We have returned to Quimistan from El Pinal. It is bar none the worst piece of road on which I have ever driven! It was all dirt road and must be horrid in the rainy season. I would not be comfortable driving when the road was wet. What am I talking about, I was not comfortable driving today!

It has not rained here for three days and there were several places where the mud holes had ruts a foot deep and the road dropped off at the side into a small drainage ditch. In other places the “road” was a narrow path in the center between two ditches about a foot deep. No room for error. At other places the road was a wall on one side and down the hill on the other. Obviously hacked out of the side of the hill for some reason, possibly a logging road.

They have a sewage system and apparently water but I believe there was no electricity. All over town, they were drying beans on tarps. It is apparently the industry of the town. I am told they get 12 lempira (about $0.64 ) for each pound. They also grow corn and probably some coffee. I saw some pigs and chickens. The town is very small, but there is a church of good size in a large field on one end of the town and small Catholic church at the other.

The people very much appreciated our visiting and caring for the children. The school principal presented Honduras Agape Foundation with a certificate of appreciation from the school for construction of the classroom. I am told that our construction forman came to this site daily on a bicycle during the project. I might walk it, but ain’t no way I would do it on a bicycle!

Jerry

This afternoon, five mission team members went with the medical brigade to Las Montanitas, a village First Presbyterian Church in Aiken has adopted for 2009. Las Monitanitas means “little mountains.” The village sits in a small valley surrounded by large mountains. It is a peaceful location that reflects the beauty of God’s creation.

As we arrived, many of the children ran out to greet us with big smiles on their faces. It is a typical example of the villages in Honduras reflecting inner happiness and faith in their God, although they have little in material things.

People lined up outside the local three-room school awaiting their visit with Dr. Elsa and nurse Edith. This team performs medical exams and dispenses medicines without cost. Today, the medical brigade saw 55 patients.

About 100 families live in this agricultural area, with no available electricity. Over 125 children attend the local school, which provides classes for kindergarten through 6th grade. For children who want to go on to the 7th grade, they need to travel to a village 20 minutes away. No public transportation is available, so they are dependent upon rides from local residents who may have a car. As a result, not many children receive an education beyond 6th grade.

As the team headed back down the mountain to Quimistan we reflected on what a blessing it was to share our love with these wonderful people.

Ken and June

In Santa Clara, Arturo and others have installed a drainage culvert under the road that leads to his house and others. There are two very large rocks in the culvert that have been blocking the free flow of water, and the water backs up and covers the road during heavy rains. They asked if we could help remove the rocks. We purchased a sledge hammer and a couple of cold chisels, and spent several hours attacking the rocks, making little ones out of big ones. It was sort of like “Cool Hand Luke” working on the chain gang. We have made good progress, but still have a ways to go.

George

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I went up to Santa Clara today to work with the house builders. It was a good day. In the afternoon, we worked to break up rock in a drainage ditch. It will take another day of work to finish, but the road will be flooded less often because of our labors. It was another chance to tell them that we are here to show the love of Jesus to the people of Honduras. The kids are fun to play with… some of our group gave balloons to them and taught them to fill them with water and then squirt it. There is a sink built sort of like a window box just outside the window of the house just uphill from where we were working, building another house. We were looking up and saw a small pair of hands, struggling to reach to the faucet with a balloon… after at least four attempts, the child finally got the balloon around the faucet and turned on the water. Whoever it was, was really working at it and having just as much fun as we were.

If you still have young children, have some fun with your kids today. They are a gift that you will only have for a few more years.

Jerry

Too often we take the things people do for us for granted. Last night, we took time out of our busy schedules to recognize Maynor, our HAF coordinator here in Quimistan. He manages all of the requests from each of the Foundation committee chairs with efficiency and care. Whether it is to schedule a vacation bible school, coordinate a construction project, schedule the doctor and nurse to visit a village, or assist in the coordination of a mission trip, Maynor handles it all with a smile.

Maynor will be completing his second year of support to the Foundation next week. On February 4, he will be celebrating his 28th birthday.

A dinner was held tonight with all of the missionaries to honor his service to the Foundation. Allen and committee chairs spoke glowingly about his contributions to their efforts in supporting their programs and activities.

God works in wonderful ways. We are blessed he sent Maynor to us to assist us in spreading the love of Jesus Christ to the people of Honduras.

June and Ken

Praise God that Jesus is Lord of All! The eleven Honduras Agape Foundation missionaries this week include five Presbyterians, three Baptists, two Methodists, and one Episcopalian priest partnering with Pentecostal Holiness pastors and other believers to share God’s love with the people of Honduras. As a first time “Missionary,” I am amazed and thrilled to see all that the HAF is working to accomplish here. HAF has improved schools, medical care, and homes for so many. God has blessed HAF with an incredible network of Honduran believers who have much love and faith, and lots of connections! There is a HAF office and a full-time Honduran volunteer in Quimistan, as well as local doctors, nurses, and a lawyer to help HAF with its mission in the area.

For all of you at home who financially support HAF and the AP students, I see your money being well spent to improve the lives of some of the world’s poorest and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ. Ephesians 4:4-6

Claudia

Today I attended the second VBS session, held at the “Escuela de Rep. Venezuela” school in Jicaro, about 20 minutes of dirt road from here. There were about 4 dozen kids and another dozen or so adults and babies outside. The AP youth took the lead today in presenting the same message described in an earlier post. Arabely did most of the teaching, with Karen and Claudia in supporting roles. The session was again followed by deworming medicine and fluoride.

But I’ll let the pictures below tell the story.

