Wedding

The wedding Saturday went slightly different that the plan, but all was well, and I did not screw up anything too bad, in fact I ended up doing some parts of the wedding I was not originally planning to do (like the ropes and the coins) God ended up giving me a different message than normal (no I Corinthians 13 this time....Romans 15:23-33 was the text I used, no time tonight to include why, but it was related to marriage, also used I John 4, and a little from Ephesians 5)






The clinic served as a somewhat interesting locale, but it did the job adequately, although we were pretty packed in there, and I recall it was a little warm.


Here is Mark (serving as Padrino) with Nahum (they were able to get a used suit for him...which fit very well!) and the rope that goes over him and Lourdes simbolizing them being tied together through marriage, the whole ball and chain type thing.

The food was good, the bouquet was thrown, cake was had...we had it all.

I even sat next to Silvia's youngest daughter and found out her and her boyfriend (both go to the Church) will be getting married next February. Remembering her as a little tiny girl fresh from eye surgery our first trips to seeing her getting married....time flies.

Saturday morning Mark helped us move everything out of the downstairs apartment, for the landlord's son to move in there, but it worked out ok, Soren and Cecilia are going to share a room while Elizabeth is staying with us (through mid December) and she will take the bunk bed and the couch from the apartment and have a nice room in Soren's room. We will see what her role develops into, right now she is helping three days a week with the milk project, getting more adjusted to the language, and helping Dora with gardening and other tasks. We will see what else God has in store for her and what ideas she brings to the table as she gets more experience (here she is playing with Oscar's son Oscar Nadir at the wedding)

And I saw this at Pizza House this afternoon with the kids....the futbolito table long has been without a ball because a long time ago I asked for one and they said they had been stolen. When we had taken groups...they just instantly sat down because how else could you play? But the kids were not so easy to dissuade...they found a dirty napkin on the floor that worked (better than nothing) as a make-shift ball.

up

Tuesday stuff

Creative title I know, but I did not have the time for a more creative effort.

I know I posted pictures of the kids yesterday, but I have heard from at least one source that they are never included enough on the blog, so this is Soren and Cecilia ready for school in their PE uniforms. Valerie figured Soren would like the shorts better. I think Soren looks bemused, and Cecilia could be a model, but that may just me. Soren did like his shorts...I went to pick them up and he was bear hugging other kids...and showing me he scraped his knee, which was easy to see with the shorts and all.

It looks like the water concern here has approved our application to be hooked up to the new plumbing they have installed in the neighborhood. This will incur some costs (not cheap at the outset) but when all is said and done we should have water for the clinic and mission house that we can actually treat and use as drinking water...no more having to buy the Aguazul jugs for those locations! Another thing that needs to be somewhat urgently done is building the cistern for the new clinic. We are shooting for something in the corner of the property, as high as we can get it (on sturdy concrete stilts...the cistern itself made out of concrete) and with a capacity of at least 50 barrels (or 2750 gallons for you non-barrel measuring folk) since although we will be hooked to the public water system up there...that does not mean we will get water more than once a week at times. Cost of hooking up to the system....undetermined, but probably $1,000. Cost of building the cistern...we are hoping under $5,500. Time will tell.

Can I say I really miss getting the Review of Optometry? It is very interesting, educational reading, and keeps us up on the latest trends. I got this issue last year from someone, but it was misplaced so I am just getting to read it now. (somehow we need to get back on the mailing list!) Reading about LASIK surgery today....I could not help but laugh at this caption. Then I felt guilty thinking about the guy...then I laughed again at the caption.

Allow me now to get on my soap box of sorts from here to the end of this post:

I received an email today from a friend talking about possibilities of providing water filters. It is still preliminary, so for now he listed me as a "needed recipient." For whatever God ordained reason, that hit me like a ton of bricks. All of us are needed recipients of Christ, of His love, His faith to drive us to repentance, baptism and living in Him. I was/am/will be in need because of my sin, and I was a recipient because that need was met not from within...not from me believing, accepting, or making some decision (Romans 9:16 for one example), but because He came in and turned my life around. I may be just sentimental today...or maybe not....let me know if that resonates at all with you.

