Low Sunday

I am so glad that the Lord blesses even on low Sundays. Yesterday we had very low attendance. Many of our people were out visiting family in other parts of the country and there was a lot of sickness. Some of my Sunday school kids didn't know we were having service. On that aspect though, I don't know why.

We only had 22 kids and 12 adults yesterday for services, but we had a wonderful time in the Lord. Norma (Santos' widow) came yesterday with her oldest son and they looked like they were doing much better. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to them as I was busy taking down Christmas decorations after the service. She did say that it is getting easier and her son had lost some of the angry look in his face.

I don't know if I am growing more like my Dad or what, but last night we took down the Christmas tree and decorations. This is the first year that I have ever wanted to take down the Chrismtas decor. I think I need some serious mental help!

Our Christmas

Things are finally getting back to normal around here. We had a great Christmas. The kids drama went really great. The other years we have done a drama there has been sparse attendance, but this year the auditorium was filled. The kids loved it and the parents did too. We never just give the kids gifts. They are always based on faithfulness or as a prize for hard work. This year we didn't have a lot to spend on the kids and so we found stockings at a grocery store here for about $.45 a piece and we put all the kids' names on them with glitter glue. When you are not able to do a lot for each child, we have found that personalizing something takes the emphasis off of the fact that the toy was really cheap. We filled the stocking with a popcorn ball, some cookies and a small toy. Everyone loved them. We gave them out only to the kids who were faithful to the drama practices and Sunday School. We started out with 40, but the last practice was poorly attended so we ended up with 29 kids actually getting the stockings. Some of the kids that didn't get one were disappointed, but we just explained that God blesses when we are faithful to put the right things first.

Christmas eve we went over to Ernesto and Nelly's house (they work with us in Ojojona) to give them a Christmas basket. They had made fresh squeezed Orange juice and coffee for us. It was so good, but until then I didn't know that I had an intestinal parasite. I had been having slight stomach aches up to that point, but I had thought that it was just because of all the work that I had to do the past week and thought it would go away when I stopped running. Unfortunately, intestinal parasites thrive on someone that has eaten citrus. I went to bed Christmas eve feeling a little sick, but woke up Christmas morning feeling much worse. It was then that I realized what I had. Christmas day was spent with friends of ours at their house so all I had to do was make four pies that day. At 5:00 pm (when the pharmacies opened again) I was able to buy the medicine I needed and by bedtime was feeling much better. At least I can't say that my life is boring.

The kids' main gift this year was a swing set. They loved it (watch the video to see their reaction, but keep the sound low, the microphone on the camera works well). We had them open up their other presents first and then they did a treasure hunt and found the swing set put up in the front yard. We had closed all of the curtains (which are only sheers) hoping that they wouldn't see what we had put together during the night. Thankfully they didn't and they were greatly surprised. Jason's gift to me was a cell phone that also is a MP3 player. I have had the privilege to taking it back to the store twice. Once because the program to download songs didn't work and the next time because the memory chip was bad. Now that it is working, I love it. I spent many hours trying to figure it out and was beginning to think that he only bought me that phone to teach me patience. I wanted to throw it out the window many times :-). It is working great now and I love it.

Today I went in to get my eyes checked as I have been having slight headaches. I found out that I have a slight astigmatism and will need to wear glasses full time. Thankfully they are not very strong. I will get them tomorrow and then have to go through the process of getting used to wearing them again. Seven years ago I started wearing them for reading and watching TV and they corrected themselves so I discontinued using them, but now the doctor says that I will have to wear them all the time.

Egg Nog Bread Recipe

I was able to get a lot done today. Xiomara came over and helped me to make the 100 popcorn balls that I needed. I can't imagine how long it would have taken me if she hadn't come.

I also finished my Christmas shopping and started to make my Pecan Sandies. If I can get the Party Sugar Cookies (flavored and colored by Jello powder) made tomorrow I should make it.

As I have had a request for my Egg-Nog Bread recipe, here it is.

3 cups Flour

1 tbsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

3/4 cups Sugar

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup melted butter

1 Egg

1 1/2 cups Egg-Nog

3/4 cup chopped Nuts

3/4 cup Candied Fruit (I don't put this in)

Directions:

1. Sift dry ingredients

2. Combine Egg-Nog, melted Butter, and Egg

3. Stir into dry ingredients just to blend

4. Blend in nuts

5. Bake in a greased bread tin @ 350F for 60 to 70 minutes for a large pan or 40 to 45 for small pans

Bread is done when it is golden in color. Remove from pan and allow to cool completely before cutting. This recipe yields 1 large or 3 small loaves.

If you like candied fruit (I am not a big fan) you can put in, but I have made it both ways and not putting the candied fruit does not change the bread in any way.

This bread is so easy and looks wonderful when it is done. I am so glad that they sell Egg-Nog year round here as I am sure that this is going to become a much repeated recipe here.

Services

Wow, did we every have a lot of kids in Sunday School today. We had a few new kids, but most were regulars. I made 50 coloring page copies and didn't have enough. Praise the Lord for the many kids that have been faithful to church.

Please pray for Norma. She is the wife of a Pastor in a mountain town called Aragua. Last week after being confronted with issues of sin in his life and after he had been removed from the pastorate for a time to get his life back on track, he hung himself. This has been hard on everyone. Pastor Santos is the ones responsible for the church in Ojojona. It was because of his burden that several pastors got together and bought the land and put up the building for us before we even got to Honduras.

Norma is having a very hard time. Not only does she now have to find a way to take care of herself and her three boys (the oldest is almost 7), but she constantly has to live with the looks and remarks from her townspeople. She is still trying to decide if she is going to go to church with us in Ojojona for a few months or if she will go about the same distance in the other direction to go to the church where her parents attend. I feel so sorry for her oldest boy. He was in Sunday school today, but looked as if he had the weight of the world on his shoulders.

Yesterday evening we had a "Thanksgiving Service" at Rueben and Xiomara's house. It was a time that they have every year to witness to their family and neighbors. It was a great time, but I got so eaten by mosquitoes that I am not looking forward to next year. :-) I am praying that I won't get dengue (a mosquito born illness). With the many illness and injuries that we have sustained as a family in the past month it would just be my luck to get sick right before Christmas. I am kicking myself for not putting on Off, but the mosquitoes have been dormant with the cold we have been having and Off stinks. The past three days though have been quite warm and I guess that woke the hungry mosquitoes up.

Tomorrow Xiomara is coming over to help me make 100 popcorn balls for the Sunday school kids after the drama on Sunday. After that I only have to make about 450 more cookies. Lots of baking to do. Thankfully I have a week to do it in. :-)

Back again

I have received some comments that I have been missed. Thank you to all of you for your concern and prayers for us. Things have been a little crazy at the Tate Loony Farm. The day before Thanksgiving when my in-laws were here I was taking out the garbage and stepped on a top left at the bottom of the stairs. I went down along with the garbage and sprained my ankle. I didn't go into the doctor for a week. I had an aircast so I was using that. My leg was still hurting after a week so I decided to make sure that the bone was not broken too. The doctor took x-rays and found out that I had a bad sprain. I also have a slight bone spur growing from a previous injury that had not healed properly. So to err on the side of caution I was put in a cast and on bed rest for two weeks. The cast was made like the ones in the states except for the fact that the bottom was not reinforced so I wouldn't walk on it.

On Monday my cast came off and I have been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to catch up. I am so far behind on everything. I have to use my aircast for another two weeks at which time the doctor will re-evaluate the injury. I am enjoying the freedom of being able to walk through the house and get things done.

Today I am going to be making Banana Bread and Egg-Nog Bread for my Christmas gift baskets. I wanted to make Stollen as that is what I did last year when I was in the states, but I forgot to bring the recipe with me. My mom has spent a lot of time looking for it, but she hasn't been able to find it. I am glad to know that I can get the ingredients to make it here. When I go home in March for my brother's wedding I hope to find my recipe at that time.

I will try to be more on top of my blogging from now on. Thank you for praying for us and please continue to do so.

