Auction time

The government had an auction last week for various cars they were trying to purge from their system, to generate some income.  It was a bit of short notice, as I had been thinking/praying/contemplating some vehicles for the mission, but without solid funding to count on for going to auction. 

 

But I scarily took some steps of faith.  Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, I went to bid on some vehicles...outbid every time, by a comfortable margin to feel and know...these were not the vehicles for us. 

 

Friday came...and I was feeling confident.  I had done my research, had a top figure in mind, and of all the vehicles they had (well...of those I thought somehow I could pay for) these seemed the best balance.  I was bidding on four...two for the mission for sure, one possibly for us personally, and another possibly for parts.

 

If you have ever bid on something big at an auction...it is a mix of feeling excited, anticipation, adrenaline...and if you win sometimes that feeling of "uh...what did I just do?  Was that the right thing?  Ugh!"

 

I ended up winning three of the four I went for on Friday.  The Musso in the front left is the one that might be personal.  I bought it because it has 30,000km less than the Musso we already have, is three years newer (only 15 years old this one)and is a Turbo.  The mission might end up needing it for a medical student receiving a FAME scholarship, so I have a little time to fix a few things and see where God takes it. 

 

The Santana Anibals are the more exciting purchases.  Following I will explain what they are, why we bought them, and some features.  If you care little for details...just glance at a few of the pictures and jump to the end for some prayer/wrap up

 

 

Without going into the entire history of the company and its reason for being created with ol' General Francisco Franco...Santana is a Spanish company and Anibal is the model (Anibal being Spanish for Hannibal...tough guy, crossed mountains with elephants guy?)  The idea is that they took Land Rover Defenders (remember those?) and make modifications to them and then sell them as these Anibals.  You can see the familial resemblance...but the lights are more standard and cheaper to fix, the bumper is now just a steel tube (also utilitarian and cheap) You see modifications like this all over the vehicle. 

 

 

Modification #1...unlike the Defender we used to own, this takes a more reliable 2.8L IVECO turbo diesel engine (also found here in many medium sized delivery trucks...a plus for parts.)  Greater reliability as well as fuel economy, along with the grunt to move 9 people or a few thousand pounds of coffee, cement, etc. 

 

Also removes the fancier coil springs for more old school (and reliable...this is a common thread here) leaf springs.  Many of the changes on these vehicles are older school reliable things...not that the Defender is a bastion of luxury and new fangled technology, but this is also simpler in some ways.  Still has great ground clearance, as well as 4x4 (not full time however like the Defender...another change...this one is selectable, which makes turning radius much smaller and easier)

No radio, no electric windows or locks...but AC is included, not that we are worried about whether or not that works.  Less things to go wrong, to fix, and keeps the cost down.











The interior being rather tight in a Defender, this vehicle has a different seating arrangement.  I am not sure exactly how they did it, but I can actually drive this vehicle stock (unlike the Defender) and the rear seat passenger space is not as cramped either.  Also for the rear windows...they are solid, not sliding units, which makes for a little less air in the back, but much more secure and lets less rain in, which was a signature feature of the Defender. 











What really caught my interest in all this...the odometer reads under 50,000KM for both trucks (just 28,520 in miles on this particular one.)  Practially unused!  It shows all over the vehicles...no chasis damage, the interior is basic but not torn or missing pieces.  These could be vehicles we could use for 10 years or more, even on roads like we have here!

At $8,200 for each one...this was a great deal.  We will have to change fluids and filters and such, but otherwise they should be ready to get to work very soon!


So why buy them?  The Church in Talanga has not had a vehicle for years.  Pastor José Luis had a vehicle for some time, but not ideal, and this will be something the mission can use there for a long time.  Also...we needed a reliable and long lasting (and narrow!) vehicle for working the coffee farm in Las Botijas.  These are definitely work trucks. 