I have also listened to two different sermons in the past month (one today) where a well meaning pastor compares our good deeds in God's eyes to the right or fair things that our children do and the pride that a father has in seeing his kids doing right. This may sound harmless and encouraging...but it puts us higher than we should be and makes God less than He is. Although it sounds good...it makes us feel good...I do not believe God sees what we do in that light for a number of reasons, a few of which I will list here:

#1 Often times our good deeds are self motivated...earthly parents may not be able to tell, but He can.
#2 God is perfect...he demands perfectness, nothing less. Even on my best day, I do not come close to the majesty and holiness that is God...doing something of which He would be proud.
#3 Our good stuff is set out for us to do in Him ahead of time (meaning...if any good is done through us, it is not to our credit anyway for salvation or earning us anything related to that....see Ephesians 2:10...He gets the glory, He does not delight in us...we delight in Him!)
#3 Even what we think is good is still tainted by our sin nature. Christ covers us with his righteousness, but our nature still taints anything we do from being acceptable in terms of santification or justification (Isaiah 64:6...filthy rags there being like menstrual rags.)

Perhaps a better analogy using a similar set up would be a good father seeing his child do something that in comparison to what he can do is a pathetic, lame attempt at best...and still loving them anyway. The analogy should focus on how a good parent loves their child despite all the bad things they do...and how much more is God a good father than that?

At our best we are all like Eddie Haskell from Leave it to Beaver. We may be able to put on a good show on the outside (like the pharisees as Jesus called them white washed tombs, pretty to look at, but death is inside) and may even "mean it" sometimes...but God knows our hearts, and that at our foundation we fail Him.

If the story ended there, how depressing....but Christ lived the life that Eddie Haskell could not live...that I could not live. Jesus not only died for our sins...but lived a perfect life in obedience to the law to satisfy the requirements for us. Pretending that God gives us a little smile when we do something right is so misguided. Much better than Ward Cleaver...He sees us for who we are, who we were, who we will be, and He shows us mercy, grace, and love through sending His son that we could be reconciled to Him. If not for that...our righteous deeds would be as worthless as those filthy rags. God is God....and we can not begin to understand Him, no matter how much we want Him to fit in our pocket. I leave you with two passages that help me when I think I might actually get it:

Romans 11
33Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34"Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?" 35"Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him?"36For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 9
20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'

Job 42
1 Then Job replied to the LORD :
2 "I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted.
3 You asked, 'Who is this that obscures my counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.
4 "You said, 'Listen now, and I will speak; I will question you, and you shall answer me.'
5 My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you.
6 Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes."

So today the kids started school...again this year. The send off they got on Thursday from their old school was quite impressive and touching...Cecilia's class even sent her to the third grade room to "help" while they all made her cards, all of which were great, and some quite creative. This new school seems like it will be a good change for them, and I was surprised to see that they are not the only Caucasians there. They both seem surprised a little that all the classes were in English, and I asked them if all their classmates spoke English. Soren remarked that some of his classmates did not....and lest they get a big head I reminded them that sometimes I was not sure how well they spoke English either. Their tendency to use Spanish in all instances has increased this past year...they never have to fill gaps in Spanish with English words, but often in conversations in English they plug holes in their vocabulary with Spanish words. I am sure that will continue, but hopefully at least this should improve with the actual classes being in English. Cecilia is very happy to be going to school with Annia (Oscar and Julia's daughter) and I am sure her parents are grateful for the missionary discount we are getting with the school. After this introductory week....their school hours will be more than what Valerie and I had growing up, which is encouraging (7:30 to 2:40) We are going to eventually have to pay extra for them to ride the school...van, since picking them up is going to be all but impossible for us.

After dropping the kids off, I went to get the milk project supplies for the week. I should have taken a picture of me at the grocery store to include here...as if I was not getting enough stares at 8:30 in the morning filling my cart with milk and cookies (fruit being purchased up by the clinic, and today a Brit down with another missionary is up there making PB&J.) I traded into the Ford (back fresh from its new pressure fuel pump and two new injectors which set us back a cool $2,000...it was not drivable really before the repair...now I am afraid to have the Blue Ford go under the same diagnostic, it is running rough) to head up and help with the clothing, since Jonathan's truck was in town...but in the shop getting new glow plugs (most of you probably do not know what glow plugs are, do you?)

