I Don't Know

Anyone that has ever been to Honduras knows everything here moves on its own time. It is even worse when you live here. I usually can roll with the flow. Today is a real "welcome to Honduras" day. Seems no one knows how to say anything but I don't know.

We have been waiting on two containers of food for a month. Marc called to see if they would be in today. I don't know. Noel and Joanna are moving today. We want to help them load their truck. When will the truck be here? I don't know. When will my internet move at a pace fast enough to pay a few bills online and send a few emails? I don't know. When will my head quit hurting? I don't know.

When will I chill and take time to place all of this in God's hands?

Terri

A Cold Dark Day

Monday I began the task of getting caught up on the bookwork. I had been without my computer and my files for over two months. I separated a lot of things and made a bunch of different piles on Monday. I just barely got going into the actual work. I knew yesterday I was going to have to hit it hard. I am slowly working away. Marc is in here on his computer and we are visiting as I work. Around 11:00, the power went off. This happens frequently. Usually everything is up and running in just a few minutes. My little house is not the most well-lit when the lights are on. And when they're off, it is pretty dark in here. I pulled a shade and sat in the chair and began to read. It was another cold, windy, overcast day. With the several trees around the house, even having the shade open, did not help a lot. Opening the door helped some. But it was cold. So, do we sit in the dark and be cold or do we have a little light and be colder. I opted for having the light so I could read. We are still thinking this won't be long. We ate lunch with the kids up at Casa and still no electricity. Marc had ordered some light bulbs that were suppose to be in at 2:00. Usually, in Honduras that means not before 2:00. Around 3:00 he decided he would go get the bulbs. I went with him. At least I felt productive by going. At that time we began to get concerned about the lights being off so long. Calling the electricity company is not as easy as it is in the states, but Karen finally managed to get it done. When we came back from getting the bulbs, the electricity company truck was in town. Marc and Dorian went back down there to ask them to come on to our place when they finished. That was around 4:30. They said sure in half an hour. Half an hour Honduran time. About 5:30, they went back down there again and waited until the people came with them. By this time, it is good and dark, and even colder. The kids in Casa are trying to do homework by candlelight. I watched them struggling to see their papers. I turned on my flashlight and shined directly on Pamela's paper so she could see. She quickly raised her head with a great big smile on her face. Since this complex is private property, the electricity company said they needed 200 limpira to do anything. Perhaps that was taking advantage of the gringos. It happens all the time. It didn't really matter at that time. Marc pulled the money out of his pocket and in less than 5 minutes we all had light again. All the kids cheered loudly.

Once again, we were thankful for the blessing of electricity as so many here don't have it. Once again, I sit here facing the task of getting caught up with this paperwork.

Be thankful for your electricity today. I am.

Terri

AIM

Adventures in Missions is based out of Lubbock, Texas at the Sunset International Bible Institute. Most people in AIM are in their early twenties and have a desire to do something longer than a short term mission trip. They may not want to go into full time missions, yet. They spend 8 months in a classroom and then 18 months on a mission field. Missionaries apply to get an AIM team. We applied for an AIM team and made our presentation in September. We were the first to make the presentation. Twenty three other missionaries made presentations and only about half of those will end up with a team. The directors of the AIM program were here with us from Thursday through Sunday. They came to assess the ministry here. We showed them our work. I don't know what they learned from us but we learned immensely from them. We found they were two Godly men who both went through the AIM program, both have spent time on foreign mission fields. They are interested in placing the right people in the right mission field. They are interested in maintaining the integrity of their program. We saw two men earnestly seeking God's will in everything they do. We had fun and laughed together and prayed together. And when they left Sunday, we felt as if we had two new friends.

We won't know for four or five weeks if we get an AIM team. Whether or not we get an AIM team to work with us, I pray I follow the example set by Chris and Pat and earnestly seek God's will in all that I do and give Him the glory in all things.

Terri

Somebody Lied

I did like living in Illinois. I just was not too fond of those long cold winters. I like warm weather. After making the decision to move to Honduras, I thought I will never be cold again. Somebody lied about that. Yesterday, we woke up to a cool and windy morning. It got colder as the day went on. By nightfall, it was just plain frigid. I could not get warm in this house. And the wind was howling and the rain was falling. I thought I would go to bed and read. If I was under the covers, surely I would be warm. That didn't really work either. My hands had to be out from under the covers in order to hold the book. I tossed the book aside and tried to get warm under the covers. It was so cold. Remember the Medicci. I got up and found another blanket. That seemed to do the trick. I began to get warm and drift off to sleep. I slept very well under all those blankets. The rain stopped during the night, but it was still cold this morning. Hard to crawl out from under my nice warm nest.

After finally deciding to get out of bed this morning, I thought of all the people here in Honduras that didn't have extra blankets last night. Many didn't even have a blanket. Some were sleeping on the floor. And many more didn't have an airtight house as that wind and rain were blowing. I can't even imagine how miserable they must have been last night. Were they trying to keep their babies warm, while they stayed cold?

I hope I never forget how blessed I am. I hope I never become blind to the needs of those around me that need so much.

