Blessed Misunderstanding

I don't know if anyone reading this has ever made a mistake, but I make lots of them. While I speak and understand Spanish pretty well, there are still times when I fail to interpret something correctly. Yet when this happened the other day it led to a huge blessing.

We have a project in the church called Cookie Project Honduras. It is a ministry based out of a church in Louisiana. This ministry provides us with the ingredients and the money to run a nutritional program for malnourished children. If someone wants to have their child in the program, they must come to the church and Jason or I measure them with a special ruler. With this ruler that measures with centimeters, you measure their arm right above the elbow. If they measure anywhere in the yellow or red, then they are entered into the program.

Twice a month we have two ladies from our and Bible Institute come and bake from 600 to 800 nutritional cookies in a typical Honduran oven. This provides them with a little bit of income and gives them a way to serve.

The cookies are made from a recipe that is high in protein and nutrients. Most of the children love them. Each child gets one cookie mixed with milk and a vitamin premix. Once they eat that cookie and drink a cup a milk, they are given a cookie to snack on for the walk back home. We have been blessed to see this program grow and God has blessed. We have enjoyed seeing many of the mothers come to know the Lord. We presently have three mothers doing discipleship and two more have expressed interest. We just need to sit down with them and come up with a time to meet every week.

Because this program is funded by many organizations in the states that would not give to a ministry, but will to a charity, we are not allowed to push religion or require church attendance for admittance in the program. We wouldn't anyway. While we love to witness, we have found that people will agree to anything if they feel they are being pressured, but once they leave you will never see them again. We are there to love on them and once they feel loved and accepted, they start asking questions and that opens the door to witnessing. Our goal it to see souls saved and spiritual growth and we have seen great results from God.

Since I am not able to go every day to distribute the cookies I am there every Monday (baring sickness) to talk to the ladies, correct any issues, and measure any children that need to be measured. Last Monday morning we got a phone call from a lady asking if we could measure her daughter. Jason told her to be at the church that afternoon and we would measure her. When I arrived at the church that afternoon there were two families with their children waiting for me to measure them. The first one I measured was Nissi and she measured 14 cm so we admitted her to the program. The second a little girl named Monica was also measured. It was with her that I had the "blessed misunderstanding".

Monica Fernanda

A few weeks before, I was sick and Jason measured a young girl from the church in Aragua. Jason thought she should be in the program so he told the lady to come back and bring her birth certificate so we could get all of her information. When I was measuring Monica her mother told me, "Pastor Jason told me to bring her to be measured." I, however, thought she said that Jason had already measured her and told her to bring in her information to be admitted to the program. So I thought that this was the lady from Aragua. She measured right on the line and since she had just turned four it was a judgement call for me. Normally we would have them wait a few months and be measured again. But because of my misunderstanding, we entered her in the program. 

The mother's name is Eva and she has never been to our church before, but is friends with one of the ladies that goes to our church. On Wednesday night she came to church with her friend, Carla. She enjoyed the services and was asking questions about salvation. Bro. Ernesto talked to her after the service, but she did not make a decision that night.

The next day was Ernesto and Nelly's turn to work at Cookie Project. When Eva came with Monica to get her cookies, she started asking them a lot of questions. While she was sitting there watching Monica eat her cookies and drink her milk, she accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Saviour. After Ernesto and Nelly prayed with Eva, they talked to her about discipleship. Sitting nearby was Sulema who has a young son in the project. As she was leaving, she asked if Bro. Ernesto and Hna.Nelly would disciple her. She has been attending a Pentecostal church that has a woman pastor just down the road from our church and she is not really sure what salvation really is or if she is even saved. The first two lessons of discipleship deal with salvation so we are going to use this as a tool to help her to understand what the Bible says and how she can know for sure that she is on her way to Heaven. None of this would have happened if would have understood Eva the first time. Praise the Lord he allowed me to fail to interpret Eva correctly.

We are so excited to see what God is going to do with this ministry. There are many mothers that at the beginning of the project would say hi to us, but that was it. They were shy or embarrassed by their situation so they wouldn't come to church. Now, when we visit them at their houses or see them on the road, they always stop and talk with us. It is such a blessing to be able to be a help and to be included in their lives. 

