San Pedro Sula

We are in San Pedro Sula as I write this. We found out on Monday that the US Embassy couldn't process Matthew's application for Citizen Birth Abroad until April 30th. They did inform us that if we went to San Pedro Sula we wouldn't need an appointment. We got Ernesto and Nelly to watch our older kids and off we went.

The US Consulate office here is only open Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm. We got there shortly after 1:00 and were able to be seen after only waiting 30 minutes. The Consular was impressed that we had everything all ready and set up. We started going through our papers and found out that we were missing a key paper.

It was Joey's birth certificate of all things. Joey's birth certificate proves to the US government that we have lived in the States in the past. Don't ask me how his Consular Report of Birth Abroad certificate proves this, but it does.

We had to call Ernesto and have him take Joey's certificate and send it to us on a bus. Thankfully He was able to go this morning and we now have it in hand.

We will be going back to the Consulate tomorrow and are hoping that everything goes well.

Last night when we got back to our hotel we were shocked at the sight of all outdoor personnel. Every last one of them had on bullet proof vests. I thought the motel was in a good neighborhood. It just brings to mind that San Pedro Sula is a lot more dangerous than Tegucigalpa.

We are planning on going home tomorrow and are looking very forward to it. It has been a nice vacation for Jason and I, but we feel guilty leaving Ernesto and Nelly with the kids for so long.

This picture is of the Dining Room decorated for the party. The gray spots on the walls is where the plaster is being repaired. Only another week and we should be able to paint. YEAH!!!! Joey and Brooklyn (Hodges) eagerly waiting for cake time.

Joey hitting the Lightning McQueen Pinata

Joey loved his cake. He was so excited to get a race track cake. It was so easy to make. Jordan is already putting in his order for one on his birthday.

Video Games

Joey had a birthday last Friday. He turned 5. We had a birthday party for him and it was good to see all of our friends again. Even though we had just three families over, our house was packed. We had hot dogs and everyone brought a side dish for potluck.

Thursday evening, while on the way to church, Ernesto (the man who helps us in Ojojona) got a call from his brother saying that his mom was doing badly and they were taking her to the hospital.

After church, Jason took me home and then drove Ernesto and Nelly home. When I got out of the car at our house, Ernesto was explaining to his brother that his mom was 96 and had smoked most of her life. She had been saved for the last 12 years and in that time had not smoked once, but her lungs were permently damaged. He told his brother that if she didn't die that night it wouldn't be long for her.

We got a call Friday morning saying that she had died during the night. Jason left to be with Ernesto and Nelly (who were supposed to come to the party) and help them in any way he could.

We couldn't cancel the party as most everyone invited had a fully scheduled month already. Thankfully everyone was late and Jason got home just after the last guest arrived. Ernesto and Nelly couldn't come as they had to stay with the family for the viewing.

Joey was a little disappointed that Ernesto and Nelly couldn't come. Jason almost didn't get to come so we were thankful that at least he was able to be home in time.

Joey loves cars so we had a car theme. I made him a race track cake. He loved it. His favorite gift was the Leapster educational video game player we got him. He ties to sleep with it at night. Jordan has had one for a few years now and it is a much fought over toy.

Today Jordan told Joey that he was going to let him use some of his games as soon as he gets his out of toy jail (he was playing with it at night when he was supposed to be in bed). Jordan prayed for lunch today and when he was done Joey said, "I thought you were going to pray for the video games to get out of toy jail."

Ladies Meeting

This past Saturday we had the first Ladies Meeting in over a year. During my pregnancy we had to cancel almost everything I was involved in. We had a special potluck meeting at our house. We invited 20 ladies and of those 20, 16 actually came. We had Becky Jackson come and give a devotional on the right kind of love.

For our game that day, we had the ladies pair up in groups of two (non-family members) for a Bible scavenger hunt. First they had to find what to look for by looking up a specific Bible reference and then they had to go out and find that item. I had Jason hide all of the items for me so I couldn't help anyone. It was amazing what some ladies found that was not part of the scavenger hunt. One of the references mentioned nails and one of the ladies brought back a log with a bunch of nails in it. Many things were buried in the yard and were from the last tenant of this house.

We made woven heart baskets from construction paper for a craft. I thought they would get it, but I ended up doing a great majority of the baskets for people. I guess the next time I will have to find something much easier.

The puppies that our dog had 6 weeks ago kept getting into the house. I announced that we were still trying to give one of them away. I had two girls instantly say, "I want one." The only problem was that there was only one left. The other two were already promised. Thankfully both girls wanted a different puppy and we talked to one of the people who had wanted one and he was glad to give it to someone else as "he really wanted a male".