While there loading clothes, I ran into Dora to check on the progress of the back yard garden, her problems with the father of her children and his girlfriend trying to cause legal problems for her, Nerys with the status of the milk project...I mentioned above I bought for the week, we are getting enough donations to expand now to three days a week, at least for the rest of the year! We have expanded her focus a bit to include more lessons on hygiene, Bible memorization and exposure to the Gospel...and encouraging them to attend a Church. We were not sure how many of them were going to Church...Nerys reports that other than a few that go to Cuerpo de Cristo...none of the others are attending a Church presently.

I went into Valerie's room to give her the cell phone charger (her old phone fell out of her scrub top last week and someone quickly made off with it) and ran into several women coming out of the room, a couple of them crying. Here you can see the daughter's exam sheet....no HIPA laws here (and on a side note...praise God!) for those that can read such forms. The daughter is a teenager, and has what I think can fairly be called "extremely high" astigmatism. Her eyesight without glasses is not good (20/70 in one eye, 20/200 the other)....and unfortunately because they waited until now to get her an eye exam...even with the prescription she is not going to really see any better (20/70 both eyes.) The crying I saw was related to that her problems are not going to just improve with glasses, to the relationship the mom and the daughter already had, and Valerie taking the time to go through all that and then pray for them. She spent an hour with them. Can you imagine being the mom hearing that she needed an eye exam years ago, and if she had, she could likely be seeing normally now? Can you imagine being the daughter hearing that about her vision and what it means for her future? While the situation here for improving her vision is not likely to be very positive (for reasons I will not get into in this blog because it would bore many of you on how the human eye works) there is always prayer in all things, and that is what Valerie was able to give them, besides some glasses that will help at least some.

Then I went back to the clothing, only to find that the recent container we unloaded, although not totally bad, has quite a few items that somehow missed the sorting "cut." I found a shirt on the ground that I thought belonged to one of the guys. I picked it up, and Jose Luis told me that it fell out of one of the ripped bags from the other ministries and that they could not use it. I wondered why not, only to find that this random piece of clothing was a 4XL. Ugh. Then I went to JL's store and just looked around...wow, many items that are 3XL, 4XL and whatever size this was. All jokes about fitting two Hondurans inside aside...it is no laughing matter (there is still some give in that shirt by the way...they could not stand further apart to give the full picture.) There are some things that can be done with them....if one is creative making curtains or something, but it is not needed here, and wasteful to include them. If it is frustrating for me to see for five minutes, I am sure it is frustrating to those running the stores, trying to make a living while using the prices as an outreach to those in their communities...to then have people go through the bags only to find so many items like this. It is kind of like a cruel joke.

I mentioned it last week, but last Friday we were able to get into the Embassy and get Soren's passport paperwork done, praise God. We were able to do it in one visit because I could check the requirements online what with him being a minor and all. Saving a visit to the embassy is saving hours of effort. As it was it took us two hours to get it done...and that was with no one in line in front of us. Now I just have to go back to get the new one in a few weeks. Fortunately we took pictures to prove his development since the last passport has his baby picture. I am sure there was tremendous doubt as to whether or not we were his parents. As it is...the pastor for the Church where the kids are going came up to me today (we have never met) and said "ah, if your son stands next to you, there would be quite a bit of doubt who his father is!" He thought that was quite funny. He made that comment after knowing both of us less than a minute.

anniversarius= turning a year

So today is our 14th wedding anniversary. Our plans include...nothing at this point. We have no baby sitter (Dilcia has a Church event tonight) and even if we did I think our big idea was to see G.I. Joe. While we were running errands together yesterday (getting paperwork and pictures for our residency change) we inquired at the empty Marriott about maybe staying overnight this weekend...thinking erroneously that with tourism and business traffic greatly reduced, and their close proximity to protests at the presidential palace next door that they would be offering some great deals. Instead they informed us there are no special deals, and wanted $89 per night. No dice. But that is just as well, it was not something we were desperately desiring and is better because any expenditure would have been just a unneeded luxury anyway...I was just shocked they had not dropped the price to get some business...and if they offer little red riding hood no deals, then I presume there are no deals to be had. Back to wedding bliss...it seems hard to think about fourteen years being fourteen years. God has blessed us and kept us going...He is amazing, and we are grateful for every year, every day. Truly amazing.

