Ch-ch-chain of gouls

Haloween in Honduras is almost non-existant. I am back in Indianapolis less than 12 hours and have seen several outfits just in the airport. Go figure.

Getting out of Honduras was easy, God worked to get me from ATL to IND last night. I finally got to bed after unpacking and packing for my trip to Richmond today (incoming plane delayed...I doubt I get there when I am supposed to now) at about 3:45AM, then got up at 6:45 to get ready and head down to the FAME run. It was cold! I had culture or temperature shock for sure, but the morning perked up as it went along. So far....a busy trip already.

While on the plane yesterday from TGU, I had plenty of time to read of the political agreement reached. While short on specific details on times, the plan is basically this: both sides agree to let the supreme court rule and then congress use that to decide on whether or not to reinstate Mr. Zelaya. I am not a political genius, but did those two parts of the government not already speak a few times on this (and that is why he was taken out?) All this is being done to try to get nternational recognition for the upcoming elections. The US embassy was giddy to announce their support (the US ambassador passed me in the airport yesterday with his posse) and will start taking visa appointments again.

What will happen? My optimistic side says he will not be reinstated (and what happens then? What about the crimes he supposedly perpetrated? Trial?) but my realist nature says money is probably already changing hands, who knows. (Chavez saying today in a few hours Mel would be back....political big wig in congress saying they will stand by their vote in June...hmmmm)

At least we should have some resolution by the end of November. "Should" being the operative word of course.

Meetings

I should probably have more meetings...but sometimes meetings are not fun. Actually most of the time we have to have a meeting, it is not fun, because if it was fun, we would not need a "meeting."

One today was just a misunderstanding, that pesky communication stuff cropping up as it often does. As we get larger as a mission, that can happen, thankfully it does not happen often.

The other meeting was tough....having to take away a scholarship from someone for simply squandering their opportunity. Even if someone can not see what they are doing to themselves, it was still hard for me to know the future that will not be.

I did hear during that meeting a phone call...a sister from San Juancito is dying. Turns out (another reason to have meetings...sometimes we do not hear of the great things the ministries are doing!) that the Church found this woman who was semi-homeless, an older lady, fallen in the street injured. They found a sister in the Church who opened her home to this older woman,
and the Church pitched in to help her as they could. She was in bad shape...the rats were coming into the dirt floor house and eating at her bed sores. Hearing of someone suffering that much, and that the Church stepped up to try to help her...was beautifully shocking.

Now I need to process all that....along with finishing all the reports I need to do...plus pack, plus get things ready for Valerie and Oscar once I am gone, all by tomorrow morning when I go to the airport. Yikes, I better get busy.

like a bee

So the group left on Saturday, and the race has been on since then trying to get ready for my trip to the US, getting as much done as possible.

Sunday afternoon Oscar and I had a meeting with the Church about buying the property the mission uses. I am praying that we can make something work out by trying to build their Church building via a pre-fab made in the US structure, which would be cheaper, not as easy (requiring more work) but easier to get people to help with than a strictly cash purchase. Their initial offer was $175,000, even with negotiating down quite a bit (which is normal and expected here) that is a big mountain to climb. Doing pre-fab has many advantages...for the Church as well as us, so we really prayerful that this can come together. I will be trying to meet with one of the companies that does such buildings while I am in the US to get more information and cost estimates to see if we can swing it.

The picture here shows the property boundaries that the topographer did, measuring the distances in meters, and then converting that to the international standard (uh, international in Latin America) of square varas. One square vara is about 7.5 square feet.

Monday was a meeting about CHE and clothing ministries with Jonathan and Celeo as they came into town for the clothing ministry. It was a very good meeting...I did not get home until noon! One other thing I did while I was up there was pack 50 pounds of coffee for me to bring back with me for sale in the US. If you did not get some from the last "shipment" and are interested be sure to let me know.

Tuesday I did another semi-long run on a hard route in the morning (last big prep for the marathon on the 7th), and more computer catch up work...I am not seeing the light before the tunnel on Friday when I leave. Then that night Valerie and I took our date night and...went to Pricesmart to buy for the milk project several months worth of goods, and then on to the delicious restaurant Tre Fratelli, which had disappeared a few years ago and is now back with the same recipes in a new location. On the way home...it is hard to pass up another opportunity for a picture of the mariachi with Ronald McDonald. They seem to like Ronald, on the rare occasions I am out at that hour (cracking midnight at 7:30) they are always there.

