Marc Tindall's Life in Honduras

We are home

2011-10-02T06:05:00.000-07:00

After 6 weeks of family and traveling in the USA, we returned to Honduras on the 24th of September. We hit the ground running and that is the way life in Honduras is. Just as an update, we are working on a number of ministry areas and projects. Today, I would like to update some of them and introduce others.
1. Casa de Esperanza is our home and where 19 beautiful kids live. We are working toward a small expansion in numbers - while we were gone, we added 2 new kids but, there was some issue between the mother, IHNFA, and the judge and they were taken back to the mother after living in Casa for about 2 weeks. It now looks like they will be coming back to live at Casa permanently however, in the true spirit of government work, the once completed paperwork must start over.
2. The Farm at Zambrano is progressing under the watch of Nathan Hale. Nate with several of our teams has completed more than 20 drip rows and is working toward getting electricity and fish tanks installed. Once built, we will be seeking employees from the dump to come and work with us.
3. Work at the dump continues and we feed every Wednesday, we support a minister that is doing a bible study with about 20 to 30 every morning at 9. We are also working to help any way we can with the school Amor, Fe, y Esperazna - this school educates children of the dump and teaches them about Jesus. We have agreed to help them with a scholarship for one of their students that is part of the first graduation in the 9 year old school.
The annual Jesus Banquet at the Dump will be on December 7.
4. We continue to work with the import and distribution of containers of food, clothing, and medical supplies. So far this year, we have imported 14 food containers - each with about 280,000 meals and a total value close to 1.5 million dollars. We have also imported another 12 containers of clothing and medical supplies with untold value. Right now, there are 2 containers waiting release - one of them has a new Cat Scan for the public hospital in Tegucigalpa.
5. We just purchased in partnership with Bread for a Hungry World, two pressed earth block machines. We are excited to begin using these valuable tools - one of the first projects will be in Campemento where we will build a village of eventually 200 homes, a feeding center, a church, and a school.
6. We are moving toward development of our mission house project. This place will house our mission teams and will support the planned development of another Casa campus.
7. We have begun discussions on developing water projects as a part of our ministry. Plans are to have a conference call in the coming days to formulate our strategy.
8. We still have 4 teams coming in the balance of 2011 and already have plans for 20 in 2012. New teams from Oregon and California are already making plans for next year.
We want everything we do to have Jesus in the middle of it. We want to be able to share the good news of the Kingdom to the people that need His Hope and are confident that when they see his good news in action, they will be receptive to hearing about what he can mean to them.
Blessings and thanks for keeping us in your daily prayer.
Marc

August 7

2011-08-10T05:59:00.001-07:00

August 7 was circled on my calendar because that was the last day of summer Honduras Hope Teams.
Sad and glad!
Sad because we are empty of teams for a couple of months but, glad because August 7 meant a few days where we could wind down and relax a little. Working more than 100 days without taking any down time is hard on an old guy.
My job, the best in the world, is crazy during the season of mission teams. In 2011, our teams have been larger and we have participated in some amazing work, projects, and blessings. So far, we have worked with more than 360 people and we still have 5 2011 teams to go. Some of the highlights of the year follow:
367 people from all over the USA have come to work in Honduras. That is almost double the number for the same months of 2010!
We have build a lot -
65 wooden houses
3 block houses
1 adobe house
2 church buildings
2 sunday school classrooms
1 playground at the public hospital
1 feeding center and play area at a school in Ojojona
several roof projects
We have fed -
More than 13,000 meals have been served to the poor at the dump
More than 200,000 meals have been served in feeding center projects all around Honduras and more than 1,000,000 meals have been distributed to families through Manna Pack, Hunger Plus, and Bread for a Hungry World.
More than 3,000 families received fresh food from the farmers market
More than 1000 families received clothing, blankets, and other much needed supplies for life.
Medical teams have treated at least 1500 people.
We have taught VBS lessons to 1000+ kids
We have visited men in the Honduras National Prison more than 10 times.
We have grown close to the boys in a state run orphanage.
We have completed projects at Casa de Esperanza and loved on the Casa Kids
We have taught the Good News and have seen more than 25 people become Christians.

Wow! I am always amazed to report what has happened and I always forget some of the things we have been blessed to be a part of.
Terri and I head to USA on August 14 for time with family & travel to share our adventures with others. We hope to see many of you there.
Blessings,
Marc

It is 5:40 In Honduras

2011-05-04T16:37:00.001-07:00

Right now, the day is ending at the dump. Some of the many "non official" workers at the dump are trying to make their way home while others are already home. Life in the dump is one that I will not ever personally experience but, I have many many friends that don't know any different.
Today is Wednesday and we did what we do every Wednesday - we went to take some food to my friends. In the 3 plus years that we have been going into the dump, I have gone from being afraid to truly looking forward to being with my friends for a short time. I wish I knew the names of all of the people that know mine and call me their friend. My friends know that we will be there every Wednesday and I believe that they look forward to my truck rolling into the dump - not just for food but, because they know that people that really do love them will be with me. Sometimes, we just sit down and talk about what is going on in the darkness of a place that the uninitiated would be afraid of.
Today - May 4, 2011 we are working with Trey Morgan from Childress, TX and with Bread for a Hungry World - from Ft Worth, TX. We call this Dump Day. A day that we attempt to partner with many many people so that we can continue to feed, share, change, and perhaps deliver a ray of light - HOPE. It is 5:40 and we were just given a challenge - raise $5000 more and one donor will match with another $5000 and Bread for a Hungry World will match another $5000 - that is a $2 for $1 MATCH. Amazing isn't it. We are so blessed to be able to work in this ministry and even more blessed at the connections with others that our God has made possible,
Please consider this amazing opportunity to join us in our work in the Tegucigalpa Dump.
Blessings,
Marc

Top 10 Reasons to Consider Giving on Dump Day

2011-04-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

I am a lousy blogger. My friends that are good at this usually post something every couple of days and my usual style is to blog two or three times in a month and then - not do too well for a while. If you read this, thanks for being patient with me.
Next week is a very special one for the work we do here in Honduras. The 3rd annual dump day will be on May 4 and if history is an indicator of what the future holds, well, it will be an amazing Wednesday. Pondering Dump Day - pretty much on my mind all the time right now - I have come up with 10 reasons that participating is a good idea -
1. People are hungry - not just for food but for the loving hands that go to the dump to serve the food every Wednesday. Serving food with a smile, a hug, and a touch says - I Love You!
2. If we don't do this, who will? I really believe that God planned very specific tasks for us and I believe that this work in the dump is one that was planned for many of us. I am blessed to get to go to do the actual feeding but, I believe that the plan is to share the work with the many who give to make it possible.
3. Giving to feed some of the poorest of the poor will help all of us remember how blessed we really are.
4. People need to know that others love them - unconditionally. That is the same love that we faithfully know our father has for us.
5. Jesus told us we need to have the heart of a child - we teach our kids to share with others - especially if we have 2 cookies and another has none - share. Sharing is a heart thing - a learned behavior.
6. Dump day provides milk for babies, help for a day care center, medicines, clothing from containers, and HOPE!
7. The Jesus Banquet in December is paid for by Dump Day. In 2010, we fed 1200 an amazing meal of grilled steak, pork, and smoked sausage. We shared Christmas gifts with families. It was an amazing blessing.
8. You can afford it. When you count your blessings and realize that God gave you so much - ponder why. So you could have a bigger house, a very large TV, good stuff...or was it so you could learn to be generous like him?
9. My friends at the dump really do like the rice, beans, and tortillas that we share every week. In the summer, we plan to go as many as 3x each week. Lives are being changed.
10. In Matthew 25, Jesus said, whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you have done for me. Feeding others is feeding Jesus - why don't you consider helping us on Dump Day and you can feed him every week for the next year?
Follow the day at Trey Morgan's Blog

I Own Nothing

2011-03-06T18:01:00.000-08:00

Pride of ownership is something almost everybody in my generation grew up learning about. Owning your first bicycle that wasn't a hand me down. Owning first car, house, whatever - we were taught to be proud.
A few days ago I picked up a copy the annual Forbes Magazine that reports on the richest 400 people in the USA - this group of people is pretty unique in that the club that they belong to requires a net worth of at least one billion US dollars. That amount of money is just about impossible for me to imagine. It is one thousand times one million dollars. WOW. my guess is that there is a lot of pride of ownership among these 400 people and their families.
Near the end of the magazine there was about 4 pages dedicated to the memory of people that were removed from the list because they were no longer part of the living. Made me think - mostly a dangerous thing.
My thoughts were actually about how some of the rich might have felt compelled to protect their wealth and resources - for whatever reason, people generally feel compelled to do everything they can to protect what they have worked hard for - I mean it is only natural to fight for what is rightfully your own. Then, at the end of the day - none of it really matters because every one of us meets the very same end - although the vast majority of us never get our death notice in Forbes 400.
So, even though I am not a Bible expert, I can read and it is pretty clear that choosing to be a follower means that our entire attitude about the ownership of stuff and our attitude toward it should have changed or should be changing. The story of the rich young ruler tells it all. The story of the brand new believers in Acts tells about people that didn't consider anything they had as their own - if anyone needed help, the believers provided. They sold land, things, whatever needed to share. Pride of ownership gave over to humble serventhood.
What if we decide that we will actually live in a way that reflects these attitudes? Instead of claiming our price of ownership, we look for the everpresent opportunity to share everything we have. Trusting Jesus when he said that we don't have anything to worry about. He takes care of the birds of the are and cares for us so much more than that.
How much of our burden of the world would be released if we really do have the attitude "I Own Nothing". That is what Jesus himself said isn't it? Then Paul later told all of us, you should all have the same attitude as that of Jesus Christ.
Give it up and Gain everything.
Marc

Pet Peeves

2011-03-02T18:53:00.000-08:00

My Claro satellite TV has the big USA networks - ABC, NBC, CBS, & Fox - much better than the last system that had none of these but, had some pretty decent news stations. This morning I turned the TV to watch some news and my choice for the day was ABC's Good Morning America. There is tons of newsworthy stuff happening in the world right now like the civil distress in Libia, the current oil price rise, the economy, etc. None of these things led the "news" on GMA, nope the lead story was about Charley Scheen and his problems. Unbelievable.
I really didn't stress too much about the failure of ABC to report the news but, it did make me think about some of those pesky things that end up being called "pet peeves". Some of mine are quirky and some - I think would bug anybody. Here in no certain order are 10 things that bug me enough to be called a pet peeve.
1. When people use "facts" that just haven't been checked for accuracy - that bugs me. For instance, a friend for years has said that an old church in Honduras is the oldest one in the west. An easy check on this showed me that the oldest church is in the Dominican Republic, not Honduras.
2. Similar to number 1, using statistics that logic would easily show were not correct. Recently somebody quoted a "statistic" about violent deaths in Honduras that - if true would have meant that about 1 out of 5 people would be dead in 3 years. Violence is bad but not that bad.
3. Bugs me when somebody smacks gum, or stands behind me and eats crunchy food. (quirky)
4. Arguing over things that don't make any difference - a peeve that I am trying to no longer participate in.
5. People that won't allow their friend the missionary pick up the tab at a restaurant.
6. Oil futures go up at 8 AM and gasoline prices go up at 8:01.
7. Oil futures go down at 8 AM and gas prices go down at 8:01 - three weeks later.
8. Holier than thou people that have never lifted a finger to help somebody.
9. Arrogance.
10. Greed
So, that is the list. What bugs you?
What doesn't bug me is living and working in Honduras. I am blessed with the best job in the world and today was another great day in Honduras.
Marc

