Good Morning Mt. Horeb

God has truly blessed us once again at Mt. Horeb with some very amazing young people. There is always so much bad shared about our young people well folks who are reading this will be extremely impressed with how God use twelve young people just like He used His disciples so many years ago.  If you allow God to use you and get out of your comfort zone and follow Him with His desires of His heart for your lives you will be forever blessed.  Pastor Brian brought twelve amazing young people to Mt. Horeb to share with Mike and I in building a home for a very precious family who has struggled over the last year.  Please join me on this amazing journey of how God is still in the business of miracales and healing others and He used a group of college students to accomplish this task.  

These twelve disciples were greeted by the beauty of Mt. Horeb.  The grounds started out brown as they arrivd but by the end of the week, chaperone, Craig shared, "I have watched this campus turned lush green over the last week."  The rainy season arrived with Pastor Brian and team.  They always bring the rainy season upon their arrival.  And we are forever grateful. Each morning Pastor Brian and breakfast crew prepared a Cracker Barrell Breakfast, pancakes eggs, bacon fruit and toast.  Yes the twelve disciples ate it all pretty much each and every morning.  Pastor Brian had a different breakfast crew daily along with new friend and team member, Craig.

Thank you God for what is becoming a week of gratitude to you first Lord and how you will use these young people in more ways than they will ever imagine.

Responsibilites of a Unified Team

Each morning our twelve had job duties and they were up early getting them done for their team and their day ahead.  While breakfast was being prepared there were three to four of the making sandwiches,  there were two or three making up the Gatorade and water and the four young men always rotated days helping Mike load up the tools and materials for their day ahead. We are grateful for their willingness to get up and help Pastor Brian with the jobs of the day with joyful hearts.  The young men and I were talking one day about how all we do is to glorify God and Sam shared, "Yes maam, all for Him."  The maturity level of these young people is a breathe of fresh air.  As some of you know reading this, it is hot here.  Hot and weather these young folks are not use to and adapted to their environment and gave it their all for the Kingdom Work here on earth.

FBC Southern Pines College Group Meets Their Precious Family

We traveled about forty five minutes to our little piece of Heaven here on earth called Povernir, Las Cabasas, Choluteca, Honduras.  We arrived with immediate hugs from the family.  I would like to introduce to you:

Walter Omar Ramirez Hernandez, husband and father

Nori Waleska Gomez Aguilera wife and mother

Daxair Ramirez Gomez age fifteen, a beautiful young lady

Saul Ramirez Gomez, age 12, son who was a servant

Mangel Ramirez Gomez age 10 a young lady with a beautiful smile

and Antony Ramirez Gomez age 7 who never smiled unless he was with Chandler.

Their pastor from another community made his way there that morning to greet and meet the team and then headed on his way to work. He was not able to be there for the construction of the home.  But he was there the first day and the last day of the project.  Most pastors in Honduras are bi-vocational pastors. So as they prayed up the beginning of their week, the team all observed there was not any other Hondurans there to help build the home.  I praise God for our four young men who took their work level to another level of servant hearts.  Thankful for our ladies who learned and know how to lay blocks,  Grateful this first day for this group of eager young people ready to serve their Lord.

Building Relationships

The first evening Pastor Brian encouraged the team yes to build this family a home but do not forget to build relationships as well with those around them.  Marissa came along with a special gift which she put it right to work.  She speaks Spanish.  As we had not even been there an hour Marissa and Daxari were carrying on a full blown conversation about all the different trees Daxari's beautiful property displayed.  She was so happy to share this with Marissa and the excitement of someone who could speak her language well this was one of my many God moments this week.  I shared in devotions that evening how jealous I was of the gift Marissa had of speaking fluent Spanish and how blessed I was all at the same time.  I am grateful Marissa took the gift God gave her and started immediately putting it to great use.

Mrs. Karen our other adult chaperone connected immediately with Mangel with her beautiful smile.  These two ladies both have gorgeous smiles which radiates all around them.  Mangel is one hard working little girl.  She was not there when we prayed at the beginning because she was off doing one of her many chores of the day.  They had to find her to pray over the first block and they also had to find her for the home dedication as well.  She was behind the scenes a lot helping her mother with whatever needed to be done.  One day she was off getting the corn ground for tortillas as she came back with the sweetest smile on her beautiful face.  These two girls both worked hard all week to help their family get a home.  These two ladies, Daxari and Mangel both had joy in their lives we all wish we had just a little of in our own.  The simplicity of Porvenir is a true gift from God especially for Mike and me.