Today was a morning of six straight hours on accounting before going to the bank a little later, and then hosting a Table Talk group from Union Christian Church. Table talk is monthly meetings for different families to get to know each other and fellowship more, we have done it for quite a while now and hope to continue to do so for quite some time, it is helpful in so many ways to us, to the relationship in and with the Church body, not to mention fun.

Oscar pointed out the property across from the Mormon Church just a few blocks from us (this taken through the soccer field for those that know the area) has been filled and now prepared for construction. For years he had told me La Colonia, the big supermarket chain here in Teguc, owned that property when it was just a nasty empty spot. Although still officially a rumor...someone who works for them told Oscar they are actually going to build a supermarket there soon. If that happens...it will mean huge changes for the area, for the bus stop, and for us as well, everything from the milk project, for when groups are here, and for the clinic staff even as well. Right now the closest La Colonia is across the street from us (15 minutes by car from the clinic.) And the only other closest grocery store is about 10 minutes or more. This could be one sign of changes afoot for the area in general. I just wonder if they will start actual ground breaking construction before this political rift gets totally sealed. Oh, by the way, I passed greetings along to the military guarding two sides of the blockade where the ex-president is. Traffic seems to have figured out ways around the affected area, and is fairly normal. I almost asked for permission to run right by the embassy...almost.

Yesterday was distributing rice meals in Talanga. I am continually impressed with the work God is doing there...and equally impressed with the dark spiritual cloud that hangs over many of the homes we visit.

This has changed however. One of the women that went with my smaller group was a woman we visited quite some time ago, and prayed for her son that has MS or some other such disorder. When we visited her then, in tears she asked us to pray for him...I remember seeing him on the bed, motionless, no expression on his face, nothing. We went to her house, and she was grinning from ear to ear to run to the bedroom and bring him out to us...he was alert, smiling a huge smile while at the same time shy. He was definitely aware of us, but still due to his condition can not speak and can not move on his own. The other kids in the house were also more open and interacting with the group. That home...definitely change is happening there.







We also saw at her house (and the other group saw in other houses) a special kind of pig. I am sure there are some pig breeders that will know this breed (known here as the "gringo/gringa" breed...not sure why, because it is white?) but the remarkable earrings (or so they call them here) they have are something I have never seen before. This particular family is raising the pig for the big Christmas meal.









Talanga is in a valley, but when you go up the hill....to the last house up the hill, it also has an incredible view. The streets are not always passable by a car, and it means the people living here are quite a way from the rest of town, but when you get there...wow. The day was cool yet again, but no rain on us while we were visiting all 20-25 families.








The kids continue their week at school with different dressing themes. Yesterday was crazy hair day....I gave Soren a mohawk, and in good BA Baracus style, he was one of the three winners in the school! I just had cut his hair on Saturday, so it was not thick and bushy as I took the razor to the rest of his head, but apparently still impressive enough for the judges. He was happy (and FYI...Cecilia went as a MD today and Soren as a policeman.)





Speaking of policemen...ours at the clinic was shot yesterday. Not at the clinic, actually he was at his precinct, and someone from some distance just fired at the door where he was standing. Two shots through and through, hitting nothing major...we were praying and the entire staff went after work to visit him and said he was smiling, ok, and ready to be released on Thursday! Wow is quite an understatement as a reaction to God's protection on him.





And last but not least....this may not be funny, but I could not resist. The caption running through my head was...."when it rains, it pours."

Rolling

Yesterday was a day in Sampedrana, the last time for a long time we will be up there with clothing. I want to say there was over 100 women there, since the group thinks they had 100 black bags in which we deposited their clothing as they left the Church. The group did VBS for 20 or so children that were there.

It was interesting to hear that the kids knew what a toothbrush and toothpaste were, that they knew how to use it (I presume...from past groups) but not one of them had either, hitting home again the need for some kind of community based education on health matters as well as spiritual. We are struggling still as a mission with how to implement CHE, but are still working at it.

The coffee plants on the property right by the Church building are suffering a bit of illness, hopefully it can be rectified, or we will have to tear them all out and start over. The good news is that we were planning on doing that anyway in a year or two, as when the plants get old enough they start producing less. The other property....work continues prepping the ground by digging holes, and the plants have been purchased, and the nursery where they were bought is taking care of them well right up until they need to be planted.

