Kitchen Update

The building is done! The building for the kitchen is completed, and it looks fantastic!

Renee our master builder did a wonderful job. The tile floor looks amazing. The windows and doors are in, lights and fan hung and thanks to Terry and the May group the inside is painted a beautiful, rich color. Special thanks to the team for buying the paint and painting the room.

We received a container that had loads of supplies in it. I don't know where you got the tables Terry but they are perfect! Stove, microwave, pots and pans. Hundreds of cups, bowls and plates. Thanks to Randy's family for all the work you have done loading and shopping for all these goodies. It was like Christmas morning around here when Jen and I unpacked all the goodies. We made a spread sheet for inventory and I was amazed at how many things were sent for our use. It was awesome.

Things were really moving along and then they came to a screeching halt. Well I shouldn't say a halt. But they have definitely slowed. We are now in the paperwork process. We are filling out a questionnaire on each child. We need their names, school times, ages, allergies etc. After the paperwork is finished we will have an open house were the children can pick up their ID cards, sign a sheet agreeing to follow all the rules and agreeing that they know the consequences.
Well the paperwork is slow going. We have to go to each house and fill out a sheet for each family member ages 2-12, or if the child is over 12 and still in school they will be allowed to eat in the kitchen while they stay in school. We have to personally ask and fill out each question as most of the people can't read or write very well.

We have been using the Kitchen as a classroom for now. I can tell you it is a blessing. We have so many children and no classrooms. We have been trying to raise money to build them but the going is slow. We have anywhere from 65-96 children on Sunday mornings and up to 169 for VBS. Last week Fabs and I had 46 under the age of 6. I don't know what we would do without having the kitchen to meet in. It is not easy to watch that many young children out in the open.

We are narrowing down the list of possible names. I think we have a winner. We will let you know. Please keep praying for us, the kitchen, the children, the church and the open hearts of everyone here. We love and miss all.

IGLESIA DE CRISTO

I thought that I had better give everyone an update on the church at Mololoa. So many of you that have been down recently have fallen in love with the people in this community and I know that you miss them and yearn for news of them.

This church had been plagued with internal problems it seems since the day the doors were opened. The problems seemed to accelerate last year. I will not go into specific problems or discuss specific people, I feel that that is too much like gossip and it will do nothing to build up only tear down. Several people know of the problems and their support, guidance, and prayers proved invaluable. I ask for everyone to continue to pray for the church as we are a young congregation that is seeking to do the Lords will.

After visiting several area congregations we felt that God was leading us to the Church in Mololoa. When we first began attending the church here it had four regular adult members as well as two men and their families from Baxter. We began a door knocking campaign and bible studies in the community. Every weekend Randy, Fabs and Jen would visit the homes of people, speak to them about the love of Christ, study the word of God, and invite them to church. We were having some success in getting visitors in and our Sunday morning services began to slowly grow. We had one minister from Baxter named Leo who unfortunately left the community to work in another, Leo is a true man of God's heart. I have never seen someone that has such a love for people and for God. His desire to combine these two loves is a joy to behold and to be part of.
After Leo left there was a split in the congregation where the other minister and several people left. As anyone who has ever had a split in the church knows it is a heart wrenching time for everyone.

We prayed and prayed for God's will and guidance in this. We began to rebuild. Our bible studies slowly grew to about 30 people on a regular basis. Our Sunday services are about 35 (Last week we had over 40) and the children's class is anywhere from 65-95 children.

This growth started with Terry's May group and their and adult bible studies. A really nice man named Ben present a wonderful lesson on Saturday and a heartfelt personal lesson on Sunday. That day five people accepted the Lord as their savior and were baptized. We were blessed to have a water tank purchased for us to use as a baptistery. We had to haul water up the mountain in buckets and jugs. The women changed clothes behind the church. We were so happy to welcome our new sisters into the family. I still feel joy in my heart when I remember this awesome day.
This was just the begining. The following week we had one man baptized, then the next week seven more people. All of the people have been very faithful in attending. They are so thirsty for knowledge . Randy has been teaching the classes. On Wednesday he has been going through the book of Ephesians. He was thinking to cover about a chapter a week in a two hour class. He never gets through a chapter. The people have so many questions. They are really getting into the word. They want to know everything. Randy has given each person a new testament bible and a spiral notebook for notes and questions. To see the people walking from the top of the mountain to study Gods word is an inspiration. Randy has to end the class after 2 and a half hours. He is always running behind, everyone wants to know more. It is suppose to be a hour class, we extended it to two hours, but it is still running over every class.

We hope to get enough old and new testament bibles to give everyone soon. Leo and his family will be coming back as well. He will be a great help, there are so many people who want to study and there is just not enough time. Randy has been working with the men and on Saturdays he is helping different men to start leading a class. It is going really well.

Sunday morning four women came forward and ask for additional bible studies and to be baptized. We are meeting with them Wednesday.

We are in the process of building a baptismal. It is almost finished, it should be ready by Sunday. I think I will miss the water tank.

We will continue to update everyone. Please Please remember us in your prayers. Remember the Church family here and all of our new brothers in sisters. You are all in our thoughts and prayers and your love and encouragement means more than you can possibly know.

To God be the Glory.