Valerie spent Tuesday morning at the kid's current school doing a school screening for all the kids there. Uh...I think that is somewhere North of 200 people total. Now she has to send out the notes to the parents for all the kids that need glasses. She did that, and went with me on the errands, and opened the clinic...and the list goes on, in spite of having some other painful health issues for about the last week. Feet, head, digestive issues, back...God keeps her going in amazing ways.

While out yesterday we took advantage of a mall stop to get some of the supplies the kids will need for their transition to the new school which happens next Monday...I do not think we are full appreciating yet how much this change will make a big difference in our daily lives let alone their school careers...in a good way of course.

We also had to get pictures printed for a trip to the embassy on Friday...it is time for Soren's passport renewal, which means taking pictures to prove he now is the same boy that is in the baby picture on the current passport, and a bunch of other documents. Renewing his passport means he is turning five...next month in fact.

I saw this while waiting on our pictures at the mall. How are "churros" American? Why put the signs in English? And if you are going to use English...should you not make sure it is correct (using "what ever" instead of whatever)I just looked at this over and over and instead of whetting my appetite, all it did was keep me asking questions that started with why. Those of you that live in the US...do you even know what a churro is? Maybe I just lived in a non-churro area.

What a day. It started out simple enough, a few meetings in the morning at the clinic, with my miraculous powers fixing the problematic TV for the waiting room...problem that the signal does not stay on "video." Ok, so I turn on the TV, press video...no problem. Just like taking your car to the mechanic. Oh, that reminds me...Roberto came this morning to pick which Ford was worse to start the repair process. He picked the white one...which could be the fuel pump, the injectors, or some other unknown gremlin. Time will tell.

Before I left for the meetings, I got a call...one of the containers had been broken into at some point during the weekend. Ugh, nothing quite like that feeling to start your day. We got there and this is what was found...the container with the old clothes had been, as put to me in Spanish....sacked. They took an indeterminate amount of time to break the locks (this is the one container without a puck lock on it...yet.) using a straight bar. How do we know what they used? Well, they left it behind. As Oscar, ever the optimist puts it...we ended up gaining instead of losing. Although they seemed to destroy every box and throw everything around, it does not appear they took anything, and if they did, it was not much. Although the gates are closed at night, with part of the fence still open...we still have issues (not to mention I am still finding make shift soccer goals on the concrete) and as we close off more, those that are still making their way onto the property are less and less of the sort that are just there to hang out. The Church continues to make progress on their portion where we have been helping them...closer, but still a ways to go.

So then came the wait and preparation for unloading the latest clothing container. Since we have been so long without one...it was easy to prepare the containers for the new stuff since I had to move...just about nothing, just some old fabric remnants sent a few months ago that we still have. That was good and bad of course. We are planning on this container to have to last us for a hopefully worst case scenario of two months...not so good news for the pastors, but hopefully it will at least keep them with some clothes for the whole time.

Here you can see Jonathan helping (Celeo also helped) to get everything up, as well as the lovely overcast day we had...overcast with no rain is good for getting sweaty work done. All told we had 14 guys help us and they worked pretty much non stop.


Unloading and transporting from the bus stop where the

container was stopped took almost 2 1/2 hours by the time we were all finished. So that meant no lunch. And since we finally had clothes and I had the pickup, I got to take the first batch to Jose Luis (at about 2:30.) While there waiting, I saw some lichas for sale. Now I know I have posted a long time ago about lichas, but I could not resist to include a picture of the ugly outside that belies the beautiful and sweet taste on the inside. It could be that I was hungry, tired, and thirsty...but those lichas tasted so sweet, had so much juice...great stuff. Definitely the best I have had. Cost if you are interested was not the cheapest deal that can be had, but 10 Lps for 20 Lichas....which works out to less than $.03 each one.

Lourdes, Camilo, protestors, Dora and Soren

So where was I? Oh yeah. This has to be quick tonight, so I apologize for spelling issues and general problems with being understood. You understand, right?

Friday we went to Lourdes/Nahun's civil wedding. They asked us to be their witnesses. I must confess to still struggling with why they would want us when there are closer friends, family, etc. and I can not point to any financial motive, etc. I guess I am just not ready to see how much they value our input on pulling the trigger and obeying God's word to get married. Same thing with her not wanting anyone else to marry them but me. My mind still struggles with "why? That does not seem like a good idea."