It was a cool day...if you are not sweating in Comayagua, you know it is cold. So cold, that our cold blooded group member lost all color in her fingers, and they were numb. It is beautiful sleeping weather for us, and almost no rain, but the system bringing this unusual weather has dumped rain in flooding proportions throughout the North coast of Honduras, leaving some communities incommunicados. Ironically, although it has looked like rain here in Teguc, actual rain has been scarce to none.

All in all its just another rock in the wall

We helped the Church work on their fence/retaining wall yesterday. It was plenty of work...probably not North American efficient, but with some thought control on that front, everyone worked quite a bit.

The skies were darker, no sarcasm, with overcast skies, and cold temperatures. Cold being subjective of course given that these temps in December in the mid-west US would be considered a heat wave. But people here care little to talk much about it...after all, the weather is more of a conversation starter for people from the USA. It was glorious for working outside with concrete and moving rocks, and that was all that really mattered. At this rate, getting the property secure will take another year or more, but such is life. When this wall is done, it will serve as the fence and a retaining wall for future construction....very, very much in the future with the other buildings they would need with much more immediacy (Church building, Sunday School rooms.)


(note the large rock...better for the wall, not so good for the back. This went on for quite some time carrying these bad boys, even some of the younger guys participating as well.)



The teachers are leaving their kids alone, as school is done for the year for the public schools here. Another dismal year for the educational system here. Sure, if you are privileged enough to go to private school classes are still in session (probably somewhere around 10% of the population), but of the 180 days that schools are supposed to meet, most schools were probably fortunate if they completed 120 days. I noticed the lack of the plethora of school uniforms passing us yesterday while we worked in the street. There was opportunity to just be there, be alive, witnessing to those walking past, greeting all sorts of people, even several interesting young men who were walking by while enjoying smoking some wacky cigarettes. Others recognized the smell and reminded me what it was or I would have naïvely went on my way.

We have a group member who told me yesterday this has been the best experience of her life. I have to admit, God has done amazing things in the lives of people coming short term before (present company included) but I do not think I have ever heard that on the third day of a trip....or during a construction day, on their first day working outside doing any kind of physical labor in their life. I was reminded at the way life is different here several times yesterday (one of which, briefly, the group reminded me of was how kids are willing to work here versus a general disdain or laziness for physical work in the US) but something that really stood out was seeing one member having mud covered dirty shoes who was about to throw them in the trash...because they were dirty, disgusting, mud covered shoes. I reacted without thinking, and showed her how to clean them up...they look nice do they not? The moral lesson learned there for both of us...more than I can easily summarize here.

I talked with Dora yesterday. If Dora asks me for time to sit down and talk, being so reserved and quiet, I know something is wrong. Valerie had told me how in the past week twice men have tried to break into the house to get at the older girls, and just a day or two ago there was a man spotted behind the house gratifying himself. She and the two oldest girls do not sleep now, all nine of the family sleeping in the brick part of the house which is safer. She was asking for a loan to put up a big fence around the whole property...something that would not only be a fence, but if possible in the future could be used to also use a corner as two walls of a future building. As much as I want to help her....finding $2,500 to loan all at once is something a bit difficult. She even offered to pay the loan every month...27% of her salary. Admirable, but not something she can realistically do...she goes without food sometimes now as it is, and last night when we visited the brood they had no water. I did offer to buy her a gun, which we could do right now since the cost is much lower than a wall, but she can not see firing a gun herself, and of course having a gun with eight kids in the house...not the most ideal thing. So, we are praying. Dora told Valerie separately yesterday about a visit from a neighbor who came to her to ask if she had electricity. Dora answered, surprised, of course not (no one has electricity for several blocks.) The neighbor, still confused, said..."maybe it was a dream then. I looked down the block (many houses away) and saw a great light coming from your house when the rest of the block was dark." The Christ-light implications are obvious, and a reminder that how we live, regardless of what we say or how we try to present ourselves when we are on our best behavior, is testifying to those around us.

Group Weekend

A group from KY arrived Saturday. We did the normal first day activities, including a trip to the grocery store. As a family we do not usually go to the supermarket on Saturday afternoons since they are busy, but this time it proved to be worth it. The kids were with me since Valerie was at a seminar all day, and much to their delight they got to participate in the Pedigree coloring challenge...getting a free T-shirt, free dog food (which I assured them Sisko will eat) some M&Ms, and the fun of coloring for about 15 minutes.

