents that live in Guadalupe Carney, but they were not hurt either.

Our House

2008-07-29T22:00:00.010-05:00

Many have asked about our house in Trujillo...here you go...this is a look around where we lived - I'll leave out the tarantulas though, but there were PLENTY of them that would decide to show themselves when it was just myself, Annina and the kids at the house...arrgghh!! I am so glad there were no hidden cameras for you to see how Annina and I handled these delightful surprises!! Let's just say I LOVE Thad's souvenier this year he purchased for himself early on...a nice new machete!!!

Our house
Bathroom

yumminess from the market!!

Did you know that Cornflakes can "Protect your family from the Anemia" ...????!!!

You buy milk off the shelves at the store in cartons. Once it's opened it goes in the fridge. Tasted fine to me...I'm not too milk picky when it's store bought. Although we drink fresh milk in the states, I wouldn't want to in Honduras. Although I did on Roatan, but it had been boiled.

our kitchen - before we got things like a dish drain, etc And the drawers are out where I had scrubbed the droppings out of them...orginally I thought they were mouse droppings, but Thad was nice enough to point out that it could have been tarantulas....lovely!!

our 'pantry'

looking out our balcony at "the dungeon" as I called it....this is where we did our laundry when we were able to...we had to watch to see if it was unlocked though and just do it around the hotel employees doing laundry for the hotel. We were blessed to be able to use a machine though when we were able to get in there.

Our living room...and dining room (there was no kitchen table). the chairs and couch had seen better days (I swept up TONS of foam that fell our from the cushions), but they were functional. This view is looking down from Annina. Nadine, and Stephanie's room. The stairs you see going down behind the chairs are just at the kitchen 'pantry', they go down to the other room which Alfonso had planned to stay in, but there was no screen on the windows and he got eaten alive by mosquitos so that didn't work out...but it also goes to the entrance.

some pictures we promised

2008-07-28T21:48:00.008-05:00

Here are pictures of Rebin in his 'stander' after the pad and varnish were added. Bobby, from the Goodwood Blvd team, worked with Rebin regularly while he was in Trujillo. He showed a picture of a stander to Otto (also from Goodwood Blvd Church) and Brian and they worked together to design one with what they had to work with. They did a great job!! Sarah shared her sewing skills as well! We showed you a picture the first time he was in it while they were finishing it. Here it is finished, at his home. By the way, Rebin had never lifted his head...God is good! I look forward to hearing the progress from Brian and Sarah as after just a few weeks and months with this his neck muscles should strengthen immensely!

Bobby and Rebin. Bobby thank you for using your talents and knowledge as an occupational therapist to help the little ones of Trujillo!

Sara has a picture on her blog of Brian, Otto and Bobby fitting Rebin in his stander the first time

Going to church or being the Church....

2008-07-27T19:45:00.016-05:00

or both?? I need to do a better job at being a member of the Lord's Church, not just going to church. Can you truly imagine if truly every day of our lives we Christians took to heart being the church and doing the good works of Christ in the name of his Father? Today I sat in a beautiful clean church building and worshiped God with other Christians, we sang beautiful songs, prayed, listened to good teachings, took the Lord's supper, listened to announcements, and went to Bible class, we also spent time chatting and visiting with our Christian brothers and sisters. All wore nice, clean clothes, came to worship in a vehicle and went home to a house/apartment...most probably at least a 3 bdrom 2 bath home with a garage, etc. Many (including myself and many others members from our congregation that we ran into there) went out to eat on their way home and probably if you are like me...overate and got more food than your bellies truly needed. Then, as is tradition in our family, went home and took a Sunday afternoon nap. That was THIS Sunday, but LAST Sunday..........We were blessed to join members of the Buenos Aires Church in a service project they had planned. We happened to be around when they were discussing the plans, and asked if we could join them. On Sunday morning we met at the church bldg at 8am. This small congregation had been collecting their extra clothes for some time and had planned to take time to go and deliver them to some very poor families in the mountains of Trujillo. The group from Goodwood had left clothes with us they had used while in Honduras (West Metro did the same, but they went to some other needs) and a few ladies from the congregation helped me by washing them so we could add them to the bags they had already collected from those in their congregation. When we arrived at 8am they already had it sorted into labeled bags so each would know in general what was in the bag they carried like "boys", "girls", "pants", etc.
Now, my first mistake...I worried about what I wore. Thad questioned when I got dressed that morning, but I have always had it in my head and am working on getting it out of my head that all women in Honduran wear a dress to worship, and I should not do otherwise.... But doing as I thought I should as we had been told we would be worshiping, I wore a long (lined - you women will appreciate that as it was sweltering) skirt and of course you must have coordinating shoes...what good woman on Sunday morning wouldn't wear shoes that worked with the outfit?? So I wore my best flip flops...they were black patten flip flops (read...they are very slippery and impossible to walk in if wet). So Thad, John Mark and I (MK had spent the night at her friend's house and they worship with the Eduardo Castillo congregation) arrived at the building to find the congregation's women working on organizing the bags and they looked like this.....
some had on shorts, most had on jeans...most had on a hat, those that didn't had grabbed one out of the bags from Goodwood, and then gave them away along the trip (we were going into mountainous jungle areas after all turns out)....I was getting just a CLUE of what was to come. I considered running back up the hill to the house to change, but didn't want them to wait on just me so I thought "Oh I'll be fine" And we headed out, along a wooded path guided by a man with a machete. After a short walk we came up on a river that we had to cross..note to self....patten flip flops are not good for river crossing nor is a long lined skirt...but I made it!