The first picture shows them with the ceremonial rod (I presumed it was to see which one would hit the other first, but no) with the back of the head of the rather odd/funny lady who presided over the wedding. She sure did shoot straight, and made sure they knew what they were getting themselves into...not to make marriage out as some fatal agreement or anything though of course....but did talk about the realities for women here, what a man's responsibility is...it was interesting to say the least.

It all went well...including her sister Gladis seeing her grandmother (she and Lourdes have different fathers) that she had not seen for over ten years...neither knew where the other was living, etc. This was not planned...at least not by them, granmda just happened to be going by selling some food, and someone else in the family spotted her. It seemed like a pretty good reason to hang around for a while for them to get to talk, and Valerie to get a picture of them together.

Then we beat foot back to Teguc, got the kids from school, took them home, and then I had to hit the bank...poor choice of words, to deposit money for the taxes on the clothing container, and then back out another artery of town to see and encourage Camilo in the death of his mother. We went, we sat in a room by ourselves for the most part (all 15 or so of us...clinic staff, former nursing students, Juan and Leandra, and Carlos, etc.) and shared, talked with Camilo, and then sang loud enough as a group that not only all the other mourners heard us, but part of the other people living on the mountain as well.

Saturday I went to run...I wanted to run a little longer, so I went for 1:35. Upon getting close to home, I noticed some much increased vehicular traffic. This was ok with me since I was running, but I was intrigued. As I came within two blocks of home, I could see protestors for the ex-president marching....marching down the street where we live, right in front of our front door. I quickly scanned the group (what I could see of the couple thousand or more of them) and decided I was not going to sit on the curb for them to pass, but instead worm my way through them and get in the gate. It was peaceful enough...and they did not decide to storm the house of the weird looking running gringo, but I have to admit wondering what would happen when I tried to go through the gate. Where they were going...I am still not sure.

Prayers for Dora tomorrow if you would....I will not bore you with the legal details of the Honduran system (nor would I claim to understand them all either) but her former "husband" (they were never married) has a new 20 year old girlfriend, who after a long story....threatened to kill Dora. Ok, fine. But then, this same woman, in quite the twist of irony, went to the DA's office and has made an accusation that Dora threatened to kill her. Now Dora has to show up for some sort of trial tomorrow...and obviously the consequences and going through with it are quite a bit for her to handle. Valerie and Dora talked this evening. Valerie was very upset for her....the list of problems and stuff thrown at her seem not to end. Then she got another call after Dora was in prayer....God sent her someone just at the right time who had been through the same thing and stopped by for a casual visit (lest I not be clear twice in the same blog...there are no such things as coincidences...I prefer the term, Godincidences) and was able to advise her on what will happen, what she needs to do, etc. It will still not be easy for sure, but she feels better equipped now, and before and after trusts in God no matter what. Including being advised that she needs to take all eight kids with her....getting on a bus at before 6 to get somewhere at 7 to then go to this thing....you can imagine how many ways she needs prayer.

Soren today revisited the table that could have just as easily taken his life. This does not give a fair represenation to the heft of this sucker, nor the vase of flowers that was also on top when he pulled it over on himself, but....well, God did not want him home yet is all I can figure. Of course, he was all but oblivious as to why I wanted to take the picture with him standing there until I reminded him. I do not think he forgot...maybe he just wants to forget? Something. It still makes me shudder a bit just seeing it.

Hill Climber for export

Anyone interested in buying Hill Climber coffee at $6 per pound (ground or whole bean) plus shipping, let me know. I am trying to figure out how much shipping and handling would be, but obviously the more you buy, the less it would be per pound.

If interested email me at rookshark@hotmail.com

If you live near Teguc and still want to buy some...shippin and handling would be even less, but you can contact me at the same email address.

Running...no stoning

So after Tuesday's events, I decided to take my run not at the end of the day, but right at 11:00, and what better way to run than with a goal...to see at least part of the damage done by the protestors. So off I went, everything looked normal as I approached Miraflores, the mall/commercial area where much of the bad stuff went down. As I came into the area, the police were directing traffic...the protestors had stayed the night in one of the teaching universities (teachers unions are among the biggest supporters of the ousted president) right where I wanted to run. So I went right up to the border of the protestors (why not...no traffic means no cars and I have the rule of the road...along with a few more stares than usual.) and then went back and around the block. As I went around the block, the protestors were moving down the road (only one side of the road...traffic stopped on the other side closest to me due to the protestors turning left onto that road)...but I could clearly see that there were "civilians" also milling about with no real fear, so I decided I could go for it. I ran amongst the cars while I watched the protestors (protestors always seem to be grumpy, hmmm) and then I wanted to go straight...which would mean I would have to run through them. I said "permiso" (excuse me) and went right through and continued on my route. Definitely exciting and a pick-me-up for running.
I happened to be wearing all blue...the opposite party color for the all wearing red protestors, for added excitement.