Valerie took Sisko back on Sunday afternoon with Soren while Cecilia and I were with the group to get his picture taken. It went...not exactly as planned. Picture the guy taking the picture thinking that Sisko would sit still and not listening to Valerie, and then the cat dashing across the parking lot, over the 12 foot fence, and then over the gate to get back home. The guy...who also dashed across the parking lot thinking he was responsable...was quite taken aback. So...no picture for Sisko, but he was none the worse for wear.

The clothing sale in Lepaterique went very well. There were more people than in the past when we have done sales there (always full, but very full then) and quite a few people not from or involved with the Church. It was a very cold afternoon, with a brief rain shower...the kind of weather that Oscar and I really enjoy, and the kind of place that you do not see very often in Honduras, a place where they were actually looking for sweaters and jackets.

The Church there showed us the damage their children's building suffered from the earthquake a few months ago and their building project to replace it (no damage anywhere we know from the 5.something that hit the North coast yesterday) and they were very happy that we left all the leftover clothing from the sale for them to take even further up into the mountains to give away to the very, very economically challenged folks up there. Although unfortunate that many of the clothes we had were XXXXL or bigger so that they are unusable for clothing, they can cut them up to use for blankets, sheets, curtains, etc.

A few pictures

Just some pictures taken around in the past couple weeks...life is the same everywhere, but sometimes things are a bit different.

Life is different when you have to use oxen instead of a tractor. These particular oxen were not fond of the idea of the group standing next to them and touching them for a picture when they got close enough. Their owner seemed happy to see the group admiring them even if they were not touchy feely kind of oxen...and even sharing their names as he went about his business. I would like to think if I had oxen I would name them Oxymoron and Oxygen.

I spotted these in Valle de Angeles. I had seen some before made from pieces of wood and bent copper, these are made with Lencan style pottery. The wood ones are a little easier to make out what the image is....do you see it? I will include the answer in the caption of the last picture here so as to give you a fair shot at figuring it out. Pretty, but I can not seem to pull the trigger for the mission house or personal house in spending $64 to pick one up.

Art gallery in Valle...have I posted this before? The art included is pretty odd for my taste, what continues to amaze me are two things:

#1 It is still open (sometimes...normally closed when I go by, but obviously still operating...more than can be said for many souvenir stores around town what with the great downturn in groups.)

#2 Somehow it has never suffered from graffiti or vandalism...not even the paintings for sale behind the bars outside the main door. I guess Valle really is a sleepy, peaceful little town.

I am not out and about at night for the most part, especially at the hour that most bars and discos pick up the pace, so I especially like the fact that this bar is always closed when I see it for the irony factor...since toque de queda is translated curfew. A popluar phrase here recently with the political turmoil...keeping in mind that these businesses are the ones most affected by the recent curfews, it is all the more interesting idea to turn that into a business name. By the way, I do not think most people here lose any sleep (pun definitely intended) when they are forced to close due to those curfews.

This is one of the milk project rooms. Elizabeth (our intern) and Laurie (friend and missionary here helping with the project) have been busy trying to turn the plain jane walls from the old clinic into something a little more festive for the kids. Making changes to the milk project takes time, but we are prayerful in seeing already that they are for the better for the long term success of the project in not only feeding kids physically, but spiritually and to their long term health as well. Almost all the kids currently do not go to any Church, and all of them need hygiene lessons on life that they are not getting otherwise.

Moving here is always something of a sight...moving furniture, moving construction supplies, moving produce to market, just about anything. Bumpers dragging the ground, suspensions going way beyond spec, or in this case a high center of gravity and what looked to me when I passed this guy...a certainty that this guy was falling off at any minute as the load seemed to continue to slide to my left. Any time you pass someone and think "just wait until I get by, just wait until I get by" you know it is a little out of the ordinary.

Names here taken from English are common. Names spelled correctly, not so much. That happens in the US as well for sure, but at least there most of the misspellings are intended. At least...I hope they are intended. I have seen more than I can recall here. (This one in the back of the taxi comes out pronounced the same as English since we do not pronounce the H here)

My favorite was the one that looked like consonents mixed with two random vowels (it was at a bank, they had a name tag) whose name I noticed after she checked my account and laughed out loud at my ridiculously spelled/pronounced name. I asked her how that mess on her name tag was pronounced (more politely of course) to which she said "Wendy." I think there was an E and D in there amongst the eight letters somewhere, but that was about it in matching that name as I commonly know it.

Ah, the menonite bakery...what a great cinnamon roll they make. Just looking at the picture makes me want a glass of milk to go with it.