Words & Thoughts

2011-02-22T04:52:00.000-08:00

In January we were in Panama City, FL and I heard somebody use the words "professional Christian". It seemed to me that the context was not good - but when I thought about the way they sound, my feeling about the use was not too good. I guess that my first reaction would be that a "professional Christian" would be somebody that Does Christianity as a career - sort of an 8 to 5 thing. Or maybe a professional is somebody that is just in it for the money (not sure how this might apply to missionaries....haha). I really couldn't put my finger on the exacts of why I didn't like the sound of "professional Christian" but, I didn't then and I don't now. Well, I was ok with not liking the words but then it hit me that I am a missionary and work full time in a ministry - I could be one of the people that the bad sounding words were referring to. Hummmm...
On reflection, I have not changed my mind about the sound of the words "professional Christian". I do believe that paid or not, our claim of being a Christian is not a matter of "doing" but instead it is a matter of who we are. When I was in the secular work world, I never wanted to be defined by my job or my profession - I liked my work but, it was not the "who"of who I am. On the other hand, I do want to be defined by my relationship with Jesus - but, a personal claim of being a Christian is hollow if the way I live is not visible to the world we live in. Claiming to be a believer and living a life where nobody knows that Jesus is in there is nothing different than making a claim that you are a scholar and without knowing how to read.
Blessings,
Marc

Satan Is REAL

2011-02-17T00:54:00.000-08:00

"For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms." - Ephesians 5:12
These past months have been filled with the amazing reality of our God. He has shown himself in so many ways and has continually blessed Casa de Esperanza and the ministries of our work here in Honduras. We have also been constantly reminded that the enemy is real and working hard to destroy, hurt, and tear down years of kingdom work. Here are some examples:
- For many years, a group of believers from Texas worked to build a ministry to provide drinking water through drilling wells in communities throughout Honduras. Late in the fall, all of that came to a sudden halt. The ministry came to an end because of a number of reasons - pride, egos, or whatever. The real reason is that the original purpose of the ministry was somehow lost. Drilling wells in the name of Jesus was exchanged for something else and soon, everything fell apart and no wells are being drilled, millions of dollars of equipment are sitting idle, and people are thirsty and drinking bad water.
- Satan is currently attacking a ministry that cares for more than 50 kids. Faithful servants, friends of mine have been directing a children's home for many years. A change at the top of a board of directors has once again led people that know little about how things work to make decisions that will hurt kids, put the future of a children's home at risk, and take Jesus out of the picture. When Satan attacks, the trail is covered with hurting people and wrecked lives.
- Wrecked lives is exactly what Satan delivered in the other example.
Several years ago I met a man that had a vision to feed kids and teach them about Jesus. He had begun to work in several communities here in the Tegucigalpa area and before long, there were more than 700 kids being fed a healthy meal 5x a week. You could see God blessing this work and providing for the needs - much of it through the business of the man that I met. Recently, it has become public knowledge that the man that I met has fallen into Satan's snare. He has traded his love for the kids for sour fruit. His family is gone, his business is wiped out, and the kids have been hurt. Others are taking up the cause and the kids will continue to be fed - but, once again, the path is littered with the lives of those that the "Dark Side " has ensnared and those that were innocently in the way.
- We have seen a church that is very close to us attacked through one of the ministers and an illicit relationship. Lives and families destroyed and a trail of doubt within the body of believers.
In the darkness, nothing is sacred and nobody is immune. We have found that the harder you work for the kingdom, the more you are attacked.
Jesus told us to "take up your cross daily and follow me". This willingness to acknowledge that our lives are not our own, that "today, I would die for you, Jesus - is the only way I know to stop Satan's plan to take us out of the picture.
James, the brother of Jesus said, "Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you." James 4:7
Simply put, put God first in your life and make a relationship with him the number one priority.
Blessings,
Marc

Consumed

2011-01-24T05:57:00.000-08:00

Years ago, living in California and working for Nabisco, I was consumed - with HATE. The story goes like this -
I had been living and working in Memphs, TN for about 3 years and my company wanted to promote me. They actually gave me a choice of where to live - New Jersey or California. All you need to do is look at today's weather and see that California was the obvious choice. I was headed to CA to replace a guy that was the first National Accouts Director that Nabisco had ever appointed. He was a legend and had hand picked me to replace him as he was to retire about 6 months after I arrived. Well, things went great for about 5.5 months. Customers and the job were everything that anybody could every want. Then, the guy that I was to replace took about a month of "trial" retirement off and didn't like it at all. He concluded that he wanted to work a few more years and started trying to destroy my reputation and my career. Thank God I had a boss that could see through all of this and I was actually promoted into an even better position albeit much more difficult work. The result of all of this was my building consumption of hate for the guy that tried to destroy me. I was so consumed that I would drive to work and savor the ideas of how I could hurt the old man. Finally, I realized that I just had to let it go and forget about what had happened. I realized that the only person hurt by being consumed with hate was me. I realized just why Jesus told us that we needed to learn to forgive - just like him.
Isn't it amazing that God's plan for us - in both love and forgiveness is exactly what we need to be healthy and pleasant?
When people asked the greatest commandment, Jesus answered first love God, then love each other. We cannot possibly love each other if we cannot forgive each other. We need to be as consumed with love as I was with hate for the old man.
We can't be consumed with love for each other unless we follow the words that tell us - first love God, then love each other - and we cannot love God unless we are consumed with him.
Well, these are my monday thoughts,
Blessings,
Marc

9 Days From Home

2011-01-11T07:01:00.000-08:00

One month ago today, Terri and I travelled from our home in Honduras to the USA. We landed in OKC, spent the night with friends and before arriving in Borger, TX we spoke in churches in Shawnee and Wheeler. We have travelled to IL & MO, we were blessed to be able to preach, teach, & share with our friends and family in Texas & Mississippi and in Louisana. This weekend we will be with close to 3000 university students at an event called Gulf Coast Getaway in Panama City Beach. When we finish, we will pack up in FL, head to Texas and 9 days from today we will once again be back home in our little town of Santa Ana.
Santa Ana and Honduras are not too far away from the USA - at least by flight time but, they are a world apart in many other ways.

Our little country of Honduras has about 8 million people and the USA has about 320 million.
Honduras is about the same land mass as Tennessee which makes the USA way more than 50 times as large.
The average age of the population of Honduras is below 20 and in the USA it is above 30.
The average family in the USA has a car or 2, a house with 2 or more bedrooms, TV with cable, computers, internet, I-phones, and plenty of food. In Honduras more than 60% of the population live in poverty, live in a one room house, struggle daily for food, will never own a car, and may not even have access to electricity.
In my little country, the average age of first conception for young ladies is below 15 years old. In the USA it is over 21.
In Honduras today there are more than 1000 people - including kids that will try to find something to eat in a city dump.
In the USA - as flawed as it is, there is a foster care system that helps to rescue abused & neglected kids. In Honduras many of these kids just run away and live on the streets.

I could make a long long list that contrasts the differences between our little corner of the world and life in these United States. The point is, we need to open our eyes to what is happening in the world around us. We need to realize how blessed we are to be able to say, my home is the USA. We need to consider how we can utilize what God has given us - not just writting checks but by going and doing. We need to be the change that we want to see. We need to lead others and we need to share the Good News that we are blessed to know.

Marc

What If?

2011-01-02T13:01:00.000-08:00

The new year has started - here we are on the 2nd of January - fat from all the food we ate over the past couple of weeks, watching football and yelling for our team, and trying to decide if we really do want to go to the trouble of having some new years resolutions or not.
Watching all the football and visiting here in "SEC Country" reminds me just how crazy some folks are about "The Team". (doesn't really make any difference what team -The Team - is. Seeing excitement in action has me thinking "what if?"

What if we were as excited about going about doing things for others as we are about our team winning the Orange Punch Bowl?
What if we were just as excited about sharing Jesus with somebody as we were talking about our team's bowl performance?
What if we decided that people are more important than an accumulation of stuff?
What if we decided that we were going to trust God when he said that we don't need to worry?
What if we actually lived lives like we were the person that we want others to believe we are?
What if we decided to share the new clothes with others and keep the used ones for a while longer?
What if we kept the car for another year and spent the $500 a month feeding hungry kids?
What if we decided to love others - even when they don't love back?
What if we decided to go for a year without using the word HATE - especially when it involves another person?
What if we decided that we will no longer say anything bad about anybody - even when we know that they are saying bad things about us.
What if they know we are believers because of our love and our actions?

What If.................

Happy New Year,

Marco

Christmas 2010

2010-12-20T13:18:00.001-08:00

Pictures from the Jesus Banquet - The Dump, Tegucigalpa, HN Dec 8, 2010

The past 4 weeks have been a crush. Tons happening in Honduras leading up to the 11th of December - when our teams departed and we too headed to the USA. My good intentions of sharing something more than a new FaceBook status were not to be.

We had an amazing team of builders in Honduras during the annual build week - and Thanksgiving at Casa de Esperanza was wonderful. Some folks stayed around and we moved quicky into the week of the Jesus Banquet and once again, our God "blew us away". We served over 1100 an amazing meal, at the same time people were being fed, we had a store set up at the school - Amor, Fe, y Esperanza. People were able to shop for clothing, toys, shoes, and other things for themselves and their families. And! While the food was served and the store was shopped, a water purification system was being installed for the community around the dump. We finished the week with the construction of 2 houses, feeding children, working in the Mololoa Day Care Center, and buying and distributing more than 300 bags of fresh veggies for the families in Nueve Oriental.

