Allyson Translated for Dad

Mike and I needed to check on a future project coming up in July.  Allyson went along to help her father translate as needed.  We stopped first to say hello to the local school children.  They were having recess.  We got to watch the children playing marbles.  Allyson was in awe of how content the children were with a simple game of marbles.  She shared how humbling it was to the see children so full of joy over a game of marbles.  We traveled on down to the community of El Liminal to check on our church groups' foundation.  Oh my it had not been started yet.  So we graciously explained to her the foundation needs to be started soon.  This is a single mother with five children who lost her husband last year to death.  This little piece of heaven lives very simple and so after our visit Mike decided Pastor Carlos and himself may have to go out next week to assist the pastor of the community and other men to get the foundation completed. 

We made our way back to the road to run into our dear and Christian sister, Mercedes who had fixed up her new home beautifully.  We arrived unexpectedly and arrived upon a very clean and well kept home.  Mercedes takes such pride in her new home and we were pleased how well she was caring for it.  Mercedes, her daughter and five grandchildren live in this 19 x 25 home where for the first time in their lives they are now dry when it rains and they can lock their home at time for safety as well.  Allyson got to see where Mercedes kitchen was and she had a huge pot of corn cooking for their meal of the day.  This is a community where they may get one good meal a day.  So today Mercedes and her family were being blessed with corn.  It is always a special treat to go to El Liminal and visit our friends.  God blessed this community at the beginning of the year.  They all received out houses.  Before this not any of them had a place to go to the bathroom.  God blessed this community as well with our own Meida who went to the mayor to help our friends get papers for their property.  So as of today we have eight proof of properties from this community.  We have built one home in October last year which is Mercedes and now LLaria Rodriguez and her five children will also receive a home where they will no longer get wet and can lock their doors in the evening.  Allyson took a lot a way from this one visit and will forever be changed because of it.  We come to bless others and in return they bless us so much more.  God is so big like that.

Heading to Mt. Horeb

Allyson got to experience some protestors as we headed back home.  Eighteen wheelers were stopped on both sides of the road as well as one who decided to stop in our line.  There was probably twenty plus eighteen wheelers chilling and not planning to go to their next destination.  Why were they doing this?  The fuel prices here in Honduras have sky rocketed.  These were not the only means of protest this week.  The people who use the buses for transportations were protesting as well because if the cost of fuel goes up the cost of a bus fare goes up as well.  Also the electricity has gone up.  Three major usages in this country have risen in the last month.  So please pray with us as these people learn to adjust again at the cost of living here in Honduras.  Yes we were able to make our way through the path of eighteen wheelers.  Another day in the life of Honduras.  

I Love Our Family

God blessed Mike and I twice this year.  Stephanie came in March and Allyson came in June.  It is very hard for us to have one on one with Allyson because of our three cherubs.  So there was so many wonderful times of sharing, laughing and crying together this week.  She got up each morning very early having a pot of Honduran coffee brewed up and was able to be still and be in the presence of her Lord.  As Mike and I both came out each morning it was sweet sweet times of sharing breakfast together.  Mike cooked her breakfast each and every morning except the last morning when we did not cook bacon, eggs and sweet potatoes.  So she cooked her own breakfast.  We sat each evening on the front porch to hopefully watch a beautiful sunset.  I think she may have had one during her visit.  She said one afternoon I hope we get a good thunderstorm well she prayed for it and she got it.  It was a massive storm and we sat on the porch and watched the lightening show off in the distance.  Each night Manuel or Rudy would come by to put the chickens up and bring us some eggs.  One evening Fernando rode up on Carolina and following his mother was little Teton.  Allyson got so excited to be able to rub Carolina down on her nose.  But the sweetest was when she got to finally rub Teton.  Our evenings on the porch were very special times.  Sometimes we talked and when it was raining so hard we just simply sat still and was quiet.  Those were special times too.  I am pretty sure Allyson does not sit still very often at home.  This was a great time for her as well to be still and reflect on what is most important in life.  She shared how she saw joy in everyone who had and who did not have much at all.  The people of Honduras are all great examples of how you can have true joy, peace and love for others no matter the situation you live in and around.

