Follow our journey as we share what it means to be Lost.Found.Whole.
Sunday, July 3, 2011
Saturday, July 2, 2011
DELAYED
Please keep our team in prayers as they have been delayed in Miami for what looks like a day. Thanks for your prayers and support!
Friday, July 1, 2011
LAST DAY (viernes)
Today was our final full day in Honduras.
We left at 7am and headed in the van to Valley of Angels to shop and have lunch. Our drive was exciting as all drive in Honduras seem to be – it amazes me how close all the cars get to each other – and the way pedestrians run across the road in front of cars! I had to stop watching after awhile. We have been so thankful to have Edwin as our driver – we have learned to trust and appreciate him (even when it’s a bit scary!)
When we arrived Marcy took us to a huge store to start looking for souvenirs. After about 2 hours of shopping we went to lunch – Marcy ordered lunch for us – we all had cheese papusas. We were able to watch as the woman pressed out the flour tortillas for each of them before she began cooking. We were given banana peppers and cole slaw to go with our lunch but warned by Jenn to eat at our own risk - since we couldn’t be sure how they were cleaned and with a long day of traveling ahead we had to decide if we wanted to risk getting sick – most of us chose to skip the toppings.
We had a short time to shop and barter after lunch before heading out again. I won’t share too much about our purchases so I don’t spoil any surprises!
Our next stop was a waterfall for a swim. We had to stop at Walmart quickly on our way – well it was supposed to be a quick stop but as we have learned – nothing is quick in Honduras. By the time we finally got on the road it started to get cloudy and it looked like rain. We figured it was our only chance to go for a swim so we decided to go no matter what. We had a short hike in the rain (hiking seems to bring rain on for our team) and soon arrived at the waterfall. It was too slippery to go all the way down to the bottom of the waterfall but we were still able to get in the very murky water. Quite a few were feeling adventurous and went on a rope swing or jumped off of the rocks into the water below. It was so much fun – even in the rain.
Tonight we had an authentic Honduran dinner of beans, rice, pico, beef and corn tortillas – so good – I could eat like that every day! We ended our evening with some time praying for Kristi and Edwin. We then had some de-briefing about our return trip to the US tomorrow. We were then able to pray for Marcy, Kjell and their kids.
Now we’re all packed up and ready to leave here at 5:30am tomorrow morning. Hard to believe our time in Honduras is almost done – what an amazing week! Please pray for our return flights to be safe and on time tomorrow. Looking forward to sleeping in our own beds and throwing our toilet paper in the toilet!
Mike, Sam, Aubrey – I love you so much and can’t wait to see you on Sunday!! I might have a couple of surprises for you…see you soon!
Jillian
We left at 7am and headed in the van to Valley of Angels to shop and have lunch. Our drive was exciting as all drive in Honduras seem to be – it amazes me how close all the cars get to each other – and the way pedestrians run across the road in front of cars! I had to stop watching after awhile. We have been so thankful to have Edwin as our driver – we have learned to trust and appreciate him (even when it’s a bit scary!)
When we arrived Marcy took us to a huge store to start looking for souvenirs. After about 2 hours of shopping we went to lunch – Marcy ordered lunch for us – we all had cheese papusas. We were able to watch as the woman pressed out the flour tortillas for each of them before she began cooking. We were given banana peppers and cole slaw to go with our lunch but warned by Jenn to eat at our own risk - since we couldn’t be sure how they were cleaned and with a long day of traveling ahead we had to decide if we wanted to risk getting sick – most of us chose to skip the toppings.
We had a short time to shop and barter after lunch before heading out again. I won’t share too much about our purchases so I don’t spoil any surprises!
Our next stop was a waterfall for a swim. We had to stop at Walmart quickly on our way – well it was supposed to be a quick stop but as we have learned – nothing is quick in Honduras. By the time we finally got on the road it started to get cloudy and it looked like rain. We figured it was our only chance to go for a swim so we decided to go no matter what. We had a short hike in the rain (hiking seems to bring rain on for our team) and soon arrived at the waterfall. It was too slippery to go all the way down to the bottom of the waterfall but we were still able to get in the very murky water. Quite a few were feeling adventurous and went on a rope swing or jumped off of the rocks into the water below. It was so much fun – even in the rain.