Headaches

Thank the Lord for headaches. Jason's headache saved our testimony last week. Thursday afternoon we got a call Sandra. Sandra used to attend our church, but has not come in a long time. Her son Osmin and his woman, Esperanza (they are trying to get their papers to get married), and their four kids live in the same house as Sandra. Sandra also provides lodging for her four other unmarried kids and their families.

Last term we were able to lead Esperanza to the Lord. Coming back from furlough we were able to talk to Osmin and he got saved. He has been baptized and they are trying to get their papers to get married. Osmin is very burdened for his mom to return to church.

Sandra called us to ask us if we could bring a fridge she had just bought to Ojojona. Normally we try to help whenever we can, but this day Jason had a headache and didn't want to go. He told her that if she could wait a day he could help her out. She found someone else and got it to her house.

When we talked to Osmin on Sunday he told us that Sandra had bought the fridge to start a "bar" in her house. We are so thankful that we didn't help her bring the fridge to her house.

Please pray for Osmin and Esperanza. They both work and have no money, but they are looking for a cheap house for rent so they can get out of that house. We have seen so much growth in this couple and the devil wants to defeat them. They are a light in a very dark house and neighborhood.

Smart decisions

Have you ever done something and thought, "Boy that was not my smartest decision ever." As Jordan grows up I am sure he will have many of those moments, but yesterday will probably rank high on that list.

I was doing Audrey's math and I heard a crash and then a kid screaming. As I was running upstairs to find out what was wrong I heard Joey saying, "I'm sorry, Jordan. I'm sorry". So I (of course) thought that Joey had done something to Jordan. Jason, who was two steps ahead of me, was picking up Jordan off of the floor when I got there. We didn't know what had happened, but Joey was quickly climbing down from Jordan's top bunk. Once I found out that no bones were broken, I calmed Jordan down to see what happened.

Jordan told us that that it was not Joey's fault, but that he had been walking on his bed and fell off. That didn't make sense to me so I asked him again how he could fall off the bed. He told me "Well, it was because I had the garbage can on my head and I couldn't see." Thankfully he got away with a small bruise above his eye. It is a good thing he has a very hard head.

Can anyone tell me how someone can think that it is smart to walk on a top bunk with a garbage can on your head?

My weekend

This weekend has been pretty hectic (isn't it always). Since we had a National Pastor stay with us it seemed like I spent most of the time in the kitchen. It was a great time of fellowship.

The kids have been sick for a while now. Audrey is just ending her second week and this morning I bundled her up and sent her to church. I am hoping that her cold will not get worse again. Today I stayed home with Joey whose cold is worse. He has been playing with his ear so I am hoping that it is not an ear infection. I have him some Children's Mucinex today and that has helped him to cough up some of the phlegm. He seemed to be better tonight so hopefully we won't need to take him in to the doctor for antibiotic.

It was so cold here today. Weather channel online said it is only 62 degrees outside. It is not so bad when the wind is not coming in the windows. If you have never seen Central American windows, they are like glass shutters. I do enjoy the cool weather thought. I am enjoying using my sweaters and turtlenecks again. This cold weather will only last for the next two months at the longest. The only negatives of the cold are sickness and low attendance in church as most people don't want to leave their fires and go out in the cold.

I finally got Audrey's princess dress done. We bought the fabric and pattern last year when they went on sale after Halloween. This will be one of Audrey's Birthday presents this year. She has already seen it as I had to try it on her to get the hem right. She doesn't get it until her birthday on Friday though. I embroidered the Mickey and Minnie that are on the bottom with my embroidery machine. Since I didn't have any princess patterns that I could embroider, Audrey asked if she could have this one. It was my first big embroidery piece. It took me just about an hour to do. It was not hard, but twice I cut the thread to close to the needle and had to start a color over. The machine needle broke once also and it was fun trying to figure out how to change it without restarting the whole project. Thankfully everything turned out great. The dress is big so she can wear it for a long time. She will have to wear a shirt for a while as the top is to big for her. I wanted to make sure that she could wear it at least until we go back to the states again or she grows out of playing dress up.

Sad Drive Home

Tonight our friends, the Jacksons, called and asked us to help them move. We went out and helped them make one trip. They are still working to finish their house so we could only bring over enough things to fill one of the rooms. With their two trucks and our big green one we made it all in one trip.

On our way home it was very rainy and foggy. Jason almost hit a drunk guy that was walking in the middle of road. We praise the Lord that we were able to advert this accident. As we were coming back into Tegucigalpa we saw a lot of police lights flashing in front of a school. As we got nearer we saw why. There was a young man dead in the middle of the street. We don't know if it was a student or just someone who had tried to cross the street at the wrong time. It made me think of the sadness of the situation. The area we passed through does not have a good church nearby. They only have the Jehovah's Witnesses and Catholics. Imagine this young man coming home from school not knowing that he would be stepping out into an eternity, most likely without Christ.

How easily we get bogged down by the every day life of living in Honduras and work in our church. At time it is sad to say that we can forget why we are here, and that is to see lost souls come to the Saviour. My prayer is that we will not soon forget that every person we see is one day going to be in eternity. We may be the deciding factor in where that eternity will be spent, Heaven or Hell.

Prayer Time

Not much has been happening lately in the Tate house. Jason has been busy, but I have been at home with sick kids. It has gotten cold here. While mid-60's is not cold for most people it is for us. The houses are not airtight or heated and made to stay cool. So when it is the cold time of the year, it gets really cold inside. Whenever this change of year happens the kids always get sick with colds.

Last night when we were having our family devotions and Audrey was praying, Joey started kissing me. I quietly told him to stop as we were praying. He whispered in my ear, "We're not praying, we're kissing". I almost lost it and started laughing. I fear we are raising a Don Juan here.

Sunday

I was meaning to type this up yesterday,but unfortunately it didn't happen.

We had a great day on Sunday. It was very rainy and Jason preached in Sabana Grande for a missionary that is in the states for a few weeks. Therefore, it was my privilege to drive the big green monster (or Ford F-250) to church. We stopped to pick up some people in Los Jutes, but I wasn't expecting very many. Jason had called them and told them that they would have to walk to the highway and I would pick them up there. It takes them about 30 minutes to walk to the highway and when it is raining it is not the most fun thing to do. I was amazed that when I got to the turn off point that there were quite a few people waiting on me.

Church attendance was down because of the rain, but we did have 17 in the service and about 20 kids in for Sunday School. We are thankful for the faithful people that God is giving us.

As Jason was in Sabana Grande, Louis Alonzo from Iglesia Baptista Peniel (Peniel Baptist Church) preached for us. He is a great preacher. He is easily understood to everyone.

Rueben, who was in charge of leading the service and the electrician for the President, had to leave during the preaching as the President's son called him in to come and work. Rueben told him that if he wanted him to work on Sunday that he would have to come and pick him up. This gave Rueben time to lead the singing and stay for most of the preaching.

I was greatly relieved when I was able to turn the truck around to leave without hitting anyone or anything. I had Luis Alonzo in front and Douglas in the back and they did a great job of helping me. The road in front of the church is only about 6 inches wider than the length of the truck so it takes quite a few movements to turn it around. That was my biggest concern, but even to do that I had to put the truck in to 4 WD as the road was so muddy it couldn't get traction.

I am thankful for the great day we had and even more thankful that I don't have to drive every week.

Augustine

We have a young man in our church named Augustine. He is someone who was led to the Lord this past summer. We have seen great growth in his life. He has a burden for the people in his area (he is not from Ojojona) and we have started having weekly services in his uncle's home. We have seen a lot of people from that service receive Christ as their Saviour. We even pick up a truck load full and take them to church in Ojojona every Sunday. At first we were just taking Augustine, but lately many more from his neighborhood have been coming. Unfortunately Augustine has not attended in the past few weeks.

Our neighbor, Douglas, who is friends with Augustine (they were baptized on the same day), told us that Augustine is trying to go "wetback" to the states. Douglas told us that he has not been coming as he is afraid to talk to us about it. He has gotten encouragement from some people in the states that it would be a good thing to do.