We were ever so blessed to have Allyson for these eight days and will treasure them in our hearts forever.  She was a joy and we are thankful to her husband Aaron who took time off to take care of our three precious grandsons for his wife to do this.  Aaron shared last year you need to go on a mission trip in 2018.  Allyson said well if I go anywhere on a mission trip it will be back to Honduras to visit Dad and Mom.  I am grateful to God for such a sweet and precious gift, Allyson for eight days in Honduras.  

One Team Cancelled Became A Huge Blessing in Return

A team had to cancel due to unforeseen circumstances.  So Mike decided to take this week and start working on the police check point above  Mt. Horeb.  They have been without running water for at least six months and no bathrooms or showers.  All they had was a pilla which they brought in five gallon bottles of water to bathe and wash their clothes.  Their toilets was the great outdoors.  So Mike and I were blessed with monies funded by two different churches so off we went.  Mike needed an expert sewer man so he thought I will call my friend Rodd who also put the one in at Mt. Horeb several years ago.  As time passed one of the folks who comes with the team who cancelled contacted me and said I still want to come down anyway. I shared with her what Mike had decided to do that week because he hired local Hondurans who are also working on the Honduran Dorms.  So he did not pursue further assistance.  So when Mike's long time church member friend ask could she come anyways we both said of course Betty Lynn.  Then not to long ago Betty Lynn shared about a young man showing  interest on going on a international mission trip and his major his criminal justice.  Wow how big is our God.  A team who had cancelled as what we call an amazing mini team.  God provided just who HE wanted here this week and we have forever been blessed.  So I want to welcome our newest member and says he is coming back, "Daniel" Brooks.  The Hondurans could not say Brooks so we called him by his first name at the job site and around our staff, well all but Mike.  He had learned Brooks and so when he introduced the team on the first day Mike said I would like to introduce our Honduran staff helping, Cristobal, Juan Louis, Alexis and Yobani, now for our North American friends Betty Lynn Rodd and Brooks, I said not Daniel.  We all laughed so now he is Daniel for the entire week or Daniel Brooks and he answers to them all.

So we always have a plan but God's plan is always better.  He took a cancelled team and produced just the one He wanted and we just allowed God to do His planning for this week and we have been forever blessed.

Grateful Police Officer

We arrived at the job site, the National Police Check Point to a grateful group of young men and one chief.  We gathered around as Pastor Carlos and Pastor Pedro stood next to the acting chief who spoke words of gratitude for what was about to take place on this place.  This is a most needed gift you are giving us.  This is a need we have been without for a very long time and now you are providing this for our men here who worked daily protecting the lives of their people here in Honduras.  Pastor Pedro opened up the first morning with a prayer lifted up our God and Father above.  He gave God all the praise for this opportunity to serve these people in such a manner.  This is a task Mike has been working on for a long time and now it was coming a reality.  We are so grateful to all who played a huge part in this undertaking.  We could not do all we do if it were not for the generosity of so many of God's people.

A Much Needed Addition

Mike had the Honduran manpower to lay the blocks along with our new team, our mixed team is what we are calling them.  But he needed one more addition to make this week's progress go quickly as it could.  So he hooked up our faithful trusty friend, the concrete mixer and off it went to make a huge difference in how this week would turn out.  We had two Hondurans running the mixer and this fellow ran all day long except while the group ate lunch or had their afternoon coffee.  It was a huge blessing to all who was there to lay blocks.  It is like Betty Lynn and Rodd shared they were working beside the dream team of Honduras.  Those Honduran men could throw some mud on some blocks without flinching.  Mike struggled several days trying to stay ahead of Pastor Carlos.  But grateful for all the help especially the old faithful mixer.

God Has This

As the week unfolded we shared in God's Word each evening.  We started out first night in the dining hall but the rest of our time together we took it to the porch and we all used flash lights.

Betty Lynn shared about Kindness through loving others as Jesus would love them. She sees after coming numerous times to Honduras the simplicity of how these people show kindness and love for one another.  There was several ways Betty Lynn shared Jesus' love for others during his life here on this earthly place.  He had with an evil tax collector named Zacchaeus, Jesus drank water at the well with a lady who had many men in her life and he loved Peter even after Peter denied Jesus three times.  Praise God for His agape love for each of His children.  If you are reading this today and are not sure you are a child of God please find someone you can talk to and receive Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and show this loved to others as Jesus did and as all Christians should do.  We can only show kindness and love to others truly show this through the power of the Holy Spirit which dwells within us through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior.  Find out what true love and kindness really is, because it is an awesome feeling.