And the lencan pottery forms the last supper, with Christ having the halo...in wood form he also has a copper formed cup in front of Him.

Comayaguantando facilmente

Some days you do not get to do what you know you have to do, and that ends up being a good thing.

I am so behind on getting things done around me right now (accounting, emails, computer work, presentation ready for upcoming Church presentations, banking, need I go on?) that I took my laptop out to the Ford today, ready to hop in with Oscar driving...where he promptly told me "uh, I can not drive, I lost my license the other day."

Ok, so I drove, and we had time to talk shop, discuss plans, and in general be men who talk about anything except our personal lives or feelings. And that is our friendship...we talk about a lot, get along well, and I do not think ever have had to apologize or explain ourselves about something. A rare thing I think.

We went to Comayagua for me to finalize the papers with Gender on the coffee property we bought earlier this year. Not just that, but with some money from a very generous group (CIY) this summer, to take the chain link for the fence around the soccer field. Gender and I did the legal work while Oscar ran up to Sampedrana to deliver the chain link.

After we hit the bank and the legal buffet to get the paperwork all said and done, Gender and I had time to sit and talk...something we both admitted we never have, let alone to sit on the sidewalk in Comayagua to do.

I really need to demand monthly reports from the pastors who work with the mission. I learned quite a bit, and it was a great day of just talking, working out ideas, thoughts, etc. I will share a few here numbered, along with a few captioned pictures of while we were in Comayagua.

Here is a man repairing shoes on the street. I saw many people in the street as Gender and I talked...older women pushing big carts filled with vegetables, people walking to school and work, and heard that the reason that young woman did not return my greeting of "good morning" was the reputation of US men coming from the military base was one of only looking for pretty girls to...meet. That prompted a discussion about even a military man who came all the way to Sampedrana to marry a girl from there and take her to the US. Gender commented how she was an honest girl, but not attractive, very humble and seemed concerned why the man came up there to "get" her. I was particularly glad at that moment that I had a Honduras football hat on and not a US one. He also noted that everyone looked at me funny despite seeing so many North Americans in their town because, was because they never see any of them walking anywhere, as we were for the hour and a half. Little does he know.

1. Last month there were five baptisms in the Church there...a husband and wife, plus two siblings and a nephew. In doing so, they physically moved to the nearby water source and conversed with God ...they went down to the river to pray.

2. The Land Cruiser is working great, but the money loaned him for buying a motorcycle helps him for continuing to go to school and running errands around the mountain without being so expensive (comparatively) to operate.

3. He and Lourdes consider themselves as members of the community of Sampedrana, and have no desire to leave to return back to their home at this point as they previously had imagined they would. He seemed so happy to tell me that...and even chuckled to himself somewhat at saying it outloud, something I do not think he would have imagined when they first moved there.

4. The two students sent to the Bible Institute are back as the classes have ended for the year. For the next four months they will be helping him on a part time basis with the needs of the Church and putting into practice what they are learning to see if they are ready to go back in February, along with working to provide for their families, etc.

Bimbo, for Honduras, and a pretty picture of Honduras? How could I not pass this up as we walked? Had we had more time, I would have asked to sit in the truck...but not try on the driver's Bimbo shirt...he was a size S if I have ever seen one.

5. I asked him about the prior need to plant a Church up higher than Sampedrana...he said it was not necessary anymore. Why not? "The people from those communities used to fear Sampedrana, they thought it was a bad place, and would walk all the way around it to get places. Now they say how pretty it is, how much it has changed, walk right through on their way to places, and are coming to Church here with us."

Similar animal to what we found in our bed our first weekend staying in Sampedrana to open the Church. I commented that they look a lot cuter when they are not in bed with me in the dark. This one has been in a cage for a month....it is going home with Oscar to be their pet (which he told Annia was a lion with a smaller tail, or hamster-lite instead of being a rat.) Of course being wild...they can never let it out of the cage, but Oscar has some ideas how to entertain it. So did Sisko when we took the cage out of the Ford to put it in his Land Cruiser. Cecilia now tells me she wants one. Great idea.

6. The Church building is full on Sundays with 30-35 people (with kids extra) and that is not everyone coming at once....if everyone comes it is very uncomfortable. The children (with a few parents) come to the kid's Sunday School in the morning (currently in the new mission house facility...no longer on the ground!) and the Church service is in the afternoon, but the kids come then as well...and are very well behaved. One brother has an idea to build a new, bigger building for the Church to meet maybe next year...depending on how the coffee harvest does.