We flew out to the USA on the afternoon of December 11 and were able to spend Sunday with churches in Shawnee, OK and Wheeler, TX. A few days with family in Borger and then on to IL - just outside of St Louis. We have many more miles to go before we head back to Honduras on January 19 - we will be back in TX for Christmas this weekend and we get to speak 3x at the Borger Church. In January we will be in Columbus, MS, Tupelo, MS (twice), Starkville, MS, Baton Rouge, LA, & finish up at the Gulf Coast Getaway in Panama City Beach - FL.

We are finishing up an amazing year and having a great time with our friends and family here in the USA. We believe that 2011 holds even more surprises.

We already have in the plans a lot of construction projects -

The Garden of Eden at the Dump will begin in mid April and will hopefully be operational and producing 1000's of pounds of food every month - by the end of 2011.

Casa de Esperanza II will be housing our mission teams and will b e very close to accepting new kids by this time in 2011.

The Garden of Eden - Campemento will likely begin construction by December of 2011.

Teams are already forming and formed - for much of 2011. Spring break will likely increase from 25 in 2010 to 65 in 2011. We will have a team in Honduras every week from May 12 to August 7. We will have at least one team on the ground in every month of the year - with the exception of February 2011. Amazing that just 4 years ago, we led one team to Honduras. We are so blessed to introduce people to the work that we love and that so many love it as much as we do.

Casa de Esperanza will be drilling for water in February of 2011 (we hope and pray).

We will continue to work with churches and communities in Honduras that need churches. We are working on ways to disciple people in the dump. We want to put Jesus at the center of everything we do.

This time of year, the world remembers the birth of Jesus. With that in mind, I want to wish everybody that stops by a very happy Christmas. I pray that your day is blessed and that you know that the Jesus of the Christmas story is alive and well. He is real and he is the reason for this season - although, I am not so sure he would care so much about the way many choose to celebrate this season.

My prayer for 2011 is a bit different - I pray that God will shake things up and make lots of people uncomfortable. I pray that people will start to look around for ways that they can help somebody that really needs a hand - and then do it. I pray that more of us will learn to give - maybe even learn to be excited about selling something important and giving it away to somebody that is hungry or can't pay a bill. I pray that people will stop thinking that good and faithful means going to sit in a pew once or twice a week - instead, I pray that they read about what Jesus says about helping others when he said "whatever you did for the least of these...you did it for me".

Blessings,

Marc

Cruz de Chatarra

2010-11-29T03:38:00.000-08:00

Cruz de Chatarra translated is "the scrap metal cross". Sometimes when I have a team scheduled to leave on a Sunday, we go to the Cruz to spend some time and take communion. I love the Cruz de Chatarra - the views are amazing it is a beautiful place.

There is a plant that grows below the cross that is called "the crown of Jesus". The plant is a vine that is very flexable - it has beautiful flowers and the thorns that cover it are as sharp as needles. This plant is a small reminder of the pain that Jesus suffered on his way to the cross. I cannot imagine having a crown of thorns shoved onto my head. The road to the cross that Jesus took for us must have been one of the most miserable, most painful, and most humiliating deaths ever. It is the one that we deserve but, he took for us. It is amazing to me that he was willing and that 3 days later he defeated death for us FOREVER!

I am not ashamed.

I am a believer.

His Grace is sufficient.

He is alive!

The God I Serve

2010-11-19T17:37:00.000-08:00

About a year ago, I was with a friend and recieved a telephone call offering a container of Manna Pack Rice meals. Cost to ship from MN - about $5,000 and no money available for shipping. I told my friend that if past experience was a good predictor of the future, our God would provide the shipping money in about a day. We accepted the load offer and went to the house to take care of some business. I prepared a FB message and before I pushed the post button, we prayed. History prevaled and within 24 hours (20 to be exact), the money was comitted and The God I Serve once again - was Himself.
Just 3 months ago, we emptied our warehouse of all of our food we prayed for God to send more and within days, we were offered 2 containers of Manna Pack. We prayed for the money to ship the containers and within a day, both containers were paid for.
When we returned to Honduras in September, we faced weeks of rain. The rains completely destroyed the bean crop and the price of beans rose from about 20 cents a pound to more than $1 in just days. We prayed for God to help us find a way to deliver some relief and once again, The God I Serve heard our prayer and we will recieve about 100,000 pounds of beans on the 29th of November. I am awed!
Even with answer after answer of our prayers, I still put limits on our Unlimited God. Just about the first of August, I put up a FaceBook post that talked about our dream of a new Casa Campus where we could rescue older girls. A place where we can share Jesus with young ladies and teach them how much "The God We Serve" loves them. That they can trust others and that the people that they trust will never abuse them or leave them. I posted that we wanted to build a sustained campus by including a place where we could house our mission teams and generate the revenue needed to support the new campus. In my mind, I limited The God I Serve with my doubt.
Once again, The God I Serve is an Unlimited God. A God that loves us when our faith is weak, that knows our dreams - better than we do, and a God that loves to surprise His children.
Today, we know that the new campus will be developed in 2011. We know that by sometime just over a year from now we will be petitioning IHNFA to extend our license to operate a the Casa de Suenos. By this time next year, our teams will sleep in a place that will support children and make it possible for Hope and Dreams to become real.
The God I Serve is Awesome, Amazing, Undescrible.

Asking For What You Want.

2010-11-16T17:35:00.000-08:00

My wife could tell you that I am not very good at taking hints. Those games where people muct give you a clue - then you try to figure out what the answer is - no thanks.

One year around Christmas Terri wanted something - and every morning she would open a catalogue to the page where her desire was and put it next to - or on top of my toothbrush. I never took the hint, I just moved the book and brushed my teeth.

Yesterday in Nicaragua I met a guy that didn't beat around the bush about what he wanted. It was a policeman and I was stopped at a "posta". Here in Central America, there are occasions where you get stopped at a posta and you just know that they are going to do everything that they can to find some "infraction" so that they can shake you down for a few bucks. It is a way of life and very "normal" - so much so that you come to expect it and make lots of jokes about it. I have often said that rather than a shake down, I wish they would just tell me what they need and give me a chance to get it - we would both end up feeling better about the situation. Well, yesterday in Nicaragua, the policeman was very nice - looked at all of my papers and then handed them back and kindly said, "our truck is low on diesel, is there any way you could help us out?" I told him sure thing - handed him $5 and was on my way. It was pretty funny and refreshing - not to be threatened with an infraction!

Knowing how much I liked having the truth presented to me - makes me reflect on several things - like how much easier life would be if we just "shot straight" with everyone on just about everything.....

Makes Me Laugh - The Top 10

2010-11-07T18:15:00.001-08:00

I have lived in this little country for 3 1/2 years now and have accumulated a bunch of stories - some of which really make me laugh. Thought I would share some of them with you - here are the top 10 - not necessarily in the order of the least to most funny.
1. A couple of years ago, I went to the rock at Villa Garcia to have some morning quiet time. There was a young lady there and we started to talk - she looked into the sky and said "ohhh, look at the eagles, aren't they beautiful." I said, "well, those eagles are buzzards!"
2. I use Claro for my cell service and a couple of years ago, they had an ad slogan "que tienes mas" (meaning - what more could you want or have). I was taking a young lady to the E-Room when she saw the Claro sign and she promptly said - "I didn't know they play tennis here".
3. This spring I had a college team here. One night we were talking about the Casa chickens and one of the young ladies started asking questions about "pregnant chickens". I asked her what she thought the egg thing was all about.
4. Couple of years ago the license tag on one of my trucks was loose and I chose to drive it to San Pedro Sula anyway. When I was loading luggage in the truck, I noticed that the tag was gone - fell off between here and SPS. I went to (try) to get a new tag and found out that you cannot lose a tag here in Honduras, nope, you must report it as stolen. Had to go to the criminal division of the national police and report my tag as stolen.
5. Similar to my stolen tag - last week I lost a paper for my residency renewal and had to go to the criminal division of the national police to report my lost paper.
6. Driving here is better than going to MGM, Disney, and Six Flags all at once. The uninitiated (gringos) don't always understand. I like to put them with Luis in one of my trucks so they can get the full experience. One particular group with Luis was about to have a "group cry" as he was doing a blind curve pass. Luis turned to them and said "don't worry, I don't want to die too!"
7. Last summer there was a group visiting Casa de Esperanza. I walked past two or three teen boys who were standing near our Ana. Ana had a serious look on her face and said - pointing at one of the teen boys, "Marco, el molesta mi!". The teen boy went pale and I got a serious look on my face and said - what did you do to my girl. He was about to cry and said "well, not that!". I had to laugh and tell him that all she said was that "he bothered me".
8. Here, something like 25% of the cars are minus tail lights, break lights, or both. Nobody every seems to worry too much about those pesky details because you don't need them to see ahead of you or to drive the car. The most enforced car laws here are - seat belts and no talking on the cell while driving. Second most - you must have a safety triangle in your car.
9. About 4 years ago, my daughter was driving around one of the traffic circles and was hit by a taxi driver. The cab driver jumped out of the truck and started yelling at Nicole that it was her fault because he honked and she didn't move.
10. In Honduras the transito police require that you have a Honduras Drivers License after you have been here for 3 months but, you cannot get a license without having residency and it takes about a year to acquire residency. Go figure.......
What are your funniest Hondo moments?

Johana

2010-11-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

I have known Johana for about 2+ years. When I first met her, she was very "stand-off-ish". She never smiled - at least when I was around. There was pretty much a spirit of distrust - she was a skeptic. I think she just wanted to see what we were all about and to see if we really cared or were just coming to make ourselves feel better...

After about a year, I went with a group of folks to provide food for our friends. After the food, the group brought out a bunch of coloring books and crayolas - meant for the kids. The most amazing thing happened - about 1/2 of the people that were involved in the coloring were adults. That day, I sat down in the middle of the dump with Johana and we colored together. I believe that our friendship began at that moment. What it took was being willing to sit down in the mess of the dump and spend some time.

In the year plus since that day, I have become acquanted with all of Johana's family including her sisters, her mom, and her little boy. In December of '09, Johana told me that she was pregnant. She is already one of the young ladies with kids that I had been helping with milk (with the promise that they would not bring them into the dump). I was blessed to be able to help Johana with vitamines and folic acid. In July of this year, Johana had her baby boy in Hospital Escuela - it was a c-section and the baby was a bit early. Johana called me as soon as she went to the hospital knowing that I would come to visit and to help out with a few needs for the baby. When I arrived at the hospital, Johana went to the nursary and brought out her baby boy and told me that she was naming him Marcos! I was humbled and honored.

This week I was able to go up to Johana's house to check on little Marcos and to take a few pictures. He is doing well and growing and I am blessed.

The Jesus Banquet

2010-10-30T05:30:00.000-07:00

Monday is November 1 and that means that in about 5 1/2 weeks we will be having the second annual Jesus Banquet at the dump.