Las Cabasas

Each morning the team arrived to the beauty of sleeping Elvis and the surrounding mountains.  The foundation of this home sets on numerous shade trees which brought coolness and shade when all needed to regroup.  Each and every day same time and same place these cows slowly made their way to graze for the day and then headed back home in the afternoon.  This foundation slowly throughout the week with all the beauty of God's creation around it became a home for Omar and family.  What a blessing for all the twelve to be able to remove themselves from very busy lives to come here where they could enjoy the beauty of God's creation all around them.  The grandeur of this corner of the world was amazing for them because they allowed it to be.  They were removed from their world for six days and placed in a place of sheer beauty and tranquility.  What a beautiful gift from God and how by them saying yes to God's calling got such a blessing in return.

Many Jobs

The cornerstones go into place as Pastor Brian, Craig. Tino and Pastor Carlos worked diligently on each corner.  The process of measuring the four corners is quiet different from our way of doing but it is most accurate and precise in every way.  Pastor Carlos knows what he is doing so the North American boys followed along in his footsteps.  Tino has also learned a lot from Pastor Carlos' patient training.  Pastor Carlos works with so many different teams weekly and he never wavers from his demeanor and his grace he shows towards all of us.  We are blessed.  

As you learned in the first blog we did not have any volunteers from he community come forward.  We were not sure if they were in the melon fields working or something entirely different.  So our young men knew what job they had to do this week.  Our four gentlemen learned quickly the recipe for mixing mescal.  Five buckets of sand, one bag of cement mix a little add five buckets of sand and one more bag of cement.  At this time they mix it well and start making the volcano.  Along side them was Juan helping these young men, Caleb, Sam, Andrew and Chandler. Juan helped them along with Mr. Mike mix the water into the volcano to make not only their first batch of mescal but many more batches to come.  Two of them  sifted and two mixed and they rotated out and reversed their order.  Thank you young men for working so hard first of all for Jesus and then for this beautiful family you all four came to love dearly.  Omar and Sam definitely connected with a precious bond of Christian friendship.  This folks is one of the hardest jobs to do on the job site of building a home and Caleb, Sam, Andrew and Chandler can honestly say they worked with all their hearts and did an amazing job all week on this project they were given by our Lord.  

Move Those Blocks

We never know when this very important job will show up.  Some teams get blessed or some teams get blessed by joining together to move towards a home for the family.  It is all in how you look at it.  This group jumped in there and starting pushing blocks up on the foundation and getting them ready to become a home.  Caleb worked closely beside a 78 year old father and grandfather to this family, Juan.  How blessed Caleb was to be able to receive the blocks this elderly gentleman passed his way.  His smile alone would be a God moment.  He is a gentle spirit who loves the Lord first and loves his family as well.  So for Caleb this day moving those blocks was a huge blessing.  They all moved at least six hundred plus blocks upon the foundation so once the cornerstones were put in place they could get moving on helping the walls go up.

And More Jobs

There was so many other jobs God had placed before these young people.  The young ladies saw Mr. Mike dumping the water out of the foundation and said does this need to be done.  I shared yes which one of you lovely ladies wants to take this job from Mr. Mike.  So off went Erin and stayed in this corner until we prayed over the first block.  All jobs are so important in making a house a home.  I looked up and saw Karen and Meida heading towards Pastor Bryan with a face mask for cutting the block.  Every job is important.  Later in the week Chandler was found several times down on the ground busting up smaller pieces of blocks to make them even smaller to fill in the channel blocks.  Every job is so important folks and we were blessed these young people saw the need and took action to help their team bring these 800 blocks and 52 bags of cement into a beautiful home.