Fabulous End of the Year

Last night as we sat down as a family and had a time of devotions, I was struck by how much God has blessed us this past year. Often we are too busy to just sit down and ponder all that God has done for us. We have a house that we now own (or will when we are done paying the bank for it), two cars, two cats, four dogs, seven chickens, and most of all four healthy kids. During our prayer time it was a joy to hear the kids pray about what they were thankful for and the desired they had for the new year. It was funny to hear Matthew pray for snow. That is one request that I am pretty sure will not be coming true while we are in Honduras (at least we hope not). Jordan thanked God for all of the things that he had given us and it was quite a list, but it did my heart good to hear him as God to help us to reach many new people in the year to come.

Living on the mission field we miss our friends and families that we have left behind, but it is such a joy to gain "family" here. Recently, I got a call from a young girl, Michelle, who has been coming to our church since August. She came with her sister and got saved. While visiting Karen and Nixon, her mom and "stepdad", they also got saved. Michelle had to go and stay with her dad in another town for Christmas and the New Year. Every day when she calls her mom, she asks about Hermana (Sister) Cassy and Audrey. On Sunday, she was finally allowed to call her mom when she was at church and got to talk to me. She was so excited to tell me that she would be home for church on Wednesday night. Her mother, Karen, is a blessing too. We are praying that she will get married soon. She will help in any way that I will let her. It is such a joy to see someone with such a desire for the Lord. Even though she lives quite a ways from church (too far to walk), she is always waiting on us as we drive by to pick her up for church. We NEVER have to wait on her. We will be beginning discipleship with her soon.

This last year we began some new family traditions. On Christmas Eve, the kids opened a gift that had new pajamas, fuzzy socks, and Christmas cups for each of them. There was also a Christmas movie in the box. We had them put on their jammies and we all sat down and watched the new Christmas movie. After that we watched It's a Wonderful Life. We put out a plate of banana bread, cookies, and peanut butter fudge. We all ate what we wanted and enjoyed the time together. Matthew is the only one who didn't make it. He fell asleep halfway through It's a Wonderful Life. We decided that this would be a fun way to end the year too. Unfortunately, it didn't go according to plan. Matthew really wanted to watch Wall-E so we decided that he would watch that while all the older ones played Train Dominoes. We didn't get done playing until after 1:00 am. While we didn't watch movies and eat snacks, we had a lot of fun. Julie (the young lady who is staying with us for a few weeks), Audrey, Jason, and I ended the year playing games and laughing a lot while the boys watched Thomas the Train and Flipper. What a blessing to be able to have fun and make memories. I am pretty sure that Train Dominoes is going to become a New Year's tradition in the Tate house.

To The Hospital We Must Go

Yesterday I was able to spend a night at the local government run hospital here. It was an eye opener as to how much we as US citizens have so much for which to be thankful.

Friday morning we got a call from Carla, a young mother in the church. She had to take her daughter to the small private hospital in Ojojona. She was sick with a fever and was in a lot of pain. We called her a few hours later and she reported that the doctors diagnosed Isella with a amoeba cyst, but she had bought the medicine and was resting. 

Around 6:30 pm that night, we got a call from a frantic Carla. Isella was crying every time she moved and her fever was back up. She asked if I would take her to the main public hospital. I left with Bro. Ernesto (for my security), Carla, Nora (her sister), and Isella. Normally Jason is the one who makes hospital runs as Hospital Escuela is not the safest place in the world.

We arrived at around 7:30 and stood in line. We couldn't even figure out where the line was so we had to ask. There were probably about 100 people in this little room and only about 30 chairs. Once we figured out where the line was Nora stood in it while Carla and I rotated holding Isella. The line was progressing fairly quickly. It only took us about an hour to make it to the chairs. Once Carla had a seat, Nora and I stood off to the side and talked.

The line was moving fairly well and Carla was soon in the front row. It was about 10:00 pm and I was thinking we would soon be on our way home. However, I didn't expect to have one emergency after another.