Please pray for us as we try and deal with this situation. We know that God is never in favor of someone breaking the law to make money. This is the first time in our ministry that we have had to deal with a situation like this, but it is not an uncommon thing. Please pray that we will have wisdom in this situation and that God would get a hold of Augustine's heart.

A Bee In My Pocket

What are the 9 words that strike fear in every mom. They are "Hey Mom, I have a bee in my pocket". These same words were spoken to me by Jordan. I had asked him to beat a rug for me. He came in with his hand over his shirt pocket. I thought he had confused a bee with another type of bug. No, it turns out that Jordan knows exactly what a bee looks like and he had captured a live one that was trying to get out of his pocket. What I don't understand is how he was able to capture a live bee with nothing more than his two hands. And more than that, how he was able to put it into a dress shirt pocket without even getting stung. He is going to be one of those kids that if they make it to adulthood without killing himself we will be amazed. This morning I also found a slug that he had bought into his room. We made a science project out of that one with a little bit of salt.

This past week and a half have been CRAZY. Jason has been gone to meetings most of the time and there just isn't enough hours in the day to do everything.

In the past two weeks we have had a great baptismal service (two young men were baptized), two record high Sunday school classes, and so much rain that we are water logged. There are two types of rain in Honduras. The first is a fierce rain that washes everything (garbage) down the rivers. This clogs up every drain in the country which in turn produces massive flooding. The second type of rain is the soft Seattle rain. It completely soaks everything which causes every hillside and retaining wall to slide into the river which in turn produces flooding too. The rain of the past two weeks has been the second kind. I have never seen the roads in Ojojona so thick with mud. I am so thankful that I don't have to walk to church.

Yesterday we had 40 kids in Sunday school and we were missing some of our faithful kids. It is such a blessing to have Xiomara and Nelly help me with crowd control and attendance. Last time we were in Honduras I did everything myself. I am so thankful for the help. We had a meeting with the Sunday school workers to decide what was going to be done for Christmas. We decided on a drama and kids choir. We will have a small lunch for the kids and their parents after this and are hoping that we will have a good attendance and that this will get some of the parents interested in church.

Finally a moment to breathe

My life has slowed down for a few days. This past week I have been unable to post a blog for the sake that I haven't had a moment to spare.

Jason left this week for a meeting in Ocotal. It is three day meeting where he will teach an intensive course from the Bible Institute. As we don't know what most of these pastors have taken we decided to start with the course called Leadership. The only bad thing is that the person who wrote the notes for this class didn't do it in an easy to follow format. The teacher's notes were somewhat outlined, but the student notes were just one big paragraph with very small blanks for writing words in the notes. Last weekend I started to format the notes to make them outlined for easier following. There ended up being 50 pages. After I formatted the students I had to reformat the teacher's notes and correct some grammar problems. I was glad to get them done before Jason left. Normally it would not take more than a day to do this, but I am also teaching school, doing discipleship, and taking care of the family so it took a few more days. I really enjoyed doing these notes even though it was a lot of work. It made me realize how much I miss secretarial work.

Jason wanted to do things right so we bought one of those machines that puts plastic binders to make a book. They looked so great, but I am really tired. It is amazing how much of a difference something like that makes.

Yesterday we stayed in and got caught up on school and house cleaning. Today the kids and I were going crazy. They kept asking if we could get out of the house. I had some things to do so we went out and ran errands. For a treat for both of us I took them to Popeye's to eat. The Popeye's near our house just installed Wireless Internet for free. I can get Internet at home, but sitting here typing my blog while the kids are playing is relaxing. And on top of that I don't have to wash dishes when I get home.

Normally when we come here we are running to church or somewhere else and the kids don't get to play. I told them that today they could play as long as they were good and my battery didn't run dead.

Christmas Again

I couldn't believe it when I saw the first Christmas Tree of the season. It never ceases to amaze me how early they put up the Christmas decorations in Honduras. Since they have no Thanksgiving and they don't celebrate Halloween, Christmas decorations start to go up the end of September so they can all be up on the first of October. I am not ready for Christmas yet. I have so much to do before then.

Joey has a sinus infection and has been a lot of fun to deal with. Please pray that no one else gets sick.

Jason is out all day today. He has two Bible Institute classes to teach and in the afternoon he will be meeting with some people about some land we are trying to purchase. The land (almost 18 acres) would be for our house and for building a full time Bible College/Institute. The land would require a lot of work to repair the road before it could be used so we are trying to talk them down as much as possible. They refused our first offer, which was so low it was almost an insult. Jason gave them another offer a little bit higher, but not much. The man in charge of the selling the land then called and asked to meet Jason this afternoon. We will see what happens. We don't have the money to get the land, but we are doing the leg work and if God wants us to have it he will provide. Land in this part of the country is selling for more than two time what the sellers are asking. This is because of the road (it is really bad), but it would be perfect property for us. Please pray with us that God will would be done.

Joey's nose

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that Joey was sniffing a lot. I was hoping that it was not a cold coming on. I asked him why he was sniffing and he told me, "The car made my nose cough". He had gone with Jason while I taught school to the other two and it was then that his nose started running. He didn't seem to get any worse as the day went on. I was debating on whether to keep him home from church when Ernesto called Jason and told him that he would be bringing 5 people with him that needed a ride to church. I decided to keep Joey home as Jason would go from taking 10 people to church to taking 15. I am glad I did. By bed time Joey had a fever. I didn't get him to sleep until after 10:00 as he couldn't breathe through his nose.

Needless to say, last night was one long night. Joey is sleeping now and I hope that he stays that way for a long time. I can't teach school with a clinging vine.

Jason talked to Esperanza last night. She needs us to take her to her birthplace (Ureka) so she can apply for the papers needed to get married. She is planning to go on the coming Wednesday. We have planned this trip three other time, but each time her work would not let her off. Please pray that we could start this process with her. Osmin and Esperanza want to do the right thing, but the devil is fighting. They are the only ones in their family that is living for God. Please pray with them that they can continue to be a testimony and that they can finally get married.

Sunday School

This Sunday I was expecting to have a low attendance in the Sunday school. As this is what normally happens after a big day. We normally have around 35 in attendance and last week we had 62. I did prepare for 60 kids though just to be on the safe side.

It had been raining so much this past week that I was worried about having Sunday School in our classroom. To be able to breathe in our classroom, with more than 10 kids in there, you have to open both doors which lets in all the rain. I had been praying for no rain, but I was not to optimistic as we had just experienced a week of hard rain and it was cloudy. We started the Sunday school hour with only about 20 kids which was what I was expecting. We had borrowed chairs from the adults just in case. But after 5 minutes I took those chairs back. When I got back from returning the chairs the kids started coming. The only problem is that they kept on coming.

For the next 5 minutes the kids didn't stop. We ended up having 45 kids in attendance. I had kids sitting at my feet. We had kids everywhere. I stepped on one little girls foor while trying to pass out colors and Nelly (one of my helpers) fell over a little boy and hurt her wrist. Thankfully all of the kids were very well behaved. We had four new kids, but they followed the example of the kids that normally came and sat still and listened to the story.

The skies were dark and heavy, but didn't open up during class. After I taught the lesson and the kids colored, I dismissed early and told them to run home. It was so dark outside that I knew it would start pouring soon. Not more than 10 minutes after I dismissed the skies opened and it started to pour. It was raining so hard that the church yard was one big pool of water and the path to the church was a river. I am thankful that most of the kids were home by that time.

On the way home I had to pass Rio Grande (big river) which is not very big usually. It was so big that is was taking over entire valleys. I took a picture of it as it runs by our old house. It is normally only 1/4 of this size in the picture. It was up to the bridge in this picture.

