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.