One young man was brought in by ambulance. We heard yelling and screaming in pain and then looked outside and saw the ambulance. They sat outside with the young man in the ambulance for about 30 minutes before a doctor came out and saw him. They then proceeded, with one man on each side of him holding his arms, to walk him into the examination rooms. My first though was why don't they have a stretcher to put this young man on. They also brought in two new-born babies. One was brought in one of the plastic new-born bed you normally find in the hospital. The other was just in a plastic box. It made me so happy that I didn't have to come to this hospital to have my children.

The doctors had to come out several times and tell the people to stop opening the examination room door and walking in to insist that their child be seen first. Unless it is an emergency, they would be seen in the order of arrival. One young lady said her baby had been having convulsions. The doctor just looked at her with disbelief and said, "Tell me the truth, when was the last time she had convulsions?". The mother honestly admitted that she hadn't had any in two days and took her place in the line.

Carla sat in the same chair from 10:00 until 1:45 when thankfully, she was finally able to be seen. I didn't get to go into the exam room, but I watched when Carla went in. I was shocked to see some of the beds covered with a sheet that hadn't been changed for at least that night. Others were just covered with big black plastic bags. 

She was in and out with the doctor confirming the diagnosis of the other clinic and then prescribing her the medicine needed. The doctor said that part of Isella's problem was that she was given a prescription for an adult and that was tearing her stomach up even worse.

When we finally had everything done we had to go to the pharmacy to get the medicine. The first order of business was to find where the pharmacy was in this building. We found it, but I was shocked as I walked down the halls to see how many people were laying on the cold, hard floor sleeping. Some had brought newspaper to lay on. On our way to the pharmacy we saw probably 200 or more. I was never so thankful that I was able to go home and sleep on a nice comfortable bed.

We left right at 2:00 am and I was never so glad to leave any place in my life. The floors were very dirty, the bathrooms didn't have water, lights, or even toilet paper. Two babies had thrown up when we were in the waiting room and when we had left that hadn't even been cleaned up yet. It made me so thankful that we have a private hospital to take our children to. 

We had to stop by a pharmacy to buy a dosage syringe since they didn't give you any way to measure the medicine you were supposed to give the patient. After that I had to stop for gas and then I was free to go home.

I pulled into the gas station and they started filling my tank. I was finally done and was putting my debit card back in my purse when I was side-swiped by a drunk taxi driver. Thankfully all he did was transfer his white paint to my bumper, but he drove off like his tail was on fire. Bro. Ernest and Nora were able to get the number on his taxi and told me that we needed to stop and report it. So, we had one more stop on our way home. 

I was unsure if I should stop or just drive by the police station. Normally there is someone outside checking the cars that drive by. When we got close there was a car in front of me that stopped and the police in the building rushed out and saluted. I rolled down my window and one of the police tried to wave my past, but I signaled that I needed to talk to them. Soon my car was surrounded by police. They took the information and called to the other police in the area to look out for this taxi. They were very nice. I thanked them and we were finally able to go home. 

I finally got home just after 3:00 am. I was so glad to have had this experience and I was doubly glad that Carla felt comfortable enough with us to call us when she needed help. This is something we try to encourage in the people in our church. They don't always make use of our help though. I was also thankful for the time to get to know Nora. Her kids are faithful in my class, but she has never come to church. I will be writing another blog to introduce you all to this sweet lady.

Living in a Third World Country

Many times it seems that it is all I can do to get one thing done. This past week was full of fun, unexpected events, and brakes in our plans.

It all started when we were coming home from church on Sunday. The brakes in our truck were making a funny sound. Normally brakes start squeaking to let you know you are going to have to change them soon, but ours sounded like metal on metal and didn't seem to be responding all that well. Since we were coming home to have lunch, Jason decided to leave the truck parked and take our small car instead. You do not want to drive down the winding Honduran roads when you are not 100% sure of your brakes. Normally taking the car is not a problem, but we were also taking some of our church people to the service in Los Jutes. So we (the kids and I) had to stay at home from this service. I was excited that maybe I could watch the service from our home church, but unfortunately, the power went out for several hours so that didn't materialize.