Terri

Wal-Mart

As I was packing to move to Honduras, I kept thinking and saying I have got to pack everything I might possibly need as there will be no Wal-Mart to run to daily. After getting here and trying find something we needed, I have often commented, "all we need is a Wal-Mart. I am missing Wal-Mart more than I thought possible.

Yesterday we had to go to the mall and I found a Wal-Mart. Sort of. It was not called Wal-Mart and it definitely was not a supercenter. But it did have a grocery side and a health and beauty aid/ cosmetics side with some American brands, including Equate, which is a Wal-Mart brand. The selection wasn't anywhere near as large as Wal-Mart, but I did see Suave brands, Secret deodorant and some other key items. I forgot to check to see if my jergen's lotion could be bought there. I saw M&Ms and Milky Ways. You want to know what I got so excited about that I could not leaving without buying some. Canned whole green beans. Not Del Monte, which is the best, but the next best, Libby's. Bacon is expensive here, so I guess I will add a lot of Tony's and make it work. I can't wait to eat my green beans.

I was so excited when I found this Wal-Mart-like store. I was like a kid in a toy store. I guess you can tell, it does not take much to excite me.

Terri

Baxter

Baxter Institute is a school in Tegucigalpa that trains preachers from Central America for Central America. It is a four year program. Our groups use to stay on the campus of Baxter until we got too big. I never came to Honduras when our group stayed at Baxter. We work with the people at Baxter and some of them are our friends. I have been on the campus, but never toured the facilities. Pat and Chris, from AIM in Lubbock, are here and we took them to see Baxter today. I don't know about Pat and Chris, but I sure learned a lot and was very impressed.

The students that come here to go to school are poor, as are most people in Central America. The school is nice and is a step or two up for most. There is single housing and married housing, all neat and clean and nicely done. The wives of the students take some classes, not as many as their husbands though. They rotate child care duties in the day care center in order to save the salaries of full time day care providers. I was impressed with the school and its operations, but I must confess, I was even more impressed with some of the ministries at the school.

There is a clinic, much like the one we have in Santa Ana. There is also a dental clinic. Dental students rotate through and are overseen by a full time dentist, thus providing dental care to many at a lower cost to the school. There is also a nutrition center. Mothers with children can receive food every ten days. It consists of most of the things we supply when we distribute food: rice, beans, sugar, spaghetti. And milk. Powdered milk. What a wonderful idea. The mothers that receive the food have to do a little work at the school. The food is bought in bulk like we do and is repacked. Some of the women help repack. If they are in the nutrition program, they also have to be in a job training class like sewing, bread making, haircutting. The whole nutrition program is a wonderful idea, teaching people about better nutrition, helping them with food, and teaching them to work for it, and teaching them about God. The program is so organized. When we left Baxter, my head was just spinning with new ideas.

After Baxter and another trip to the fruit market, we went to Los Pinos. We have worked in this community for four years. I am always touched by the people there, the poverty there and the way God has worked and continues to work there. I know for many of us, Los Pinos has a very tender place in our hearts.

Terri

Elvia And Other Things

Last week I wrote about laying pipe at Elvia's house so that she would have running water at her house. The water is only turned on 2 hours each morning. Everyone that has running water turns it on for the whole 2 hours and collects in a tank so that they will have water when they need it. The group from Walnut Creek wanted to buy Elvia a tank and a pila as well. A pila is a large concrete basin on which one can wash clothes. By hand. Sort of like a rubboard. Not that I would know anything about that. This morning we told Elvia she would be receiving those two things in a week or so. She began to cry. I began to cry. She said thank you, but thanks be to God first. Just where thanks should be given.

Elvia's little girl, Gina, comes to Casa de Esperanza when Elvia is working. She doesn't much like us gringos anyway. She stood there watching as Marc talked to her mother, having no idea what Marc was saying, and seeing her mother was crying. Gina was really giving Marc the evil eye. Marc may not ever have a chance of Gina warming up to him now.

The Walnut Creek group left other money to be spent in very specific ways. As that money is spent, there will be more blogs on the outcome.

We left for town because we had to get two people from AIM at the airport. We got there a bit early and had a cup of coffee while we waited. Shortly before the flight was due to arrive, we walked outside. We were standing in front of the airport and could see the plane. For all you folks that think a landing is scary when you are inside the plane, you should stand in front of the airport and watch one land. The plane just barely clears the tops of those mountains, then made that quick plunge onto that short runway. I was just standing there thinking there is no way that plane can stop before it hits this building. Of course they do stop, every single time. People applaud inside the plane after the pilot gets it landed. I was outside the plane and seriously thought about applauding. It is a truly amazing thing to watch a plane land on that runway.

After Chris and Pat got off the plane, we went to eat Honduran food. The menu actually had tacos and gringo tacos, burritos and gringo burritos and so forth. I am getting a bit more daring in what I eat. Not much, but a bit. I ordered chicken tacos and not the gringo kind. They may be the best thing I ever ate, possibly surpassing pupusas.

I have one prayer request tonight. The preacher here at Santa Ana, Noel, had to leave unexpectedly today for Nicarauga because his brother had killed himself. Noel and his family were so distraught, as anyone would be. Please pray for them as they face this horrible crisis.

Terri