Saturday, October 31, 2009
Trip to Poland
An invitation to post has been sent to one of the people on mission to Poland, so hopefully reports will come soon.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Tuesday and Wednesday followed the same schedule as Monday with everyone working on the same various projects in the morning and then half of everyone leaving to help with VBS. The only difference is the switching of who leaves to help with VBS. On Monday and Wednesday, a particular half helps and then on Tuesday and Thursday, the other half helps. In this way, everyone gets a chance to spend time with the boys.
John Ware was invited to preach Tuesday night at a local church’s prayer meeting. So he invited any of us who wanted to come to join him and Cathy. Several of us came—even though we were very tired. All of us were glad we did because the prayer meeting was electrifying and we left charged! That body of believers was so welcoming and warm to us. One of the greatest memories will be John’s message on fear as delivered by him and his translator! What a dynamic duo! Our faces nearly hurt from smiling so much in delight! Truly, God’s Spirit was at work and present in that place. Thrilled to have been there.
John Ware was invited to preach Tuesday night at a local church’s prayer meeting. So he invited any of us who wanted to come to join him and Cathy. Several of us came—even though we were very tired. All of us were glad we did because the prayer meeting was electrifying and we left charged! That body of believers was so welcoming and warm to us. One of the greatest memories will be John’s message on fear as delivered by him and his translator! What a dynamic duo! Our faces nearly hurt from smiling so much in delight! Truly, God’s Spirit was at work and present in that place. Thrilled to have been there.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Monday
We arrived at Casa del Niño with the sun just beginning to warm the air. The boys greeted us from the balcony with huge smiles and a colorful banner. After getting a tour of the grounds, we split into groups to work. About 8 people worked indoors finishing the ceilings by putting up wooden planks. A few people started work on staining wood to be put up tomorrow. About 15 people worked outside washing, scraping, and then painting the front of the building with a warm yellow. The front of the building faces a busy street which stays bustling with people, cars, and cyclists. So, we feel like we are in the thick of the community as we work, and we really enjoy it.
After lunch, half of the group helped with VBS while the other half continued the various projects. VBS highlighted the fact that there is only one way to heaven and closed with the excitement of alka seltzer rockets. Of course, this was Teri Reed’s idea…and of course war broke out with the boys turning to shoot them at each other. She has a history of bringing out the wild side in these boys. Glad nothing has changed! J
The really neat part of the day is everyone’s willingness to work hard and work together. Fascinating to watch because rarely does anyone get to see 40+ people get along and work together with such ease. “We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future” (Eph 4:6). This is evident.
After lunch, half of the group helped with VBS while the other half continued the various projects. VBS highlighted the fact that there is only one way to heaven and closed with the excitement of alka seltzer rockets. Of course, this was Teri Reed’s idea…and of course war broke out with the boys turning to shoot them at each other. She has a history of bringing out the wild side in these boys. Glad nothing has changed! J
The really neat part of the day is everyone’s willingness to work hard and work together. Fascinating to watch because rarely does anyone get to see 40+ people get along and work together with such ease. “We are all one body, we have the same Spirit, and we have all been called to the same glorious future” (Eph 4:6). This is evident.
Sunday
Busy with activity, Sunday morning was spent directing Sunday School for about 250 kids at the Philadelphia church and then rushing to the feeding center in which we helped build last year. At the feeding center, the community had put together a small program for the celebration, which included two coordinated dances by young girls, a skit by some boys, several short speeches, and providing Feed the Children with a plaque of recognition and thanks. Following the program, members of our team personally handed meals to each of the children. For those of us who worked at the site last year, seeing and hugging familiar faces was wonderful.
The afternoon was spent enjoying the beautiful drive through the Honduras countryside to La Ceiba. We arrived at our hotel just after nightfall.
The 5 guys who came later arrived during the festivities at the feeding center. Their adventure is packed with exciting moments of life’s greatest luxuries. Just ask Kyle Kinder about his seat 1A in 1st class. Of course, AJ Reynolds, Steven Reed, and Ryan Atkins were not far behind in their own 1st class seats.