Last year we planned to feed 400 and believe that when it was all said and done, there were something like 600 meals served. All of this started in early December 2008 when some friends from the Trace Crossing Church in Tupelo called and said that they would like to come and do something for Christmas at the dump. About 7 or 8 folks came to be a part of our regular feeding and then we distributed about 300 Christmas gifts to men, women, and adults. Later that night we sat at my house to talk about how we could make 2009 better. We decided that we would find a way to have a "sit down meal" for everybody. We talked about the parable of Jesus that describes the banquet where the rich man sent his servants into the streets to invite the poor, the lame, and others to his home for a feast. We talked about serving a meal that we would like. Flash forward to 2009 and the first Jesus Banquet was transformed from an idea to a reality. It was an amazing day. There were smiles, special guests like the First Lady, the Vice President, and many others - even Santa Clause. We believe that God smiled on that day.

Now, with just over a month to go, we are busily making plans to make the 2010 Jesus Banquet a very special day. We are moving the banquet across the road to a large soccer field so that we are not encouraging kids to come to a place where they don't belong. We are going to use the same restaurant to perpare the food but, we are going to pre-cook this year so that people are not forced to wait as much as two hours for food. We have 100's of Maji boxes for the kids, we are going to have a gift of soap, shampoo, and other goods for the adults. We are planning to feed at least 1,000. Many special guests will return to be a part of the day and many from the USA will be here to serve side by side with people from the churches of Honduras.

December 8, 2010 is going to be an amazing day.

Beans & Things

2010-10-25T15:28:00.000-07:00

One week ago today, I made a call to a friend and accepted the offer of 94,000 pounds of beans for 12 cents a pound plus shipping. The deal is, the folks want their money in advance and at the time, I only had about 30% of the total needed. I felt pretty good that we could get the funding for about 1/2 of the total of $20,000 needed but, I was not too sure where the other $10,000 would come from. I just knew that this little country is having a bean crisis and as of this week, the price of beans has risen to over $1.30 a pound.
Flash forward to this week and the money is taken care of. My food partners Trey Morgan and Bobby Moore - ( www.treymorgan.net and www.givebread.org ) were instrumental in making this second container a reality. The really cool thing about this food is that it will go to feed families. The first container will go to children's feeding programs that currently feed more than 2000 kids every day and to children's homes that have rescued 100's of kids. The second container will go to Campemento where it will be broken into 5 pound bags (about 9400 of them) and distributed to every house in the area.
One week ago yesterday, I found out that one of my friends from the dump had been hurt and was in the hospital. I had just written about Ana a couple of weeks ago - and part of what I wrote was her problem with huffing. Well, the day after I wrote about Ana, she almost died and was in the hospital recovering. Ana had two issues - and either of them could have killed her. She was pregnant - didn't even know it until somebody hit her in the stomach - killing the fetus and later making her septic. The second issue was because of her huffing. Seems that Ana was huffing paint thinner and somebody encouraged her to take a drink - and she did. The thinner burned her throat but, even worse, when the thinner went into her system, the poisons caused her to go blind. She also has some issues with numbness in her hands and other places. Since the 7th of October when all of this happened, Ana has regained some sight in her right eye and very very little in her left eye. She was released from the hospital on Friday and I went to take her to her home. Today we went to a specialist that could measure the way her brain picks up what her eyes are capible of seeing and they told me that the news is not good. I haven't told Ana that as of yet. I took her for breakfast and to buy a couple of pairs of jeans before taking her home. She just told me - Marco, I just want to see! I told her that I want her to be able to see.
Please pray for Ana. She really needs some hope.
Blessings,
Marc

Givebread.org

2010-10-20T04:29:00.000-07:00

We have great news! Last week we were offered 94,000 pounds (2 containers) of red beans for a delivered price of about 80% less than the current price of Honduras red beans.
There is a food crisis going on right now and the September / October harvest of beans in Honduras did not happen. The rains destroyed almost all of the beans in this country and that has driven the price up from 25 to 30 cents a pound to more than a dollar. Many places, beans cannot be bought for any price.
So, here is the deal! We are working with a number of children's homes to make sure that they have the beans they need to feed their kids until the next harvest. That will take care of the first container. For the second container we have been offered the opportunity from Bread for a Hungry World www.givebread.org for matching funds. We need to raise a total of $10,000 to pay for the beans and the shipping. Bread has offered to support the need with a dollar for dollar match up to $5,000. Net - the hungry people here need some food, and we have a plan to help.
Use the link above to give through the Bread for a Hungry World web site.
Because of this, we will be able to provide more than 9000 households with beans for Christmas.
Working together, we can make this happen!
Be a blessing to somebody - Today!
Marc

Being a Follower

2010-10-19T04:30:00.000-07:00

What is the cost?
About a year and a half ago, I was encouraged to join a men's service organization here in Honduras. One of my questions was "what is the cost"? I was concerned about both the time and the actual financial cost. My work here is very consuming and I needed to make sure I could afford the monthly dues. If the cost of either was too much, then there was no way that I would make a comittment.
This early morning, I was reading about Jesus calling of his apostles - the 12 -. I don't know if they had advance notice of the cost of following him but, since Jesus is who he is, I would guess that they knew...the cost. These 12 gave up everything to be followers. Later one chose to leave and the remaining 11 were willing to give up their health, their welfare, and many of them their lives to be a follower. Jesus never promised them anything different.
For us? The promise is the same.
We hear a lot of stuff about the cost of being a follower - anything from all you need to do is pray this prayer and say "I believe", or just be a good person and all will be great. I am not sure where this stuff comes from because it is not what my bible says. My bible says that beliving is not just saying some words but, it is giving everything to HIM. My bible says "take up your cross daily and follow him" - a willingness to die for him - daily. My bible says that Jesus is the only way and that none of us are worthy without him and the only way to have him is to give it up completly for him.
Well, today I am preachy but, I am not ashamed. I am a believer and I am a follower.

Used Shoes

2010-10-14T18:34:00.000-07:00

Today, my food container finally arrived and we had a team of about 10 helping to unload the 1200 cases - all by hand. It is hard work and way worth it to be able to provide about 250,000 meals for hungry kids.
During the unload, there were three kids that showed up to watch. I kept thinking that they were going to ask for some money or something but, they were content to stand off to the side and watch. About half way through the container, I walked down the road to buy some water and I saw the kids sitting - almost asleep in a taxi that was in pretty bad shape. After I bought the water, I decided that I would offer these kids a chance to help out and earn a little money. Containers always generate a ton of trash and it is our job to clean up the mess so, I decided that perhaps these kids might want to help and earn a little money. I asked them and they all jumped out of the taxi to follow me. The three kids - 2 girls and a boy went to work quickly and did a great job. After a few minutes, I asked the kids their names and their ages - they were Alexandra 9, Henry 11, and Maria 12. They were shy and looked as if they hadn't had a bath in several days - maybe weeks. I asked them if they were in school and they told me that their dad didn't have enough money to send them. When they told me this, I felt as if we - the big people - have failed "the least of these". Lots of stuff jumping in my head "how can we live in a world that accepts as a norm (in forgotten countries) that the poorest kids don't get to go to school?" "how can this be fixed?" "why?"
I cannot even pretend that I have an answer to this and the many many other issues that are impacting Honduras and much of the world that we know nothing about. I do know that we must take the opportunty - and seek the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the people that God puts into our lives. I do know that when we come face to face with the needs of children and others, we are faithless if we "walk on by". James called it Dead Faith!
My daily prayer is that God will show me what he wants and shows me clearly how to do what he wants me to do.
These little guys today touched me and I cannot get them out of my head. I went into my bodega with a load of food and saw that I had an opened box of used shoes. I was able to find a pair for each of the girls - but didn't have a pair for Henry. The girls were all smiles. Over USED Shoes. I can't say that I have ever worn used shoes and if I had, I don't think I would have been too excited about it. Most folks where I come from would think that wearing shoes that somebody else had first used is a bit "gross". Here - this is just not the case. I doubt if Alexandra and Maria have ever had a new pair of shoes. Maybe never will...........
Ps: I did have a sweatshirt for Henry and he was pleased too.

Best Job in the World

2010-10-13T18:52:00.000-07:00

Terri and I are well into our 4th year of life in Honduras.
Our time here has flown by and we are both amazed as we see what God has planned for us to do.
When we started our work toward moving to Honduras, we listed a number of plans and some are falling into place where others are no longer part of our plans.
In our original plans we thought that Casa de Esperanza would grow to be a home for more than 100 kids by now. Once here it was pretty easy to see that this little home was meant to stay a bit smaller than many places we see that are sort of like warehouses for kids. The Casa campus where we live is likely to be full at 30 to 35 kids and it will be filled slowly so that every child that comes here will be loved and will know that they are loved.

In our original plans, we hoped to grow our short term teams and God has blessed our dreams. By the time that 2010 ends, we will have led 15 teams - compared to 3 during our first year here. We already have 3 more teams in 2011. Our teams are the foundation of our ministry here. Because of the teams, we are able to introduce others to the work and as that happens, people fall in love with one of the ministries.

When we moved here, we never planned to work in the dump yet, our work there is growing and our relationships are leading us to be able to disciple people. We will be making some announcements about the future of our work in the dump in early December.

When we were making plans to move here we never planned to facilitate the shiping and recieving of containers from the USA. Even during our first year here, my experiences told me that shipping and recieving containers was not worth the time and effort. As we began to explore how we could help feed children, we discovered that our God wants his kids fed and that he would use us to get food to them. In just the last year, we have been given more than 400,000 pounds of food to help with children's feeding centers and other places with needs for food for kids. Right now, we are awaiting the reciept of a food container and have another due before the end of 2010. In addition to food, many of the churches where we lead teams have packed clothing and supply containers for our work here.

My plan here is not to do a 3 year wrap of everything that has happened - because I wouldn't finish till tomorrow. We are very blessed in our work here and neither of us can imagine doing anything else. These days it seems that the opportunities before us are very big. We are in process of helping some friends get their children's home project up and running by the end of 2010. We are working on a fantastic project for the dump. We are planning the 2010 Jesus Banquet at the Dump, we are working with a water well drill team, we are planning to begin construction of our own mission house, we are making plans for a Casa campus for older girls, we are working with the Bread project in Campemento, wow! Lots ahead and we are blessed to have his plans revealed - a little at a time.