Please pray with us as we try and make adjustments to the Sunday School department. For the present time we are changing the hour we start and using the church auditorium. We are also in the process of either buiding a new/bigger classroom or moving the church to a new property. We looked at a piece of land with a house on it that is closer to town and on the main road. Please pray with us as we follow the Lord's leading in this matter.

weekend weather

We have had some wild weather this weekend. It has rained so much that we have "lake Tate" on our front steps. Today we had to go and get birthday gifts for the Sunday School kids who had birthdays this past week. While we were leaving, it started raining so hard that you couldn't see but a few feet in front of you. It has been so cool that I am about to get out my turtlenecks sweaters. This afternoon I took advantage of the rain and kids napping and laid down for about 30 minutes. I had a lot of things to do, but to hear the rain on the metal roof. It is so peaceful and relaxing. It was like being in Seattle again when the day is gray and cool.

I am praying that it will not be rainy tomorrow. If it rains like it has the past few days, then we will have to close the doors to the Sunday School classroom to keep us dry. Just imagine close to 40 kids and 2 adults in a room that is 6' X 8' and you will know why that is not a good idea.

This week during discipleship we talked about forgiveness. The lady I am discipling was really hurt by someone in the church when we were in the states. We talked about it and I explained that bitterness and anger only poison the container that holds them. Well to make a long story short, this same person that had offended them opened his mouth and offended them again while we were in the car on the way to church Thursday night. He told a joke and even I didn't think it was funny. The next day, the lady I am discipling called this man on her own and told him what he had done and how that had hurt her and her family. She then told him that she forgave him. He called us and told us that and I was so excited to see the growth that she has displayed.

prayer request

I don't know if any other missionary wife has the same feelings I do, but Thursday it was very rainy and all I wanted to do was to be able to go to church in the states. How I took for granted the paved sidewalks and parking lots back home. As usual when it is raining the pathway to the church is one big mud hole. Only Thursday it was worse than normal. As many people use the path for a garbage dump, we usually have to clean it up before people come to church. Unfortunately, on Thursday evenings when we go to church it is pitch black dark and you cannot see a thing. This past week it was raining harder than normal so the path was a river. By the time I got into the church my feet were soaked.

When it is rainy you see who is really dedicated to the Lord and church. Ther are no cars to travel in. All of our people have to walk. We had several kids waiting for us to get there and we picked up two adult men that were walking on the way to church. We had a few adults show up after we got there so for a really rainy day it was a decent attendance.

A few weeks ago we started holding a nursery on Thursday evenings for ages 5 and under. We started it for Joey who can't sit well for more than 30 minutes of preaching. Also if other kids are there they are usually permitted (by their parents) to play in the back of the auditorium and if this happens then Joey who may have been sitting good ceases to do so. This week we had 7 kids in the nursery and the adults had a lot more peace in the service. The kids do stay for the song and prayer service though.

This week a young man that normally doesn't get home from work in time for the services was there. Esperanza's man (to read Esperanza's story see old blogs from around March to June of 2006), Osmin, was saved a few months ago and was baptized last baptismal service. He and Esperanza and trying to start the process to get married. Anyway, he came on Thursday night and asked prayer that his mom would come to church. What a blessing to see someone leave the wicked lifestyle he was living and not only get saved, but become faithful to the things of God and be a witness to his family.

I was having a pity party that night with my cold, wet feet. After hearing that prayer request I was glad that we were in Honduras and not in the states.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few years ago a friend sent me the link to a recipe site called Top Secret Recipes. These are the recipes from leading businesses that have been developed by the site owner. I was looking for a recipe for something to make for desert the other night and I found the recipe for Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies. I made them and they were really flat, but the flavor was so good that last night I thought I would try the recipe again and add more flour. They turned out awesome. There are a few left today and they are still as soft and chewy as when they were just made. I have a new favorite recipe. Here is the recipe with the changes I made already added.

Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 12 oz bag of chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla
3. In another bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda
4. Combine wet and dry ingredients
5. Stir in chocolate chips
6. With your fingers, place golf ball sized dough portions 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet
7. Bake for 10 minutes or just until the edges are light brown.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Hint -- Even though they don't look done, take them out at 10 minutes (11 at the most). After you take them out let them sit on the cookie sheet for 1 minute and then transfer them to a cookie rack to cool completely.

In other news from Honduras, nothing has happened in the past few days. Except for school, I have had a few relaxing days.

Dia del Nino

Dia del Nino was a fun and hectic day. The kids really enjoyed themselves. We had 68 kids show up. Unfortunately we forgot to get a picture of everyone that came. We started the day with Sunday School and then had a lunch for them. We played games, and then dismissed all of the kids who are not faithful. The 38 who were left got to decorate their foot (traced on poster board and then used to pick out the right size of shoes) and then they received a gift (made possible by Faith Baptist Church in Silver Springs, NV) of shoes, and got their picture taken. We handed them all out and took a picture of them and then had them all open them. The kids were so excited. I doubt that any of these kids had ever had a pair of new shoes. One boy, Henri, told me that he had never had such a pretty pair of shoes. His shoes were only brown tennis shoes, but to him that meant everything.


I am so thankful for all of the people in the church who were there to help. This is something that we would not have been able to do alone. Our church members were such a big help. Ernesto, Nelly, and Xiomara took care of the food. Esperanza, Osmin, Teresa, Armando, and Tatianna helped with crowd control and games. It was wonderful to have so many people sharing the work load.

So many parents that don't come to church came to thank us for the shoes after we were done cleaning up. We are praying that this will give us an oportunity to witness to these parents.

Another Taxi Accident

Today we had to run to the store to buy powdered sugar. I need to make 70 cupcakes for Dia del Nino (Children's Day) which we are celebrating at church tomorrow. I didn't have enough powdered sugar to make the frosting. Because it is Honduras' Independence Day we couldn't get to the store we wanted. There were parades going down that street so it was closed to traffic. We ended up having to go to another store and thankfully they had what we needed.

On our way back home we saw yet another taxi in an wreck. Over 80% of all accidents in Honduras are caused by taxis. They are not the most considerate drivers in the world. You have to watch out for them, because they are not watching out for anyone else that is on the road. Today we saw a lot of police on the road and we were wondering what was going on. As we passed the area we saw what the problem was. The taxi driver hit a bus full of police officers. If there is one bus that you don't want to hit it is the police bus. Jason and I were laughing at the irony of it all.

Yesterday I took these pictures of the kids. They were being so good while I wrapped 38 pairs of shoes for the Dia del Nino party. A church in Nevada gave us money to buy shoes for kids. We decided to buy one pair for each faithful child that we have in Sunday School. We copied their feet on a piece of paper and told them it was a craft that we were going to be doing at the Sunday school party. We took these feet and used it to find the right size of shoe for them. They are then going to decorate these traced feet at the party. They know nothing about the shoes. Most of these kids are very poor that they don't even have shoes to wear to church. It was so much fun shopping for these shoes. We were able to get a great deal at a store called Palacio de Ninos (Kids Palace). They gave us an additional 15% off all the shoes that were already on sale. We were able to get all 38 pairs of shoes for the money that was donated.

The picture of Jordan is with the bunk bed he made from his Lincoln Logs. Joey is with out new kitty, Mittens, and Audrey is with Snuggles on the bed that she made for him.

Phone Book

The coolest thing happened to us today. We had to go get some passport pictures taken for some new medical cards we were getting and so we went to the mall. While we were there waiting for out pictures to get developed, we went walking around the mall. Of course Audrey and I found several things we needed, but we didn't get them as it turns out new hair accessories are not a need. I could have sworn they were, but this time we resisted the great temptation.

Anyway, while we were walking back to the photo studio we saw a sign that said, "Directorio, Gratis" which means free phone book. In all the years that we have been here we have never had a phone directory. We were so excited today to get our very first phone book. Now we can find things when we need them. At least that is the hope.

Hooray for progress.

Thoughts of a week

As I think back over the past few days while busily cutting out fish for tomorrow's lessons. I begin to wonder if my life will ever be normal again. It is not that anything major has happened, it is just as if the theme of this term on the mission field is to be, Expect the Unexpected. Thankfully these unexpected occurrences have been mostly good. This week, however, seems to be one curve ball after another.