Tonight we had an authentic Honduran dinner of beans, rice, pico, beef and corn tortillas – so good – I could eat like that every day! We ended our evening with some time praying for Kristi and Edwin. We then had some de-briefing about our return trip to the US tomorrow. We were then able to pray for Marcy, Kjell and their kids.
Now we’re all packed up and ready to leave here at 5:30am tomorrow morning. Hard to believe our time in Honduras is almost done – what an amazing week! Please pray for our return flights to be safe and on time tomorrow. Looking forward to sleeping in our own beds and throwing our toilet paper in the toilet!
Mike, Sam, Aubrey – I love you so much and can’t wait to see you on Sunday!! I might have a couple of surprises for you…see you soon!
Jillian
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Honduras Blog Thursday
Thursday, Thursday, Thursday……this trip is flying by. Today we had breakfast together at Casa Santiago…..we have had some really good food here and that has been great. Then we headed over to the bodegia where we met Robyn Roubaex. The group split up for that part of the day. Some of us went to paint and put desks together at the house we have been working at. Other people in the group went to El Espinio to do the kids club and to hand out food and clothes. I was in the group that went to the house to paint and put desks together. Those of us that went to the house were able to work well together and get a system going to get things done. We met the group that went to El Espinio for lunch at La Factoria. Part of team went back to the house to get some more work done and others went back to Casa Santiago to get things organized. The group that went back to the house painted and put some of the desks together. We all met up at Casa ninos…..those kids are adorable and they are always excited to see us. It was great. Some of us were able to take a “taxi” ride today and it was fun. The taxis here are not like the taxis we have in the states, they are tiny here and are similar to golf carts. We were able to drop off some items that we had brought with us off at a missionary house today. They appreciated it. Thanks to all of you that donated. On the way back to Casa Santiago, we stopped to get some ice cream. We had dinner at Casa Santiago. Dinner and ice cream were both good. We then had devotions ad prayer, which were fabulous. We also talked about our plans for tomorrow which will be a good day. Don’t forget to be checking your emails everyone – just as a reminder. ☺ Talk to you all soon.Kelly
PS Hi to my family ☺
PS Hi to my family ☺
MIDWAY ON MIERCOLES (Wednesday)
It's hard to believe that we have hit the midway point of our trip. On one hand, it feels like we just arrived, but on the other, we feel settled in and at home in our new surroundings. We're becoming familiar with the walk through the town of Zambrano that we frequent as we travel between Casa Santiago (the retreat house) and the Casa de Ninos (children's home), the Factoria (snack bar), the Door of Hope Rehabilitation Center, and the school. We are also building relationships with the staff, residents and children- many of us have favorites who we look forward to chatting with and giving hugs.
Today began at the Rehab Center in the upstairs classroom. We knew the women from our previous time with the them, but this was our first interaction with the men. The Lord wove together a beautiful morning of encouragement and exhortation, including sharing from Chloe, Jillian, Jenn, Charlotte, Pastor Abi, AJ, Kjell, and Marcy. We had times of interactive sharing and praying together with the residents and believe there were breakthroughs in receiving grace, determining to follow Jesus, requesting and giving forgiveness, and trusting God.
We split up in the afternoon: AJ and a handful worked at the school on desks and painting; Marcy took some ladies to fill bags for food distribution tomorrow; and the kids ran to their favorite place - playing with the sweet children at the Casa de Ninos.
After dinner, Marcy led us in devotions and then we had a prayer time focused on receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The atmosphere was sweet and genuine, and God showed up in a real way, meeting each of us as needed. He is cleansing, empowering and renewing us!