We are blessed to be here and nothing has changed on my thought that I really do have the best job in the world.
Marc

Ana

2010-10-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

Ana is about 16 and lives in a house just outside of the entrance to the Tegucigalpa Dump. I have known her for about 2 years. When I first met her, she was bright eyed and smiled a lot. Lately, every time I see her, she melts into weeping and wants to bury her head into my shoulder and cry.
Ana has changed a lot in the last 2 years. She has started to "huff" - putting glue or other combustable into a cloth and holding it over her mouth and nose until she is high. I first noticed this about 6 months ago - when she was still smiling. I tried then to talk to her and begged her to stop. I even took her by the hand and we walked around the dump and looked at the guys that are completly empty because they have destroyed their brains from huffing. I prayed for her and for a while she stopped coming to the dump and stopped huffing.
In July one of my teams had a clothing event in the school across the road from the dump and Ana was there with her little sister. She was clear eyed and was fairly happy that day. She told me that she was not going into the dump anymore because that is where she always huffed and almost always was raped and beat up.
Yesterday she was back in the dump. She was high and I am sure that before the day ended, she was raped again. When I saw her she was so sad.
Ana needs HOPE and prayer and some way out! Pray for her.

Fishy Veggy Thing

2010-10-05T06:12:00.000-07:00

About 2 months ago, the dump video came out and - full version. The close of the video has an idea for a way to grow food that seems to have tons of merit. Andy Hughbright and Nate Hale - my brothers from Nashville are the team that did most of the work on the Dump Video and have a passion for helping the poor and for developing sustainable projects that can provide for others. Andy and Nate were responsible for pulling together the idea of the aqua-culture project as a way to help people to break out of the dump.
Well, it is really looking like we may be making this idea a reality! Lots to do but, lots has already happened - to get the ball rolling on a way to feed more hungry people.
Pray that in the coming 2 to 3 weeks that we can have a solid plan to start building and get the process in place that we can start growing food and raising fish for food - all at the same time.
I will have a lot more to follow up on this over the coming days.
Marc

Dump Soup

2010-09-29T17:03:00.000-07:00

The rainy season here began in April, it started strong and it has not let up. We have had rain for so many days in a row, that most of us cannot remember the last time it was clear and sunny all day long. For the past couple of weeks and especially for the last 7, we have pretty much had non stop hard rain. The rain has not kept us from our Wednesday comittment to feeding people and even though it has rained hard for the past 7, we never considered not going to offer food for our friends.
Today, we took two of our pick-ups into the dump and the road was the worst that it has been since we have been feeding there for 2.5 years. You could call it mud but, the mix is completely indescribable. It is very slippery and that makes it difficult to drive up the mountain into the center of the dump - and where the people are. Once the mountain is climbed, we begin the decent into the pit of the dump. The many inches of rain that have accumulated there make this nasty mix that we jokingly call "dump soup". It is - well, nasty. The dump always stinks and rain just brings a mix to the surface that makes it more ripe than ever.
Going up to feed a couple hundred people in the "dump soup" is something that I wish more of my non-dump friends could experience. A little "dump soup" is healthy and it will change the perspective of almost everybody that has a sample. It makes you appreciate simple things - more, it makes you want to share - more, dump soup makes some people cry - but they are healthy self reflection tears. Sampling dump soup makes some people make important - life altering decisions - decisions that some would say need lots of thought - but after dump soup, the decisions are obvious.
Dump soup is really impossible to describe to those that haven't sampled it and the only place you can get it is - well... in the dump. It can't be tasted anywhere else.

Adventure Land

2010-09-26T18:28:00.001-07:00

NOT Disney!

Last week we had friends here from Walnut Creek, CA. (SF Bay Area) The week was great and we were able to get 2 houses built - the first in Ojojona was fairly easy. It was close to the road and fairly easy to build. The second house was in Tatumbla - a place where lots of folks have lost houses to the mud and rains. We built a house for Maria Josefina and her son as the old place was no longer livable. When we arrived at the site, the wood was on the main road - about 3 KM above the town. There was an empty lot right next to the road so, I wrongly assumed that we would be building there. There was also a group of men waiting with the wood - I quickly found that they were there to help our little team carry wood. The lot for the new house was about a more than a quarter mile straight up the mountain on a muddy trail. There was an old house that needed to be removed too. The house was easily completed in a day and Maria was thrilled.

On Wednesday we went to the dump and afterward, JoHana took us to see little Marcos. I will post a picture very soon. He is beautiful. Once we took care of Johana, we were off to visit the homes of Luz and Jasinia - it is in grave danger of an immediate collapse of the entire mountain. I am looking for somebody in the government to help us with some land so we can build a new house - soon. Next, we were off to see Lourdes new baby girl. Lourdes is Fani's sister and she and the baby are doing well. They live in a gang infested neighborhood and three pick-up loads of gringos drew a lot of attention - but, all ended well.

On Thursday, the real Adventure Land began. We were off to the east to visit the farm that was recently purchased by my friend John Zeller. John and his brother have had an interest in owning a Honduras farm and this year, the place that they really wanted became available - so they bought it. The best description of how to get there is go to El Paraiso and turn left. Go two hours past the boon-docks and you will be at John's farm. John says it is only an hour and a half from El Paraiso but, I am not too sure about his ability to calculate time. The road on Thursday was rain soaked and it is up the mountain - the entire trip. Part of the ride is on the crest of the mountains - where there are cliffs on both sides. One especially "fun" part of the drive was a mud wash on a very steep climb. The road looked like it came from one of those mud bog competitions that is designed to keep even the best 4x4's from making the grade. About the time we - by the way, there was a sheer cliff on the left side of the narrow mud path. About the time we started up, it started raining harder than all day. John was heading up first and after slipping a good portion of the way, made it past the bog. My green toyota was the only vehicle with no issues and I was last. By the time I started up, the other two trucks had really rutted the road and my truck immediatly headed toward the cliff. My passengers were saying they would be willing to walk and lighten the load but, I told them that we were all in this together. If I am going off the cliff, it won't be alone. My next try was a bit better because instead of the cliff side, I went into the tree side and my truck was held back by a broken limb in the wheel well. Once I was cut out by my chainsaw, we were finally able to continue the adventure. A few KM later, we had to take all of the wood (for John's new outhouse) off of the toyota and re-stack and re-tie the load. Load shifts are hard to stop when the ruts make you drive 50% of the time on 2 wheels. anyway, through many prayers, a few tears, and lots of adventure driving, we arrived at the farm. We built the new outhouse - after first digging the 3x3x6ft deep hole. The ride down was easier and we survived 2 days with no outside world communication. All in all, it was best described as another great day in Honduras - adventure land. I am blessed with the best job in the world.

Great Needs

2010-09-22T04:44:00.000-07:00

We live in a world with great needs and I am not amazed that it is too easy to overlook them - I lived for years in my own world that just tuned out what is reality. Here in Honduras we are able to recieve a couple of USA news channels and watching them is a constant reminder that living in the USA makes it easy to not know too much about the world we live in. If all we rely on is the news we see on TV, then it would seem that all that is important is involved with politics or with Paris Hilton. Every now and then, there is a 30 second blip on an earthquake somewhere in the world that killed 30,000 - but, real world is, you just don't see or learn much about happenings outside the borders.
This sort of world view limits perception to about 4 1/2 percent of the world population. It limits what we know or see about how God's creation is living. It also makes it easy to ignore the "GO" words that Jesus spoke when he was about to ascend into heaven - go into all the world! Ignoring the world means that our only focus is on about 1 out of 22 people on the planet. It makes it easy to forget hunger, the need for clean water, the pain of being alone, abuse by family or government, poverty, and especially the need for the hope that Jesus offers.
The little country where I live is full of poor, problems, top to bottom corruption, and needs. It is only 1,000 miles south of Houston, TX yet, a good portion of folks in the states would not have a clue where Honduras is - I was the same before I came here the first time. We are the same when it comes to the many many places in this world where the needs are the greatest. A big part of the reason is that we just don't understand what real needs are. Here, the need for food is great because more than 40% of the people will wake this morning with nothing to eat - absolutely nothing. We often help with food and with feeding children in places where there is no food in the house - yesterday, I had a team in the feeding center in Nueve Oriental and there, more than 250 kids ate lunch and it is very likely that more than half of them will not eat again until they have lunch there today. Today, we will go to feed about 300 people in the Tegucigalpa Dump and it is likely that most of them would have had nothing to eat today unless they found something edible in the dump or were in the line behind the truck where we are blessed to share a hot meal.
It would be pretty easy to look at the world and either become hardened to the needs or overwhelmed with all of the needs and maybe that is the reason that we ignore many of those needs. We certainly cannot change the world alone - but, we can make changes in the lives of one at a time and we can introduce hope to people - one at a time, and we can share Jesus with others by the way we live, share, and participate in their lives.
Open the eyes of my heart Lord, Open the eyes of my heart!

Holy Spit

2010-09-18T04:00:00.000-07:00

First blogged this in 2005. I really like the story about Holy Spit!

Have you ever thought what it would be like to have lived in the first century and had actually seen Jesus first hand? This guy comes into your town and touches a leper – and he is not a leper anymore! I mean, how amazing would it be to see someone touch a guy that was untouchable and then, boom, just like that his skin is completely healed. What about the man that was blind from birth can now see? Would you believe it? Would I believe it? What about Lazarus? You know he was dead. He was sick and he died and he has been in the ground for long enough that you know he is stinking. And this Jesus walks into town and calls him out of the grave…..and he comes.

I think that if I saw Jesus doing the things that he did, healing, casting out demons, making the lame walk, the blind see, and the dead – alive again, I’d want to follow him just to see what he did next.

Then I think, all I need to do is open my eyes to the words that describe what Jesus did and then close them so that I can visualize the scene. We have the recorded history of the miracles of Jesus. We have the actual things that he did for those in need – ready to read about - right at our fingertips. We have wonderful minds that can think us into the picture so that we can experience the amazing and awesome images that the Holy Spirit drew for us in the scriptures.

Sometimes I read about the miracles that are recorded in the gospels and in Acts like they are routine or even fiction. Whenever I take the time to really study the words and try to visualize the image that is drawn out in the words, I am awed. Our God is an awesome God!

Here is a really great description that an unknown author put together by putting himself into the picture of a miracle in process. I hope everyone that reads it enjoys it as much as I did.

Holy Spit

So I'm walking just outside my village the other day, just minding my own business, and I see a small group of people gathered around a couple guys. Just the fact that there were even a few people outside the village was a bit odd, but they were all looking intently at the two guys in the middle.

I recognized the one guy first. He's the blind guy. Every now and again I'd give him a coin. I figure he needs it. He's blind. I do my very best to respect people who have some challenges. I figured that this other guy was going to do something nice for the blind guy.

I moved closer in to see what was happening, and, I am not making this up, the other guy spit right in the blind guy's face. Then he starts mashing the spit around with his fingers. I was pretty ticked off. I got in closer because I wanted to give this jerk a piece of my mind. I got close enough to hear what he said. I couldn't believe it. First he spits int he blind guy's face, then he smashed the spit into his face, then he has the nerve to ask him if he sees anything. I'm not sure if you can get any more insulting than that.