The next day in church, Karina, brought her new puppy to church. It was dressed up in a ribbon and sweater. She even showed us pictures on her cell phone of the bed she made for the dog. It is actually a bed with four posters. It was really cute. She told me that she would not bring the dog to church next week. I hope this is true as I had to watch nursery along with the puppy.

Matthew is crying now. That nap was way too short. At least you all know that we are still alive.

Catch-up

Today is the first time I have been able to update my blog in over a week. What a week we have had. Last Sunday we had a baptismal service. We had four people baptized. Tonita, Kenia, Reina, and Karina.

Tonita is in her late 50's. She works as a street sweeper and walks 6 1/2 miles every day with a broom and wheelbarrow sweeping the street off. She is tiny and so very sweet. She started coming to our church about a year and a half. Almost a year ago she started attending faithfully. She really struggled with her salvation for the first year she attended. She would raise her hand for salvation every service. We tried to explain to her time and time again that the Bible teaches that once you make a decision for Christ then you are always saved. Finally about six months ago it clicked. She finally realized that the decision she had made many years ago did not need to be repeated. Even though her husband will not let her come in the evenings anymore, he did not forbid her from getting baptized and she was so excited to finally take the step of obedience in baptism. She is legally married (a rarity in this country) and is so excited to be able to serve in the church. We were teasing her on the way home from church that she needed to be ready to teach Sunday school the next week and to be sure to have at least two songs ready to sing for a special.

Kenia and Reina are two preteen girls that live in the same area. They mentioned a few weeks back that they wanted to be baptized. Jason talked to them both in the presence of their parents and they both gave a clear salvation testimony. Both girls' parents gave them permission to be baptized. Kenia's mom was under conviction and had many questions after the talk. Bro. Ernesto, who was with Jason at that time, was able to answer her questions and she received Jesus as her personal Saviour.

Karina, is a very sweet girl who is 15 years old. She is almost albino her skin and hair is so light. Her family started coming to church as a result of a ride that they got from Bro. Javier. He gave them a ride one day and invited them to church. They had been saved in a church in a town called Guinope, but had recently moved. She had not yet been baptized and was excited to make that step of obedience. Please pray for Angi, her younger sister, she was going to get baptized with her sister, but got scared and didn't make that step. She said that she wants to be baptized next time we have a baptismal service.

Monday evening Jason and Alan Jackson started a new session of Bible Institute. This time we are having classes two nights a week to help the students get done faster. Living closer to the work has helped us to be able to do this.

Thursday was Jason's birthday and we had a special dinner of Spaghetti. We had invited Ernesto and Nelly to come and celebrate with us, but their bus got here late so we had to celebrate after church.

Unfortunately, since our truck is still in the shop from the accident, I didn't get to go into town to buy him his birthday presents. We still had our big green Ford F-250, but it is big and the parking spaces in Teguc are small so I don't drive it there if I have to park it. I felt bad to not have a gift for Jason to open.

Friday, we went into Teguc to get Jason's birthday gifts. We were late getting started as Alan Jackson called us to take some teens home from a teen meeting. They had the pickup full of teens they were dropping off and some ladies they were picking up for the Ladies Meeting. One of the teenage boys was sitting in the truck bed with his legs hanging over the side. Becky, who was driving, went over a bump and he fell out. In the process he managed to grab another boy and drug him to the ground with him. They were both fine, but the one who wouldn't get all the way in the truck bed pretended to be unconscious. They took him to the hospital that is near and Becky explained to the doctor what had happened and how she thought he was faking. The doctor examined him and also conclued that he was faking too. To snap the kid out of his "unconciousness" he gave him an injection in the behind. He was instantly cured.

We managed to get into town about 15 minutes before the stores closed. Thankfully I knew what I was going to get him and managed to get everything just before the stores closed. We all got back into the car and started home. About five miles from where we used to live in Tegucigalpa, the ABS light came on in the truck. A few minutes later the stereo stopped playing, then the lights dimmed and went off. Finally about two miles later the truck stopped as we came up to a gas station. We were able to pull in and called for Alan Jackson to come pick us up. We then called our old neighbors, who have a car, and they came and towed the truck to their house. If we had left it there, it would have been all taken apart and gone by the time we got back. God worked everything out, but Friday night at 8:00 pm is not when you want to break down. We figured it was the alternator that fried and are having our mechanic fix the problem.