Obviously not all the protestors are non-violent, and I only ran with and through after scoping out the situation. When things turn ugly though, there is often no warning...as on Tuesday it is reported in the paper that a boy was playing in the play area of one of the fast food joints when the protestors started throwing rocks through the windows. One man was hospitalized...he was cleaning the windows of the Burger King when a rock broke the window, and sent shards into his arm...they originally said he might lose the arm...I have not heard an update. The embassy released some kind of extreme travel restrictions for their staff in terms of avoiding completely the areas where I was running. Better to be running than driving around there, since traffic is obviously compounded in the other side streets and such because of all this. Reina received a disturbing call because her son was working downtown near where the protestors were for part of his schooling, and the business let them go early due to the problems....he was trying to get home, and protestors roughed him up fairly well. He did not have to go to the hospital...but obviously that does not give one warm fuzzies.

One final point on this...if you are able to avoid the areas where the protestors congregate, you could go about your business oblivious to the disturbances blocks or miles away. It never occurs to me "this is all going on one/two/three miles from me...or in the case of yesterday, people were out and about a block or less from the marchers.

Oscar returned yesterday a day early from the CHE training to the pastors with Adolfo (CHE master trainer from up near Santa Barbara.) It went well, but there still needs to be follow-up in the near future to make sure things are progressing forward....CHE being a way to involve the community to meet physical needs/hygiene while sharing the gospel.

Popeye lost his pop and his eye

Ah what an interesting day. Oscar called me this morning, coming from Sampedrana with the CHE master trainer who is visiting all four Churches to encourage them in how to proceed with CHE in their communities. They had time to call me since they were stopped by the people marching into Teguc...to protest for Mel Zelaya. They were moving...just very slowly behind all the people walking. Oscar evetnually made it to Talanga, just later than hoped. The logistics on how the protestors are getting here, how they are eating, who is paying for all this, etc....I am sure is a very interesting account.

Valerie made it to the clinic, to Bible study, and then back to the clinic with no problems. Good thing, since those people did not just protest by shouting, standing, marching, but eventually got over to Miraflores and set a bus on fire and also a Popeye's chicken restaurant, as well as damaging other businesses (mostly fast food joints I hear)....supposedly business they have identified as part of the coup. I always knew Popeye had an eye for politics. Then again, sometimes it seemed like he only had one good eye.

I am thinking about heading over that way tomrorow to see what exactly what happened. Sad stuff. I see that and lament the polarization as well as people using such violence to make their point...although I am not sure what point looting stores (I saw video of people stealing the pizzas from the Little Ceasar's they were tearing up...and others running a safe down the road while other protestors looked on approvingly) and in general causing problems for everyone is supposed to make. Add to that I suppose none of that will be good for any kind of investments, construction, or development. I know for us we have not been able to sell our cars we are trying to sell...most of all because people are just a little fearful of moving money or buying anything big right now with the overall uncertainty. And right now I just heard over the "national chain" where the government takes over the airwaves for a few minutes for important information (with that snappy song Tat sap) that because of the events today, we are under curfiew tonight from 10-5....which sounds bad, but is actually for most people a welcome thing. The only people out later than that normally are people that are usually up to no good anyway. Tomorrow is the Honduras/Costa Rica soccer game in San Pedro Sula...could be some interesting "protests" up that way because of that.

Saying all that, life continues as normal outside those hot zones, for example I still went out for a run this afternoon and saw normal traffic...people now just get wind of where the protests are and avoid those areas.

Both sides have made mistakes, and errors in thought process are still happening on both sides. But...that sounds fairly familiar for politics, and life, as usual. So we continue to pray for God to work in the hearts of those in power, those who want to wield power behind the scenes, and the lives of all of us here in Honduras, that our base would be Him and not what we see around us. Join us in prayer that Honduras would move forward...but in Him.