What happened next knocked me out of my sandals.

The blind guy answered spitman, "I see people, but they look like trees walking around."

Thr crowd laughed because, well that's a very funny thing to say. I did not laugh. This guy who was 100% blind was seeing something.

Then this spit guy smashes the spit even further into the blind guy's eyes.

"How about now? What do you see now?"

"I can see everything. My eyes are clear!"

Some people yelled out shouts of joy. Some people fell to the ground. Others hugged. The blind guy just looked and looked at things. That little crowd was so happy.

Then the spit man tells them all not to tell anyone. Well, that was the last thing I thought he was going to say. I figured this guy could make a fortune with this kind of spit. Not only was he not interested in money, he was not interested in being famous. All I know is that if I had holy spit, I would be milking it for all I was worth.

I wanted to talk to this guy, but he left so quickly. I have a couple of questions for him. I'm going to keep looking for him. I'm sure I'll find him, if I just keep looking.

Great DAYS In Honduras

2010-09-17T16:59:00.000-07:00

There is a lot to like about living here in Honduras. I usually get up with no alarm - sometime around 5. I stumble into the kitchen and make some Honduras coffee and clear my head and thoughts. Morning is a great time to talk to God. Some time around six, I head over to Casa to join our kids with morning devotional. The kids are getting out of bud - rubbing their eyes and they don't have coffee and an hour to wake up. I love to sing and pray with our kids every morning and mornings are about the only certain thing that I have.
These days, there is just a ton of happenings. We are working on 2 containers that have or will ship this month - September. Both shipments will have somewhere around $100,000 worth of food and will deliver more than one half million servings of a very good tasting and good for you rice and veggy meal. Having containers on the water means that we need to have all of the legal papers in the right hands before the container arrives in the port. It also means that we are going to have the warehouse space and a clean place to store our food. The good news is that everything is in place for both containers - we will be using one of the containers here in the Tegucigalpa area and the other in the Campemento area. Lots of kids will be fed with the Manna Pack that will be here soon.
We are also working with a lot of folks in the states to help fill up a container in Tupelo, MS. The Trace Crossing Church has a trailer in their lot and every Saturday between now and the middle of October there is a work team collecting things that will help the people here in Honduras. I am especially happy that there will be a lot of Christmas boxes for kids and these will be targeted to the kids around the Tegucigalpa Dump, kids in the feeding / Sunday School program in Los Pinos, and kids in the Campemento area. Likely to use more than 1,000.
We are shopping for land for the next Casa campus. That campus will include a "mission house"for our teams and will be a place that we can use to rescue young lades that are stuck in the system of the Honduras - state run care facilities. We hope to identify a place to purchase within the coming weeks.
We are working on a project that has the possibility of providing food for thousands of families and will offer the opportunity to move some of the people in the dump into a better situation.
We are also working on another feeding project, the Jesus Banquet at the Dump, hiring house parents for casa, 2011 teams, and a few other things that I just can't think of right now.
Frankly, we are blessed with lots of opportunity and we are amazed at how our Maker sends people, resources, and the encouragement to get stuff done. I just call it Kingdom work and because my days are filled, I am blessed - and never bored.
Thanks for stopping by.
Marc

Making Friends

2010-09-15T15:09:00.000-07:00

Terri and I are both blessed with some amazing friends. We are constantly amazed at how people are placed in our lives in ways that could only be directed by our amazing God. I could not even begin to make a list of the people that were put into place in our lives for specific purpose. There is no way that I intend this to mean that we are any different that anybody else - I an sure that believers have a father looking after their needs and many of those needs are met by the people that he places in their lives.
Then, there are the random friends that come into our lives that - well, likely are not random but sure seem that way. About 2 and a half years ago when we started working weekly in the dump, I never thought about making friends at the dump. At the time my Spanish was pretty poor so communication was a bit difficult and I just wanted to go and serve. As time has passed, my ability to communicate has improved, enough others go with us to serve that I actually have time to get to know many of the people that we go to serve.
Today, I returned to feed for the first time in several weeks. When we are in the states, we have great friends here that make sure that our Wednesday service continues - but, I haven't been since the first of August. The time of feeding was calm and lots of people said that they missed me and greeted me with hugs, hand shakes (or knuckle hits), smiles, etc. There wasn't a lot of time to have much conversation because there were only 4 of us and we all had jobs to do to get the food to the people. My really good friends waited until the last person was served and then they just climbed into the back of the truck to tell me welcome home. Luz, Fany, JoHana, and Paula were so kind. We had about 50 servings of food left and I told them that we were going to go to Buen Samaratano - a neighborhood near the dump to serve the people there. I was surprised when 3 of the girls wanted to go with us to serve the rest of the food and was impressed that they wanted to carry some of the bowls door to door.
When we finished serving and were getting ready to leave, a lady walked up and told me that my friend Francisco wanted to see me. Francisco is a man that I met in June - the first time in the neighborhood. He owns a small tienda and he shared water and Jesus with us and has been consistent with that every time that I have seen him. His wife found out that I was in the neighborhood and came to tell me that he is gravely ill. She wanted me to come to their house and pray with him. I was honered to to that and sure enough, when I was telling Francisco good-bye, he started telling me once again how great Jesus is. Francisco is another that I would have never picked out as someone that would be my good friend - but he is.
I am truly blessed with some amazing friends and I am not ashamed to tell them -
I love you!
Marc

Scraps

2010-09-13T06:14:00.000-07:00

This morning I was cooking some eggs for Terri and I - just as they were finished and while scooping them onto a plate, they fell into the floor. I laughed - because while getting the eggs out of the fridge I had already dropped one on the floor and decided that it must be Monday morning. I was quick to realize that my dog would not mind eating the eggs off of the floor because dogs just don't mind eating scraps.
I've been thinking about scraps lately because it seems that that is the way we train ourselves to give. Just think about it - think about how often you see little tin cans in churches with pictures of kids from a children's home and the words "spare change please". Almost everywhere you go you will find some kind of jar asking for help for some cause or some need and all you have to do is give some change or what you might be able to "spare".
We spent Friday night in a hotel next to the Atlanta airport and I walked across the street - fast food - coming back, there was a homeless guy and he asked for any spare change that I might have. I had zero $$ and told him that but I told him he could have my french fries. I was happy to share but, later wondered why I didn't give him the sandwich and keep the fries for my meal? I guess that I have been trained well in the act of giving something that I can "spare". SCRAPS
Yesterday during worship, Ivan talked about extreme faith and some of the examples he used were about giving. I don't think he ever used the spanish word for scraps but, I am sure that his context was something similar.
I just don't remember Jesus ever saying - "all I want is what you can spare. A few SCRAPS would be great. Just think of what we can do if all of you believers give only what you think you can spare!" I do remember the example of the widow that gave 2 coins and it was ALL SHE HAD. I remember the young man that followed all the rules but was just not able to give everything he had because - well, he had a lot. I do remember the words "take up your cross, every day and follow Me!"
Next time, I am going to share the sandwich and the fries! No more scraps.

Big Church

2010-09-11T18:11:00.000-07:00

I remember when my oldest son was maybe 3 or 4. We lived in Lubbock and attended the Broadway Church and there were something like 2000+ people there on most Sunday's. It was definantly "Big Church". So big in fact that unless you were in a class, your chances of getting to know somebody or make connections was pretty slim. My boy Ryan wasn't particularly enamored with "Big Church". He would have much rather stayed in his class with his buddies. Sitting wasn't someting that he really wanted to do and Broadway had issues with the seats anyway. I don't know the story of how they ever decided to install movie theater style seating in a church building but they did. The selection comittee obviously had not taken the time to try out the seating with a 4 year old. When in Big Church, Ryan loved to sit and then sort of dive out of the seat so that it would flop back up and make tons of noise....then repeat. I remember one Sunday in Big Church when Ryan insisted in the up/down/make noise thing to the point that I told him that if he did it again, I was going to take him out and beat him. Well, I really wasn't going to beat him but, when he jumped off the chair just as a man was starting a prayer, I picked him up and started to the back of the building (who knows why we would sit 3 rows from the front) and Ryan screamed into the silence - the whole trip - DON'T BEAT ME DADDY, PLEASE DON'T BEAT ME. Needless to say, nobody listened to the prayer and lots of folks were laughing. I was laughing so hard when we got outside that there was not much way to even do much of a swat.
This really was not my thought when I started this blog on Big Church. I really wanted to share some of my thoughts or maybe just speculation on what seems to be happening in parts of the USA. It seems that a number of churches have decided that UpSizing is a great thing. I am not talking about growing in numbers - I am pretty sure that that is pretty Biblical. No, I am just pondering the 'bigness' of some of the places that some choose to call "houses of worship". All this thinking started last December when I heard about a Dallas church that has decided to build a new campus and they made a big announcement about the fact that it is going to be a $125 million place - complete with a 4 story cross in the lobby - of course set in a waterfall. My first thought was that I would not want to be the church leader that had to stand in front of the Master and try to explain how this was a good idea. My second thought was a bit more selfish - because I calculated that the same $125,000,000 would enable us to build something like 87,000 block houses. Now, 87 thousand houses that would average 6 per house would put a pretty big dent in the housing needs of the people here in this poor country that I call home.
Once I put all of these thoughts to the side, I really just started thinking about what "Big Church"should really be about and it was a pretty simple conclusion. When the church started at the end of Acts 2 - the people met together daily, they ate - together, they prayed - together, and when somebody had a need - they provided - even if it meant that somebody else sold something of value. Hummmm. When is the last time you went to "Big Church"and somebody encouraged you to sell something so that another brother's needs could be met? I don't remember ever hearing this sermon.
So, it is my pleasure to encourage you to take a look at what Acts says about how we might want to do church and if needed, sell a few things and help some of your brothers.
Blessings

It's About Time

2010-09-08T14:53:00.000-07:00

Isn't it about time that we stopped worrying about the large lot of things that just don't make any difference and start doing something about the things that do matter?
Being in the states for these few weeks, we have been bombed with a lot of talk about some people that want to stop some people in NYC from building a mosque because the place is "sacred". Now, the big talk is about some idiot in Florida that wants to burn some copies of the qoran (I know the spelling is bad). The thing about both of these is that neither of them make any difference and they should not be news.
News is that even if the mosque is built or the idiot burns the books, the world we live in is a mess. There are nearly 7.0 billion people on this big ball and about 50% of us are living with hunger, disease, bad water, abuse of young women (and women of all ages), kids selling themselves for sex, parents selling their children, single moms that cannot feed their kids, bad houses, no houses, and a general need for a little bit of hope.
News is that we have some good news that we can share but, we tend to spend our time worrying about things that don't make any difference so much so, that we don't have the time to GO and share with people that really need some good news.
It is about time that we get up and GO! Go into the places where we can make just a little bit of a difference in the lives of people that really need somebody to come. To come and say how much they care by showing it in the way they serve.
Make me a servent, Lord make me like you!