We have a fund for saving a small part of the money we get from groups to help buy the big Fords when we need them, I used some of this fund to buy the two Anibals.  If you are interested in helping us with these purchases to replenish the Ford fund (we were originally hoping to work on replacing the White Ford later this year...either another wrecked vehicle in the US, buying new with some help, or used...still praying and planning on that one) whether small or large...any amount helps!...please click on the donate link below, you can add a note that the donation is to help pay for the Anibals, and we will get it designated to the right place.

Praise God we had some flexible funding to take advantage of these while we could get them...as offers like these do not come very often and it is great to be able to strike while the Anibal is hot.  Now if we can get enough raised, we should still be able to proceed on the Ford front when the time is right there as well. 

Thank you all for your support!

And April?

How about summing up April in one post, especially since I did not post in almost all of April? 

We will try to stick to an update via pictures. I don’t have any pictures for all the cool/interesting/motivational/touching stories from the clinic (Valerie seems averse to taking pictures...well, sometimes technology in general, but that is another topic for another time) so just rest assured...that ministry continues unabated, strong and providing a physical and spiritual reminder that Jesus loves you.

Let us get the depressing out of the way first.

I won’t lie, this year has been rough for the mission, for us, for me, for the Churches. Please pray for our physical, emotional, and spiritual health...as individuals, a mission, and multiple bodies of believers. April brought the need for us to meet with the leadership of the Church in Sampedrana, and the end of Gender being the pastor there. I won’t go into the details in this public medium, just say that in following the Bible’s teaching, there was a need for a pastoral change. This was not easy, not something we were wanting or planning to do, and came up quite suddenly. The meeting was ultimately encouraging for God leading the Church into the future, but as you can see from this picture, brought more than one of us to tears. 




Otherwise in Sampedrana, Alfonso continues to work on the Hill Climber coffee property. Here you can see a small nursery he started at his house for coffee plants. Small in size...but I believe he said there were roughly 10,000 plants there. They need to be transplanted to bigger individual bags for further care and maturing before being planted, that process will begin soon, up on the actual property. 

The goal is not 10,000 plants...but more like 35,000 or more.  That should be enough for 2012 at any rate.  The property could potentially hold much more than that...(more than 60,000)









Also we used a group’s trip to Sampedrana to distribute food and encourage the Church after the announcement of Gender stepping down to also take three drainage tiles for the road to the property. There are some creeks and drainage that run through the road, and without tiles...the road will be impassable fairly soon when the big rains begin. Ask the group though...the road to get there is already fairly interesting, and they did not even go all the way up! Four wheel drive, even in dry weather, is a must every time.

Here is one of the tiles in the back of Oscar's Ford (pray for it as well...running, but not well, and has been in the shop while they try to figure out what needs to be done.  115,000 miles on a truck in Honduras, going where we go, means it gets quite a workout on a regular basis. 

Along the trek that day, Alfonso gave us a big bag of raspberries harvested nearby from wild bushes, and a gentleman with those awesome “royal lemons” let us take a few they were not going to need. Raspberry lemonade anyone? We are looking at planting these wild raspberry bushes into a fence for the coffee property, providing a crop, as well as thorns to keep cattle and anything else from just moseying into the property, that will happen later this year as time permits Alfonso to do so.   Who knows, we may end up making raspberry and other jams/jellies in a few years.

Speaking of Alfonso, we finally got the new motorcycle delivered to him...no more walking two hours or more with tools on his shoulders to get to work on the property!

Of course it was raining that day...nothing like starting off on the right wet foot! The motorcycle is a cheaper Chinese bike (KMF)...we just could not afford a Honda or Yamaha with the donations received, but this brand new bike should work well for the next few years...and by that time he will hopefully need a truck to haul all the coffee, workers, etc.!

Talanga’s Channel 15 building is now complete...after much love and labor from Oscar, some paid help, and volunteers. They made the move last week, and now we have a secure building, a greater tie between the station and the Church, and no rent payments every month! The property still has work to be done in the future of course, but this is a big step. Second floor work is not planned until the station starts covering some of its expenses again...for the time being Jose Luis will live in the studio building itself.  (Note the wood framing in front...that is the future home for what you will see in the picture below.)