We wound around these little trails way off the road and over the rivers til we came up on these little stone houses built by the European Union (you can see a bit of the sign on the house in the picture above to the right of the door). The houses were well built, but basic, built to serve needs not to be luxurious. Generally just one room with entire families (including grandparents) living in the room together. After going house to house, praying with, studying scriptures with and digging through bags to find clothes that were good for the members of each household, we moved on along the trail. More river crossings, and up the mountain we went...up and up and up carrying bags of clothes with us. Somewhere where hiking shoes would have been helpful as footing was challenging. There were places that were washed out mountainsides from mudslides in the rainy season. In the end, I made it up - we get by with a little help from our friends, right?! Thank goodness for Waleska's helping hand, she is such a sweet young girl! We got up over the top of a high point to realize we were at a house that had one of the most amazing views (see below...taken at the corner of their 'yard')!!! only for Thad to say "I know this family" it was the home of a little boy named Angelito (sp?) that he had met when he was working with Bobby from the Goodwood team with some special needs children out at Little Hands Big Hearts. It was amazing to see what they endured to get down to town to receive the help their child needs. The house was mud and thatch and dirt floors with again the most spectacular view ever and as clean and neat as can be inside. They had very little, but you could tell took care of what little they had! We took a rest up there, after studying with his Mom, ate some mangoes from their trees and drank a bit of the Coke that had been brought along. Thad even did some of the stretches he learned from Bobby with Angelito and he just smiled and smiled. His joints were so stiff, I thought for sure he would cry as Thad slowly stretched him, but he didn't he just looked at him and grinned. We continued up and down and around for 4+ hours total that day, stopping from house to house and studying, praying, singing and delivering clothes. At one house we found a girl that had come down the mountain and gone to Trujillo Christian School until she graduated. At another a little girl that had her picture on the wall from her school picture last year from the school. A long hike for these children each day to even get to where a road would easily get them to the school. At many homes they knew Fernando, the minister at the church, as he had visited before. After 4 hours we headed back down coming down a different way and crossing over a deeper part of the river with no good place to find rocks to step across...it was essentially a swimming hole. And low and behold we look down and there is one of our kids from the school (Enrique FYI Spencer family who sponsors him!) enjoying a dip in the deep waters on a hot afternoon.

This crazy gringa just took off her horrid unsensible shoes, hiked up her skirt walked across enjoying the cool mountain water after a long hike! As Fernando said that night at worship, it was an exhausting day, but a happy one. Each family was very thankful and appreciative of the clothes given to them. And the Christians we were with were so encouraging and kind to be around. The children joined in the scripture readings and worship with the adults just as they do in worship in their building as there is no separate room, just a little concrete room with wooden benches to sit on. No bathroom...no place for children's church...they just are a part of the church right alongside their families. They sing all the songs even generally the youngest ones. Not just quietly but loudly, not worrying about a melody, worrying only that they are praising!

John Mark in the very first house we went to noticed a shirt of his being given to a child...my kids tend to attach to things and I wasn't sure what to expect. Sure enough he looked up at me in a bit of a panic and said "Mommy is that MY shirt?!" I said "yes son it is, what do you think about that?" and after a minute truly not knowing what he would say (and honestly scared of a meltdown over a shirt and praying I would handle it wisely and not die of humiliation if it happened) he looked around the one room house with no kitchen, no bathroom, only one small rope bed, and in another corner all of their possessions, and said "I think I have a lot more and they could use it more than me" It was a moment that I hope/pray to repeat.

Then I told him a bit more about who he was serving alongside that day. You see, one of the families in this congregation who had added their extra clothes to the bags, and who walked from house to house were a family that Nadine, Stephanie, Keith and Vickie worked with for 2 weeks working on improving their home for them. But this family had extra and knew some didn't and helped plan this event to share what little they had with others who had less....
I pray I can be that kind of person, I pray that I can do better about not getting attached to things or wanting pretty things, wanting my house to be just so...or worrying about what shoes I have on or if my clothes are just right....and instead that I can focus on being the Christian that I need to be, getting down and dirty (literally or figuratively) for the Lord and doing what I am called to do. That I am sharing what I have as I have been told to do. Not just the knowledge that I have. the Message is of course important, but going beyond that as well.....I learned a lot about myself on that 4 hour hike. Stuff I didn't like very much.
Sitting in church this morning in that beautiful building I struggled remembering where we had been at the same time just one week prior.....two very different worship experiences. Two things that are good, two things that are needed...how can I in my life incorporate the two? Will I be the church tomorrow? What will I do each day to make a difference. What will I sacrifice so that others do not have to be without? I have lots of extra, will I be like the family that went with us and gave what extra they had so others had their needs met? Will I go places that make me uncomfortable so that I can help others? So much to think about, so much on my heart.....