Thanksgiving and the Jesus Banquet

2010-08-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving build week is coming up quickly. Last year we were blessed to celebrate Thanksgiving in Honduras by building houses for 12 families. Buid week is becoming a tradition. 2010 is the 3rd annual and the needs continue to be great. Since the first of June there has been more than 100 inches of rain in many parts of Honduras and that much rain has destroyed many many homes. We know that we cannot rebuild every house but, we can touch the lives of 10 to 15 families during the traditional time that many in the USA are offering thanks for the many blessings that GOd has given them. If you want to come to build week, plan now and let me know. The cost is the same as a week in the summer - $1350 will buy you the opportunity to build on a house every day - except Thanksgiving Day. It will buy you air fare, 2 meals a day, and a Thanksgiving Feast with the Casa Kids. (Insurance & exit fee too).

Just a couple of weeks past build week, we will celebrate the 2nds annual Jesus Banquet for the Dump. On December 8, we will set up tables and chairs - (with table clothes) and serve an amazing meal to 1,000. Our plan for 2010 is to prepare a Christmas box for every child and a bag of hygene goods for every adult. The Jesus Banquet is a unique event and we want as many as possible to come and serve this meal to our friends from the dump. Most folks are planning to come on the 6th or 7th and will stay until the 10th or 11th. Those planning to stay with the group need to contact me at facebook or by email at marclt2003@yahoo.com and I will outline the cost of lodging, meals, transport, etc. Imagine - serving more than 1000! It will definantly be another great day in Honduras.

Much To Report

2010-08-03T17:15:00.000-07:00

May through July has flown by and there is much to report on.
May began with an annual fundraiser for our ministry in the Tegucigalpa Dump. We completed 2 years of ministry in the dump in April and we have never had to make a plea for work funds. The cause of the poor in the dump has been seen and many, many people have come to us to share in this work. Campus Church of Christ in Atlanta was one of the first and later in 2009, our friend Trey Morgan took up the cause.
On May 5, Trey Morgan, the minister of the Childress, TX Church of Christ held the 2010 "Dump Day" fund raiser. The result was simply amazing in both dollars and in new connections. We were blessed with plenty of funds to pay for food for the coming year and additionally, we were blessed with a matching contribution from a Texas NGO called Bread For a Hungry World. The folks from Bread donated funds that will become the seed money for a brick and morter facility that will provide for health and spiritual development of our friends at the dump. The net of the day was amazing.
On May 11, we hosted a team of college students from Middle Tennessee State University. This team was here for four weeks and we were very blessed to be able to work in many areas including Copan Ruins. The team stayed in our home and were a very big help when Terri had to go to the hospital at the end of May. As I am sure that most of you know, Terri had emergency surgery on May 27 - obstruction in her colon. She is much better now but, for weeks, she was a very sick lady.
Our teams this summer were from Tupelo, MS; Columbus, MS; Baton Rouge, Layfayette, Overland Park, KS; Borger, TX; Starkville, MS; Jacksonville, IL; Childress,TX; and smaller groups and individuals from NC, MO, CA, OK, and many other places. We pretty much ran from May 11 until August 2. Our teams participated in building, feeding, loving, visiting, teaching, providing medical care, and helping the people of Honduras. We built 45 wooden houses and 3 block houses. We mixed tons of cement to build a new soccer field for Casa de Esperanza. We fed thousands of meals at the dump and provided 1000's of bags of food for the homes of people that really needed some food. We treated more than 1000 in medical clinics. We were able to help something like 3,000 people to have clothing and shoes. We held 2 VBS's in the dump. We went into the dump and held a medical clinic and a wound care clinic. We provided formula for babies of moms working in the dump and promise to not bring their babies there. And, there were 25 people that decided to follow Jesus and chose to be baptized. I am sure that I missed some of the work - so add anything you see that I missed to the comment section.
Our work here in Honduras has continued to be very blessed by the shipment of many containers. It is very expensive and time consuming to deal with containers however, we have chosen to make this a part of our work. From May through July, we recieved 4 containers. One with food, one with mission supplies for our summer work, and two with hospital beds. The shipments have benefited many thousands of people. For the balance of the year, it looks like we will have at least 2 more shipments that will include Christmas boxes for many many children and school supplies for many many children. It is very likely that we will also be offered another food container. Food is one thing that we just won't turn down.
The children's home - Casa de Esperanza is doing very well and we are in the process of trying to hire house parents or a house mom. We have a beautiful new home that is ready for kids and we know that our God will send the right person(s) to allow us to continue to rescue more children.
In August, we plan to travel to the states where we will be resting a bit as well as travelling to a few locations to speak about our work.
I would like to thank our friends and supporters that make it possible for us to continue to work here in Honduras. We are blessed to be here and our partners in this work make it possible.
I am doing almost daily updates on FaceBook and would be happy to answer any questions that you might have by email.
Thanks,
Marc

April 2010

2010-04-24T13:36:00.000-07:00

We have been working on several different ministries and projects since the first of 2010. At the top of the list is Casa de Esperanza. As you know, we have a completed facility for 10 more children - and that home was completed about a year ago. Our first attempt at hiring house parents was not what we expected and the result was a delay in bringing newly rescued children to the campus. About a year ago, we hired a lady from the Los Pinos community to come here to be the "tia" or aunt to the children of our new house. After months of training and observaiton, we added the first new kiddos to the home. We have not observed what we had hoped and as a result, we are making a change. The 2 kids in the new home will remain at Casa but, our Tia is leaving at the end of April. We are blessed that God has sent us another couple that will arrive at the end of May and we have faith that we will soon be able to fill up the beds with kids that need a home. Please pray for Casa de Esperanza and pray for Siamara and her girls as they return to their home in Los Pinos. We love them and we care for them.
April also marked the reciept of 2 very important shipping containers. The first was a very slow shipment from Jacksonville, IL. Whew! Took almost 6 weeks to finally get here but, the arrival of this container has been a blessing to many and will continue to bless many for months to come. Thank you Maria Phillips and your many friends who made this container possible. There were tons of clothes, many boxes for Casa de Esperanza, many household goods for the Whites, and everything was packed well and arrived in great condition. Just this week, we were able to unload another food container that has about 250,000 servings of a very nutritious rice meal. These meals will be a blessing to children all over the Tegucigalpa area. Feeding centers, church feeding programs, nutrition centers, and many other places. We are blessed and would like to thank Hunger Plus, Feed My Starving Children, and Manna Pack who made this possible. Containers were never planned to be a big part of our work here - at least in our plans. However, opportunities to help are presented almost every week and we look at each one with prayer and petition to God to determine if we should be involved. Just yesterday we were asked to consider recieving 4 containers of like new hospital beds and many other medical supplies. My first thought was to ignore the request - I didn't. I made a couple of calls to friends that are in the care of 13 Honduran hospitals and they moved faster than I have ever seen to accept this offer. The result is that next week, we will be shipping almost $1,000,000 of beds and other supplies to a hospital system that very much needs these supplies. The Honduran government will be paying for the shipment. Again, thank you Hunger Plus of Plainview, TX for making this happen.
The next shipment for our ministry will be coming from the Overland Park Church of Christ and will ship on May 17. If you need to ship supplies to Honduras, please let me know and we will connect you with our friends in Kansas.
Our Dump ministry is continuing to develop. We are working with the city of Tegucigalpa on a proposal to begin development of a center that will offer spiritual, health, and other services to the folks that work at the dump. Pray for God to reveal His plan and that we will be bold in following it.
In the area of short term missions and mission teams, 2010 has started well. Our home has been blessed with 2 small groups that just wanted to come to Honduras to work for a few days. Three young folks from SC came for a week to share in the work here as well as in several comunities of Tegucigalpa. Later, we led a team from FHU in TN. Home building, food distribution and other feeding ministry, work at the dump, hospital, children's home.....a full week was shared and loved. Amazing young folks that we were blessed to serve side by side and shoulder to shoulder with. Later, we closed the month with a family from NC that wanted to come to build a memory house and spend their 25th anniversary here in our home. Thanks for comeing to be with us Rick and Angie.
May really kicks in with teams and other work. On May 5, my brother Trey Morgan will be hosting the second annual "Dump Day" on his blog http://www.treymorgan.net/ . Please take a look at what is happening and help any way that you might can,
Churches here are doing well. IN 2010, there have been numerous folks that have commited their lives to Jesus and have been baptized in His name. Many more are participating in almost daily classes and study opportunities. Summer teams will be working with the local churches to help take the Good News to our community.
Well, if you would like to see updates more often, I am on FaceBook and usually post a note or two every day. We would love to have any of you to come and see us - just be warned, if you come, we will be putting you to work.
Thank you for your constant prayers, your encouragement, and your financial support.
With the Love of Jesus,
Marc

UPDATES and Opportunities

2010-03-04T05:28:00.000-08:00

Siince returning to Honduras from 5 weeks of work in the USA, there have been tons of opportunities. On the day I returned, I learned that the water supply here at Casa de Esperanza was DRY. In a typical year, we get pretty low on water 5 or 6 weeks prior to the end of the dry season or sometime about the middle of April. Here we were - out of water in our well on February 18. Since returning, our water situation has not improved but, plans for good changes are coming together. We have been approved for a new water well that will be drilled in September of this year. Additionally, we are working on a plan to build a systern that will halp us collect rain water during our May to November rainy season. The systern is stil in need of a project manager so - if you are out there and want to take on this project, just let us know. Water in Honduras is not a new problem. The first year I came - 2001 - this country was in the midst of a drought. We stayed at Baxter and went days without showers. We were so concerned that we were dirty that we mostly didn't think about the hardships of the people that live with a lifetime of water shortages. Even in good rainy years, many are forced to carry all the water they use in 5 gallon buckets. The poor live in communities with no good usable water! Well, there will be some good news for one community in 2010. One place a lot of us work is - Nueve Oriental. The folks that I have been working with for a new well in Santa Ana have also scheduled a project for November for a community well for Nueve Oriental. This is breakthrough NEWS. On to other news - The dump feeding continues every Wednesday. Since returning, I have been able to begin a series of meetings with the city of Tegucigalpa regarding how we can make life a bit better for the people that we have been sent to serve. We are working on securing land that we can construct a combination - Health Center / Child Center / Church. Yes, we are making progress toward a church in the dump. I can promise you, this won't be like any church you have ever seen - but, you will see Jesus every where in it. Stay Tuned on this. Other feeding things include - the offer yesterday of another load of rice / veggie meals - something like 420,000 meals to be exact! The load will feed children and we are required to use it in places that teach kids about Jesus. I can live with that. We have been blessed with the reciept of 3 other loads of this food in the past year and when yesterday's call came, I was hesitant - it cost between $4500 and 5,000 to bring the load into the country. My first thought was - I don't have the money. The fact is, we didn't have the money on any of the other loads either but, our God has provided the funds for every one of them within just hours on all other food opprotunities. It took me about 10 min to realize that our God wants children fed and He will provide. I have friends working on securing the money for the food and it isn't up to me to figure out where all of the money is - it will come. So far, we have a comittment for $500 and we are confident that the money will come. Well, that is the up to date happenings here.