First thing Monday morning, Jason took the brakes off of the truck and found out that we had no brake pad left. So he took the parts and went into Tegucigalpa to get the new brakes. He got to the store, having called ahead to make sure they had the parts, and was told that the brakes wouldn't be in until the next day. So home he came with no brake pads. 

Tuesday I had a visit scheduled with some of our ladies, so Jason once again went to Tegucigalpa early to get the parts. This time, thankfully, he was successful. He got home only to realize that someone had "borrowed" his c-clamps when we were in the states. This meant  a trip back to Tegucigalpa. Unfortunately, at this time I was already in Ojojona making my visit. Here in Honduras if you make a visit for less than an hour you will be considered to be too busy to really care. So once I was done with my visit I went to Tegucigalpa with the kids to do some birthday shopping for Jordan and pick up some c-clamps.

Since Jason was not able to finish the brake job on Tuesday, he had to cancel the service with the soldiers on Wednesday morning. Wednesday dawned overcast and very muggy, so with c-clamps in hand he went out to finish the job. He didn't get very far and he realized that one roter was chipped and had to be replaced, so back to Tegucigalpa he went. By this time he was getting very sick of driving to Tegucigalpa. Thankfully he was able to get the part after only visiting a few shops. He came back home and was able to finish the job with no more problems. 

As he went out for his test drive, he received a phone call from a national who works with us in the church in  Ojojona. His name is Gustavo and he was having severe pain in the lower left side of his abdomen. He thought he was having an appendicitis attack. So, Jason went to pick him up. This was now just a few hours from the time church was supposed to start and it was POURING outside. Jason called me on his way to the hospital to tell me that I wouldn't be going to church that night. It was raining so hard that our street and driveway were raging rivers. Jason drove Bro. Gustavo to the hospital and stayed with him until he was seen by a doctor (who though he had appendicitis and ordered tests) and then left to go back to Ojojona to pick up a family member of Bro. Gustavo in case he had to have surgery (another day I will have to tell you all about the ordeal it is going to a government hospital). After going back to Tegucigalpa to drop off Domingo, the family member, he drove home. When he got home just after midnight, the specialist still had not seen Bro. Gustavo. At 12:30, we got a phone call telling us that the specialist didn't think it was appendicitis and discharged them to come home. Thankfully we were able to find a place for them to stay in Tegucigalpa that night so we didn't have to go back.

Thursday and Friday were much calmer with only a mountain load of English homework to help one of our church kids through and Jordan's birthday celebration on Friday.

After such a stressful week it was great to take a little down time and take Jordan to Denny's for his birthday. He received a tool box with tools, a water gun and a Nintendo DS for his birthday. He was very excited and had a great time. 

Sunday was scheduled to be our baptism Sunday and since it is the first since we have been back, we had a lot to baptize.When we woke up on Sunday morning we were very worried. It was overcast and cold. Baptism services here are held at the river. The people don't want to be baptized in a pool or a baptistery. They want to be baptized how Jesus was. We were unsure if anyone would still want to be baptized with it being so cold. We were so blessed to be able to see 17 people come for baptism. One was a 87 year old man that walked down to the river 1 1/2 hours ahead of schedule to make sure he could get there in time. It was a blessed day. God really blessed. We had to take four truck loads of people home. Many of these people haven't been to church in a long time. We are praying that God dealt with their hearts and they will once again become faithful to the things of the Lord.

Change can be good

For those of you who don't know me really well, I am not a big fan of change. I prefer to continue walking the same paths and very little variation is good for me. I have learned these past few weeks of being back in Honduras that change can be a very good thing.

It all started about a month ago when I was mentioning to Jason how if we didn't do something we were going to lose some of the kids that had been with us for several years. I had noticed that most of the older kids (now between the ages of 12 and 14) were still coming but seemed to be bored every week. Most of these kids have been in Sunday school since they were five and six years old. Unfortunately, there was little I could do. To make the class more geared to their age level, I would have to teach a more advanced lesson which would quickly lose the attention of the younger kids who would then start acting up and distract the older kids. But at the same time I didn't want to lose the older kids. We have seen far too many kids reach 12 years of age and stop coming to church. We didn't want this trend to continue.