Rodd shared the Armor Of God out of Ephesians.  He kept asking the questions what is the belt of truth, the Word of God, what is the breastplate of righteousness, the Word, where does faith come from the Word, and what is the helmet of Salvation, the Word only found through Jesus Christ our Lord, and what is the Sword of the Spirit, the WORD.  So obviously if we are not in God's Word daily we do not know what righteousness, faith, truth, salvation and the Spirit even is all about.  What a blessing God provides us all we need to stand firm against the forces of evil out there all around us on a daily basis. Rodd shared how we all as believers can get beat down by Satan.  We have to know HIS WORD and apply it daily to our lives.  Folks as Christians we cannot do this alone we have to put on the full Armor of God daily and stand firm in the Word. God can equip us even we only allow HIM into our lives.

We were blessed by Brooks a young man who just finished his first year of college and wants to go into law enforcement one day.  He read out of Acts 9 the entire chapter on Saul's conversion on the Damascus Road.  After reading he shared how Saul who was the worst persecutors of Christians of his time was chosen by Jesus to lead the lost to Christ.  While walking on the Damascus Road Saul encountered Jesus Christ.  For three days he was blind.  Jesus told him to go to the home of Judas and there  would know be a man named Anansi who will know what to do for him. But when Jesus told Anansi what he wanted him to do, Annals said Jesus this man Saul has persecuted many Christians and now you want to be a leader for all of us.  Jesus said, "Yes, go this man is my chosen instrument  to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name."

Brooks shared God can use anyone to share the gospel, even the worst of worst.  God can perform miracles in our lives if we only let him and use us to be the light just like Saul who later became Paul saw the light, the vision of Jesus Christ and went out and shared the love of Jesus to everyone who would listen.

We worshiped in church on Sunday with Pastor Carlos who in turn shared about how we have to know God's Word first before our hearts can feel and do it.  Head knowledge first then our hearts if they are open to receive HIS WORD will in turn share the love of Jesus Christ in our words and actions as well.  Our God is so big and how HE brought all of what this team shared along with Pastor Carlos under the same umbrella.  We need to love, learn, light up the world and live out a Christian life with the full Armor of God each and every day.

The Cornerstones are Different

As Rodd shared the other evening, same Spirit, same God.  Jesus is our Cornerstone and is never changing.  HE is always the same.  He builds up the foundation of our lives with HIS example for us.  So as I watched the cornerstones going up on this structure knowing this would be what holds this structure in place, making it solid and firm there was a different take on this one.  The Hondurans who know exactly what they are doing and are the true experts got all the corners completed and realized something was not adding up correctly.  This foundation had a porch on the front which did not need to be a part of the base foundation.  I could see Pastor Carlos, Pastor Pedro and Alexis scratching their heads trying to see what they needed to do differently. Every project is different and every person is different as well.  God has a plan for all HIS children and we have to be willing to let God build our foundation around the only Cornerstone which never changes Jesus Christ.  The gentlemen changed out the existing cornerstone and replaced it where it needed to go.  No problem as we always say here in Honduras.  It is not eternal.

Rodd and Brooks

Rodd and Brooks did not know each other before this week started.  But soon became good friends with maybe only a gentle smile once in a while to each other to confirm their new friendship.  Rodd thanked God once again for putting a strapping strong young man by his side.  Rodd is also very clever too as he shared the technique of hauling the mescal out of the warehouse where the police sleep. He showed Brooks how to carry the first one down to the mixer for mixing and Rodd carried the second one down so that left Brooks going back for number three.  So Rodd is a right smart and intelligent friend Brooks.  Just saying.  They worked side by side on many different aspects of this very different project.  Brooks sets a beautiful example for all young people his age.  He never wavered and he never complained about anything which was placed in front of him to accomplish.  He was not afraid of hard work and Rodd was forever grateful to have him by his side.  He thanked God for Brooks daily.  We all thanked God for sending this amazing godly young man our way to serve beside us and thank you Betty Lynn for allowing this precious young man to enter into our lives here in Honduras.  

Our Many Blessings

I do not know where to begin to share how much this one young lady means to this ministry. Meida does so much more than translates for the teams.  As you can see she does whatever it takes to help each team she is working beside each week.  I actually caught her resting and one day drinking coffee which I was grateful to see her do for a change.  I call her our "Martha" because she is always busy serving the Lord and others.  We are grateful to have been blessed with Meida for almost eight  years.