This college group would not be the same without this lovely lady, Mrs. Karen, She was their hydration specialist daily.  Mrs. Karen took her job with sincere seriousness.  She was steadily taking folks their water and Gatorade.  As soon as she completed one round it was time to start over again.  She had all water bottles memorized and who they belong to.  One day Mrs. Karen went to VBS and I walked back from VBS to check on the gentlemen left behind on the house.  Pastor Bryan said I am grateful you came back, Karen left us high and dry, not literally either.  They were working so hard they had failed to get their water refills.  Solo digo, Mrs. Karen is a very important part of this team in so many ways.  Thank you Mrs. Karen for your beautiful smile and your servant heart, well except for one job she did refuse to do, the boys laundry.  Any ways she is a lady full of grace and everyone who is around her sees Jesus radiate off her beautiful smiling face.  You are a blessing friend.

Praying Over First Block Took A While

Let's get this first block laid or maybe not.  Pastor Carlos placed the first block on the cornerstone in preparation for the prayer over it.  Pastor Carlos once again came across a small glitch and immediately very graciously and calmly with a captive audience repaired the rebar in order for the first block to go down properly.  This took more than a few seconds, it probably took about five or so minutes if not even more.  Once again he never wavered from the task at hand, such a godly man who I learn from on a daily basis.  

Now we are ready to lay this first block and pray God's blessings upon it.  Payton third time returnee laid her hand gently over Mangeli as she proceeded to pray to her Heavenly Father over this first   block which was the beginning of a home for their new friends.  I was humbled by Payton's prayer.  What a testimony for our young people in this world to see Payton offer to pray in front of a group of peers and people she had simply just met.  We have so much to be proud of with this group of young people, here is yet another blessing which unfolded this week.  

Que Problema

Oh yeah lets get back to building the home.  Yes while everyone was laughing and reuniting Pastor Carlos and one of the gentleman of the community named Wuilmer who showed up at just the right time to help with the construction of the home, find a small problem.  This was not eternal but it just took a little more work.  The foundation was not level.  This was definitely not Pastor Carlos' first rodeo.  Actually our last home had the same problem.  So before we could lay the first block the two gentlemen had to figure out the best way to fix this opportunity called in Spanish "problema".

Mike got in on the action as well as they all worked very hard to resolve this so they could continue with why they were there, to build Omar and family a home.

Block 101

Mr. Mike gathered all the ladies together around the first cornerstone and started demonstrating and teaching them how to lay these blocks Honduran style.  They need to be laid down on a certain side and this side only.  They need to be level with the string around the foundation.  Ladies do not knock the string for then you will knock the foundation out of balance.  Thumb length between each joint.  So many different ways to lay one block and do it correctly.  These ladies rocked it to the top.  Our new friends, Sarah, Mallory and Erin learned quickly and joined in with Kendall, Payton, Morgan, Marissa and Payton on getting this house and its many courses up and going.  They worked hard together as the young men fed them the mescal.  This group of young people rocked this in the name of Jesus.  So proud of each and every one of you.

Working As A Team For Jesus

There is also more jobs.  One which is very important.  Pastor Bryan and Craig worked all week on cutting standard blocks for the channel and continue with special order blocks as well. Well since there was a foundation opportunity there was several blocks which had to be cut even more differently.  But Pastor Bryan and Craig got out their measuring tape and pencil and off they went working together to provide all the special requests which was coming at them all week long.  Great job gentlemen.

Mr. Mike waited for his boys to get through with breakfast before heading down the hill to load up the scaffolding.  Thank you Mrs. Karen for seeing the need for all four of these young men to go help Mr. Mike.  This could not have been done without team effort and these young men once again stepped up to the plate to serve their Lord Jesus .  Job well done fellows.

Our Four Legged Family and More

The team arrived with a new addition to our four legged family.  We would like for you to meet our horse, Carolina who is very pregnant.  Hopefully the colt will  be born in July.  Of course there is our sweet Lassie who loves all our friends so much and is always so sad when they leave her.  She misses all the loving they provide her while here.  And then there is Oso who has I have shared in the past as mellowed out in his old age.  I always tell the people who come as long as the nub is wagging it is all good.  Let him come to you and lately he makes his rounds just like Lassie.  Oso wants loving too.  I heard someone shared about how beautiful our birds are in body and in voice.  Craig said he had not ever seen more beautiful a creation as the birds on Mt. Horeb.  The beauty of all this is watching our young people enjoying sitting on the porches of the dorm and multi purpose building enjoying all of this.  Taylor hollered one morning after breakfast for me to come outside to see how Carolina was allowing her to rub her nose.  Pastor Bryan shared one night during devotions how when at home it is hard for to be able to enjoy simple things in life because of all our busyness.  This is eight days where they are disconnected from social media and get to actually sit and talk to each other as Marissa shared one evening during God moments.  We never get this chance at home to sit and chat because of how busy we are.  This was truly a blessing for each of them this week.  They got to be still and be in His Presence.

