Work, fellowship, food, fun, these are only a few words that describe the time we had with the Crossroads work team from Washington and the Comayagua church members in Honduras.  The team joined us on August 8.  We stopped at Pizza Hut for lunch before heading to the church.  (That way they didn't go into culture shock too quickly.)  Shortly after we arrived in Comayagua the Sunday service started.  One of the comments I heard over and over was that Hondurans aren't afraid to sing out and show their feelings while worshipping.

Monday through Friday were spent working.  And work they did.  There was putting in a ceiling, sheet rocking, painting and cooking to do.  Although it was hot and tiring work, the group managed to have ways of making it fun.  Lisa taught them how to flick watermelon seeds, Sarah showed her talent in painting people as well as the walls ... and I'm not sure who started the water fights.  Wednesday night was a great night though.  After a couple of testimonies from our youth and then a couple of testimonies from the Honduran youth we watched the World Cup play offs between Honduras and Costa Rica.  Many went away with sore throats after screaming for Honduras.  A 4-0 win made the evening a great time for all.  Friday afternoon we enjoyed a great tour of a local cathedral where we were able to go up into the clock tower and see the oldest clock in the Americas.

Saturday... what can I say about Pulhapanzak.  While Ryen and I enjoyed playing games with some of the Honduran youth, Mark and the rest of the team enjoyed the adventure of exploring caves behind the waterfall.

Sunday the two youth groups formed one worship team and lead the congregation in worship time, both in English and Spanish.  It gave a little picture of what it will be like in heaven when all nations join together to sing to our Lord.

Monday was a day of shopping and enjoying way too much steak.  I'm not sure where they put it all.  I had to take my leftovers home in a doggy bag.

And all too soon it was over and they were on their way home.  It was so great hearing from people both in Comayagua and from those from Crossroads share how God has touched their hearts for missions.  Who knows where God will lead them in the future.

We were planning on going to El Salvador to visit the WGM work down there Friday afternoon.  However, Honduras beefed up its security because the ousted president was trying to re-enter the country through Nicaragua.  As a result, the borders were shut down and an early curfew placed on the border departments (states).  We will try again some other time.

Another place we have had frustrations is with the vocational school in Choluteca.  We had just started a program funded by the International Bank where we train some young people in air conditioning then help them get on the job training.  Because of the political crisis here, however, much of outside funding is sporadic, so we are not guaranteed of them fulfilling their side of the contract.

Other than frustrations like this, life has pretty much returned to normal.  Thank you for your prayers.  Please continue to pray for God's peace for Honduras and for the church to grow through it. 

On a positive note, Alcanzar, the compassionate ministries of the Honduran Holiness church (WGM's partners in Honduras), is using this time to promote home and local church industry and promoting it throughout the denomination.  We know that as God is allowing this crisis in Honduras, that He is doing it with a purpose: one of Him being glorified.

Tomorrow, I head over to El Sembrador where with Terry Hawk and others we will work on strategic planning with them. 

I'm sure many are wondering what is happening in Honduras.  We get differing viewpoints ourselves.  I imagine you have heard what the US media is telling you.  Perhaps what you have not heard is that the churches in Honduras, both Protestant and Catholic have united in prayer for peace in Honduras.  To be sure, there are churches on both sides of this situation politically, even in our own 200+ churches we have this division politically.  But as a whole, the churches are standing up.

Yesterday, a reported one hundred thousand Hondurans marched for peace here in Tegucigalpa.  These did not want the former president to return.  On the same day, there were thousands marching demanding his return in other parts of the city.

We are not in any immediate danger.  Life has pretty much gone back to normal.  Please pray for God to control the peace talks in Costa Rica.  We want His solution to this situation.  We want Honduras to be lead by those who really want the best for the Honduran people.  We want a stronger, more united Honduras that is no longer dependent on outside aid.  We want a church that leads the country to true peace found by a living relationship with God through Jesus Christ. 

Conference has come and gone. 

It is always so much fun to get together with our fellow missionaries (and learn a lot about them while playing games).  A lot of time is spent reviewing what God has done over the year through each of the ministries in Honduras and then lifting each other up in prayer.  Tita and Sara Ryan were busy watching seven children under the age of 9.  It kept them on their toes.