Since we didn't have transportation we had to cancel Saturday's activities. Saturday afternoon we tried to get our small gray truck from the body shop to be able to go to church on Sunday. We got it back late Saturday night, but on Sunday morning when we went to start it up, it wouldn't start. For a few months we have been having trouble getting it to start. We have know the glow plugs (spark plugs for diesel motors) were going out, but when you don't have money to change them you wait until they are gone before you do the work. Well, Sunday morning they were gone. Jason had to call Ernesto and have him run the service and we went to Alan Jackson's church. We were encouraged when we called Ernesto after church and found out that we had over 20 adults that came to church. Several took the bus to be there since we couldn't pick them up.

Please pray with us about a matter with our gray truck. Both the motor mounts are bad in it. I am sure they were getting bad when Jason was in the accident. We hadn't had a problem with them though. After Jason was hit there was a rattling sound whenever the truck was turned on. After they have repaired most of the body damage and all of the damage to the muffler the truck is still making the same sound. We are trying to get the man that hit us to replace the motor mounts as we are sure this is what is causing the vibrations and noises. Frankly we don't have the money to do this ourselves and since we didn't have this problem before we were hit, we don't think we should have to pay for this. Please pray with us as we talk to the man who hit us that he would be willing to pay for this repair.

This Week

This week has held blessing and struggles for us.

Sunday we got to church to see a truck of our Sunday School students being driven somewhere else. We asked them where they were going and found out that Iglesia Bautista Nuevo Camino was picking kids up on a "truck" route for their church. This church is part of Baptist Medical and Dental Mission and they have a habit of going into an area where there is already a good Baptist church and stealing all of the members. They have done this many times and as they have all of their funding come from the states, they can do whatever they want. This is not a missionary run church, but a church with a pastor that gets support from the states. They are Baptist in name only. They do not have the same beliefs that we do. Their pastor even believes that if one person from the family attends their church then the whole family is saved. This in direct contradiction to what the Bible says. Last week we had 9 kids in my Sunday school class. While I know it is not about numbers, it is nice to see a full class. I am so thankful for the 9 kids that came knowing that all they were going to get was love and teaching from the Bible.

Sunday morning during our church service we had a baby dedication service. We dedicated Ruben Isaac Zelaya Santos, Jason Alex Rodriguez Lopez, Joey, and Matthew. It was so sweet to see the tears in Ruben Sr's eyes as Jason told how God had used their lives in our church. Jason preached that morning on what it means to dedicate your child to the Lord. Even though our Sunday School attendance was low, the Lord gave us a great adult attendance even though several of our faithful were out sick.

After church, Chad Minnick came into town. He and his wife, Julie, are adopting a girl from Honduras. Normally he stays in a motel, but we offered to let him stay with us and he accepted. We had a great night of fellowship. They needed a place for Magda, the girl who they are adopting, to stay. So he was coming down to get her situated in the house of the uncle of the other girl they adopted a year ago. It wasn't the best place for her to go, but it would be a home where she would get at least food every day.

Monday morning as Jason was talking to Chad, he offered to let Magda stay with us. He didn't talk to me first, so when I heard it I was stunned that he had thought of that as it hadn't entered my mind. Then, almost instantly, my mind went back to the boy we had living with us a few years ago and all of the problems that we had. I felt bad because I am sure the utter terror showed on my face. Magda is 14 years old, but emotionally she is about the same age as Audrey. Chad decided to let her stay with us. I was so glad we could make a difference in her life even for a short time.

Magda has been having a great time. She loves playing with Audrey and they are two peas in a pod. They only time they are separated is when they are doing schoolwork. Although Magda is taller than Audrey, her diet hasn't been great lately and she is super skinny. They wear the same size at this time. They have been sharing clothes and everything. We know that the first few weeks are easy and calm and so we are perfectly ready for things to take a turn for the worse as that is what happened before. Magda is so eager to please and is such a joy that we are hoping that she will make the transition smoothly.

Wednesday I came down with a cold and had to go into the doctor on Thursday as I could not stop coughing. My doctor gave me several medicines as well as a prescription for a nebulization medicine. I am feeling better now, but on Friday Magda and Matthew got sick too. We had to take both of them into the doctor. Thankfully, Dr. Munoz saw Magda for free and gave us her medication is samples too so it didn't cost us anything.

It has been a fun time of adjusting for us with having Magda in the house. She is a HUGE blessing. She helps with the dishes and laundry as well as any time Matthew cries, she picks him up and holds him until I can take care of his needs.

