Honduras Day 7 Feb 2011

Honduras Day 7 Feb 2011

It was a most wonderful day in Honduras! Best ever out of my four trips here? Perhaps. It was a beautiful foggy morning, yet again, but it quickly gave way to warm sunshine. We made our way out to Mateo, where we met others. Then it was on to Guajire, the village that we hope to “adopt.”

We started the day by building a house for a very sweet family. They were living in a very old house that leans terribly. The little house has a wood cook stove inside, without vents, so the house is very smoky. We learned that this family had saved a lot of money to build a house. The husband works in Tegucigalpa as a security guard. One night when he was away at work, three men came to the door, took the woman outside and tied her to a tree. They then went through the house until they found the money. So sad.

This family has a deep faith and has been visiting the little church in Guajire. They have been praying for help, and today we were the means for answering their prayers for a house. It’s hard to explain how that made us feel. Our goal is to do this over and over again.

One of the men who showed up to help build the house was Jose, a man in his 50s. He is the local leader of the church. The Mateo church sends a preacher named Elmer out to preach each Sunday, but Jose is the one who seems to keep everything going strong locally. His house is next to where the church meets. The church meets in the home of a lady who has three disabled children. It is a sad but touching and inspiring scene.

As we were building today, Jose took a break and went into the house that leans. I followed. He then got his Bible out and began studying with a neighbor lady who had dropped by. He spoke with passion about the love of Christ. The lady, nursing a baby, listened intently. It was a wonderful scene of one sharing the Good News with another.

Jose has a bad leg that resulted from an accident 20 years ago. Now the screws are working their way out, creating terrible places and pain. He needs to have surgery. We learned from talking to Leopoldo, the minister at Mateo, that for about $600 he can have surgery plus be compensated for time off from work. We committed to take care of these costs.

After building the house, we went down to the church building to distribute food, clothes, shoes, hygiene packs, and toys. We also looked around at the building and Jose’s house. On a hill by the building you can look and see the city of Tegucigalpa. Beautiful view!

The area of Guajire is a rural area. It is beautiful and populated by Lenca Indians, one of the poorest and least educated people of Honduras. They are beautiful people, and their culture is noticeably different from the city people. I think we are really going to enjoy building relationships with these folks as the future unfolds.

After we left Guajire, we drove all the way across Tegucigalpa to the school by the dump. We needed to finish the water treatment system, and we did. We had to break in the room to get it done, so now we owe them a lock! We had no choice; the lock was broken.

We have a few things to do in the morning before we head to the airport at 11. We fly out at 1.30, go to Houston, have a significant layover, and then arrive in Indy around 10.30 p.m. Preaching on Sunday could be challenging. Role reversal may result: this time I may be the one trying to stay awake!

Thanks for your prayers! The Lord has blessed us tremendously. I will have a final post sometime soon, so check back. Thanks again.