Sunday Services

We had great Sunday services today. Our sending church is Faith Baptist Church in Tacoma, WA. We had what seemed like a great attendance for church today. We got to go to the Young Married Class taught by Bro. Lane. It was great. It was strange to see so many young people all grown up. How times flies when you are not around.

Audrey had a hard time today. She was the first to Sunday school and so she left her Bible to save her seat and went to the bathroom. When we got back we found three girls in her row of three seats and her Bible and purse was on the floor. She looked a little distraught, but I told her to pick it up and find another seat. The girls who had moved her Bible were kind and moved, but I could tell Audrey felt bad because no one wanted to sit by her. She is always the most popular one in Honduras and here no one wanted to sit by her. I can't blame the little girls because they don't know her, but I felt really bad that she has to be uprooted because of our work. After church she was really clingy and didn't want to go home with Grandma so I knew that something was wrong. I felt her forehead and she seemed hot. When we got home her temperature was over 102. I am hoping her feelings of dejection came from her not feeling good and not from her being uprooted this past week.

Tomorrow if Audrey is well we will be continuing to look at trailers. We are praying that God would have his perfect will in our search. A very big dealership here in Washington state is owned by a member of one of our supporting churches. We are praying that maybe he can help us out a little more than normal. Please continue to pray with us as we search for what God has for us.

First few days back

There have been many surprises for us since coming back to the states. We love the fact that there is a Starbucks in every store and on every corner. We just wish we had enough money to stop at each one of them. :-) One thing we had forgotten that surprised us was the size of the portions of food. We don't ask for anything super sized anymore. It is just to much food. No wonder so many Americans are overweight. The food portions are incredibly huge.

Today we went shopping in Albertsons and were in awe. There is not a store in Honduras that is as big as that one. We found so many things that were so cool. It is so different shopping in Honduras as many times you cannot find what you want or you have to settle for something a little different.
Today we went to a Spanish Department picnic for our home church. After that we went out RV hunting as we are trying to buy one and we want to get all of our options. We have spent parts of three days doing this and it is a lot of fun. I always try to get them to show me all the 5th wheels they have even if I cannot afford them just because it is fun to look. We found a great one that is near our price range, but we will see what God provides. The kids went with us for the first time today. They loved it. The first thing they tried to do was jump on the beds. Why do kids think that they can get away with that when they are not at home if they are never allowed to do it at home? We had a great time.

We loved driving today as the mountain was out today. For those of you who are not from the Pacific Northwest, that means that there were no clouds so you could see the mountain. I took several pictures to show to my friends in Honduras what a real mountain is. They have no idea what snow is.

Please continue to pray with us that God would give us the right trailer for us. We praise the Lord for the truck that he gave us. It is wonderful. There is so much space. There

is room for three carseats and if we were in Honduras we could fit at least six adults on the back seat alone not to mention the floor and in the pickup bed. We can not even get a picture of all three kids as the backseat is just to large. We are still trying to find out what mileage we get. We have done so much city driving so far that our number will be low, but it will be good to know that it should not go much lower than that.

Here at last

So much has happened since I last wrote. God blessed and we had a great last weekend at church with over 80 people in attendance. We left Tuesday morning to come back to the states and arrived in Seattle at 9:00 pm. We had two great flights and the kids loved it. We almost had a problem getting on the plane as my passport had "expired". The identification page said that it had expired in 2004, but there was an explanation and a void on the back page which the US Passport Service assured me meant that my passport was good for another 10 years. Praise the Lord everything turned out fine when the supervisor from Continental said that since I was going to the country of my birth it would be fine to go with an expired passport. The US customs did not even notice that it was supposedly expired and I was not about to point it out.

I still have a mountain of unpacking to do and my body clock has not yet adjusted. Therefore, tomorrow, I will have to write all about my first day in the states after a three year absence.

Being a Blessing

Isn't it great when you can be a blessing to someone. Yesterday we got such an opportunity. Iris, the wife and mother of the family with whom Jason lived when he came to Honduras in 1993, came over to return a few things. Iris' husband, Pastor Hector Medina, died of stomach cancer about 10 years ago. Iris now is a faithful worker in the church where he pastored for so many years. She is a wonderful person. She is a single mom to three kids and a grandmother to one. She speaks English and tutored me in my spanish when we first came.

A year ago Iris got some bad news. Her daughter, then 17, was pregnant. It was a hard time for the whole family especially Iris because as a single mother you can only be with your kids for so many hours in the day. She still had to work and take care of them. There was a lot of criticism for her, but Praise the Lord, her daughter was very repentant and God has used this bad situation to build them closer to him as a family.

Yesterday they all came over to pick up a walker I was going to give them. While they were here I felt like I should give them some food. I ended up giving them three bags of food. I didn't think very much of it, but she started to cry and told me that I didn't know how much that meant to her. She said that she had no food in the house. I can tell you I got a bigger blessing out of that than she did. God is so good to give us the blessing of being a blessing.

Disappointments, Frustrations, and Blessings

Tuesday was a busy day for us. We had our very last ladies meeting with a dinner in honor of the ladies who have been faithful. We had five invited, but one of the ladies did not know that this was by invitation only and invited many others. We were very thankful that only two extra came. The reason for the invitation only is that the church only has one table so the number is restricted by how many fit around the table.