I finally gave a small business loan made possible by a donation made last summer before we came down.  The loan helped purchase a means of transportation and a gasoline driven water pump for Roger, a young man with a lot of promise. 

He had already invested a good sum in starting a small honey business and a small egg business.  He has shown a strong desire to hire others who need help.  The purchases from this loan will help make all this possible.  As the loan is paid off, it will be made available for others!

Please pray for Roger and the lives he is touching.

El Sembrador-Horeb is the high school run by both the church in Catacamas and El Sembrador.  Serena has been elected to this body.  Please pray for them as they are facing an economically challenged year and have to make some big changes.

New Hope church in Bend, Oregon, decided to try a new program that is a blessing to hundreds of Honduran youth!  For Christmas, they promoted a list of items that can be used in different youth ministries here in Honduras in their church.  They loaded up a container with tools - new and used, sports equipment, sewing materials, used lockers, etc. all to be used in El Sembrador and in the youth work in Choluteca.  In the picture, Jairo Fonseca, auto mechanic teacher, pastor, and right hand man for Larry Overholt is loading up a bus full. 

March 18 - Melanie Miller, Beth Ryan and I loaded our suitcases onto the truck along with the medicine and a week's worth of food that we had purchased for the work team.  One of the leader's from the church in Camasca, Honduras came into Tegucigalpa to pick up the purchases and his three passengers.  Usually our trip to Camasca takes about eight hours from Tegucigalpa; however our trip took close to twelve since there were some complications along the way.  Lunch and looking for parts were OK but the brakes overheating on the truck was a bit more than we bargained for.  Thankfully the bus that was going to pick up the group came along and we were able to move a lot of the load from the pickup and Noe was able to make it the rest of the way.  But the adventure that day had not ended as the bus had a flat tire on the way.  Fortunately, we made it into Camasca before having to repair it.

March 19 - Melanie, Betulio (the local pastor), Javier (the bus driver) and I headed for San Salvador to pick up the team.  (The drive from Camasca to San Salvador is six hours, five of which are on good road compared to the eight from Tegucigalpa with five hours on a dirt road.)  On the way there the bus had another flat tire.  This one was a puncture of the inner-tube with no damage to the tire itself.  Since we had a little extra time, Javier decided to stop and clean out the half inch of dust that had settled on the inside of the bus before picking up the team.  Little did we know that a fuse would burn out so that he would not be able to start the bus again once he had it stopped.  After trying to fix the problem, I started to get concerned that the team would arrive before we did so Melanie and I hired a taxi and headed out.  When we got there we breathed a sigh of relief since as we noticed that the flight had been delayed an hour.  (The bus showed up ten minutes after our arrival.)  Only three of the ten people in the group showed up.  They were detained as the customs agents decided to confiscate the anesthesia that the dentists brought down.  The remaining seven were to arrive at 7:45, so while we waited for them we headed down town to try and buy some anesthesia believing patients would prefer that the dentist use it before pulling their teeth.  I believe God provided a dentist in the form of an angel to help us be able to find and purchase the medicine.  We returned to the airport to pick up the rest of the team.  They too had anesthesia removed from their bags.  We finally left the airport around 9:30 pm.  Poor Javier had to stay awake all the way back to Camasca.  We arrived at about 3:30 in the morning.

March 20 - Just because we got in late did not give us the right to sleep in late.  We arrived in the first village around 9:00 a.m.  The first day is always a little bit crazy finding everything and setting up the clinic.  This day was no different.  Sure enough we had left one whole tub of medicines back in Camasca.  Noe was gracious enough to go get it.  We managed to help over 150 patients in the medical area that day.  I'm not sure how many the dentists saw.  After supper we had a medicine counting party where we divided the medicines into three so that we would take along each day one day's supplies of medicines.  Oh, and did I mention we had another flat tire?

March 21- We were able to leave a bit earlier and start clinic earlier in Llano Grande.  There was a line up as we tried to turn classrooms into a medical and dental clinic and find chairs that the long legged North Americans could fit into.  Today, I spent most of my time as a pharmacist.  Amazing how a missionary can become so many things on the mission field without a degree in that field.  Fortunately, I just had to count the pills and translate to the patients how they were to take the medicine not write up the prescription.

