Ready to Go

Early Thursday morning our Honduras Mission Team of 21 will depart Indianapolis to work and serve in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We will be there from July 1-11. We have two wonderful drivers taking us to the airport at 3 a.m. - Quince Earls and Ryan Roberts.

While in Honduras we will work in all kinds of ways but never far from the things mentioned in Matthew 25:31-46. We are in charge of adult evangelism this year, so we have developed and illustrated 9 lessons that will share the good news of Jesus with hundreds of people in various villages in Tegucigalpa. Please pray for open hearts.

Fund-raising for this trip has been interesting and somewhat unusual. Several people paid their own way, which was a huge help. Funds have come from our Wednesday Evening Meals, special meals, a Schwann’s order, a yard sale, a special contribution at Easter, lots of generous individuals, and other sources. All the funds combined will allow us to:

Cover the cost of getting everyone there and back
Install 2 water treatment systems in orphanages
Build 7 houses

Our team will join with several others. All together there will be more than 150 of us. We have lots of wonderful projects planned.

We really solicit your daily prayers. Lives will change as a result of our trip and the work with Hondurans. Ours. Theirs.

I hope to blog, complete with a photo album, each day, so check back later this week.

Miles

Thinking about miles this morning. My truck has nearly 228,000, but I think it's dying. Our van has 180,000+. It seems to be doing OK.

This year, as of today, I have run 850 miles. I have ridden 377 on my bike since May 17.

I have many miles to go before I sleep.

And miles to go before I sleep.

Getting Closer - Honduras 2010

I have no idea...

Come back in a couple of weeks

Honduras prep is pushing pretty hard right now, so I'm going to take a little break from blogging. Everything is going well, but there is a lot going on.

My plan is to blog daily from Honduras.

Thanks for checking in.

Our trip to Honduras is July 1-11. Prayers are always appreciated.

Thursday a.m.

Wow, where has this week gone?

Our trip to Honduras is bearing down pretty hard on me, which is fine. Just a lot of work to do. I read this this morning from Terri Tindall's blog:

With groups here, Marc is making it to the dump to feed hungry people more than once a week. Monday, when he arrived, a group gathered around and began to tell Marc about Fany being hurt over the weekend. Fany is one of the girls that has become our friend. She has a baby, but doesn't bring the baby to the dump. Marc buys milk for the baby every week. Fany is good at crowd control and some times helps serve or hand out water.

She was both hit by a car and stabbed three times.

Today after Marc finished feeding in the dump, he went to Fany's house. Fany's house is tin and wood and maybe 16 x 16, with fifteen living there. Wall-to-wall beds. Fany is in terrible shape and only has a 50/50 chance of living. Marc asked her what happened and she began to cry.

Fany works in the dump every day. Sifting garbage and trying to find a few recyclables to sell so that her family can eat. Others in the house work at whatever they can as well.

Marc helped with groceries for right now. He will get milk for the baby tomorrow.

Fany needs our prayers as she fights for her life.

We will be one of the groups going to the dump. It is one of the most unbelievable places I've ever been. HERE is a video I made there in January.

Our fund-raising keeps surprising me! We now have enough to build 7 houses! If you want to see how that is done, then you can watch THIS.

Running and biking is going well this week so far. Tuesday evening I rode 32 miles - from the Park to the Washington County line and back on 337. There were 6-7 of us. I did a few minutes of pace-lining before foolishly letting myself fall off the back. I should have stuck with it. I still had a good ride, averaging more than 20 miles an hour for 10 miles. The pace-liners averaged about 25, which reflects the power of working together, experience, drafting, and all that good stuff. Ahead this week, sometime, lies a long run and long ride.

I spoke at a church in Louisville last night. It was a good experience, but it made for a late night. I didn't get home until 10. Short on beauty sleep, but of course I can pull it off, since I have beauty in reserve.

