Sunday a group from Houston arrived to help some with the clothing ministry. This is a different group than our norm, because most/all of these group members are not Christian. It is a great opportunity to witness to them, while also be grateful for their willingness to come, to help, and to see what God is doing here. (I could think of several people we know in the US as friends and supporters who would never do that....but I will not continue down that path for this particular post.) They are all women, and ages range from 40s to mid 70s. The opportunities and things that come up from such a group are certainly sometimes the same...and sometimes different.
Such is the same with clothing distributions. We beat foot on Sunday after picking them up at the airport to Lepaterique, where we have done sales before. We were well received...the stampeding for shoes was there (starting even before Oscar finished his prayer...a first), people seemed very happy again to receive such a blessing, as did the Church members, volunteers, and the pastor....and the rain was fairly strong which made for an interesting wet but not too bumpy ride back to the mission house.
Monday we did a first time sale in La Venta, where our friend Lesly, who has participated in some CHE training we have done, lives. She had to work that day, but again the pastor and some volunteers were there to help. It was a little unnerving since we had to do it outside, but it went well...everyone was very surprised how inexpensive the clothes/shoes were, and the pastor was very much happy to use the opportunity to share with the community why we were there and what we were doing.
Tuesday...Sampedrana. We have been going there for eight years, we know what to expect. Well...we thought we did. First, I am not sure how it came about, but easily there were over 200 people there. Gender had everything organized, people written down on a list, there were no stampedes, fighting, arguing, etc. I suppose there might have been so many people there because it has been quite a while since we have done that there...but it still took me back. They only allowed about 20 people per 10 minutes in at a time...not just for managing the space...but because there are several men now attending the Church who were there v
olunteering to help and set up an evangelizing station to share the Word. They did a great job and were very obvious by their presence...helpful, courteous, outgoing...it was awesome in seeing such changes, such work as a Church body! Oscar and I helped in the clothing aspect of it...but otherwise we were not really needed, which is a great feeling. Some of these young men are from Comayagua and have purchased property in the area to turn into small farms. Apparently this is becoming common...prices for land are going up in the area. Not that I am anticipating the road being paved anytime soon.
Oh yeah, the road. It is as bad as I remember it ever having been...and with a nice healthy downpour starting about an hour before we left...it was quite the experience. Oscar got stuck. By the time I figured out he was not behind me and not catching up, I maneuvered in a rather interesting spot to turn around only to find him not too far away now coming down...forcing me into another interesting several point turn to get back in the right direction...another pickup on its way up was able to pull him down the hill just enough to get unstuck. You can be sure I poked a little fun at his expense given that he has four new tires on his Ford and mine has four old tires.
Add to that road construction from Comayagua, another healthy deluge of rain, two accidents (one rear-ender, another was a pedestrian killed) and the journey was four hours total to get back to the mission house....that's a lot of bluegrass tribute music.
In other news...we left many of the clothes we took there in Sampedrana...as Gender is trying to get a CHE project start
ed with an old sewing machine they got donated and he fixed up. They will use the big clothes to make other items for the women to sell and also contribute back into the Church/project. They are even thinking about buying bags of clothes from the clothing ministry to sell in other villages where we would not have time to visit. Very encouraging all.
Three days...three different familiar experiences....all of which give many reasons to give God glory and praise!
Such is the same with clothing distributions. We beat foot on Sunday after picking them up at the airport to Lepaterique, where we have done sales before. We were well received...the stampeding for shoes was there (starting even before Oscar finished his prayer...a first), people seemed very happy again to receive such a blessing, as did the Church members, volunteers, and the pastor....and the rain was fairly strong which made for an interesting wet but not too bumpy ride back to the mission house.
Monday we did a first time sale in La Venta, where our friend Lesly, who has participated in some CHE training we have done, lives. She had to work that day, but again the pastor and some volunteers were there to help. It was a little unnerving since we had to do it outside, but it went well...everyone was very surprised how inexpensive the clothes/shoes were, and the pastor was very much happy to use the opportunity to share with the community why we were there and what we were doing. 
Tuesday...Sampedrana. We have been going there for eight years, we know what to expect. Well...we thought we did. First, I am not sure how it came about, but easily there were over 200 people there. Gender had everything organized, people written down on a list, there were no stampedes, fighting, arguing, etc. I suppose there might have been so many people there because it has been quite a while since we have done that there...but it still took me back. They only allowed about 20 people per 10 minutes in at a time...not just for managing the space...but because there are several men now attending the Church who were there v
olunteering to help and set up an evangelizing station to share the Word. They did a great job and were very obvious by their presence...helpful, courteous, outgoing...it was awesome in seeing such changes, such work as a Church body! Oscar and I helped in the clothing aspect of it...but otherwise we were not really needed, which is a great feeling. Some of these young men are from Comayagua and have purchased property in the area to turn into small farms. Apparently this is becoming common...prices for land are going up in the area. Not that I am anticipating the road being paved anytime soon.Oh yeah, the road. It is as bad as I remember it ever having been...and with a nice healthy downpour starting about an hour before we left...it was quite the experience. Oscar got stuck. By the time I figured out he was not behind me and not catching up, I maneuvered in a rather interesting spot to turn around only to find him not too far away now coming down...forcing me into another interesting several point turn to get back in the right direction...another pickup on its way up was able to pull him down the hill just enough to get unstuck. You can be sure I poked a little fun at his expense given that he has four new tires on his Ford and mine has four old tires.
Add to that road construction from Comayagua, another healthy deluge of rain, two accidents (one rear-ender, another was a pedestrian killed) and the journey was four hours total to get back to the mission house....that's a lot of bluegrass tribute music.
In other news...we left many of the clothes we took there in Sampedrana...as Gender is trying to get a CHE project start
ed with an old sewing machine they got donated and he fixed up. They will use the big clothes to make other items for the women to sell and also contribute back into the Church/project. They are even thinking about buying bags of clothes from the clothing ministry to sell in other villages where we would not have time to visit. Very encouraging all.
Three days...three different familiar experiences....all of which give many reasons to give God glory and praise!
2 comments:
So great to hear about the clothing ministries you all do! That was one thing we didn't get to experience there. And... yeah, that's a LOT of bluegrass tribute music! Ha!
Wish I could be there to teach some sewing ideas. I truly enjoyed being useful in my area of expertise.
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