Honduras - Here We Come!

Friday, 23 September 2011

It seems like it has taken a long time to get to these hours of travel. The team formed last spring and now we are finally on our way. I really like to fly, but I don't like trying to sleep on an airplane. Somehow airplane manufacturers, and likely government regulators (somehow government regulators must be at the bottom of this), figure that reclining your chair just 3-4 inches makes all the difference in the world, so that everyone can comfortably sleep for the duration of the flight. All those who believe that, are now sound asleep around me!

One of my problems is that I'm excited for this journey, and the other is that airplane seats are not made for human comfort! (That's enough about the seats, so I'll get on to my excitement!) I'm excited that for 4 of our 9 person team, this is their first mission trip outside the U.S.! I am so proud of each of them for taking this step to serve and learn in an unfamiliar country and culture. I believe God has some incredible lessons to teach each of us on this trip. Some of those lessons will be learned through joyful experiences, and some will come as we walk through life for two weeks with children, orphans, adults and parents whose lives are nothing like what is normal to us. I'm excited to hear most of our team share a devotional and to be challenged and inspired by what God is saying to us through them and His Word. I'm excited to see students at Proyecto Manuelito that I got to meet in 2009. These kids will steal our hearts and make every discomfort of the trip, including airplane seats, worth it! And finally, I'm excited to interact again with the pastors who had a burden from the Lord to do something to help kids in their own culture and who are doing amazing things with which we get to partner. These faithful leaders, their spouses, family members and churches are modern day heroes. These are people to praise God for!

Well, the darkness and silence around me are kind of deafening. I guess I'll sign off and see if I can join them in peaceful slumber, or at least in restless shuffling! God is good and, praise God, by His grace and mercy we can be tools in His hands to serve. We are honored and we will be changed!

Pastor Tom

Honduras - First Day Building Houses

Saturday September 24, 2011

Today, Saturday, was our first day out on the job site. We worked alongside 4-5 Honduran men. The sun was hot and most of us came back a little red even though we put on sunblock a couple times.Tomorrow we will go to church at Pastor Jeony's church. Pastor Jeony and Pastor Ray were at OCEC just about a year ago and shared in our worship services. We are all looking forward to worshipping with our Honduran brothers and sisters tomorrow. The rest of Sunday will be visiting and site seeing. Then on Monday it is back to the hillside to work on the houses. We learned upon our arrival that they would like for us to get two houses done during our week. That will be a challenge but we are working with some great Honduran men who have built similar houses. Please pray that we will be able to get the work done.

Blessings from Honduras,

Pastor Tom

Honduras - Sunday Church

Sunday September 25, 2011

Went to Church at Iglesia de Santidad Amor y Vida, where Jeony is senior pastor, and also in the Linda Miller community where he lives.· We got to share in a beautiful, Spirit-filled worship time and also participated in a communion service with our brothers & sisters in Christ.· It is amazing that even though the language is completely foreign, we were all in complete agreement as we praised God, and as we remembered Christ's sacrifice for us...the bread & the wine speak for themselves.· We heard a great message about Jesus' Great Commission from Adam, an American AFE worker, who preached in Spanish, with his lovely wife Hollie translating into English.· After the service, we were honored to be introduced to two of the little girls in the family that will be taking up residence in one of the two houses we are building.· Their names were Alejandra & Angie; they looked to be about 7 and 5 years old.· They will be living in the house with their mother, a teenage sister, and a brother.· They have been homeless & living at the dump since their home was burned down by an angry stepfather.· When we asked them how we could pray for them, they requested prayer for their grandma, mom & brother, who are all sick.· The brother was sick because he had gotten a cut on his hand while working in the dump and the mom was sick from being stuck by a dirty syringe while sifting through trash at the dump.· It was truly a privilege to pray over these girls and lift them & their family up to God...and so humbling to think about how much we have & take for granted back home.· After that, Jeony told us the story of how the church there got started, and then took us next door to tour a three-story concrete block structure that will eventually serve as a pastor-training center, which they hope to have completed by next year.· For the rest of the day we kicked into tourist mode:· went to a Chinese restaurant back in Tegucigalpa for lunch, and then headed up to the top of a small mountain to El Picacho.· It is a huge park with expansive views of the city, and the focal point is a giant statue of Jesus stretching his arms out over the city below.· Greg, our AFE guide, explained that it was erected back in 1997 by the city government (no concerns about separation of church & state in Honduras!).· The view was beautiful, but also sobering as we could see the area where a huge mudslide destroyed hundreds of homes & businesses when Hurricane Mitch hit in 1999.· It started raining as we walked through the park back to the van--felt just like home!

Honduras - Day Five: AFE and the Trash Dump

Wednesday, 28 September 2011

Yesterday was our second day of working on the houses. It was a day of hard work and meeting the families who will be living in the homes we are building. In the morning, we met Carmen and her children: Kathryn, Alejandra, Brian and Angie. The home that we have nearly finished, just needs the roof, is for this family that currently works on the trash dump and the children attend school at AFE. In the afternoon, we started the second home and the father with two of his sons came to assist with construction. The boys are Ronald and Saul and are in the 1st grade at AFE. It was almost more than we could handle emotionally to meet these precious families who would be living in these extremely modest homes. (In the US we would not consider these structures appropriate for a house.)

Today, Tuesday, we traveled to AFE, the school that has been developed by Pastor Jeony and his church to give an education to the children who live on the trash dump. What they are doing is incredible and their life of faith in trusting the Lord for His provision is inspiring to hear. We have some of his story on video and will try to post it to the web after the team returns. We had a tour of the facility and met most all the children. They introduced themselves to us, and we to them. They were also instructed to tell us what they wanted to be when they grow up. Pastor Jeony said that when students first came to AFE their responses would be something like "I want to drive a garbage truck," or "I want to drive one of the bulldozers on the trash dump." Now, with some education and exposure to other occupations through professional people visiting the school, the kids will say, "I want to be a "teacher", "policeman", "doctor", "social worker," and one that came up often was a "paralegal" because they want to help with the injustice to children. Just before lunch we met a mom who works in the trash dump and she told us her story. I'm looking forward to sharing about her life when we return to OC.

After lunch, we went up to the trash dump and gave out small plastic bags of fresh water and a small meal. 100 meals and 250 bags of water were given out in less than 5 minutes! You have probably never been anywhere like the trash dump or seen so many people, 1000 adults and 250 children, scavenging for recyclables, food, usable clothing, etc. and that alongside dogs, a herd of cattle and countless vultures. It was a bit overwhelming! We saw several of the children whom we had met earlier at the school, and now they were back "working"; including seeing the families who will soon be living in the homes we are building. The change that will come to these families makes our time and money more than worth it!

I've asked each of the team members to share a couple of their thoughts about the day. Here we go....

Roberta Hurt: "I was at this dump three years ago, so I thought I was prepared. But, this time their seemed to be so many more people plus a herd of cattle. The way we were swarmed for food and water was heart breaking for me. The whole dump seemed so much worse. This thought from scripture convicts me, 'How can I say that I love God, who I have not seen, if I can't love people, who I can see."

Mark Griggs: "The children at AFE today imprinted on my mind what God can do through people who listen. I heard about a woman, Leanne, who emerged out of the dump to say 'God is so good to me. He provided for me and my family today'. Those are the words of someone who is truly loving God."

Steve Werner: "Our trip to the dump made real for me the kind of people that Jesus spent so much time with and shared so much compassion for while on earth, those outcasts of society. The dump visit also showed me how hard it is for me to share loving contact with the 'untouchable' people that Jesus showed so much love for."

Dan Stewart: "AFE- A place of hope. Inspires kids to dream."

Matt Nelson: "Even after a third time the experience was harrowing. I continue to pray for those who are seeking a meager living in the dump."

Jenny Storey: "The eyes of the people at the dump are what got to me most of all. The ones that we knew & are with AFE have warm, friendly eyes, but the eyes of nearly all the others were either desperate, empty, or malicious. What a difference love makes."

Angela Wonder: "How greedy Americans can be and compared it to some of my friends who live from paycheck to paycheck because they live above their means. Their entire check is spent before they get it because they have to have all the latest things. 1 Corinthians 13 contains the phrase...'love bears all things.' It is easy to love when funds are taken automatically out of your checking but it is different when you are face to face with the need."

Pastor Tom: "Amazing things can be accomplished by God through people who will trust Him. We cannot hear stories of great need by a person and only pray for them and wish them a good day. We must take action and help meet the need."

Friday, 30 September 2011

It is early Friday morning before breakfast. There are the typical sounds of the city awakening that we have grown accustomed to as I reflect on the last couple of days and consider the significance of today.

Wednesday and Thursday were full days of working on the houses. By the end of the day Wednesday, we had basically completed the exterior walls, built the windows and doors for both houses and completed the roof on one. I believe we would have finished the roof on the second house if we had not run out of gas for the generator and been without power for around 1.5 hours. Most of this was "down time" on the project except for a couple of our team, primarily Mark Griggs, forging ahead by cutting siding boards with one of the worst hand saws I've worked with. In addition to being a bad saw, the siding boards were freshly cut boards that were very full of moisture and pitch! As we came back to our hotel we were all wondering what we would do on Thursday to have a full day of work.

When we arrived on Thursday, the mystery of what we were going to do became clear. When planning our trip, I was told that when we arrived the foundation and concrete slab floor of the houses would already be completed, but when we arrived we began construction on a very irregular foundation without a slab floor poured. Yesterday our job was moving a pile of dirt/sand into each house for leveling the floor for the future slab. This was work that, under the original plan, would have already been completed, and we would have been spending the day completing the interior walls. Because of a new government program, that will supply the slab floor for these homes only after the walls of the house are completed, the project began with the house and will move on to the slab floor after we are gone. Hence, the reverse order from what we would expect in the US. (On mission trips you live the phrase- be flexible!) Well we moved dirt in 5 gallon buckets from the pile up two different slopes and handed them up into the house to another team member who dumped the dirt and returned the bucket for another round trip! So, while a couple guys helped finish the roof on the second house, the dirt was moved and everyone got some time with the buckets of dirt! We agreed that this was the most physically demanding and tiring day of our work so far. In addition to moving the piles of dirt, we had to move the remaining wood for the interior walls, a SEVENTH TIME! (Moving wood has become the "dreaded" job of this work team!)

At the end of the day, as literally the last piece of metal roofing was being installed and the final buckets of dirt were being delivered to the house the rain moved in. There was a beautiful double rainbow! As we sat inside the home with the sound of the rain hitting the metal roof we had this overwhelming feeling of joy that two families, who were presently living on the trash dump and enduring this rain, would soon be living inside a simple home away from the dump and able to stay dry! Praise the Lord, and thank you to all those who helped support this team’s travel expenses and project fees through donations and purchases at the parking lot sale.

Today is an exciting day. We will go up to the work site to finish up any work they have identified and spend some time at AFE with the children. I will travel to the airport mid-morning to welcome two team members, Michael Alben and Don Wallace, who are joining us for the second week, and then we will have the dedication of the houses. The families who will be living in the homes will be present with the team, along with Pastor Jeony and some other members of the AFE staff. It will be a thrill!

After the dedication, our team will be passed off from serving with AFE to working with Proyecto Manuelito. Our first experience with Manuelito will be to go out on the streets after dark to give food and water to the street children. We will see the environment that is the starting place for the children who now live at Manuelito. It will be a heart-wrenching experience as we will be close to and interacting with children and youth who are in desperate conditions and many have destroyed their lives by sniffing glue. It will tear at our hearts, and God will use this experience to continue His discipling process in our lives.

Until next time, God bless you and adios!

Honduras Day 8 – Finished

Friday, 30 September 2011

Well, in my earlier update we really didn't know what work we would do today so here is the update.

First of all we stopped at AFE and spent about an hour playing with the children. So it was soccer (football here), frisbee, kickball, catch and just walking around holding hands. It was cool to see Dan Stewart skipping across the playground hand-in-hand with Oscar.

It wasn't long before we learned that our work at the site today was to do the concrete floor in the first house, the house for Carmen and her four children.

It was hard work and I was very thankful that their were additional Honduran men working with us who led the way in mixing the concrete on the ground. This is the Honduran way and we got the job done. Our team were the "mules" who transported the concrete in 5 gallon buckets and Jenny and I took it from them at the door of the house and dumped the buckets for those who were smoothing the floor. We got the job done in a couple hours and several on the team said they prefered the concrete job above the job of transporting all the fill dirt for leveling the floor in the homes. It was good to finish!

We then went down to AFE, had lunch and waited to go back up for the dedication of the houses. The dedications were a wonderful experience and I'm sure we will not soon forget the looks on the families faces as they received their home, expressed their thanks and we spoke and prayed a blessing over the families. Some pictures will tell a bit of the story that words cannot express.

We are getting ready now to have supper and then it will be off to the streets to encounter the children and teens who have no home and just roam the street. As I mentioned earlier, this will be a hard experience on all of our senses.

P.S.- Great news, Michael Alben and Don Wallace arrived safely for our second week of ministry.

Honduras- Day 13

Wednesday, 05 October 2011

Sorry that there have been several days since I was able to get anything typed and up on the web. Thanks to Dave Arndt who is now taking our prepared articles and putting them on the website for us. Way to go Dave! I appreciate what you are doing.

Since I last wrote, we are in the city of Talanga which is about 45 minutes out of Tegucigalpa and the location of Proyecto Manuelito. We traveled here on Sunday late afternoon. In the morning we attended the church of Pastor Jorge Pinto who is the founder of this ministry. We learned that their church has seven daughter churches and a ministry to the poor elderly and children around their church, besides helping to start Proyecto Manuelito. The process for the children, in most cases, is to be rescued off the streets or from jail. They spend about a year in a transition ministry in Tegucigalpa where they can get used to living away from the streets. They are able to work through some personal issues, so that they are more ready for the environment of Manuelito. There is a lot of violence on the streets, and they need to make sure a new member of Manuelito will not be a danger to the children already out in Talanga.

We have had a great time with the children. Roberta, Steve and I are back for a second time so we recognized children and they recognized us. Everyone else is making new friends and, since there are new children here, we are all making new friends. The on-site directors are Mauricio and Helga-Ruth Flores. They are an incredible couple who left professional positions as teachers to come and serve these children. They are doing a great job with 31 children who range in ages from 4-17, and several with difficult learning challenges, and many with deep emotional scars from their treatment on the streets and by parents. We trust that our time with them will be encouraging for both the staff and the children.

Our physical work has consisted mainly of hauling large rocks/stones, 5 gallon buckets of sand, water and bags of cement. Then the cement, sand and water went into the mixer (praise the Lord we didn't have to mix concrete on the ground) and then 5 gallon buckets of concrete and the large stones were used to build a foundation for the porch to the medical center and, today, for the base of the support columns for the porch roof. Today was dry, but Monday and Tuesday were a wet mess and kind of like carrying buckets of sand or concrete on a slip-and-slide!

Everyone is working hard and glad to be serving this community of children and staff. The team is working wonderfully together and we will always share the memories of this experience together, but for most, we are getting lonely for home, family and friends. Thank you for your prayers, as we compete our time here.

Hopefully another update tomorrow. Until then- grace of the Lord as you Live Love!

Pastor Tom

Honduras - On the Way Home

Saturday, 08 October 2011

It is Saturday morning and we just finished our final breakfast in Honduras. This has been an incredible trip and the team has served together powerfully! On Thursday night the children of Manuelito presented a program for our team and, in the midst of it, a child came and took the hand of a team member to include us in a traditional dance. We were each drawn into the festivities and it was fun! That evening was filled with countless hugs and many tears as we said Adios to children and staff. For each of us a part of our heart is being left with the children! We invite you to join with us to pray for the ministries we have encountered in Honduras at AFE and Manuelito.

In about an hour we will be heading to the airport and the flight to Houston and on to PDX. We will look forward to an opportunity to share pictures, video and stories with our church family. Until then I would invite you to catch up with any of our team members and get a personal story of their experience. With this article are a few pictures from our construction project at Manuelito and the children. In the weeks to come I hope to upload many pictures and video so that you can check it out online.

Until then- Grace,

Pastor Tom