Fight for living right

Yesterday was an interesting day. I must confess that a day like yesterday a few years ago would have just been something to blow off, from which to be bored, or just get angry. Feeling uncomfortable or challenged can sometimes do that.

It started with the songs at Church. For the first time in a long time they had the overhead projector going, which meant for me an opportunity to read what I was singing, something that for me helps me in attempting actual worship instead of just singing along. I read and listened to a song I did not really know, and I wanted to like it...but as we repeated it several times, I had time to think about the words, all of which were focused with words like "mine", "me", "I."

I have been convicted of late that so much of what we want to make worship about has to do with us. I feel like it gets on people's nerves to mention that it is not about us. Sure, in the context of a mission trip I have heard that language, but when I think about the lyrics to a song...or many songs that focus on ourselves in relationship to God, and just ask "should this be what we are singing to God? A song about us?" that seems to not be so well received. I like the hymn "I Surrender All" but is the point that I do anything? And although the ideal as God works in us to be more like Christ...do we really even come close to surrendering all?

Then the sermon yesterday was about how we handle Christ. Given what I just wrote, you can see how this might have piqued my interest. The sermon went on to point out God working in people's lives...but that ultimately it was about how we react to that. I grant that we have responsibility for how we act and react, but the Bible does not rest on my reaction or action...it is about God acting! Reducing the work of the Holy Spirit stirring hearts of stone to flesh to come to repentance and be a Christ follower down to a logical choice after being presented the facts may appeal to our human nature and our desire to be in control, but I do not see how that lines up with the God of the Bible. We do all too good of a job of creating our own gods, gods that fit in our box, in the limitations where we want them, lest they be beyond our understanding or control.

I would love to preach a sermon about the terminology we use in the Church today..."when did you accept Christ?" "When did you make a decision for Jesus?" "When I believed" "I believed out of my own free will" and how the focus is on the reaction that comes naturally only after first being touched by Him. It is so pervasive...and ultimately it seems to be so counter to what the Bible would teach us about salvation, about justification, about sanctification...that all comes from God, not us. (Ephesians 2, Hebrews 12, Romans 9 & 10etc.)

Lest you think I am writing all this just to convince you of this, I write just as much to remind myself, because I too fall into such traps set by the evil one as well. I read Romans 9 and I cry because it speaks to me...that no matter what I think is fair or unfair, or how it should work, God tells us through Paul plainly how He says it works, and that He is so perfect and what right do we have to question how He would work?

The day continued...what about those who say Christ has entered their heart twenty years ago, but there is no fruit in their life? Valerie and I discussed this in very real terms for us as it has to do with people near to our hearts. Instead of taking people by the words that come out of their mouths, we should look at their fruit. Not that everyone needs to be leading a Bible study or be a pastor, but as I have heard it put....if being a Christian was illegal, would there be enough evidence to convict you? Matthew 7:15-23 speaks to this... first in 15-20 by their fruit you will recognize, good or bad. Then in 21-23 as if to clarify...there are going to be bad fruit that while they were alive said they were good fruit. For us, we see their fruit, and we pray that God would bring them to repentance and to follow Him as we witness to what He does in the lives of those He calls. It is hard...but it is what we are to do.

Then came a discussion of finances. We were talking about it, and someone Valerie knows called to see about help for a mattress. How do we handle our finances? Valerie struggles with seeing the needs of those that she knows and trying to meet all their needs, to the point where sometimes she just wants to give away all the money she has. First, at least to me that is extremely impressive, and I see her living that in what she does, how she treats others, etc. Then it seemed like it fell to me to be the rational man, saying how that would not be feasible, not responsible, etc. because this was not the conversation where I was just supposed to listen...she really wanted an answer...if not from me, than from God...we need to know what we are doing, what is God's plan and how do we live that? But I could not say all that with full conviction because I know we are called to do exactly what she does to some extent...somewhere between 10 and 100%, but where in that range? All this of course being everyday sort of light conversation. We talked about it, we prayed about it...but I confess I still do not have a full grasp on it...but we press on and try to continue to find what He would have us do.