March 22- Sunday at long last!  We enjoyed a later breakfast and a wonderful time in worship with the local church.  I was given the opportunity to translate testimonies from team members into Spanish and then the sermon into English.  I think I like translating into English better.  After a delicious lunch we were able to climb a nearby hill (mountain depending on where you are from).  When we reached the top the view was breath taking.  Imagine standing in a location where you can see three different States and three countries.  Amazing!  The slipping and sliding along the hillside left stories to be told to those who decided they weren't up to the climb.

March 23-24 were spent in Camasca ministering to two different villages.  The best part for me was getting the report from Carlos Lobo (a former student of mine now pasturing in that region) that he and a couple of men from his congregation after evangelizing the patients were able to pray with 34 people to accept the Lord.  Medicine helps for a while, but heart medicine from Jesus lasts forever.

March 25 - Beth and Melanie left early to head back to Tegucigalpa.  The rest of us had a time of closure in Camasca before heading to El Salvador.  The bus felt so good when we got in.  Javier had managed to get the air-conditioning fixed!  For the first time I didn't need to wear a mask to keep from inhaling too much dust.  As we past the little pole beside the road, I mentioned that we were now in El Salvador.  The people couldn't believe it.  It still looked the same and there is no border patrol in that area.  After another ten minutes though we hit paved roads.  It was a sure sign that we were now in El Salvador.  On the way towards San Salvador, we decided to see if we could drive up to one of the many volcanoes in El Salvador.  So we took off cross- country only to find out later that we couldn't get up there with the bus.  There was a beautiful view though were we stopped and had our picnic lunch.  That evening we stayed in a cute little hotel in San Salvador and ate at an Argentine steak house for supper.  It was great. 

March 26 - 3:00 a.m. arrived way too early.  I went with Noe and Javier to drop off the team leader.  After returning to the hotel and rousting the troops we were on our way to shop.  Well, the group was... Noe and I spent hours tracking down permission to get the anesthesia back from the customs agents.  With the typical purchasing done, we headed to the local Wal-Mart for we had a general manager of Wal-Mart amongst us and she wanted to see what it was like there.  I think we were all tired that night as we hit the sack.

March 27 - Up again at 3:00, we all headed to the airport.  After the team got off, I tried to get the medicine out of customs.  Let's just say, I was not happy about the injustice that occurred within that trial.  Noe and Javier took me to the bus station with the bus not starting at one point along the way.  After pushing it onto the street where there was a bit of a decline Javier was able to jump-start it.  I couldn't believe it when Tica bus only charged me $15 for the bus trip from San Salvador to Tegucigalpa.  It was so great to be greeted by Mark and Tita when I arrived home.  It was an exhausting but fantastic trip.  It always amazes me how God works in so many ways.

Serena is currently leading a medical/dental team into a remote part of Honduras in the department (state) of Intibuca.  This is a team usually led by Ted and Anne Batson, former missionaries to Honduras, but Anne is at this moment recovering from double knee replacement surgery.  This team has been going to this area now for more than two decades.  They have a big impact in that they are now doing much more preventative and maintenance teeth work than extraction.  This is because they are also involved in a program that is providing flouride to the schools in the area.

At the same time the doctors are working, there is also an evangelistic team talking to the patients in line.

Thank you for praying for them.  They will be leaving tomorrow (Wednesday) to El Salvador to fly back to the US on Friday.

Tita and I are doing fine, though all of my cooking is starting to taste the same.

By the way, my crushed hand and dislocated elbow are both healing nicely.  I am still undergoing therapy and have about 90-95% range in the elbow.  Thank you for praying!

Since I seem to be in an accident prone stage in life, I decided not to even tempt myself going to the office, and went instead with Serena to a workshop she, Karen Rosales, and Luatany gave in La Paz.  This is the first of six through out the country. 

The Honduran Holiness Church theological education committee has recently hired Luatany to help Serena find, organize, promote, and teach Christian Education materials and principles.  Serena is especially thrilled since she taught Luatany several years at the El Sembrador Bible Institute.

There was a great turnout of around 70 Sunday school teachers from the church's Central district.  These are the people on the frontlines.

Me?  I took a former El Sembrador student, Juan, with me to see Comayagua, a nearby city where we will be leading a workteam in July.  Juan is currently working in the Honduras air force.  We discussed the possibility of one of our churches starting a work ministering to these young men.

Please pray for Juan as he is now out in the real world where he must make a decision daily to follow Christ.