Atlanta Airport

We just got called to begin boarding on our final plane of our journey. Cathy and Susie’s flight to Louisville left 24 mins ago. Ours will land in St. Louis around 11:07pm and then after we get on the road we’ve decided we will go ahead and drive home tonight because of both Amy and Isaiah being sick now. We just didn’t want to expose anyone else if we could prevent it.

We will more than likely postpone our sharing time until Sunday Night verses tomorrow because if they have what I did, they certainly will not want to be there and will need the rest.

Pray for safe travel and alert minds for both Ed and I as we drive from Alton to Macomb.

Looking forward to being home, at least until the next time.

Pulha 

Todas we went to the waterfall in Santa Cruz. It was a couple hours to get there, but was worth the drive  

So one of the things you can do at the waterfall is to zip line. Well my wife has been telling me for 2 years that she wants to zip line someday, so today is the day!

I am waiting at the bottom to get a good shot of her, but also of a few other adventurous souls. I didn’t figure they had the rigging to handle me. But it ought to be good. I think we’re also going to stop for some fresh coconut on the way back.

I may have to post the video to Facebook later.

Sunday

It was odd getting a call from myself at 2:00pm today, or at least a voicemail as I have my phone in airplane mode but the wifi is turned on. Looks like we had bad weather and very cold conditions back home today and the Call-Em-All system seems to be working.

I am feeling better. Still wasn’t this morning and so I stayed behind but was able to get up and moving this afternoon and evening. Service went well tonight. We thought we were late but excited there was a big crowd, until we realized there was a casket in the front of the church. I was about to panick when we were escorted to a side room to await the end of the funeral. I felt bad because I thought we had interrupted, but I was assured that they were waiting for us and it was not a problem. The funeral had run over and that was fine. Yet another opportunity to be a Gumby this week.

The team got to go to a private school today to share with the students and I heard that 32 made professions of faith. Some of them celebrated with a pedicure from one of Pamela’s friends who we brought a machine for her to use that she can’t get easily down here.

A few prayer requests tonight. Pamela’s father’s store was robbed this week and so I ask for your prayers for their family. On top of that her sister is dealing with kidney stones and may have to have surgery and they do not have insurance. Jennifer worked as one of our interpreters  in 2012.

Also pray for us tomorrow as I know that the last day blues will set in. We visit the orphanage in the morning and the hospital before lunch, and as a special touristy bonus, since it’s near impossible to plan a service on a Monday here, we are going to take a day trip to a nearby waterfall. Supposedly you can even zip line across it. (I’m thinking that is something for Amy and not me)

Pray also for continued health for the team. While I’m feeling better, it’s still a long week ahead and I know others are feeling it as well.

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but you might just have to come Wednesday Night to UBC to see the rest.

Living for Jesus Christ.

Today was a truly blessed day, visited Doris School. This school was established by Doris a local community member who started with 22 children that were not getting an education because they could not afford to pay the school fees.

The school has since increased its enrollment to 120 students and this was the first year of graduations. Doris feeds the students one meal per day.There is no government funding and Doris and the group of volunteer teachers don’t earn a penny.

Doris is a real inspiration to her students and all who meet her.

VBS at the school was fun experience for all that participated. I was assigned to the matiposa team…..making butterflies. Worked with three groups of students of different age groups.  The kids were fantastic, they followed instructions and made the most beautiful butterflies.

This school has real resource needs and your prayer.

Preparation and Prayers

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Preparing for this morning, we’ve got VBS and a youth ethics service all within 3 hours. Susie and I are heading up the vbs and I’m doing Two Ways to Live for the youth service. I’m a little nervous just that everything goes smoothly and must importantly that God’s message comes across clearly so any prayers this morning will be greatly appreciated.

By the way, I’m also enjoying some freshly roasted coffee from our translator Hector’s family plantation. It has been such a blessing to work with him this week and the delicious coffee is just like a cherry on top! 🙂

Found my niche.

Went door to door evangelizing today, it does still scare me a little but maybe I am getting better at evangelism. Today I was teamed  with Hector,  Amy and Mary and am learning more and more. I enjoy talking about Jesus and how my life has changed. There was one rededication and six confessions of faith with our group.

After sharing we enjoyed our first soda in a bag thanks to Amy and Hector. This was fun and I have picture to prove that.

Then there was prayer downtown at the Santidad church of Comoyagua. Church members stayed in the church while teams went out to invite people in for prayer. I was teamed with Mary, Carmen and Isaiah.

I was really excited to do this. When all the teams quickly returned to the church I suggested we head out and talk to people. I talked to the first person in my faltering Spanish and Carmen was fantastic  in translating. Our team walked the park approaching all in the park even praying for a few that wanted prayer but did not want to walk to the church.

We team prayed, each one of us praying while Carmen translated. Finally we stood at the corner and talked and prayed  to many people, directed even more people to the church.

Today I am proud of myself, I talked to a few people in Spanish and invited them to receive prayer without using the translator. I am now motivated to learn Spanish and become more involved in street evangelism.

Yes I have found my niche.

The Weather

While it is certainly warm here (which definitely beats the possible blizzard back home) I at the moment am under the weather. I woke up in the middle of the night congested with a sore throat. Not good when your responsibility on this trip is to speak and preach.

So I ask for you prayers this morning as I stayed back at the house to rest while the rest of the team are out in downtown Comayagua sharing the gospel with anyone who will listen.

The trip is almost half way complete, and that brings a level of sadness with it, but it is also the point of the week when the aching muscles and lack of sleep begin to show there effects. Pray for all of us that we will be rejuvenated for the remainder of the trip.

We have witnessed 21 professions of faith so far this week and a number of rededication’s. We have also been blessed to speak with numerous people who we were able to encourage this week.

The team has also encountered people who had never heard anything about God before, not even about heaven or hell. It definitely is an area of great need.

La Rotaria

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We spent the day in La Rotaria going door to door sharing the gospel and then had a fiesta and after that a church service. It was a full day.

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This little guy melted my heart. His name is David and he is 7 years old and super smart but he can’t go to school because he’s blind and they don’t have program for him. He showed me where his shoe was broke because he fell on a rock. He told me he falls a lot but it’s not his fault he said with a smile.

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Susie and I played with the kiddos in the between time of the fiesta and the service. We had a great time and even after church the kids kept coming with their thumbs up ready to play 🙂

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This little guy’s name is Anderson, just like my brother.

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CHU CHU WAH 🙂

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The church service through the leaves.

Can you take the heat?

Today was spent at the La Rotaria community, seems we have spent most of our time on hills and mountains which is kinda crazy when you have to walk up almost vertical slopes to get to a house.

Door to door was good because I had a chance to share the gospel and meet the most wonderful people. Fiesta with the kids was fantastic, many fun games and competitions lots candy, balloons, toys and wonderful prizes. The kids were reluctant to go home when the fiesta was over.

Church service – pastor preached on Gods love for the world. There were more than 80 people present. There was singing and more singing in Spanish.  Then we prayed the heavens down on earth.

AM so thankful to be a part of this mission, I am learning so much especially about my future role in missions.

I am struggling with the heat, its really hot here. Makes me wonder if I can continue as a missionary in the future. I am sure it would be better for me to deal with the heat here than to spend eternity in the suffocating heat of hell or for anyone to go to hell.

Can you handle the heat? Its your choice.