Sunday afternoon while I was taking people home from church, Jason took some of the men to a Homiletics class being taught in Bro. Alan Jackson's church. Bro. Marcos Melindez was going to teach it in our church, but since Bro. Alan had some people that he wanted to hear it they moved the class to his church. While on the way to Bro. Alan's church the men stopped on the side of the road for some food. Unfortunately Jason ate some of it. What he ate was Papusas (an very good and safe to eat El Salvadorian food) and Repollo (shredded cabbage). Needless to say, the cabbage was not washed in bleach water. Jason has spend the past three days with Amoebas (if you have ever had it you will know what that means). Thankfully today he got some medicine. Hopefully tomorrow he will be feeling better.

Monday, we had Edwin over to fix our fridge. Thankfully all went well, except for the mess I had to clean up afterward. The repair job seems to have worked as the fridge has not frozen over yet.

Tuesday, Jordan decided that it would be fun to shut his finger in one of his drawers. By the time I got to him he had blood everywhere. Thankfully it was just a slight cut. To bad, though, that it had to bleed like he had cut his finger off. He tried to get out of doing his homework because of it, but he finally got it done.

Tonight, Joey was playing and dropped a drawer on his toe. It was pretty bloody and painful for him. I couldn't get the bleeding to stop so I just wrapped it in gauze and taped it up. It looked like the toenail was almost completely off. Thankfully after we got the bleeding stopped and I re wrapped his toe, we saw that the toenail is still intact. It is pulled away from the skin on only one side of his toe. We re wrapped it with gauze and tape and he is able to walk on it slightly. He was so funny when I was cleaning it the second time. He told me to clean his toenail as it was dirty (it is all bruised underneath). I assured him that it was not dirty, but I rinsed it with warm water anyway. After he had the gauze on it he let us know that he needed a band aid. So he now has a big toe wrapped in gauze and taped with a band aid around it. It is amazing how band aids make a kid feel better.

So much has been happening that it has been impossible to tell everything. We had a church donate money for shoes for all of the kids in our church. We told the kids that we needed to trace their feet for a craft we were going to be doing on Children's Day (Dia del Nino). We then took these traced feet and bought 38 pairs of shoes this past week (one for every faithful Sunday School kid). We found a store that gave us a great deal, but buying that many shoes is a lot of work. Now I have to wrap them for Sunday which is when we will celebrate Dia Del Nino. The actual holiday was on September 10th.

Please pray for our Dia Del Nino party that the kids will be well behaved, thankful, and learn something.

water, water, and more water

The hurricane was nothing compared to the rain we received yesterday. The day started out warm and sunny. About 2:00pm it started raining. This is nothing unusual for rainy season, but this time it just didn't stop. We had thunder, lightening, and fierce rain. In the center of town where the central Market is, it flooded quite badly. Several of the people from our church were there and told us that the streets where rivers. People were literally swimming for their lives. Four people lost their lives in the floods. One pregnant woman was trying to save her store and was carried away. It was pretty bad. Most of these "stores" are just tables with a tarp overhead for protection. Because the President closed everything up for the day of the hurricane and day after most of these people were just getting back to work after two days of lost revenues. To have a flooding rain on that day made everything worse.

One couple, Xiomara and Rueben, couldn't make it to church as they couldn't get a bus out of town in time. Praise the Lord they were not hurt in any way.


When we got to church we had a surprise waiting for us. In Ojojona water only comes twice a week. Thursday morning was one of those times. After church on Sunday someone opened the faucet that we use to get water when it is available. The faucet runs in to a 50 gallon drum. That drum was full and there was about 6 inches of standing water on the floor. We had to take brooms, mops, dustpans, and anything else we could find and clean the water out before we could have a service. What a mess. I think I have seen enough water for a lifetime in the past 24 hours

Felix

Well, Hurricane Felix surprised all of us. We were concerned and many people who remember Mitch were panicky. The President issued a red alert yesterday at 1:00 pm, which means that all business are to close and their workers are to go home. The gas station by our house had lines of people waiting for gas that stretched onto the street.

So we all buckled down and waited for the worst. Nothing happened. We got a little rain, but it rained less yesterday than on a normal day in rainy season. Praise the Lord Felix managed to sweep around the hills of Tegucigalpa and we received little wind and rain. There was a lot of rain in Ojojona, but as most of the houses are built up higher there were no problems.

Thank the Lord for all the prayers issued on our behalf. He answered them and everything went fine.

The Hurricane is Coming

If you have been watching the news you know that Hurricane Felix has made landfall and in the process changed it's course. It was planned to really affect the North Coast of Honduras and so all night last night they were landing planes at the airport to evacuate people of the norther reagion. The only problem with that is, the hurricane turned and now is making a direct shot at Tegucigalpa. We are starting to feel the winds of the outer bands and it has made us nervous. Rosa lives in a dangerous area for landslides so we have offered to let her and her family stay with us for a day or so until the rains and wind subside. We don't know if she will take us up on our offer as she has to talk to her husband first, but we hope she will that way we won't worry about her.

There is no gas anywhere in Tegucigalpa. Thankfully we filled one of our trucks yesterday. The big green monster is over half full so that should be good for a while. We have cancelled all services until the worst is over.

Please pray for us that we would have safety. The Hurricane may still turn, but it is unlikely. You can keep track of Hurricane Felix by going to www.weather.com. The Hurricane is the main story. The eye is expected to pass sometime early tomorrow morning.

If we have electricity tomorrow I will update my blog so you will know how we are doing.

Also pray for Joey. He is sick with vomiting. Just what we needed at this time. :-)

Reading for the storm

If you have been watching Hurricane Felix (category 5)you know it is supposed to hit Honduras sometime tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. While it looks as if we will be spared a direct hit in Tegucigalpa, we could get a lot of wind and rain. Which means land slides and power outages. Today we are getting ready for the storm. We are gassing up the trucks and the generator. We haven't used the generator since we have been back so it may need some work done. We have plenty of food and water stored up so we should be fine.

We are praying that we have made all of these preparations for naught, but you can never be to safe.

Please pray with us that there would not be a lot of destruction with this hurricane.

Standing in line

Today was a crazy day for us. We started with doing school and then had plans to go shopping for the month. We were going to start our shopping and be done in enough time to pick up our final official paper on the truck we imported. Just as we were leaving, one of the men in our church came by. We ended up taking him on an errand and then we went to pick up the paper that gives us permission to drive without plates for the next 90 days (we were told that there is a 2 year wait on license plates) at which time we will have to go in and have another renewal done.

As we got to the DEI (Department of something) to pick up our paper we were met with a huge line. I got in line while Jason went to see if he could find anyone official to ask if we were even in the right line. Just as he started looking someone came out the front door and announced that we were in the wrong line. We quickly moved to the right line and were lucky enough to be the first in line (after they let a bunch of people in front of us in). We discovered that first in line is not where you want to be unless you like to be pushed, shoved, and sandwiched in between people. Needless to say, the line was anything but orderly. Once the line was more than five people long, the people in the back decided that they didn't want to wait, but pushed ahead. I was literally sandwiched between Jason and someone I didn't know. Several times I had to tell someone to stop pushing me and wait in line. Finally Jason put me in front of him and then I was sandwiched in between the door, Jason and two other guys who saw me as an easier target to get in front of than Jason.

The guard who lets people in a little at a time kept opening the door and yelling at the people. I was just standing there and about 30 minutes into it he stuck his head out and said that he had been there for 9 hours, so everyone had just better get patient. I gave him an "I am so sorry that you have had to put up with this for so long" smile and he grabbed my purse and pulled me inside. Jason had a hold of my arm and so he got to come in too. I don't know if it was any better inside, but there was np pushing. Once people got inside they were more orderly. Probably for fear of getting thrown out again. We only had to stand in line for another 45 minutes in an non air-conditioned building (with all the doors closed) so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

It was very frustrating for me though when the lady in front of us kept going to the window and coming back with more peoples papers to do so they wouldn't have to wait in line. She even let a couple of people cut in front of us. I did feel slightly vindicated though when the woman that cut when there was only two people left in front of us was told that she couldn't get her papers today as someone had done something wrong when they photocopied her husband's license. It was a little scary when they couldn't find out paperwork though. We were wondering what would happen, but they found it in the papers that were approved yesterday.