God blessed us this week with this group of men sitting on the sand and gravel pile.  We could not have done this job without each one of them and their many skills.  They are all over the top awesome in all they do.  They do not stop and they push it hard each and every day while working beside us.  The police have become part of our family and we are so blessed to have them in our lives as well.  The police chief is a Christian and he allows Pastor Pedro to come each Thursday morning after breakfast and have worship service with the police.  The last time Mike and I were able to attend the service which meets in the cafeteria there was fifteen police and fifteen from Pastor Pedro's church and Mike and I.  So around thirty five attending a most Spirit filled service.  The police always watch over our safety as well coming and our going.  Who would of thought nine years ago we would be so blessed this week on this property with some very special young men and women who risk their lives daily for their country each and every day.  We are forever blessed with our Honduran family and new friends.

First Block

We gathered around the first block of the bathroom facility for the National Police of Honduras.  We had a few of the police to join us as we gathered around.  The chief whom we have worked with over the last few months on this project was off somewhere on assignment.  So we had the next chief down to join us.  As I took my few pictures before joining the prayer I noticed something quiet unusual.  The one gentlemen pictured was praying along beside Pastor Carolos as how they do here so beautifully down here but the stand in chief was not praying.  His eyes were wide open as Pastor Carlos lifted up God to all HIS glory for this opportunity to be here to serve the police.  So as I joined the group I prayed for him and I pray he will come to know Jesus if he doesn't already and receive the blessing of eternal life if he already has not.  We never need to take for granted the people around us are believers in Jesus Christ.  Do not assume this if you or I are not sure we need to find out about their eternal destination.  This life is a short stay and but Eternity is forever and where will people spend it is up to us to find out.  So this week we started each morning in prayer and prayed over lunch and prayed for the police as they went out to serve in Choluteca during a protest that was brewing up.  We were witnesses and light as Brooks shared in devotions one evening we were the light every time we gathered in prayer to our Heavenly Father.  Because some of our workers as well do not know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.  Always be mindful of someone's eternal home.

The Sewer

Pastor Pedro was in charge of building the structure for the sewer.  The police chief provided volunteers from his force to help us each day.  The police here have a lot of respect for Pastor Pedro from his weekly time with them.  So they were excited to be working by his side daily.  Pastor Pedro got down in that hole everyday working diligently on getting his assigned project completed while the walls were going up on the bathroom facility.  Media kept him in his water supply for hydration purposes.  It took a lot for him because he would sweat profusely daily.  I helped Meida one day by checking on Pastor Pedro and it broke my heart when I looked down there and saw the sweat pouring off his head down his chest and all over his body.  I asked him if I could get him some more water, he softly said, "Si por favor".  I hurriedly went and refilled his water bottle and returned to hand it down to him and he looked up with the most genuine small I could have ever imagined coming out of that hole and he said, "Gracias Ginger".  I walked away with tears forming in my eyes and how I wish I could be this humble of a servant for God.

Many Tasks At Hand

 

As you can see in one of the backgrounds of one of these pictures they need these bathrooms.  Each morning the police would come over to the pilla wrapped in a towel or in their shorts to get their baths and brush their teeth for their day.  Rodd observed as we were coming in from church and lunch Sunday that you could see them from the main road back there with absolutely not a bit of privacy to be found for them.  But if God is willing and we continue as you see in the pictures these guys will have a nice new bathroom facility where they can get cleaned up and go out and serve their country proudly.

Blocks being laid and white pvc pipes being glued together all around each other. Mike was diligently working on his plumbing skills as friend Rodd joined him as needed while not laying blocks with his mini team and the Honduran staff.  There was course after course of blocks going up and concrete being mixed and keeping the supply and demand a float.  This was the most amazing well greased with all hands on deck.  Every one was where they needed to be to get the work completed.  

Brooks "Daniel" got on quickly how to fill the joints beside Betty Lynn.  Jokingly they shared how it was hard to keep up with the four men up on that wall laying block.  Mike shared I could never stay ahead of Pastor Carlos.  Cristobal would get one wall completed while I was still filling the last walls joints, shared Brooks one evening.  We were so blessed with these men this week to get the task at hand completed and we were doubly blessed because these guys had work to feed their family. This was a win win situation.  God is so good all the time.