Jason had been working with a young man named Gustavo. He strongly feels that God would have this young man take an active part in pastoring the church in Ojojona. Gustavo, one of our Bible Institute students, is from an area called Aragua, but lives in Ojojona. He is a leader in the church in Aragua as the church hasn't had a pastor for several years. Three times a week he makes the hour and a half walk to Aragua to help lead the services. This young man has a burden for the town of Ojojona and has been attending services in both churches for a while now. Jason has started putting him in the pulpit more often and the people love him. He is a great soulwinner and a great asset to our ministry.

Since our goal in Honduras is NOT to pastor one church, but to start and turn churches over to nationals, we feel that this time of unrest in the young people was the perfect catalyst to start the responsibility shift more to the nationals. Jason asked Bro. Gustavo to make a commitment to preach every Sunday morning. This allowed Jason to be free to take a class of young people.

Three weeks ago we split the Sunday school classes. We now have a class from birth to 8 years old and one from 9 to 15 years old. We have seen both classes just about double in this time. The younger kids are learning a lot and even answering questions when asked (a huge step as they acted very shy when with the older kids).

We have a lady in our church who didn't want to help out in Sunday school during our last term but agreed to step in if it was needed during our absence. While we were in the states, the lady in charge of the Sunday school became very sick and Xiomara had to step in and help out. I was very pleased when we came back to Honduras and I was able to hear her teach for the first time. She did such a wonderful job. She came with me to the younger kids class and will eventually take over that class, but as she has never taught little children, she was just going to observe a few weeks before taking on small responsibilities for the class.

Last week, God once again changed her mind. I was all prepared to teach on Sunday, but Audrey got sick. I called her and asked her to teach for me and she was happy to do it. Our first Sunday our attendance was eight children. Our third Sunday we had an attendance of 16. Xiomara is getting more comfortable with the kids and they love her.

I am a slow mover at times. I fear running people off so I err on the side of caution. It is great to see the Lord use circumstances to help "push" people into the place he wants them to be.

Mini Vacation

While I was able to visit my family last December when I came to help out with my mom's surgery, It was hard to be in the states so long and not get to see them. Thankfully we arrived to our US home on Monday of last week. It was so great to get to see family and have a little time to relax.

The Lord really blessed us and provided our needs wonderfully since we have been here. One of these blessings was in the providing beds for the kids. We had a bunk bed donated, but it didn't have mattresses. I started looking on Craigslist and found two mattresses for $15.00 each. They were actually in good shape. YEAH!!! I had to buy some sheets for the beds so I went to Target (I had a gift card) and found them on sale for $5.00 a set. I needed to buy sheets to take back to Honduras anyway so we were excited to find such a good deal on them. The kids are loving having beds to sleep on.

This week my mom and dad gave Jason and I a mini vacation. They took the three oldest kids to the beach in their motor home. It has been just Jason, Matthew, and me at home. We have had a wonderful time. Matthew has thoroughly enjoyed his time alone with Mom and Dad. We have gone to the library twice and even got to go out and buy a pumpkin. We have had a great time and are very thankful for our mini vacation.

Stubbornness Can Be A Blessing

I tend to be stubborn at times, but today, my persistence was a hero for one little boy.

We were given a gift basket last night from the church. Inside was a lot of wonderful things for us. One of the things that was given was a small green train for Matthew. He wanted to sleep with it, but we wouldn't let him. This morning, when he woke up we couldn't find it. He slept in late this morning as he fell off the bed in the middle of the night and took a little while to calm down. When he finally got up, the maid was already here. The maid and I looked everywhere, but to no avail. After she left I continued to look and still couldn't find it. I finally went down the hall and asked the maid if I could look in our trash. I found the train under several layers of trash. It was covered with leftover cereal and milk. I was so excited that I had finally found it. I made me remember the story of the woman in the New Testament who hunted for a lost coin and finally found it.

Matthew's reaction when I came back in the room with the train was priceless. He was so excited. In case you were wondering; yes, I cleaned it before I gave it back to him. :-) Today I am thankful for my "persistent" tendencies.