Tommy

[Teaching the Gospel]

[Making bracelets]

[Coloring fun!]

[Preparing the deworming medicine]

[Down the hatch!]

[Demonstrating the fluoride]

[Swish and spit!]

[New toothbrushes]

[And a good time was had by all!]

This morning, after we got the work started in our home construction in Santa Clara, we went over to another village to see a Justa Stove. This stove has a small (about 4-5 inch cube) fire box which discharges the hot gases to a two-foot-wide, shallow chamber which allows only about an inch below the griddle surface and then exhausts into a chimney through a large exit chamber. The area around the fire box is filled with wood ashes. They act as an insulator and keep the heat at the cooking surface.

This stove has several advantages over the typical wood-burning fireplace. The griddle is much more substantial and good metal; it burns only about 1/3 as much wood for the same temperature at the cooking surface; the smoke is removed from the cooking area and therefore does not cause lung problems.

We received a very good demonstration of the way the stove works and how they are built. The organization that builds the stoves charges 110 USD for each one, and the recipient must build the base for the stove. Of course, if we can obtain or build the cooking surface ourselves, we can build the stoves ourselves much cheaper than the “dealer price,” which includes material, labor, and travel expenses. I truly believe that we can provide a real benefit to many people with these stoves.

Jerry

Being in Honduras is such a joy! We had 62 in attendance at Vacation Bible School (VBS) in the Luz de la Valle (Light of the Valley) school Monday. The 7 Agape Promises (AP) youth who volunteered to help were fabulous in leading the lessons, crafts, and games. Vilma should be in show business – she is very outgoing and a great teacher. She and Juan Miguel are senior AP kids, and both are wonderful young people. Juan is an enthusiastic and well-spoken leader.

There were 12-15 parents who attended VBS, and they were very engaged in the lesson. We felt that this was the first time many of these children had heard the Gospel message. Karen’s lesson taught about God’s love and creation, heaven, sin, Jesus’ sacrifice cleansing us from sin, and growing in our faith. Each concept was represented by a color, and the kids made bracelets using beads of each color. Our prayer is that the children will remember the lessons each time they wear their bracelets.

After VBS, the children had snacks, and we administered deworming and fluoride treatments.

We have had a blessed Monday, and look forward to 3 more VBS sessions at 3 other schools in the area this week.

Claudia

I went to Santa Clara to work on the Amalia’s house with Steve. There are fourteen people living in a rather small Bajarike (stick and mud) house. At least their stove vents outside, but can you imagine cooking on a wood stove in Honduras? We are building a three-room brick home just down the hill. We originally expected to be adding to the home, but the slope of the land just would not allow it. They will now have two homes and a bit more privacy than they may otherwise have had.

[looking down the hill at the new house]

[looking up the hill toward the old house]

At lunch, we were treated by the Amalia family to the local version of burritos, which consists of two soft corn tortillos about three inches across, with beans, a bit of egg (and at other times possibly sausage) and some of the local cheese in between. They also offered some of the local “pica diablo” salsa tabasco, which is a relatively typical and moderately hot tabasco-style sauce.

After lunch, we were taken to Pueblo Nuevo, where we toured the local clinic. The Foundation paid to repair the roof on the clinic and to paint it inside and out. The place looks very good and they have a sign in front of the building which states the roof was repaired using funds from Honduras Agape Foundation “manifestando el amor de Jesuchristo a la gente de Honduras” (To show the love of Jesus Christ to the people of Honduras). I think that is pretty special. About 45-50 people who come to that public clinic every day and will see a message of God’s love because of their new roof. We also visited a family with 4 children who live in a stick and mud shack beside the road, on land which does not belong to them. We gave them some provisions, including sardines, hot dogs, beans, rice, pasta, margarine, eggs and butter for about $16. Oh, yeah. We also gave the kids a bag of cracker jacks.
—
‘Too hard’ does not equal ‘not required’.

Jerry

Last Saturday I discussed with Martha Thomsen the situation at the dump. Many children and adults scavenge through plastic bags, looking for food scraps and other items of potential value. I expressed to her that we have a strong calling to provide help to these people. She said that she was also concerned about this problem, and had gone to both her cousin the Commissioner and the Mayor to ask that the dump be fenced in and access-controlled. Since she then went back to Nebraska for a time, and nothing has been done in this regard.

It was determined that it was now time to revisit this issue. She called a minister friend who came by, and we discussed the problem with him. He agreed to meet at 10:00 a.m. today (Monday) at the dump to assess the situation first-hand.

When I arrived at Martha’s home this morning, she had assembled not one, but four pastors to visit the dump. We prayed before we left, and such a prayer I have never experienced! There was a Power present in the room with us, as Martha, the four pastors and I were praying. We went to the dump and no one was there except for the dump keeper. He said people usually arrived later in the day, between 11:00 and 1:00, when the big dump trucks from the factories came to dump their stuff. He opined that most of the people who come live by the road between the dump and the bridge.

We left with a schedule to return at 11:45. When we returned, they were only 2 boys there, and they confirmed that they lived by the road. One of the boys mentioned that a pastor came and met the families on Monday and Friday evenings. One of the pastors with us knew him and called him. He arrived about 10 minutes later. He is the pastor of the Assembly of God church in Quimistan. He also has Sunday School for the children by the road, about 60, on Sunday morning.

He also is a dentist, and has a practice in Quimistan. His dental clinic is next to the church, and a block from the HAF office.

We have a meeting Tuesday at 5:00 to discuss how we might partner to help these families. PRAISE GOD, a ministry and a dental contact in one meeting!

George