As we were getting ready for Ladies Meeting we got a call from Reuben. He is a man in our church who was trying to buy our truck. He called and told us that he could not secure financing for it so he would not be able to buy it. We were so disappointed as we have come to the end of our time here and still we have not sold it. We are going to just donate it to the work in Ojojona so that they can pay the yearly taxes on it while using it for picking up people. Reuben told us we could park it at his house and he would drive it to pick up people. That is very kind of him as he knows he will not be allowed to drive it any other time. We are disappointed that we were not able to get the money for it as it would have allowed us to pay off our other truck before coming home on furlough

We were frustrated to learn upon arriving at Ladies Meeting that Esperanza had been kicked out on Sunday. She did find a place to live, but they would only allow her to bring two of her kids. Please pray for her to find a better place for the kids. Tuesday at Ladies Meeting Jason heard screaming coming from Sandra's house (where Esperanza used to live) and then a baby screaming as if in pain. He rushed up there to find out what was wrong and found that the baby was badly burnt on his belly. Jason rushed him to the hospital with the baby's mom and aunt. Christian is 4 months old, but very small for his age and severely malnourished. On the way back to Ojojona with the aunt at 11:00 at night we asked her what was going on. She said that Cristian's mom and dad were arguing and the dad, Javier, went to the kitchen and got boiling coffee. He came back to the room and tried to throw it on his "woman", but missed and got the baby instead. There are times that I wish they had the laws here like they do in the states. No kid deserves to grow up in an environment like that.

Sunday, Jimena (Esperanza's oldest), came to Sunday school with scars on her arms. When Jason asked her how she got them she told him that her daddy hit her with a stick. I think that is why she went with Esperanza when she left. I wish I was going to be here a few months longer and then I would have them come and live with me.

After all the frustrations and disappointments of the day, God had a great time in store for us at Ladies Meeting. We had seven ladies attend and had a really special time with them. I gave a devotional entitled, "How to help your new pastor". I really pointed out to them that without them the church would not exist and they need to show the same support to the new Pastor's family as they have showed to us. God is so good to us. Our ladies, while there may not be many of them, are so supportive to me and such an encouragement. Teresa gave me a purse and Areli (who is 12 and the young lady I led to the Lord) knitted me a doll's stocking cap and bottle for me to put on the display table. I told her that I was going to put her picture up right next to it. We praise God for the work he is doing in Ojojona and just pray that it will continue long after we are gone.

Now that I finally updated you on Ladies meeting, I can write about what we have been doing the past few days. We have been painting and packing, and painting and packing,... We have to turn in our computer modem tomorrow which will cancel our internet service. I will try to update this on the last few days before we leave, but as we will not be at home I am not sure if I will get to it.

From Friday till Tuesday, we will be staying with the Jacksons. Our water tank is being retiled and we have to have a totally empty water tank for at least three days so we cannot live here without showers and water to wash dishes. If you don't hear from me sooner I will have lots to tell you about when we get home on Tuesday so keep checking back to see if I finally got enough energy to update on what has been going on.

Busy Monday

Today was a busy day for us. We had to go and do all of the shopping for the Ladies Dinner tomorrow. That took a while, but after that we came home and painted. Audrey's room is officially done. It has been painted (two coats), the bedding washed, and the clothes packed. It is all ready to go.

We had a little trouble with the paint though. We bought what we thought was the right color paint, but it is a touch more gold in color. The one that was on the wall is an orange with a pinkish base. The one we put on is called Antique gold. It is an orange with a tan base. I personally think that they both are ugly colors, but that is what the landlord wanted so that is what we painted. We were also able to paint the hallway and one wall of the living room. Things seem to be falling together quite nicely. We are just praying that everything will be done soon, preferably by Friday as that is when we are leaving this house so that repairs to the water tank can be made before we turn in the keys.

Sunday Services

We had a great, but very busy day yesterday. We were asked to come to Iglesia Bautista Peniel here in Teguc for the morning service. They had a special service for us. They had some people come and give testimonies and they gave us a special glass plaque thanking us for the work we have done in Ojojona. It was great to see everyone again. We try not to go to church there to often as they are an autonomus church and we don't want people to come to us for advise instead of the pastor. It was very special that they recognized the work we have done and wanted to thank us.

After church we got to eat at McDonalds as we didn't have time to go home and make lunch before the service in Ojojona. The kids loved that and I have to admit, so did I. The McDonalds here is different than at home. It actually tastes good. I did not like McDonalds in the states, but I love them here. Anyway, we picked up Ernesto and his wife after we ate lunch and drove to Ojojona. We were amazed when it did not rain at all on the drive up there or while we were at church.

I got to teach Sunday school this week as Reina (pictured here with her family, Josue, Daniela, and Alisandra) broke her foot on Friday night and has had to keep it elevated. The kids miss her, but we had a great turnout with 15 kids. I am sure that the Sunday school will continue strong in our absence. I was also able to watch nursery and we had 13 kids for that. God is blessing with many faithful people.

We got Audrey's room packed up after church on Sunday night. It wasn't a lot of work, but after the full day that we had, it was all I could manage to get done. Now everything that she wears and has washed will go straight into her suitcase. I still need to go through her suitcase again as I was not paying close attention when I was packing and I probably packed some old t-shirts that don't fit her anymore.