Another Sunday afternoon

I have a few minutes between all the activities, so I will try catch up with this blog. It helps me to write about a few things that are going on in my world. Therapy I guess. Reading this, however, you would get a very skewed view of my life. There are lots of things I don't/can't talk about. I would simply have to kill you if I told you, you know, that sort of stuff.

It has been great having Luke home! Of all of our 4 children he is the most talkative. He keeps telling stories as he thinks of things; makes me want to make sure I am around when he is around. We are trying to fatten him up a bit. He was already thin, and he lost more weight while in Guatemala. I've smoked brisket, chicken and pork for him so far! Trouble is I am fattening up along with him! Sure is fun though. Going to have to ramp up the miles.

I did do a very slimy 14 mile run yesterday. It was so humid! The fresh, cooler air that is blowing in presently is so nice and refreshing. I plan to get on the bike after while and try do a nice 15-20 miler. That will make me close to 75 miles for the week on the bike. I ran 35, so I have covered some territory in the last few days. I love it. I would like to ride 100 and run 40 each week.

Four weeks from today I, along with 20 other people on our team, will be in Honduras. Wow, it's coming quickly. I have lots of work to do, so I am hoping this week will be one of great production. The funds for this trip keep rolling in. It has been really neat to watch. We have enough to get 21 people there and back, to install 2 water treatment systems for children's homes, and to build 6 houses. We actually have a good start on the 7th house, thanks to a nice $500 check this morning.

During the trip I hope to do some scout work for a strategy that I would like to employ. I'll share more about that some other time. For now I will say that it involves a more focused approach in a specific area.

Well people are starting to arrive for Life Group. Gonna talk about adultery. Should be interesting! ha ha.

From Thought Questions

He's home!

Luke arrived a little while ago. He is holding a shirt that got "ashed" from the volcano. He has lots of nasty wet clothes and really good stories.

Luke's back in the U.S.

Luke landed in Atlanta about 6.30 last night. The flight from Atlanta to Nashville was delayed, but he made it there about 12.30 this morning. He'll drive home later today. A feast awaits!

Wednesday a.m.

Have you seen this picture? It's of a sink hole that opened up in Guatemala City. It is 80 feet across and 30 stories deep! It swallowed a 3 story building. That's what 10-20 inches of rain in a short period of time will do. Tropical Storm Agatha has killed more than 150 people in Central America, including people in Honduras.

Here's the latest communication from Luke:

Well after quite a trip we made it. Border control was a breeze, we heard it might be closed but everything went smoothly. The drive here was really worrisome. It looked like we were in the middle of no where, driving down a dark scary alley and then we turned in and the gate keeper had a shotgun like everyone else. We were all real nervous. We walked up the path and ended up in this paradise like place. It is wonderful. It was a big relief. We are right on the beach, I can hear the ocean in the background. Its about 85 and 100% humid. We are waiting on dinner now. I may be able to call in the morning. I think everything should be fine from here on out. I'll keep you updated when I can.

Then a little later he tweeted:

Just had shrimp on the beach in El Salvador. Sweating at nearly 10 pm, listening to the ocean. Home tomorrow!

He won't make it to Indiana until Thursday. We are really looking forward to seeing him!

I rode my bike last night with some of the guys I usually run with. Most of them are triathletes, so the emphasis in the summer is more on biking and swimming, although a lot of running miles are still getting cranked out. Right now the main focus seems to be biking. Three of the guys are doing the full Iron Man in November. I am not in their league, of course, but I enjoy learning from them. Last night I rode 32 miles. The weather made it super pleasant. This morning I plan to do a hilly 6 mile run, if the rain holds off (been looking at the radar).

Honduras happens for our team 4 weeks from tomorrow! I am in charge of adult education/evangelism for the entire team of 160+, which makes me somewhat nervous. I need to develop 6-9 45 minute lessons that can easily be translated into Spanish. I also need to develop accompanying visual aids. I'm thinking of poster-sized diagrams/pictures that I MAY have printed on vinyl sheets. It will all be elementary stuff, but I still have to get it done. I hope to move the project along today.