After that we had to go home, pick up the kids, and go shopping. Thankfully there seemed to be no one in the stores and we got in and out in record time. We made it home just before 8:00 pm.

I had a huge blessing today. I had forgotten to go and order the favors for Adelaida's baby shower. I called the store where I am going to get pewter baby shoes made and they told me that they would start working on them and I could come in and pay tomorrow. Ordering something to be custom made without having it paid for us unheard of. I was amazed that they said they would do it for me. As it is customary here for the hostess to give everyone who attends a baby shower, bridal shower, graduation, ect, a "recuerdo" (which is basically a dust collector that says, "Remember my __________") I have to buy 24 for Adelaida's baby shower. Tomorrow I will go and pay for them and give them the ribbons to tie on the little baby shoes for added cuteness. I am glad that they allowed me to place the order today. That was s huge blessing for me.

Yeison (Jason)

Adelaida had her baby a week ago. She called us at 3:00 am asking us to pick her up and take her to the hospital. We picked her up and she gave birth about 3 hours after she arrived at the hospital. She had a baby boy that weighed just over 7 lbs. They have named him Yeison (pronounced Jason)Renieri Rodriguez Lopez. She brought him over yesterday and we had fun taking some pictures of him.

Last night Jason took a car full of people to a place called Tizatillo to hold services in the house of one of our church members. Teresa invited most of her neighbors and they had 30 adults in the service. I am glad that I didn't take the kids when Jason didn't get home until after 10 pm. We decided that the kids would only go to one school night service. We will still go to Thursday night services and to the Friday night house service that we hold in Santa Rosa.

Please pray for the meetings in Santa Rosa. They are having another church come on Saturday nights. Jason is not sure if we will keep that service up. They do not have another good church in the area and the other church that is coming is Pentecostal,but we don't want to steal from someone else's members. Augustine (whom Jason let to the Lord) really wants us to continue to come. We are hoping that they tell the Pentecostal "church" that is meeting in the same house to find another place. We will let you know how this works out.

Electric Storms and Eggnog

I know that you are wondering what those two have in common. Actually they have nothing. It is just my way of getting two blogs into one.

Lately we have been quite busy, but that is not why I have not updated my blog. I haven't updated it in a while because we have been having so many electric storms at night (the only time I have to write my blog) that we have had to turn the computer off and I haven't been able to use it. Tonight was the first night in almost three weeks that I haven't had to rush upstairs and turn the computer off for fear of damage. Therefore, I have written a few blogs tonight to let you know what has been going on. Please read them for exciting news about Audrey.

Blog #2
Is there anything better than eggnog? I love it! For the first three years we were in Honduras there was not eggnog to be found except for the alcoholic version they sell at Christmas. Of course I am not going to drink that. So we had to make our own. It is a pretty good tasting recipe, but if it gets too hot it will curdle, it uses a lot of eggs, and is pretty time consuming to make. Needless to say it was not something we got very much of. The good thing is that now there is a company called Leyde that makes it year round. It cost about $.70 for a pint. It is so good. Last Christmas when we were in the states our trailer fridge wouldn't hold much eggnog so we didn't get it but once. Today when I was in the store I just had to buy some. It is so good added to coffee. We may not have Starbucks here, but I can make a pretty mean Eggnog Latte anytime I want. :-) Having this Eggnog just seems to be getting me in the Christmas mood. I can't wait for Christmas time!!

First day of school

Today was the first day of school for Audrey and Jordan. They both had a great time. By dinner Jordan was asking if he could do more school.

Audrey was impressed that she didn't have a lot of "hard" work to do. Thankfully she is easing back into the work load and not complaining a lot. The only problem is that she keeps telling Jordan his answers.

Jordan seems to be doing well. I am introducing printing letters to him one the first day we learn that letter and then the rest of the time he is doing cursive. It seems to be working well for him.

Please pray for me as I am learning how to teach more than one grade at a time. I can't imagine how the teachers of one-room schoolhouses did it many years ago.

Baptism Sunday

Yesterday was baptism Sunday. We had a good attendance in spite of the fact that we had to lay planks of wood across the stream to be able to get to the baptism spot. Thankfully everyone was able to get across. We had four baptisms. Osmin, Jimena, Kimberly, and Audrey. The three girls are all about the same age and were a little afraid of the water as it was pretty high, but once they decided to go for it they all did really well.
Audrey does not like to be the center of attention so it was a little difficult for her to make the decision to get baptised where everyone would be watching. It made it a lot easier for her when Jimena (7) and Kimberly (9) did it first.
We almost had to cancel the service as it has been raining so hard these past few weeks. We are thankful the God held back the river enough so we could have the service as planned. Please pray for Augustine and Juanita that they would make the decision to be baptized soon. They both have been saved in the past month and this was the first baptismal service that they had ever seen. We are talking with them about when to schedule a baptismal service for them.
Please pray for Osmin and Esperanza as they begin working on getting married. It is a lot of money and a lot of work to get married here so we are excited that Osmin and Esperanza want to make this step of obedience to the Lord.

Tela Trip

Our Tela trip was cancelled. I can't say that I was disappointed as I really didn't want to go anywhere today. I was a little saddened by the reason of our missed trip. Two of the ladies who went and stayed with the national lady (against counsel of many missionaries) got really sick. They have classic Amoeba symptoms. Please pray that they will be better tomorrow or it will be a long trip back to Tegucigalpa.

We have enjoyed our time with the Tweet family so much. They are Washintonians too and have been in Honduras for a long time. They have very graciously opened their home up to us for the past few days and we have greatly enjoyed our time here.

Journey to San Pedro Sula

Yesterday I left with two women and a teenage girl for San Pedro Sula. The heat index has helped me to not look forward to this trip. It is over 100 today with high humidity. San Pedro Sula is also a very confusing city for me. I have to have someone from here go with me to give me directions where ever I go.

Today we did tourist things and tomorrow we are going to drive to Tela (a beach city) to visit with a family. It will be about an hour there and back. We are looking forward to a good time.

This trip is very stressful for me. It has been hard as the ladies that are with us have no concern for their safety and will not listen to us when we tell them not to go to a certain place. I am very worried as right now they are staying in a neighborhood so dangerous that the taxi drivers don't even like to go there. They will be staying there tonight and tomorrow they will be going to a motel and that will be a lot safer for them.

I will be glad when we get back to Tegucigalpa in familiar territory.

I am sure that Jason will be glad to not have to watch the kids for a while.

Maids

Today has been an easy and relaxing day for me. While a maid in the States is only for the rich, here in Honduras it is much different. For a while I fought having a maid as I was thinking like an American. Here if you have even a 2 bedroom house and can afford it, you have a maid. They are much cheaper here and can save you a lot of work. Honduras is a very dirty country. You have to clean your house top to bottom every day. Just cleaning the floors consists of sweeping, mopping with water and cleaner, mopping with water, and then dry dusting after that for a shine. Then there is the dusting, dishes that must be done several times a day or the one sink that you have for them will be to full to use. Needless to say, before we had a maid I spent all day cleaning the house and had not time for anything else.

Here in Honduras a maid costs about $125.00 a month. For that $125.00 a month you get someone who comes Monday through Friday and cleans your house, cooks lunch, helps you with your Spanish, and does whatever else you would like for her to do.

We do not only get a maid for the help around the house. We also make sure that they are saved and faithful to a good Baptist church. Rosa attends Iglesia Bautista Peniel (Face of God Baptist Church) and was recommended to us by the Pastor who is a great friend of ours. She has been without a job for a while. Her husband got a loan from his employers for about $250.00. Rosa was taking this money to the central market to buy things to sell in her neighborhood. While in the market she was assulted and robbed by four women. They took everything from her, even most her clothes. They even took her cellphone. She was left a long way from home with no money to buy anything and not even any money to get home. She had to beg for money to buy something to wear and for a taxi fare so she could get home.

