Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Returning Home

Our little town is pretty small. The main road is the only one paved in the entire town. The rest are either rock or a dirt & rock combo. This time of the year we are blessed to have the amount of rock that is here. With the rainy season, any dirt is permanent mud.
On Monday we returned from 3 weeks in the states and it was really nice to drive into Santa Ana and be able to say "home at last". There really isn't any place like home - even if home is Santa Ana Honduras.
Since returning, I have been able to get a little caught up on some of the things that were left undone or as I preferr "in process". The first of those is "The Bill Brumley Cottage". This project is a new children's house at Casa de Esperanza. My friend Milton is once again my construction supervisor and he has done a wonderful job of getting things done during my visit to the states. The project is converting our bodega into a house - and that means we needed to build an addition that includes 4 bedrooms and 2 baths. Milton and his crew have completed the outside walls and most of the bedroom walls. In a week or so we will be putting on the roof and sealing in the building. We should be able to complete the project in another 4 weeks or so.
Yesterday I made what I thought was a quick trip into Tegucigalpa to go to the bank, take care of a few other loose ends, and get new shocks on Terri's truck. The slowdown was at the shop - a simple 1 1/2 hour job easily stretched into 4 1/2 hours and the day was almost shot by the time I returned to Casa.
Last night, the Tuesday worship was at Fernando & Brenda's (our new house parents). I went for the first time - there were 27 people there to sing, pray, and discuss the topic of the evening. Everyone that was there had to walk and they all came in spite of the fact that there was a good chance that there would be rain when they left and that they would be going home in the dark. The singing, prayer, and worship was uplifting. I like the way Honduran's greet each other - they really do believe in a "holy kiss". It is nice to be recieved with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. I am blessed.
The rest of this week will be spent in a mix of stuff including - working on the women's center in Oriente, taking the children to their monthly visitation in Tegucigalpa, and pushing ahead on the new house. I can't wait to get the new house full of kids!
Terri and I are truly blessed to have our home and our work here in Santa Ana. We are blessed to have so many churches and people that support our work, pray for us, & encourage us. Our God is so amazing for planning this work here and we thank Him every day that we get to be here.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Thursday, September 11, 2008

In the states

We travelled to the USA on August 29th and have been blessed to be in a lot of places. We started in Little Rock and were able to see our little grand daughter - Camille - her mom and dad too. That weekend we met with the Chenal Valley Church to talk about TORCH Missions and the work in Honduras. We have made some great friends at Chenal and they are already excited about the 2009 mission to Honduras. On Tuesday we were able to have a dinner with several of our friends before heading to Mississippi on Wednesday.
Wednesday evening we met with the Lee Acres church in Tupelo - they have been a part of TORCH for several years and we are blessed that they are one of the primary supporters of the church in Santa Ana. Thank you Lee Acres!
Thursday we were in Columbus and made a quick trip over to Starkville to meet with Wesley and Natasha Thompson - the TORCH leader there. Wesley and Natasha have a new baby so we were able to see their new bundle of joy. The Starkville Church will be adding to next years team by including the MSU college group. This could easily mean that Starkville will be 35 to 40 strong. WOW!
While in Columbus we were able to meet with a lot of folks. We spent a morning with Allan Bazzell to plan out the 2009 mission for Mississippi. The team looks to be as large as 35 to 45 strong. We met with Wally Sweedenberg to survey the work on our clinic bus. Looks like it may be put together and ready to ship this fall. Thank you Wally!
There are so many folks in Columbus that support, encourage, and lift us up in prayer. We are blessed that we lived in Mississippi and even more blessed that the people there are such a big part of our lives.
From Columbus we headed back to Tupelo to meet with the Trace Crossing Church. The group is teamed up with Lee Acres and they will likely grow from 9 in 2008 to 35 to 40 in 2009. WOW!
After Tupelo, we travelled to East Tennessee to see our friends the Bulle's. Tom and Lynn are our great friends and they want to get their church involved in Honduras. We met with the minister, youth minister, and several people from their church. The time together was awesome. We are very excited about the potential of adding another team from East Tennessee.
Right now, the summer of 2009 is filling up and it looks like our God is laying out His plans for and amazing work. Terri and I will be leading or helping lead 6 teams - from May 21 to August 2. Additionally, there are other TORCH teams that have been coming for a number of years that will be working across town.
Some of our plans for 2009 include the planting of 2 new churches. It has been 3 years since our last - from the ground up church plant so - this will be a great summer. We also plan to start up a feeding center - close to the Honduras / Nicaraguan border. This is also one of the church plant locations. We will be taking some of the TORCH teams on a road trip to participate in this work.
I am excited about what is ahead of us. Please pray for the workers and the funds that will provide for the planned work.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc