Marriage Conference In Honduras

May 27-29, 2010 we hosted a theological conference in La Ceiba, Honduras. It was on the topic of Marriage and was intended to provided theological training for the pastors and church leaders from the area.

Watch this 2 minute and 24 second video to see the great teaching:

Hmmm...

So I sit and wonder...I wonder where time has gone? I know...I know...it's so cliche to talk like that - especially when you sit next to your (almost) 14 year old daughter, sitting in Honduras, typing to friends that live countries away; hosting a pastoral conference for national pastors and church leaders, are a nurse, have been to over 17 different countries, and am somehow already 42 years old. I think about what has led me to be here in this place at this time surrounded by the people I am. Some people I love, some people I like, some people I work with, some people I minister with, always new people, always people leaving; standing in lines for everything; buying my food at a butcher shop. I step back sometimes and look at my life and wonder. How did I get here? I know that God led me - opened doors for me - and somehow I managed to follow that road to find myself here. It's a good life. It's a life filled with joys and sorrows. Filled with difficulties, obstacles, and people I both enjoy and I don't. I like it. :-) Thank you God for bringing me here :-)

Our cards arrived...

NOT our debit cards (that's a fun story for another time). Our residency cards! We have been "official" residents since March, but have had temporary cards. Yesterday at the immigration office we picked up our actual cards. So now we are officially official! Woohoo!!!

Spanish worship

I just had a revelation tonight at church. We were singing a song, and I was brought to tears. It took me by surprise. I realized that I was as moved by the song in Spanish as I was other songs in English. The surprise is because my heart language is English. It's why we learned Spanish before we came to Honduras, so we could speak to people in their heart language. The joy/surprise came when I was singing the song in church as was brought to tears while singing in Spanish and felt the joy of worshiping with others in their heart language and was as moved as they were. ¿Me explico?

Missent mail

Bet you've never seen this stamp on your mail before:



Missent to Bermuda...not sure how that happened - don't see Bermuda anywhere on the envelope...

What was in the elusive envelope? Our W-2. But...let's hear it for electronic information! We were able to get our W-2 via e-mail so we could file our taxes on time. I looked at the date stamp of when it was sent out - 21 January 2010. Date received: 19 May 2010. Four months! Wow! Well - at least we got it?! Prayerfully our credit card won't take that long to get to us!

A Day Off

What exactly is a day off for a missionary? Typically it still means running around town and paying bills (for us that means 1 bank for Madison's school, a different bank for the scholarship kids, and then a different bank for Rent), to the Mall to pay cable/internet, run to the post office for mail, grocery store for food, the other grocery store for items the first one didn't have, the fruit stand for - well - fruit, the butcher for meat, get Madison from school and by that time it's 3pm and your "day off" has swiftly gone by. We used to have to leave country every 90 days for a Visa hop, which was a "forced" vacation. However, now that we don't have to do that as we have our residency, our days off have become few and far between. As a matter of fact, we haven't been away for some time off (without anything on our agenda) since last October. A day where - you know - you sit around and do absolutely nothing! Yesterday we attempted that, but we both ended up doing mostly chores that we hadn't been able to do in the last few weeks. Then I picked up Madison from school, then I started preparing dinner...and there you have it...no day off. So - today Mike and I are determined to have that elusive day off! So far we have been successful, but it is only 8:30 in the morning afterall. We shall see if we are successful! I know that this seems a little odd - but taking time to recharge is so important! We want to be able to have the energy to serve the people in Honduras. If we run on empty all the time, it's not good for us, or for our ministry.

Girls Day At The Beach

On May 15th, 2010 we took 40 girls from Armenia Bonito to the beach for a day of fun, sun, fellowship and food.

Watch this 2 minute and 35 second video to see the fun:

And so it begins...

Tomorrow launches the first "official short-term team meeting" for our new Team Honduras. Planning for short-term teams takes a lot of time, planning, discussing, re-discussing, attempts at trying to come up with a schedule, and changing it multiple times. So please pray for us tomorrow morning as the whole team gets together to help plan what God will have us do this summer. We have 10 teams coming this summer, and with that brings different people with different strengths, different focus, etc. So we try and accommodate all groups to Bless God's Saints who come, and His children that are served in Honduras.

Getting Settled

Our team mates, the Clow's, have found a house, signed a contract, got keys, and already started moving in. All in 4 days! Now, let me just say - this hardly happens this quickly in The States - much less in Honduras. It took us 2 1/2 weeks to find a house, it took our team mates the McCann's 2 weeks to find a house - this is nothing short of a miracle! We are SO excited that God has provided for them in so many ways. With four children, getting some sense of stability, and a place to call their own is so important, especially with teams coming in a few short weeks. So we have been cleaning, shopping, and more shopping - will keep going until all gets done!

We pray that things will continue to go as smoothly and can't be more excited for their new home.

The Clow's

Our team mates have arrived!!!!!! It is a pleasure to have them here and we are currently house hunting. Yesterday was ZERO success, today there are a few potentials - continue looking tomorrow.

Had clinic today - saw 63 patients - I saw 43 by myself! A LONG day, but were able to pray with all of them :-)

Our primary focus right now is to find a house for our team mates, prepping for a leadership conference we have in 3 weeks, and the first arrival of our first team in 3 weeks! WOW! Lots going on - please be in prayer for Team Honduras!

Clow's arrival

In less than an hour we will be welcoming our new team mates, the Clow's. Will write more with pics tomorrow! Stay tuned!

Advanced Medical Leadership Training

April 25 - May 2, 2010 we hosted MTW's Advanced Medical Leadership Training in Honduras. Doctors, nurses and non-medical personnel learned how to "do medicine" in third world countries. The 35 participants attended lectures and labs and then implemented their knowledge by hosting two medical clinics.

Watch this 3 minute and 30 second video to see the conference:

Update

Quick update to let everyone know I am still here. Keeping my head above water. Barely. Just finished up with the team that was here with two full days of medical clinics in 100 degree heat, 80% humidity - let's just say it was HOT! I often wonder why countries that have a lot of heat don't have a lot of words for it. Let's see...according to dictionary.com: 1. heated; fiery, burning, scorching; scalding, boiling; torrid, sultry. 4. biting, piquant, sharp, spicy. 5. fervid; fiery, passionate, intense, excitable, impetuous; angry, furious, irate, violent. Now, #4 and #5 clearly are not for weather hot - so let's count them - 8 words...Only...don't the Eskimo's have some crazy amount of words for snow?! Let's face it - it sure would be boring if everytime an Eskimo talked about snow they only said - gee...there's snow outside. Because their life revolves around snow, they have a LOT of words for it (if anyone knows how many - I would love to know). So - why isn't the opposite true? In a country where your life revolves around how HOT it is, there are so few words for it? And, not much different in Spanish! So I feel I want to start making up some words - I guess it would just make me feel better - I could say - "WOW was it a heated, fiery, burning, scorching, scalding, boiling, torrid, sultry, redoferous, stempious, quiferiod, beltos kind of day!" Now THEN I would be satisfied :-) But - instead - I guess we are just stuck with our 8 - So I think I will just say it was a scorching kind of day!".

The team has to be at the airport at some crazy time like 0400 in the morning, so we must be up at 0230 to go get them from their hotel and get them to the airport. We then have a day to catch our breath, a day to prepare for our new team mates - then they arrive! Can't EVEN wait!!! WOOHOO!!!

P.S. -- 0kay - so I just googled the answer - and low and behold it's just an urban legend that there are 100 words for snow - only 12...bummer! BUT - that STILL beats the 8 for English "hot"...