Rosa now had no money and a debt to pay back. We hired her for 130 Lempira a day ($7.00 US) and she has done a wonderful job. She has done such a good job that we decided to raise her wage to 150 Lempira ($8.00 US), which is a very good rate for a maid. Before she started working for us she went to a job fair and filled out 30 applications. She told us if one of them call she would let us know and help us to find a replacement. Praise the Lord the only ones that called have been obligatory work on Sunday and she told them no.

She has been helping me to clean up and organize things. I have gotten rid of a lot of things. I told her that I feel funny giving things that are not perfect away and so I throw them in a seperate "trash" pile and she goes through them and takes what she wants. She has told me how she is going to give some of it to her niece's family who is poor and the rest she is going to sell to make money.

In these past few days she has helped me so much and we have talked a lot. I feel as if she is my sister instead of my employee. I am so thankful that God brought her into our lives.

Today I made her cry. She was getting ready to go and as we had a few people from the states donate cell phones for us, we gave her one of them. It wasn't as fancy as the one that was stolen, but she was so excited. It is such a blessing to give things to people.

It is a blessing when God uses you to be a blessing to others. One of the things that I was "throwing out" was old clothes pins as we got new ones when we got here. Most of the clothes pins were still in good condition, but because we needed them when we got back; and our only ones were still being used by the family that rented our house and furniture for the year we were gone, we had to buy more. Rosa was so excited to receive the old ones as she had just broken her last one the day before. Oh, the little things we take for granted.

Praise the Lord for how He has blessed America.

Home Bible Studies

Last night we all went to Rueben and Xiomara's house for a home Bible Study. (Sorry that the only pictures I can find of them at this time are of their baptism) We gave them both a ride from Tegucigalpa as well as some other church members who work in Teguc as well. We had to take two trucks as we had quite a few people travelling with us. We were a little concerned when we got to the house and the other truck with Rueben and Xiomara was not there. Thankfully we were able to call their cell phone and find out that they had stopped by the church to pick up more chairs.

Being that this was the first home Bible Study, we weren't sure how many people would show up. We were so pleased when we had 20 people attend. Bro. Armando preached and it was a great service. We are planning on having our service at Bro. Armando's house next week and Bro. Rueben will be preaching (his first time ever). Jason gives them a pretty detailed outline to study and then they preach it. These Bible Study times gives these men opportunity to have a little bit of leadership in the way their church is going. They asked if we could start them and we told them that we would help them for a couple of months and then they would have to run it themselves. Praise the Lord for men that are making huge strides forward for God.

Please pray for our family. We have been sick more often than healed. This morning I woke up with body aches, a fever, and nausea. I feel different than when I had the colon infection so I think that this time it is just the flu. We have another group coming in on the 31st of this month and staying for two weeks. Please pray that we would be all healed by then.

Jason left to take the Jacobos to San Pedro. They fly out tomorrow at 7:40 am. Once they get through customs then Jason will take off to drive back to Teguc. I loved having them here. They were here three weeks and while they may have gotten tired of us we greatly enjoyed our time with them. The kids are enjoying not having a baby around all the time. Tonight they played with their train tracks, Lego's, play dough, and all of the other things that were put up when Isabelle was here. Isabelle's problem was that she loved to play with whatever the boys were playing with much to their frustration. :-)

Please pray for the Jacobo family as they return back to the states and deputation as they are looking at going to language school the first of May. Please pray with them that they will reach that goal.

Ranting

Nothing much has been happening to me since I have been home with a colon infection. I am doing better, but ate some meat for dinner. I am supposed to only be having soft foods, but since no one else living here at this time is also on this "diet" I made a roast for dinner. How can you make a roast and not have a little piece? I am thankful that I am starting to feel better though.

Is anyone else, like me, getting frustrated with forwards. I get at least three a day. I should be thankful as some people I know get more than that. I usually try to be nice to the person who sent it and at least skim it. I think that if it was so important to you that I see it you would delete the fourteen other headers and retype the subject line so it would look like you actually cared who read it.

I got a forward the other day that stated that the words "In God We Trust" was not on the new $1.00 coin. I was able to email the sender of that email back and tell them that that was not true. The words are on the rim of the coin. My mom showed me one before we left the states. It was really neat looking.

Anyway.....Thank you for letting me get on my soap box for a while. I hope to have more newsy news the next time I write, but I will have to be allowed out of the house first.

Blessings and Sickness

Jason has received a huge opportunity to preach. One of the men in our church works for the president as an electrician. He talked to the Captian of the President's Guards and they have invited Jason to come and speak to the President's Guards on Thursday the 2nd of August and every Thursday thereafter. What a great opportunity this will be. They wanted him to come so badly that they have given him a gas voucher for 4 gallons "to make sure he gets there in time"

Please pray for me. I have spent today very near the bathroom. I went into the ER tonight and am being treated for a colon infection. I am not allowed to eat until Monday and then only soup that day. Pray for my family as I am not a happy sick person.

Back from San Pedro

We made it back from San Pedro Sula yesterday at around 5 PM. We had a great trip, but our way home was a little harried. We left at a good time and as we drove out of San Pedro Sula I was stopped by the police. This is normal as they do random stops. As a very white woman driving a huge truck (our F-250 is twice as big as most Honduran trucks) with Washington State plates I attract a lot of attention. We didn't have any problem with the truck papers (that was a blessing), but I was not carrying Audrey's Passport of Birth Certificate with me. While we are here on a residency visa and so are the kids, they do not have cards until they are teenagers. They stopped us for almost 45 minutes trying to figure out what to do with us. They were going to make us wait while they called Migration or (worst case scenerio) one of our trucks would have had to stay with Audrey in San Pedro Sula while the other truck with one of us would have had to drive to Tegucigalpa, get her birth Certificate out of the safe, and drive back to San Pedro Sula to show them. Thankfully they just let us go.

I was stopped twice on the way home, but everything worked out fine and we were able to make it home with only a slight delay.

We spent the rest of the night trying to get Snuggles back from a family in the church. There was an accident on the roads and we had to go all the way around. On top of that Sunggles got hurt while he was at Teresa's house. We had to take him to the doctor. His leg was all swollen up and so the doctor gave him some Anti-inflamatories and an anti-biotic. He is doing better today. He is running around and having a great time. The saying "It's only a dog" does not apply when is is the first dog we have ever paid for.

Busy Days

I have so much to say and so little time to say it. We are leaving for three days to go to San Pedro Sula. This is the other major city in Honduras and we are taking the Jacobo family there to see it.

Jason took his tests on Friday and they determined that he had Dengue and lifted off his restrictions. Ever since that time we have been running. Praise the Lord for his healing.

Saturday, Xiomara and I started the first lesson in our Discipleship course. It went well and we are excited on the growth in the family. After lunch we went with Adelaida and Armando to their house for lunch. We had a great time, but Adelaida had to go into the hospital with pre-term labor the next morning so please pray for her that she make these last few weeks. She is due on the 24th of August. I told her it would be to much for her to cook for all of us, but she is stuborn (not at all like her friend Cassy) and did it anyway. We are glad that everything turned out good.

Sunday I took over the Sunday School class again. Praise the Lord for the 18 kids that came. We were down a little, but it was a cold (about 75 Degrees) and raining so the adult attendance was also down.

Please pray for our ministry that God would bless it and that it would grow.

Jason's sickness

I was going to try and write last night, but there is just to much to do. It seems like when it rains it pours. Jason has been sick off and on since last Thursday. He seemed to be getting worse and yesterday I finally suggested that if he felt that badly, he needed to go to the doctor.

He went to the Emergency room yesterday and they kept him for a while. They finally concluded that he either has Malaria or Classic Dengue. Both are very similar in the symptoms, but Classic Dengue is not a illness that stays with you. While Malaria is a illness that can reappear at any time. Both illness come and go for a week or more, but Malaria is usually every 24 hours you get sick and the next 24 hours you are well.

Jason is still sick this morning so that is a good sign. He will have to go in Friday morning for some more tests. Please keep him in your prayers. This is especially hard on him as we have visitors that are here and he wants to be able to show them around Honduras.