The afternoon was spent enjoying the beautiful drive through the Honduras countryside to La Ceiba. We arrived at our hotel just after nightfall.
The 5 guys who came later arrived during the festivities at the feeding center. Their adventure is packed with exciting moments of life’s greatest luxuries. Just ask Kyle Kinder about his seat 1A in 1st class. Of course, AJ Reynolds, Steven Reed, and Ryan Atkins were not far behind in their own 1st class seats.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
We´re here...well, most of us!
It´s Sunday morning, we´ve had breakfast, and we are dressed and ready to go to church. We´ll be visiting the Philidelphia church, where we´ve been several times before. The church is located just down the street from the ABC center (the orphanage).
Getting here was peaceful and wonderful. In years past, it has taken 18 hours of travel time to get here, but this year they had us come through Houston, and it took less than 8! That meant arriving with some energy still!
Everyone´s hearts are ready for whatever challenges await us. Challenges at the airport usually mean opportunities to witness to the airport staff and be a blessing to them. This year, both groups traveled peacefully. Thus, it was an easy day of travel.
Now, that´s not to say there wasn´t a hitch: 5 guys got bumped from their flight at the OKC airport. From what I hear, the guys are really excited about the opportunity to be bumped and have an additional adventure on their way here. They are taking a van to Houston and arriving here in Honduras later this afternoon. Perfect timing to catch up and ride with us on the cross-country treck to La Ceiba, where we´ll be for the rest of the week.
Hopefully, we will have internet access at our next hotel, too. If so, we´ll let you know how things are going!
Excited to be going to church with local believers today. Then we get to visit the feeding center we built last year. The neighborhood wanted to wait until we came back this year before they dedicated the building to the Lord. Really sweet for them to want to include us in the festivities. Today promises to be really fun.
Yesterday, a group of us got to go to church with a different local body who teaches the children and youth on Saturday evenings. The Pastor and his wife have designed services so that youth teach the children´s program for the first few hours and then have their own service right after. In this way, they are discipling the youth for ministry every week. Sweet spirit in the church and very hospitable smiles and hugs! We had a good time.
Hugs to all of you!
May God bless you as you as you also walk among Believers and non-Believers during your day today!!
Getting here was peaceful and wonderful. In years past, it has taken 18 hours of travel time to get here, but this year they had us come through Houston, and it took less than 8! That meant arriving with some energy still!
Everyone´s hearts are ready for whatever challenges await us. Challenges at the airport usually mean opportunities to witness to the airport staff and be a blessing to them. This year, both groups traveled peacefully. Thus, it was an easy day of travel.
Now, that´s not to say there wasn´t a hitch: 5 guys got bumped from their flight at the OKC airport. From what I hear, the guys are really excited about the opportunity to be bumped and have an additional adventure on their way here. They are taking a van to Houston and arriving here in Honduras later this afternoon. Perfect timing to catch up and ride with us on the cross-country treck to La Ceiba, where we´ll be for the rest of the week.
Hopefully, we will have internet access at our next hotel, too. If so, we´ll let you know how things are going!
Excited to be going to church with local believers today. Then we get to visit the feeding center we built last year. The neighborhood wanted to wait until we came back this year before they dedicated the building to the Lord. Really sweet for them to want to include us in the festivities. Today promises to be really fun.
Yesterday, a group of us got to go to church with a different local body who teaches the children and youth on Saturday evenings. The Pastor and his wife have designed services so that youth teach the children´s program for the first few hours and then have their own service right after. In this way, they are discipling the youth for ministry every week. Sweet spirit in the church and very hospitable smiles and hugs! We had a good time.
Hugs to all of you!
May God bless you as you as you also walk among Believers and non-Believers during your day today!!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Night Before
So, it's the night before we leave, and 4 of us are at home packing our bags. Becky & Caiti Cheary, Megan Osborn, and Wendy James (me) get to leave for Honduras a day before everyone else. Before we leave, I thought I would see if I could figure out how to blog...or I will be calling Scott from Honduras! :)
Saturday, January 3, 2009
Dec. 31
Today started at 9:30 a.m. with a short meeting before we split up into three groups. One group went to St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican. One group went to buy food to take to the park for lunch, and one group went to Termini to buy backpacks from someone, possibly on the street.