To cap off this roller coaster week, I got a call yesterday as we were working on a homework project for Audrey. Jason called and told me that he had just gotten in a car accident. He asked me to call and have Alan Jackson come and help him and then he hung up on me. I am a pessimist and so therefore I assumed the worse. I called Alan and then called Jason back. He told me where he was and asked me to get the police and then hung up on me again without giving me any more information. I hurried and got the kids in our other car and drove to the police station. Once there I ran inside and talked to the two police officers that are assigned to the town of San Buenaventura. They told me that they were not transit officers so they could not help me, but they gave me the phone number for the police in Sabana Grande (a town about 20 minutes away) where there is a transit police station. I called them and they told me, "We will send someone out as soon as we can." When you know how the Honduran system works that is not very comforting. I drove to where Jason was and was relieved to find out that he was ok. The accident wasn't as bad as I was imagining. He was dropping someone off and so was stopped on the side of the road. A driver coming along was not watching where he was going and slammed into the back of Jason. Two ladies flew out of the truck bed and landed on the grass, but they got up and walked away. We tried to get them to go to a hospital to be checked out, but they didn't want to. One man who was also riding in the back, was sore and pretty cut up on his arms. The man who caused the accident took him to the hospital. Our truck (the small one) is pretty damaged. The back end is all crushed in and something is loose on the front of the truck that causes it to rattle pretty badly when it is running. Jason and Alan took the truck to a mechanic/body shop near our house and the owner told us that the man who caused the accident is a friend of his and he will make sure that he pays. Once everything was worked out the police finally showed up. Since everything was already decided they just left again. Jason is very sore today. His back and neck hurt a lot, but we are so thankful that he was not hurt worse.

It seems like the discouragements always come right before a great victory. Our soulwinning program in Ojojona has picked up and we have seen faithfulness in many people. Many people have visited our church for the first time. The church is growing and we are excitedly waiting to see what God is going to do through us in 2009.

Ticket

Yesterday we had to go into town for a few errands. We were planning to go in around 2:00 in the afternoon, but Alan Jackson called us and asked us if we wanted to go to lunch with them. We decided to go in early and have lunch with them. First though, they were going to take us to a new store that is really good.

As we were leaving Hondutel (the phone company) pulled up to our house. We haven't had phone service since we moved in and they finally got out to fix the line (only 2 months after we requested it). We called Alan and told him that we would have to wait around for a few minutes before we could leave. Hondutel told us that they had to go to the main office and pick up something they need and then they would be back.

We went to our neighbor's house and asked if they could come stay in the house so Hondutel could work and we didn't have to wait for them to get back. Our neighbors are Bible Institute students and their house is separated from our house so that you can't even see the other when in one, but they are part of the same property. When we rented this house we requested that they also rent us the little house for the same price. Jose Luis and Suyapa keep on eye on things when we are not around and for that they get to live rent free thus enabling him to work less and attend more Bible Institute classes.

We drove to Teguc with no problems and as we were heading to the new store, we had to make a u-turn. Jason saw two police officers standing on the side of the road and was almost going to go down to the next intersection, but the small bus in front of us made a u-turn and so we decided that it was legal and Jason started to make a u-turn. Just then the police waved for Jason to pull over. Very few police have cars so they wave you over and you must pull over. Who knows what would happen if you didn't, but they carry guns so I don't want to find out. Anyway, we pulled over and the police officer proceeded to ask for our identification and papers for our truck.

Jason gave them to him and then he told Jason that he was too far over in the turn lane and thus was a danger to himself and everyone else on the road. He started making out the ticket. Jason is so calm. I, on the other hand don't like being taken advantage of. So I was furious. But I was good and kept my mouth shut. I do have a frustrating problem though that when I get really mad I cry. So as the tears were running down my cheeks, the other police officer standing with his partner came over. He proceeded to explain to us how dangerous our actions were. That made me even madder as I am not an idiot and I know that we did nothing illegal or harmful to ourselves or others. He then told us that if we would help his partner out he probably would not give us the ticket. Jason told them that we are Christians and don't participate in bribes.

We now have three days to pay a fee based anywhere from 900 Lempira ($50.00) up to 1,815 Lempira ($96.00). While I know that this is cheap compared to the states, it is frustrating to pay when you don't deserve it. There also is no way to fight or complain about tickets.

The police officer told us when he gave us the ticket that we had been in a lot of accidents. We bought our truck from missionary Mike Lane who had been in several small accidents. They are all minor and only can be seen if you are looking for them. We were also in an accident while we were in a store. We came out and our truck was in two parking spots instead of one and the bumper was just about yanked off. Of course no one saw anything. The security guard (who is paid to watch the cars) told us that how does he know we didn't come into the store with it looking like that. Oh well, what can you do.

We have a feeling that those police officers were just waiting for a gringo to come by and look for an excuse to pull them over.