VBS

Each afternoon the young people took turns going to the church to do VBS.  The first day was about the Good Samaritan told by Sarah.  The next day the story was told by Marissa about Daniel and the Lions Den.  The last day they were able to go to the school and share a story from the bible as well.   Payton also told  Zacchaeus as a bible story for the children. Did I say they told the story?  Yes I did.  These young ladies were able to stand up in front of these beautiful children and share the bible story from their hearts. They did not read it from a book or the bible, they told it from the heart.

Each day they a craft and a coloring page.  But the day they went up to the school they only did the bible story and the entire team went except Bryan and Craig as they stayed behind to put on the roof.  They jumped rope and threw Frisbees.  They played Honduran futbol and played on  the titter totter with the children. Our young people were able to be children themselves for a little while.

 

More Jobs

Adios Jovens

The first day of  VBS the gentlemen, all of them, stayed behind and worked on the home.  Chandler and Caleb were discussing this as the ladies shouted as they went down the path to the church, "Adios Jovens" and left them to work.  These guys did an amazing job with joyfully hearts because they knew what needed to get done and they were the ones who could do it.  Praise God for our little ones who helped sift the sand for the mescal as some were mixing and some were passing up blocks to Pastor Carlos and Omar and to Mr. Mike and Wuilmer as they put up the gable ends.  This was a very busy day for everyone as all worked hard in the name of Jesus.  It all got done, gable ends up and glorious time at VBS.  Everyone left Porvenir this day joyful in the Lord for what He allowed all of them to accomplish.

Family Reunion

Mrs. Karen had a huge God moment.  We realized she had worked in Porvenir a few years back with the adult team from her church.  She got to reunite with Carolina and David whose home her team built.  Carolina is now a mother of a cute little girl named Danielle who broke the ice for all of us on the first day.  When her brother David arrived and started hugging us well she thought she was suppose to hug everyone as well.  The laugher which filled that corner of the property this morning was so precious on many levels.  As Mike and I walked off she was still hugging folks and I heard Pastor Bryan say this is awesome getting all these hugs on the very first day.  Thank you Danielle for welcoming us in such a way of a week of many more hugs and blessings.  

Special Request

Yes this team asked for Lizard soup for dinner one evening.  So we were fortunately Alexia was able to bring them in on Monday so they had it for dinner on Tuesday night I believe.  There was five cooked and it all got eaten.  We included carrots, yucca, cabbage, onions and peppers along with rice to cover up inside the soup.  It was one of the best pots of Lizard soup we had in a very long time.  This is a huge delicacy for our Honduran staff to get this meal.  So everyone was blessed that evening as we included some Christian music playing softly in the background. The Christian music is all in Spanish and quiet enjoyable to listen to while we eat our meals daily.  

Preparing For the Last Day

The last day, day number five is always so bittersweet for all teams but especially for these guys.  They built so many relationships this week and they had no idea how they help heal a hurting community with their labor of love for this family  Omar and Sam connected the first day and worked closely beside each other throughout the week.  Chandler and Antonio were connected at the hip and it was even more difficult for Anthony as they said there good byes later in the day.  We gathered up in a huge circle, our circle had grown since the first morning to God be the glory for this answered prayer.  Everyone was joyful and appreciative for such an amazing week back in that little corner of heaven here on earth.   But we can never be totally prepared for this day.  It comes and goes so fast but God will always help us remember these special people and this amazing week we spent with them serving our Lord.  Thank you Omar, Waleska, Daxari, Saul, Mangel and Antony for so many life changes experiences we will always treasure in our hearts.