7. We talked about the new coffee property. It will produce maybe 300 pounds this harvest...they are also working as a Church on planting the plants we bought...the rest of the property is now ready, and the holes have the be dug, and then the planting can begin. It will take a few years for those plants to start producing.

Being good administrators...lunch meant Burger King and the special shown here. We ate well, continued to talk shop, and ate like...kings, for $3.50 each, cheaper than picking our own combo. Plus I got a Star Trek toy for Soren. We did not slide down the slides however.

8. Oscar will return in a couple weeks with a rented gas powered welder to get everything installed with the chain link fence for the soccer field, and then we will see how much money we have left from what the group gave for Gender to do more work like the gates, the goals, and maybe even work on stands for spectators, visitors, and devotionals with the kids in the soccer ministry.

9. So the coffee ministry will continue...just between the new property, the current plants around the Church, and some coffee that Gender is growing on his own, we could potentially harvest close to 1,000 pounds, and we are hopeful that the business side of things will enable us to buy at least some of the coffee that each of the many families in the Church produce as well to benefit them in such a great way.

While in Sampedrana, one of the brothers studying in the Bible Institute sent some goodies home with Oscar, including these unusual variety bananas, some plums, pataste, oranges...very cool. We will feast on home fries (of the banana variety) soon enough.

10. A man in the area killed his girlfriend by (skip this if you are squeamish as I am) chopping her up with a machete. I asked if this impacted anyone directly in the Church...Gender said no, but that one of the relatives of the man used to come to Church. When their fellow relative committed suicide (also a member of the Church) his father made him quit coming because we were demonizing people in our congregation. One of the potential sites for another Church plant, Tamarindo, said the same thing when Gender first went there to offer just a clothing sale...now they are softening to the prospect of us helping there after seeing what is happening in Sampedrana.

11. Persecution like that continues to happen as people look at what goes on in the body with a microscope, but despite that hardship mostly from the community that considers itself Catholic (even though some that criticize/gossip/outright come down on the Church have not been to mass for years or have never gone) Gender is anticipating inviting the Catholic Church to come to a Church service soon. Where he would put all those people I do not know...but that would be a good problem to have.

I love where God has us, I love what I am able to do...but days like today, where on a physical productivity scale I might not have accomplished much, are really awesome to get to experience.

Night out

Last night we actually went out to have fun. We ate at a very impressive establishment we had never visited, located in the Intercontinental hotel. The sights were quite impressive. Given that the big game was to come on in two hours....there was only one other couple in the place for almost the entire time we were there. This impressive lighting fixture hung from the probably 10 meter high ceiling.











We enjoyed some food I had never had before, like lobster bisque, a fish fillet that I do not remember even what kind of fish it was, and of course as a garnish for some shrimp came this decorative mixture of beets and carrots. Decorative for the staff who tried twice to take it away...edible for Valerie who was waiting to eat it with her fish. Seeing their perplexed looks at her frugalness made me chuckle to myself.








I know we do not eat out often...even less at "fancy" places, so my unfamiliarity with knives was not surprising. I knew what the regular knife was for...the other two I still have no clue. We had fun thinking of what they might be for...I wonder if you know?











This is the door to the restaurant. That has to be the biggest door I can remember seeing. Hotels here seem to excel at such grandness. I really tried to slow down and take in the atmosphere of such a place...even the door to the bathroom was around 8 feet tall. I never felt too tall there, that is for sure. In some ways it almost felt like a museum or art gallery it was so ornate, well cared for, and just pretty.

















And of course what romantic evening would be complete without a trip to the grocery store? (in the mall across the street) I think I have seen pumpkins here before...maybe. Of course these are here for Halloween, which perhaps the elite here celebrate, but everyone we know and work with could either care less, does not even know about it, or deliberately does not celebrate something they consider not something harmonic with their faith. I have to admit, although it seems harmless in the US, and for some people is harmless, if you look at the background, or what is being celebrated, it is not the best idea, especially in or involving the Church.

I have no idea what pumpkins go for in the US, but that one on the top left would have been $6.35 weighing in at 10 pounds.

Your kidding me

I am really behind on blogging. Surely you have noticed, just as you noticed the pun in the title...not the misspelling it would appear to be.

I will not try to catch up all at once, I wan to post some potentially general interest pictures and comments, as well as get my take on this ongoing political "situation" (sneak preview of the bottom line...I am not nearly as alarmed as many others are) so tonight we will just focus on the kids. I have heard that people want to see more of our kids on the blog...if this is not the case, be sure to let me know.