We were buying backpacks because we haven’t been able to buy sleeping bags. This is the first time we have planned ahead for sleeping bags and the first time we haven’t been able to buy any. Several months ago, Albert contacted Tim (the missionary here) and he contacted the sleeping bag people, and they said sure we can sell you those. So yesterday, Tim called them again and they said meet us at 3:30. So Albert and Tim went to meet them, and then the woman said we don’t have any sleeping bags. Well, OK, then. So no sleeping bags.
So instead, we bought backpacks with the money we intended to use for sleeping bags. This afternoon, people put stuff in the backpacks – clothes, shoes, long underwear, packs of tissues and other stuff – and we gave some out at the train station tonight.
We’re going to give more out in the park tomorrow. (The park is on Colle Oppio, if you want to look it up. It’s near the Colosseum.)
Rudy (our youth minister) showed a DVD with testimonies of Muslims who have become Christians to a group at the train station tonight. He said they seemed really interested and watched the whole thing.
And now we are in the guys’ apartment watching a bad, bad, bad Ben Stiller movie and waiting for something (I don’t know what). We had talked about playing cards until midnight or so. We’re not meeting until 11 a.m. tomorrow, so we can stay up a little later for New Year’s. Of course, having to get up earlier hasn’t meant we got to bed any earlier any other night, really. Last night, we got in a lot earlier, but we still stayed up talking until almost midnight.
There was talk of going out for gelato at some point this evening. I hope so. I like gelato. Chocolate with hazelnut. Mmmmm, gelato. (ETA: I actually had a cup of lemon gelato and strawberry gelato -- you can get two different kinds in one cup -- because I had just had some dark chocolate candy with hazelnuts. The lemon and strawberry together are also pretty good.)
A few photos:
This is a monument to people killed by fascists in World War II. I think. It was on the way from the train station to the bus No. 3 stop nearby.
Just people sitting around in headquarters after having a little birthday party:
We were buying backpacks because we haven’t been able to buy sleeping bags. This is the first time we have planned ahead for sleeping bags and the first time we haven’t been able to buy any. Several months ago, Albert contacted Tim (the missionary here) and he contacted the sleeping bag people, and they said sure we can sell you those. So yesterday, Tim called them again and they said meet us at 3:30. So Albert and Tim went to meet them, and then the woman said we don’t have any sleeping bags. Well, OK, then. So no sleeping bags.
So instead, we bought backpacks with the money we intended to use for sleeping bags. This afternoon, people put stuff in the backpacks – clothes, shoes, long underwear, packs of tissues and other stuff – and we gave some out at the train station tonight.
We’re going to give more out in the park tomorrow. (The park is on Colle Oppio, if you want to look it up. It’s near the Colosseum.)
Rudy (our youth minister) showed a DVD with testimonies of Muslims who have become Christians to a group at the train station tonight. He said they seemed really interested and watched the whole thing.
And now we are in the guys’ apartment watching a bad, bad, bad Ben Stiller movie and waiting for something (I don’t know what). We had talked about playing cards until midnight or so. We’re not meeting until 11 a.m. tomorrow, so we can stay up a little later for New Year’s. Of course, having to get up earlier hasn’t meant we got to bed any earlier any other night, really. Last night, we got in a lot earlier, but we still stayed up talking until almost midnight.
There was talk of going out for gelato at some point this evening. I hope so. I like gelato. Chocolate with hazelnut. Mmmmm, gelato. (ETA: I actually had a cup of lemon gelato and strawberry gelato -- you can get two different kinds in one cup -- because I had just had some dark chocolate candy with hazelnuts. The lemon and strawberry together are also pretty good.)
A few photos:
This is a monument to people killed by fascists in World War II. I think. It was on the way from the train station to the bus No. 3 stop nearby.
Just people sitting around in headquarters after having a little birthday party:
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