Pastor Jose Luis in Talanga has gotten involved with the clothing ministry to try to do more outreach, as well as generate some income for himself as well. There is no quintessential clothing ministry store type...some are indoors, some smaller, some bigger, some have hangers, some tables, some on a tarp. They all might look different, but all have the same goal. (Jonathan started another store in Villa de San Francisco with the goal beyond the obvious outreach factor to generate enough funds to give a pastor we know an offering to feed his family and enable him to work as a pastor there...we will see how that continues to develop. His Eyes is not in a position to take on financially another Church plant, but God is moving things forward there without our direct/monthly financial support!)

The TSP progresses, albeit slower now. Donations are continuing to come in...but slowly, and that has us thinking carefully about what we can do and when. The floor was a big step, and is now done. We plan on using a group in May to put up the walls for the bathrooms and porch, and then take a look at the donations coming in to see if we can start on the false ceiling and/or electrical wiring. After that...bathroom fixture/plumbing, lighting/fans, dry wall, offices/sound booth, and the last step will likely be putting in the tile floor and window fixtures....that is...still quite a bit to be done! We won’t make our goal of June...we are now praying we might be done before November, if the donations are there that is more than doable.

The rock wall...continues. The goal with the greater welding and securing of the containers, and the future beefed up columns along with this rock wall is to not have to deal with any issues in the future of the ground pushing our retaining wall beyond its boundaries. Big project, but hopefully will be finished with the big labor next month, and we will let nature/gravity/rains to move some of the earth back into the hole over the next several months, and then pretty up that area very close to the clinic probably in early 2013 after everything has settled properly.

 Cantaranas...the Church continues to put in the work to see the building go up! They are still making the blocks, and doing everything required. Jonathan’s only request to the mission is helping with the roof for this big building. Pray funds would be designated for that roof...I am not sure how much we will be able to help when they are ready (and that will be soon with the rate they are going!) since the cost will easily exceed $5,000 for the materials (even with them doing all the labor to get it installed....steel/metal is getting more expensive all the time!)

April was a busy month. God is moving in always incredible ways. The enemy is pushing back as well. Busyness, stress, problems...they all take a toll on all of us, I know they do for me, but join us in prayer that He who is greater than all our problems would renew us, restore us, regenerate us for His work, His glory, His honor...that He might be praised!

Talanga progress

We took the group yesterday to Talanga for a food distribution.  Upon arrival, we got a rare glimpse (for us) of seeing Pastor Celeo doing one of his programs on Channel 15.  I asked him later about a way to track how many people watch the channel, and among other things...when they talk to some people that watch the channel and he says "I host a show," he gets reactions like "you look much different on TV" and "are you sure?" 

We got to see some of the new equipment in use as well...the VCRs are for signal modification for sending the signal from the station to the cable companies (I don't get it, but it works) and the new audio board that a group donated in April.  They were very happy not to have to do the complicated dances and using electrical tape to get the same effect. 

Sorry about this picture I can not flip, but it shows one of the houses where a cell group meets from the Church.  The painting was done on one of our computer table parts...all in all I thought it a very good use of a table top.  Romans 6:8 is the verse in the corner mentioned.  With no Church building as of yet, these home Churches/cell groups are very important to the strength and growth of the Church. 

Olivia is an intern that is with us for two months.  Yesterday she was in my group during the food distributions.  Apart from the new ticklish boyfriend she has in her arms here in front of the TV station, she was growing a bit by me forcing her to translate for the group during the food distributions.   

It may look like we are in the country...but this is only a few blocks from the central park in Talanga.  Apart from one main street that is mostly paved, most of the streets are in various states of disrepair...including the road in front of the future Church building home.  Add rain to the equation and it gets even more interesting.  All told yesterday we visited over 20 families...including one woman who saw us passing by and stopped us to pray for her (she was sick) reminding us that we are making an impression even when we are not aware of such.