First we have Soren enjoying his legos. Nothing big there, except if you look at the bottom right hand corner of the picture, he is playing futbol legos. He has his goalie, the goal posts, and a line set up for a free kick. He could not find a ball...do they even make lego balls? He was gearing up for the Honduras vs. USA game tonight, a big game for us, but we lost 3-2 to the US team. As disappointing as that was for us (we are not out yet for qualifying for the World Cup, but this game could have put us in for sure) it was very interesting to see the shots of the US team leaving the stadium....no boos or anything towards them, in fact they must have been supportive because you could see the US team applauding the crowd, and even waving to the people.





Here is Soren with his birthday gift (okay, he had some help putting it together) while sporting his blue for the game tonight (he let Cecilia wear the jersey he has)



They went with Elizabeth (and Dilcia's two youngest girls) to the children's museum here this afternoon for three hours....that plus a big day yesterday meant they did not stay up to see the game....which is fine with me as Cecilia tends to be a fan of whatever team is winning. I think I studied people like that in Psych classes. At least she is never disappointed.








Speaking of Cecilia, here she is after her late night on

Friday. Dilcia helped her put in some curlers (aluminmum foil with toilet paper around them, rolled into the hair while it was damp) before she went to bed and in the morning...well, you see the results. I have to say, it worked much better than I thought it would. It even worked much better than Valerie's last perm!

And in case you have not seen Cecilia for a whlie...Hannah Montana mania persists here. We get the Disney channel, and she enjoys watching Hannah whenever she gets the chance....or playing dress up games with Hannah on the computer...you get the idea.




Dilcia was watching the kids last night because we were at a meeting at their school for parents ("please do not bring your kids" we were told) that was very interesting.



We started out meeting in the Church building next to the school (a former bank branch, but it works.) It was mostly informative...what not to do, what to do, etc. along with introducing the staff, and explaining the origin of the name "Elliott Dover Christian School." Not all the parents are apparently believers, so it was very good to present that, and even have one of the teachers who was greatly influenced by the missionary couple (they died in Iraq in 2004 along with several other missionaries.)



Then we went over to the school to talk to the teachers about the kids as individuals. I went to Cecilia's room, Valerie to Soren's. This is Cecilia's "office" where she works on her paces (one open here shown) sets her goals for the day, and in general tries not to disturb or talk to the student next to her.



We got good reports on both kids, despite my digging for dirt on them. Cecilia admitted to me she wants to take singing classes somewhere...because her teacher keeps telling her singing in class is not allowed. She confirmed that Cecilia does like to sing to herself, but otherwise...is a well motivated student, one who is getting over 90% on all her homework, and several times has 100%. At her age that was certainly not me...good to see she takes after her mother in that regard. I was concerned about her speaking mostly Spanish at school....the teacher noted that since she speaks more English than the other kids...she talks quite a bit, and in English. Ah...that sounds more like me.

I should be

I think that often lately. Right now...I should be getting ready for bed.

I should be rooting for the Packers, but I take an unexplained pleasure in seeing Brett Favre do well.

I should be crying, because sometimes it feels like I am at the end of my rope. Of course, that is just time to realize that God is in control...that everything does happen for a reason (what we would clasify as the good and the bad) and that sometimes you have to be at the end of your rope before you realize...your rope sucks anyway, God's rope He is moving does actual work versus mine that goes nowhere but my own ego.

I should be concerned about the political state of affairs....not just in Honduras, but in many places throughout the world and what that could bring, but I am not. See above....God is control of the world's rope, no matter how big an ego any man or woman may have about their place in this world.

I should be freaking out from all the rumors I hear about the above politics here (and in the US)...things not just heard in blogs, the news, papers but hear from brothers and sisters in Christ, even thinking certain politicians are the anti-christ, or that the "fix" is in because of some certain sign or event, or somehow draggin Israel into the picture, you name it. And yet here I am...not freaking out. Part of the reason is that despite people trying to make this country out a certain way, I feel as safe as I ever have here. Sure, that does not mean all is hunky dory (I heard of another kidnapping at Church on Sunday) but when is it?