Some of our goals (to be tossed in the midst of our ministry opportunities) are to ride something (I am hoping for a cow, but a mule will do), take a taxi (mini-cars), pick and eat a mango off a tree (or buy one from a lady on the street), play in the waterfall, and haggle at the market place. We are enjoying our time together and taking in all the experience has to offer. We love each other, we love our missionary family, and we love the people of Honduras!
Oh, and we love you, too!!!!!
-Pastor Abi
PRAY FOR JUEVES (THURSDAY)
* Kids Club, Food & Clothing Distribution en El Espino (a village about 30 minutes from here)
* Completion of School Desks
* Continuation of Painting
* Physical Strength and Relief from Aches of our Tuesday mountain adventure
* Continued Unity and Love between Team (it's been awesome!)
Today began at the Rehab Center in the upstairs classroom. We knew the women from our previous time with the them, but this was our first interaction with the men. The Lord wove together a beautiful morning of encouragement and exhortation, including sharing from Chloe, Jillian, Jenn, Charlotte, Pastor Abi, AJ, Kjell, and Marcy. We had times of interactive sharing and praying together with the residents and believe there were breakthroughs in receiving grace, determining to follow Jesus, requesting and giving forgiveness, and trusting God.
We split up in the afternoon: AJ and a handful worked at the school on desks and painting; Marcy took some ladies to fill bags for food distribution tomorrow; and the kids ran to their favorite place - playing with the sweet children at the Casa de Ninos.
After dinner, Marcy led us in devotions and then we had a prayer time focused on receiving the baptism of the Holy Spirit. The atmosphere was sweet and genuine, and God showed up in a real way, meeting each of us as needed. He is cleansing, empowering and renewing us!
Some of our goals (to be tossed in the midst of our ministry opportunities) are to ride something (I am hoping for a cow, but a mule will do), take a taxi (mini-cars), pick and eat a mango off a tree (or buy one from a lady on the street), play in the waterfall, and haggle at the market place. We are enjoying our time together and taking in all the experience has to offer. We love each other, we love our missionary family, and we love the people of Honduras!
Oh, and we love you, too!!!!!
-Pastor Abi
PRAY FOR JUEVES (THURSDAY)
* Kids Club, Food & Clothing Distribution en El Espino (a village about 30 minutes from here)
* Completion of School Desks
* Continuation of Painting
* Physical Strength and Relief from Aches of our Tuesday mountain adventure
* Continued Unity and Love between Team (it's been awesome!)
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
ADVENTURE IN HONDURAS – Tuesday’s Wrap Up
Yesterday, on Tuesday, we went to two village schools. The first one was in Las Botijas and the second one was in El Palangue. 23 of us drove in a Dodge Ram pickup truck to the first school. It was an hour and a half drive in the pickup truck to the first school. We played Ultimate Frisbee with the kids and also members of the team did Chinese and regular jump rope with kids and painted faces.
The most exciting part was hiking as a team to the second remote village. After we did the mountainous 2 hour hike (think going up the unpaved auto road at Mt. Washington, adding mudslides, bull and horse poop, rocks and rain) and kids camp it was time to head out.
We were running late already and needed to hike out as cars could not make it in before dark. So we walked and had torrential downpours with lightning and thunderstorms for 75% of the hike back. Our team was all totally drenched by the end and still needed to make it home in the back of the truck.
On our trip home from the back of the truck I felt a thud and on this remote dirt slope in the dark we became stuck. After much praying and working as a team we figured out a plan to get unstuck. One of the locals had a flashlight who was the only person who walked by and we were about a foot into the mud. Finally after much uncertainty and many people unsure what the outlook was going to be like for the rest of the night we made it out.
As a team we worked amazingly together and now that we are through this, it will be by far the most memorable day of the trip for us.
-Kyle (aka Tio MiKyle)
PS Melissa, I love you and Alexis and Aiden
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
PRAY FOR MARTES (TUESDAY)
*No travel sickness as we make the 1-2 hour truck ride to Las Botijas
*No rain as we will be in the back of the truck along with our supplies
*Many kids to come out to the Kids' Clubs
*Strength as we hike for 1 1/2 hours to the next Kids' Club in Palenque
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)