Take a little time

Last week was rough personally.  So busy, I could even notice it creating tension between Valerie and myself.  Not good.  Both of us were just too busy for our own good.  Blogging...fell by the wayside. 

How about a few bullet points of things going on:

1.  Had to stand for at least fifteen minutes at Church on Sunday again...increased seating capacity, so needed.  Progress made on the leveling for the foundation of the new building.  Fundraising being spurred by a few very generous individuals, but struggling otherwise.  We are thinking of borrowing from the mission's general fund if necessary to try to get the down payment made on the building to get it here.

2.  Cecilia saw my old California Raisin figurines and exclaimed "oooooh, M&Ms!"  I think she needs an eye exam...and a history lesson. 

3.  An opportunity seems to be presenting itself to buy property in Sampedrana for more coffee production to support the Church there and the mission...praying how to proceed there. 

4.  The above opportunity that bore fruit in Cantaranas...is now bearing tomatoes.  Harvest starting this week, praying and looking for good outlets where to sell the tomatoes, and connections for future crops (we will have to vary crops between plantings to prevent disease, land overuse, etc.)  In less than six months that property is making a huge difference for the mission and Church there. 

5.  Work in Talanga continues with the TV station.  Power outages take their toll on equipment however.  We are seeking new cameras and most importantly battery backups with good voltage protection.  With the arrival of some new equipment, we are also praying about finding a good used shipping container here that we could transport there for use as a secure studio on the Church property site. 

6.  Laurie continuing to develop the Milk Project...keeping busy and looking to be even busier as an outreach to the community, with ideas to expand even more.  Her leadership there takes a big burden off the rest of us...and is certainly providing for ways for the MP to be bigger and more impactful than it ever was before.  A very good thing.

7.  Investigating options to get filtering system for drinking water (versus buying bottles) for the clinic and mission house.  A Godincidence that sparked it might make for some initial cost...but could be much more convenient as well as less expensive in the long run. 

8.  Overwhelmed with the sheer amazing number of God driven things happening here...makes me smile...and at the same time think I need a vacation.  Would love to have one here, but when in the house I have a magnetic relationship with the laptop that seems to prevent me from unplugging my mind from taking a whirl in the tornado of ideas and possibilities.  The kids will get to go to the US this summer, which should be...very interesting, not sure when Valerie or I, or both, will get out and about somewhere, but looking forward to it, while still relishing in being here and getting to participate in all this God stuff being driven around us as well.    

9.  Smile, even if you have to fake it...you just might end up enjoying it. 

10.  Ten seems like a nice round number...picked up our latest intern on Saturday.  She will be here for two months, working on Spanish by living with Oscar and family.  Good to have her, already putting her to work today.  While at Oscar's, he showed me his lime experiment.  No wonder why he and Jonathan are doing well with their plantain/pineapple/ and now cabbage/beans property....he is growing his lemon tree in an old 55 gallon drum with no dirt, just kitchen scraps/organic material....and in a short time, it is already several feet tall...and producing limes.   I'll have to get a picture next time I am over. 

One of many

Not much time to post...but this is just one of the many families the group met yesterday doing corn distribution in Talanga.  My group went to an area just outside town, called Agua Blanca...and then we drove on to this...well, I don't know what you would call it, but it has a name, Jalaca. 

The woman third from the left had 13 children...first seven girls, then six boys.  One of her sons is on her left...we gave him a bag of corn as well...which he and his self described "partner" with her 8 month old son were to take back to where they live...a three hour walk up the mountain.  To the woman's right...her grand daughter that she is raising. 

She said she owns nothing...she rents the property they are using, and has a few chickens from which to get eggs, but otherwise...the situation looked dire to human eyes.  The corn was very much well received, as were we.  They have had Church services outside her home in the past with Pastor Celeo. 

When we offered to pray and asked for prayer requests...she initially could not think of anything, until reminded of her poor health, so she asked for health for her and her family.