Catching up on last week, we had our friend Lynn (a pilot) here with some family and a friend here for three days. It was good because it allowed us to take the time to do some things that needed done, but without a group here, fall to the back burner....one of which was doing a clothing distribution in Guasucaran, where this time there was not space in the room for me to just hang out it was so full. Side note...I could see God calling us to start a Church there...it reminds me of Sampedrana in more ways than one now...one of the boys there was very excited to see a soccer ball, supposedly there is no soccer field in the community, and only one small Church...a Seventh Day Adventist. Hmmmm.

We sorted VBS supplies the groups this year had left to distribute to six different locations for Sunday school crafts, etc. (the four Churches we administer, the one in Teguc, and the milk project) and cleaned up some of the containers a little...including taking a load of supplies from the now empty corn container up for the mission house in Sampedrana. We took six mattresses (some of which are strapped to the roof) which allowed us to measure how to fit the bunk beds, as well as more cabinets from my grandparents house...which just gives me one more location from which to thank God for their lives. Gender was in classes, but we got to see the bathroom done, it is very nice. With the cabinets installed, tables located, the rocking chairs in place, and with Oscar going back today (with help from a master trainer, evaluating and helping implementation of CHE there) he is taking the hand rails for the stairs...all that will be left is building or finding the bunk beds and painting the outside of the downstairs and it will be all set.

Oscar has someone beginning the fabrication of the box and turbine of sorts, to test his theory of using that in combination with a car alternator and batteries...along with the river water being diverted through the Church property in Sampedrana to generate electricity for lights, etc. If it works...it could prove to be very interesting not only for the Church, but for others in that community, and possibly in other communities we know. Time well tell. This would be even better than solar of course because as long as there is water coming down the mountain, it would keep generating electricity.

One thing we might take to Sampedrana if this electricity thing works would be this washing machine. It certainly fits with the Sampedrana look. We figure it is somewhere around 60 years old, but can not be sure. It actually runs and works, but is probably not exactly an energy star when it comes to how much electricity it uses. If we use it there though for when groups are there and for the pastor, it would not be an issue.

I hope it was A, B or D

So, this past weekend was a full one for us. We have been talking about visiting Chiminike, the children's museum here, for years. Maybe some of you know what it is like...to have something so close, and so available, that you just never get around to visiting it. I have to say, I was taken aback at the scale of this museum. I had heard it was impressive, but there is a ton of stuff there for the kids, not just to play, but as they get older, quite a bit of information there. I took many pictures, but just posted a few here to give you an idea.

My favorite picture, but least favorite overall experience, was the smell station. You can not make out what the buttons say, but the idea is that you put your hand below, squeeze this little container, and smell...and then try to guess where the smell originates on the human body. One try was enough for me to get nauseous. Then I had to identify where it came from....A, B, C, or D. A was Mouth B was armpit C was Anus D was foot. I was so suffering from the toxic odor...I can not remember which was the right answer.


Oscar and his family....thinking exactly as we had, joined us in the adventure. We ate in the train that you can see in the courtyard. I was very impressed with the food, and the prices. A family of four, eating a nice lunch, and visiting the museum for over three hours was under $20. I am sure we will be back at some point.







The garden area at the clinic is now underway. We have seeds from the last group, Dora without groups to feed, and time to work, and so she is being groomed as the new gardener as well. Unfortunately the fence will be needed because as the vegetables grow...they would otherwise disappear. We have some time to figure out what we will do with any harvest, until then Dora will keep working out back there, and then eventually start also planting some flower seeds they brought us out in front of the clinic.





Sunday we went to the 1st anniversary service in Cantaranas...stopping again to pick up quite a few folks from Talanga that wanted to see the Church there. Add that multitude, plus the invited folks from the Teguc Church and helpers from San Juancito...and it was a packed house. God be praised, there was no rain, so the over 200 people fit fine under the trees with borrowed desks from the school next door.

The video below shows you some of the people there (this is before everyone was seated)...many of the kids were playing on the other side of the clothing store (the Church meets there under the roof, the clothing store is the building) and there were quite a few women cooking and preparing other things as well. It was a great afternoon praising God for the work being done there, a long day, but good that we were able to go. Originally a group was to be here and someone to preach, but Oscar got the call since they were not able to be here, and it all went very well. The only downside for our kids was Cecilia feeling like an animal at the zoo (I do not think the kids there get opportunities to see Caucasian kids up close and personal very often, so when we told her she had to sit for part of the service, there were a few kids that just stood there and watched her.)