When we found the dates of Terry's May trip and that he was going to be doing a VBS in Mololoa Jen and I were both very excited. We told Terry just let us know what the "theme" is and we will start inviting children and letting them know about the upcoming VBS. Well we kept waiting for the e-mail with the information. We finally received the e-mail. It pretty much said--Why don't you go ahead and plan everything and get it all ready and when we get there we will help.-- Okay sure both Jen and I enjoy planning and working with the kids. The problem was the fact that we have been planning monthly VBS as well as Wednesday, Saturday and of course Sunday morning bible classes and we were feeling a little drained on ideas and energy, so to say that we were approaching this VBS with dragging feet is an understatement. We kept putting off our planning sessions and finding excuses to wait until another day. Well time was starting to run short and we only had a couple of weeks until the May group arrived so I decided to start brainstorming and internet searching for ideas. Well I couldn't come up with anything. I looked and looked and everything felt wrong and not at all interesting to me. Why couldn't I figure out what to do? Well that was my biggest problem . I, I, I. I had forgotten that this was not about what I wanted to do. I turned off my computer took a bit of time to pray and ask God's will and help in this VBS.

Well I began thinking about the children in Mololoa and one thing that has been heart breaking to me is the physical condition that these children are often in. They are so dirty, you can still see their beauty shining through the dirt and grime that covers their faces. Their beautiful eyes that shine with joy and excitement, the happy smiles that grace their faces. The beauty is there if you look.
So I thought about being able to clean up all the little girls. Boy that would take a lot of people and time, well we had a lot of people and time. The May group would be here soon. Once the flood gates were open ideas began to pour out, but what about the boys, no beauty day for them, so what do the boys here enjoy? Soccer, games, running. Well how do we tie this all into a VBS? Separate the two groups and have a lesson on inner beauty for the girls and a lesson on running the good race and endurance for the boys. Well Jen came over and I told her of the ideas that had come to me when I finally let go of what I wanted and ask God what he wanted me to do. At first she looked at me a little strange but then she sat down to start planning and the ideas just began to flow without end. She worked for about two hours and had hammered out all of the major details. We e-mail Terry with the oddest VBS shopping list ever I'm sure, shampoo, combs, nail files, foot lotion, jump ropes, balloons, cones, fabrics the list was pretty long. When we talked to Terry he was pretty skeptical about the success of this VBS.

Before the VBS a small group of people came to the house and planned the final steps to the VBS. Nayane and Fabs both had awesome ideas about the skits and everything came together.
The next morning Jen and I picked up all of the lunch supplies, raided my house and packed all of the items Terry had brought with him. We arrived at the church building at 9 (we were beginning at 10) The girls had already set up the church into stations for the beauty salon. People were out inviting children and adults for the bible classes, a small group set up the adult class in the kitchen, a group of guys began making up the lunches for the kiddos and doing quality control by testing plenty of samples.

We all gathered on the soccer field down from the church and AB took control by getting everyone in a large circle. We sang, did silly dances, I love to see Honduran children watching Americans do Father Abraham. Fabs and Nayane joined AB and we were having a great time. The group split into boys and girls.

I went with the girls and we lead them to a shaded area where Nayane prayed with them and began the lesson. The skit was wonderful, Nikki Hab made a great self-centered and selfish "beautiful" woman. The girls were really impressed by her jewels and make-up. The real surprise came when they looked in the mirror of truth and saw what was on the inside. It was a great lesson and I think it really got through to them. We then sang a song about beauty being on the inside. They all lined up and headed up to the church.

Meanwhile the boys had their lesson on running a good race until the end, being faithful and having endurance. They were led by Brett and AB. Since I was with the girls I didn't get a first hand view of all of the lesson but knowing the guys that were working with the children I have no doutes that it was a success. Let the games begin..... They divided into four or five teams. The first race was a sack race. I love to watch sack races with little ones. They often forget to jump and start to run in the sack. One little boy who was quite young and having a few problems with his sack was grabbed and picked up by and older boy and carried across the line. The fun and laughter was a joy to my heart.

The girls had all lined up at the door and were just about to burst with excitement. Let the hair washing begin..... We washed, combed and styled their hair, we washed their tiny little filthy feet and rubbed lotion into them, we painted little bitty toe nails and fingernails, we gently cleansed their beautiful faces and we had a wonderful time. I really think that we got more out of doing this service than the children. I saw people who thought feet were gross, stretch themselves, they knelt on the floor and held children's, feet in their hands gently washing away layers of dirt, washing around scrapes and cuts they have from walking barefoot up and down a mountain littered with rocks and trash, through rivers of pollution. They washed the dirt away and gently caressed lotion onto their clean feet. I saw a guy who thought it wasn't manly enough not only wash feet, but move onto other stations and serve these little girls. Can you imagine how these little girls felt to have these Americans kneeling before them to wash their feet. They are so often in awe of us and all that we have and what we represent and here we are on our knees. I was so happy to see guys volunteer to help with the little girls. Men in Honduras seem to value their daughters very little and I have often seen them push them away and ignore their cries for attention. Having a man want to serve these little girls was a very special time for young ones who are use to being ignored. We came to serve and we were the ones served.

The boys had a great time. They were the center of attention for a lot of "gringos" and they all got to participate in fun and games. The egg race was a blast. Kids running with plastic spoons in their mouths. Trying not to laugh or they would drop their egg. Soccer with a balloon? Three leg races and tug of war. What a great way to teach about working together, supporting each other, about encouragement...The lessons go on and on for all of us.

I am not sure what all took place in the adult class but I do know that three women were baptized the next day at church and the building was actually over flowing. Can you imagine a building that is over flowing? People are literally spilling out of the doors, hanging on the windows, sitting on the floor.... Wow.(more later on the church).

VBS was a very emotional and glorious time. All who participated were touched. Everyone came to the house for dinner and devo, and all of the stories told just reinforced to all of us that God can be given Glory and Praise in all things and through everyone he can show his love and compassion if we will only let him use us.

I think that Terry is no longer a skeptic of nail polish. I pray that I remember to seek God's directions and guidance in all that I do and that all I do will bring him Glory and Honor. I really need to remember it is not my plans but his.