I should be concerned with the overall health of our family. Not just Valerie's continued health struggles physically, but how that, plus busy-ness genuine good work, and that big "etc." seem to get in the way of us really being a family. Are we tied together as one unit, or being pulled differnet directions? I have to go to the US for a month for the mission, Valerie feels led to spend two weeks over Christmas visiting her sister, the kids have school, we both have work, plus work after work, work on the weekends, obligations, things we want to do...and with all the sin of busy-ness comes the sin of thinking "it will get better soon." What a lie Satan gives us...it will not get better, only worse, because we soak it up, and he gives us as much as we want, like some kind of drug.

I should be also thinking of Dora, of Dilcia, of so many people we know here and how they struggle in so many ways: to stay alive, to be safe, in providing a very basic education to their children, in having a meal at least once a day, in having loving people living with them, and so much more.

I have a mental list much longer...but as hard as it is to do...sometimes I should just stop thinking about the mountain of things I should be doing and should just stop doing. But until then, well, time to get busy leaving this for something else.

I'll get around to that one of these days, ma.

I guess this week was busy. I say that because I had several times where I felt like I wanted to blog, but it always got too late, and then the next day I said the same thing. Working upon the philosophy of better late than never...here we go on a week recap.

Monday I spent some time with Brad before taking him to the airport to head back to the US, tried to get some month ending accounting done, and some other misc. errands done.

Tuesday more accounting (better a lot of time spent once a month than little big bits as the month goes on) and sorting some really good pictures that the group took. Sorting was quite a task to do...I had 12 GB of pictures they took. It actually took several days of work...very enjoyable work.

Wednesday was container unloading day. As God would have it...the group left on Saturday, the road to the clinic was fixed on Monday and Tuesday, and that brought memories of smooth travels we have not felt for many months. The upside for the container was that it was able to get to the property to unload. Good news right? Well, so we thought.

Getting up...no problem. Getting back out....big problem. This container was 45' long, and the semi was a long one as well. I thought we had done that before...but this time was different. It took quite some time for him to try to get out of our property...and we ended up having to tow him with the white Ford when he got hung up in the ditch. Nothing like making your truck feel very manly to pull a tractor trailer. The driver asked for me to get out of his way, so I left (Mr. Impatient could be his nickname.) Oscar stayed...good thing too because although he thought I was in his way...the driver had no clue how to get out of the neighborhood. Several hours later and the damage done in this picture, he got back on the road. We had much time to figure out what we are going to do in the future for such problems....might require a minor/major redesign of our available property to make sure they can turn around.


Also on Wednesday....waiting in line at the bank. I do this often. Often enough that I should always know to have something to do when it is my turn to spend an hour or more there, as was the case with this particular line. It could have been worse however....as it has been in the past, but since I was forgetful enough to have nothing else to do, a picture seemed like a way to pass a few minutes. Listening to another customer expound on her political views....no eavesdropping this was loud enough for everyone to hear...was interesting as well.





Having to do all that Wednesday meant missing the kids at their school where they had a celebration for everything typical and great about Honduras. I am sure that I would not have been thoroughly entertained by it...but knowing we had to let them down both of us by not being able to be there when many other parents were...that stung. Here is Cecilia in the typical folkloric dress...also being Vanna White, while Soren played a role as some sort of businessman, who had lines to memorize. And since someone had to help him memorize them, I think I can still remember them: "Welcome to the wonderful land of Honduras. Honduras is located in the heart of Central America. Its capital is Tegucigalpa (which he had trouble pronouncing....Tegucipalpa) and its official language is Spanish."



Thursday more errands, started working on the update, yada yada yada. Visit to the bank....had to do some paperwork, they seem to constantly label me as Honduran. I take it as a compliment, undeserved as it is...I even told them it was incorrect, but they decided to leave it anyway. And how many foreigners do not speak Spanish well here? I got yet another compliment on my just ok Spanish skills while there, which always makes me wonder what they hear other times.








Friday I took Elizabeth to the US embassy for her to get some paperwork done...all the while getting to pass by a hundred or so pro-Mel protestors, and getting a couple good shots of the military preventing access to the Brazilian embassy (close to the US embassy) on a couple different roads. Then we went to Pricesmart to buy large quantities of needed goods over the coming months for the milk project, took all that up to the clinic, then I had to turn around and get the kids at school...and finally back home for lunch at 2:30. A full day for sure.

Saturday....up for an early run with Elizabeth, we did our own mini-marathon without any support, and then hit the grocery store, and then the rest of the day spending some time with the kids...first catching the classic "What About Bob?" on cable, then after making cookies and lunch we watched "Groundhog Day" which seemed like the thing to do.