Electricity

Isn't electricity wonderful! We found out just how wonderful it was when we got it cut yesterday. We haven't even been in Honduras for a month and we got our electricity cut yesterday because the old tennents of our house did not pay their bill and neither did the landlord during the time the house was unoccupied. There is a new rule that when someone doesn't pay for their electricity for two months they cut the service. When you move into a rented house in Honduras all of your utility bills will be in the landlord's name. This is because it can take months to get a new account with electricity, phone, or water. If the landlord keeps the accounts in thier name then the new tennants can move in without problems.

As we were getting in the car yesterday to go to church someone rang our doorbell and gave us a slip saying that they were cutting our electricity because our bill had not been paid for two months. It said that when we paid the bill they would reconnect us. We immediately called our landlord and he told us that they were sending someone to the bank right away to pay it. So we went on to church. We called him several times and finally after the banks had closed and there was nothing we could do about it, he told us that they were in Guaymaca and there are no banks there.

This morning, we got an electrician that was building a house nearby to hook our electricity up for us. This will cost us a fine, but the landlord said that he would pay it.

This afternoon we have to go by the water and phone companies to make sure they don't cut those services too.

Sunday was a great day at church. Bro. Jacobo preached a great message. I missed most of the service as I went to visit Reina and Areli who had not been to church in a while. They were both sick, but we sat and talked for a while and I encouraged them to get involved in church again. I did get to hear the last half and it was a joy to get to hear a service again in English and Spanish at the same time.

After the preaching Brenda wanted her baby dedicated. Jason taught on what dedication of a baby is. How it is the parents pledging to raise the child for Christ and the church is pledging to pray for this family. Jason told Brenda that she could not raise her son for the Lord if she was not saved. She needed to accept Jesus as her Saviour first. She prayed right then and there for her salvation. During this time there were tears rolling down her face. Brenda has told us many times before we left that she was not saved. We tried to get her to pray and accept Jesus, but she never would. She told us to keep praying for her that she would get saved. Please pray that her decision was real and that she will continue to follow the Lord. Please pray also for little Daniel Aaron that he would become a great man for God.

Today we had lots of errands to do. I had to take in a receipt for my China Cabinet as a handle on it broke. It has a 3 month warranty so the store is sending workmen out in the next week to come and fix the handle. I am glad that they didn't make me bring the whole cabinet back in. The handle was broken when I bought, but I didn't want to wait two days for them to deliver a new cabinet so I figured I would just have them fix it later. I also had to stop by the pet shop and get Snuggles' shot records, go to the Honduras Medical Center and pay my insurance bill, and do some grocery shopping.

I am losing patience with my fridge. I do not have a fridge and freezer, but at this time I have two freezers. I have the fridge on the lowest setting, but it is still freezing everything I have. I have to get the milk out an hour before breakfast so that it thaws enough to use. I am glad that the problem is it is getting too cold and not the other way around.

Snuggles has to go to the vet tomorrow. In addition to needing shots, his leg got hurt so tomorrow we are taking him in. While his leg is doing better, he is still limping a lot so we are going to have it looked at just to be on the safe side.

I am in the process of getting my office done. It is a lot of work, but I am glad to finally get the time to start it.

Jason is getting over being sick and Audrey is starting to have a runny nose. Please pray for us as our week only gets busier from here on out.

Today I finally got to go shopping. I was encouraged by the number of American items I found, but it was mighty disheartening when I found out that Pricemart no longer carries Cream of Mushroom Soup. Now I will have to go back to making my own. :-(

It has been good to have the Jacobos here. We are trying to cram as much information into their heads as we can in the few weeks they are here. Today I took Abigail to see different places to buy furniture and household items. They are not sure at this time where they will be living when they come here so a lot can change, but at least she will have a good idea on what is available and what she will need to bring.

Snuggles is doing good. He learned how to get out of his box last night. When we woke up this morning there were several surprises on our floor. He doesn't like to do anything in his bed, but he has no problem using the floor.

Today while we were shopping I had the distinct honor of rolling over my heel while I was pulling the shopping cart behind me. It hit it so hard that it took my shoe off. It takes much coordination to do something like that. Needless to say, my foot hurts a lot. I am hoping that I will be able to walk a little better tomorrow

Adelaida, a lady in our church, is pregnant and about 7 months along. She has been having a hard time finding someone to watch her 3 year old son while she goes to her doctor's appointments. I volunteered to watch him and I think that they were so surprised and pleased with my offer. Adelaida has three living children, has had one stillbirth, and had one baby that lived for a few hours. The doctors are keeping a close eye on her. This means that she has to travel the hour and a half by bus to and from the city once a week and spend most of the day with ultrasounds and tests. We praise the Lord that everything is going good at this time and please pray that everything would continue to stay good.

Home Again

Finally I am set up to continue updates on my blog. We have been in Honduras since June 13th and I am starting to feel like my life is getting back to order again. I finally have a desk to sit at and answer emails.

It seems like so many little things have gone wrong since we got back. I am glad to say that I must be used to Honduras as none of these things have fazed me much. The worst thing would have to be about two weeks after we got home we had the daughter of missionary friends, the Jacksons, over to help me unpack while Jason was gone. Unfortunately Jason has had many meetings with nationals that he did not set up, but had to attend which has left me to do most of the unpacking. Jenny Jackson came over to help me one day and as I was driving her home on Saturday afternoon, I hit a dog. I was passing a bus on a two lane road (all roads in Honduras are two lanes, one each way) a dog walked out in front of the bus and just looked at me. I slammed on my brakes, but it was either hit the dog or the bus and I decided the dog would be a better choice. I was almost to my turnoff so I kept driving. According to Honduran law, if you hit a dog and it damages your car then the owner of the dog is responsible. The only problem with this was that we had just gotten our truck (small Mazda 2 wheel drive, not the one we drove from the states) back from where we had stored it this past year and it didn't have a warning triangle or fire extinguisher in it. If I would have pressed the issue with the dog owners they probably wouldn't have been able to pay anyway and I would have gotten a ticket for not having a triangle and fire extinguisher in my car. Once I did stop I saw the water gushing from my radiator and decided to call the Jacksons to come and rescue us. They came and followed me down the very long hill to their church. They stored the truck for me until Jason could come home and get it fixed. It cost about $150.00 to fix so we were thankful that it wasn't more than that as it could have been much worse. I am just glad that the dog did not hit anyone as it flew to the side of the road.

Tomorrow our first group from the states comes in. For the next six weeks we will have visitors in our house all but three days. We are going to be busy, but loving it at the same time.

Last Sunday after church we went out looking for a puppy. The only place that we could find one was at a pet shop. They had four dogs for sale and we bought the one we named Snuggles. He is a 7 week old Pug. He loves to play and when Audrey actually lets his feet touch the ground he is running all over the place. The kids love him and if I can get him house trained before I kill him then I will like him too.

Now you are pretty much caught up on what has been going on here. Not much besides unpacking, organizing, and dog killing. I will try to add a post every day or at least every other day. So just keep checking back to see what else happens to us.

What are the odds...

...of in the year that we are home from Honduras, I get jury duty twice. Yes, you read that right. I was called for a session in February and just today I got another summons. I am glad to help, and I wish I could. The only problem is that we are going to be in Arizona and California at that time. When I opened the envelope I was hoping it was my check for the term I just finished, but it wasn't. I am really hoping that they will let me serve in May instead as I really enjoyed it last time and I would have enjoyed it even more if I would have made it on a jury.

On a different note we are so happy to have my brother, sister-in-law, and nephew coming back to Washington to live. Dan came back about a week ago and has been looking for a job and apartment. When he finds those he will be moving out of our trailer and going to pick up Susan and Aaron. Please pray for him to find a job soon as we want to see Aaron before we leave. :-) Dan has a really great prospect so we are praying that God's will would be done.

Joey's third birthday is coming up soon. I can't believe how time has flown. We went shopping for him today. We got him a lot of Thomas the tank engine things as he loves trains. He got a wooden train set for Christmas and so we are adding to that. As we were walking through the store buying his wrapping paper he kept saying, "Happy Birthday to me". Oh, how fast they grow up!