2010 Planning

2010-02-09T13:12:00.000-08:00

Since January 14, we have been travelling in the USA, Blessed to have had the chance to be in a ton of places and to work with so many amazing friends, family, churches, and others. I am heading back to Honduras on the 18th while Terri will stay for a few days to spend time with Nicole and family in Baton Rouge.
Our work with Casa de Esperanza and other ministries is the best. We love being able to be with the kids and our association with Karen and Dorian is wonderful. Karen does an amazing job as director of the children's home and Dorian is tireless as the minister of the church in Santa Ana.
In early January, Terri posted a summary of our work on her blog. You can link to that here http://terriltindall.blogspot.com/2010/01/year-in-retrospect.html
For 2010, our plans are to continue to slowly add children to the work at Casa de Esperanza. The present campus has space for up to 35 kids however, we believe that Karen - our director needs to be the decision maker on when to add children and we also believe that we need to make sure that new children have the time to feel at home at Casa before we jump in and add more. Our new house has room for 8 more kids and it may take us all of 2010 to build to that point.
In 2010, we are praying for the opportunity to purchase another plot of land to potentially open another campus where some older girls might have the opportunity to be rescued.
In the are of the ministry at the dump, we are working on plans to help with health, education, and spiritual needs of the people that live and work in and around the dump. I hope to be able to make an announcement about the plan sometime around the first of March 2010. The plan is exciting and the potential to change lives is hugh.
Around the first of March 2010, we will finally recieve the first of 2 mobile clinics and will be able to work with the Baxter Clinic and local churches to share the love of Jesus in many many areas. The first clinic is shipping from Fairview Heights, IL and is in mint condition. Hopefully, the bus clinic will be arriving soon after.
We continue to work in the Santa Katerina area with the feeding center/ church plant. Since the political climate is much better in Honduras, working in the boarder area of Nicaragua is safe and we can now proceed.
We are blessed in 2010 with a number of short term teams. Our teams are coming from all over the USA and they begin in March and run through every month of the balance of the end of the year.
Thank you to Churches in Borger, Fritch, Childress, Dumas, & Wheeler Texas, Sentinal, OK, Topeka & Overland Park, KS, Fairview Heights & Jacksonville, IL, Rotary Clubs in Borger, Levelland, Pampa, Childress, & Spearman TX - thank you for listening to the stories about our work and the people of Honduras who have become our friends and one of the reasons we do what we do.
We are blessed to have so many many great friends, supporters, and brothers in Jesus who partner with us in our work in Honduras.
Thank you,
Marc

Updating October & November

2009-11-13T19:09:00.001-08:00

Lots of things happening during the past couple of months. One thing I hope to do better with is keeping more info here on my blog. Since I signed up for Facebook, it has been easier to do short daily updates and I have neglected my blogs.
In the area of groups, we have been able to start bringing folks back into the country. The political crisis has somewhat calmed down and we believe that the elections of November 29 will bring and end of the situation that began with the oust of the former president on June 28. In October we had friends from California come to work for a week. We built 2 houses and we disrtibuted tons of food in several different communities. Groups will continue with the arrival of the last week of November. We are going to do a week of building - looks like we will be completing at least 11 houses in the week - taking a break to celebrate Thanksgiving with the kids at Casa de Esperanza. In December we have plans for 2 more teams as well as other visitors. We are blessed to be able to work with so many amazing people in our teams.
Casa de Esperanza is growing and we just added two beautiful children to our home. We have a baby - little Manual is 20 months old and his sister - Noame is 5. They are a bit scared but, we believe they will be in the middle of the playing, loving, and life here very quickly.
Our work in the Tegucigalpa Dump is growing and we love being able to go every week to serve the people that live and work there. We have started providing baby formula to 4 to 5 young women every week. This was the result of a donation from several folks in Indiana and we plan to continue to make the baby food available as long as these young women do not bring their babies to the dump.
In October we recieved a container from Illinois - it was full of things to help the children of Honduras as well as the children at Casa de Esperanza. The container was assembled by our church family in Fairview Heights and many many goods were shipped from around the country to help fill the container. We were able to help out the "Happy Hands" school where our Rosy learns to communicate with other children that are deaf. Our next container will ship from Jacksonville, IL in February. We are going to pack that box from ene to end and top to bottom with things to help the poor here in Honduras.
Terri and I will be here through the holidays so that KAren and Dorian can be with Karen's family in Ohio. Karen has spent every Christmas here since her arrival 4 years ago and we are blessed that she will be able to spend this holiday with her family.
Terri and I travel to the states in Mid January where we will be speaking at about 10 different places.
We thank everybody for all of the love and support that you just continue to pour out on us. We are so blessed by our amazing God and He continues to bring so many wonderful people into our lives.
Marc

Thoughts of 2 Years in Honduras

2009-09-25T09:50:00.001-07:00

I am in Arkansas and have been in the states for the past 4 weeks. Terri and I have had an amazing month of travel and God has opened a number of doors and opportunities for us to tell the stories of our kids and our friends in Honduras.
This week marks the 2 year mark for living in Honduras (for Terri & I together - I actually went in June 2 years ago). We had no idea that learining the language would be difficult. I am able to mostly communnicate with anyone but, it just isn't as easy as good old english! Terri is getting better at Spanish every day and I believe that in one more year, we will be a lot closer to where we want to be - speaking the language anyway.
Learning to live in Honduras really hasn't been too much of an adjustment as Terri and I had both been there a lot of times prior to the move. Some things though are still frustrating - getting anything done with the government is as slow as anything you can imagine. It took a year and a half to get our residency cards. Without finding a way to shortcut the transito department, it would take 2 days to get a drivers license. I lost a car tag and it took a week to get permission to get a new one! Driving is like a disney ride and - at first it was easy to get lost in a city with no street names.
We love what we do and we are amazed at the plans that God made for us and continues to reveal.
One thing we have both talked about is the change in the way we see things here in the USA. Living here our whole lives blinded us to the way our nation loves "stuff". Coming back to visit - especially this trip has revealed a lot about the USA's love for things.......big cars, big TVs, I-POD -I Phone, I Want's! In San Fransisco we saw some of these extremes - shoes and boots that sell for $300 to $1500, clothes that sell for $1500 to $3000 for one outfit. I went to Macey's department store with a friend and saw a bed selling for $8000 - on sale!
Coming from a place where the "I Want's" mostly consist of food, a dry house, or a pair of matching shoes to a place on the opposite extreme is pretty amazing. I just pray that we all open our eyes to the difference between need and want and learn to be happy (& thankful) when the need is met. I pray that we are able to learn to share some of what we use to satisfy the "want" side of things with those that still have some of the un-met needs of life.
Since we hadn't been in the states for an extended time - we had been reading and watching the television for news about the bad economy here in the USA. I know that the numbers have been bad but, from our perspective, it seems that there is still a pretty good amount of the "extra's" here. Seems everybody has all of their needs met - and large number of wants are being realized too.
After a couple of years, we still know that we have the best job in the world. We are blessed with an amazing number of people that love us, encourage us, and support our work. Living at Casa de Esperanza is more of a blessing than we could have ever guessed that it would be. The people that we work with are an inspiration to us.
We are blessed beyond belief.
Our God is Awesome!
Marc

UPDATE

2009-08-09T07:00:00.000-07:00

June and July are typically the months that our short term mission teams are here and tons of work gets done. Our plans for 2009 were to host or lead groups from Middle Tennessee, Kansas, East Tennessee, Columbus - MS, and our large group from all over. We were also set to help out with the team from churches in Tupelo and Little Rock.
Political issues in Honduras changed all of our plans and all but 2 of our groups were cancelled for 2009. We were very sad because of the situation however, here in Honduras, the poor were devastated because of the lack of mission activity that resulted from these cancellations. With our groups alone, we lost about 50 home construcion projects, many tons of food were not purchased and were not distributed. Medical and dental teams were not able to help people, and 100's of people were denied the opportunity to hear the good news of Jesus. Very sad indeed!
We are working hard to make up for many of the lost projects however, losing 250 workers that average 10 days here means that we lost about 2500 days of work - our hands just are not that fast. We know that our amazing God is in charge and His will is in place - we just need to hand all of this over to Him.

The children's home - Casa de Esperanza is doing well and our kids are loving and gifts from God. We are in the process of adding more kids and we expect to be announcing some new additions very soon. Losing groups had a financial impact on the children's home and we are working through some of those issues. Typically we are able to bring our teams here to visit the home and share time with our kids. While here, many of the visitors are able to visit the "Casa Tienda (store) and purchase Honduran made goods, coffee, etc. The loss of income for Casa in July was something like $3,000. That is about what it takes to purchase food for 2 months.

Our feeding ministry at the Tegucigalpa Dump is growing and improving. In June we were able to begin feeding hot meals. Typically we serve about 300 meals of rice, beans, tortillas, and water. Some days if we have enough hands, we are able to add fruit to the mix. We are growing closer to many of the people that we serve and they know that we will be there every Wednesday. Building trust there has taken a long time. Now that we are in a place where we know many names and the workers there know our names, we will be working toward ways that we can introduce them to the message.
Also, for the past 8 weeks, I have been spending time with about 5 young ladies that are 13 to 17 years old. All of them have babies and our relationship began because they started asking me to bring them formula mix for the babies. I started buying about $25 a week in formula and sharing it with these young ladies. I see the potential of finding ways to help these young moms over the coming months and introducing them to some way to leave the dump and finding a better way.

Feeding other hungry people is a ministry where God's blessings are being poured out. In the past 2 months we have been offered and have recieved 3 shipping containers FULL. We have a full container of rice meals that will be utilized in a feeding center and church plant on the Nicaraguan border area. (this project has been delayed because of the potential of problems in the "Frontera" area - there are troups on both sides of the border as a part of the political mess here.) We also recieved a full container of soup mix that will produce more than 900,000 servings of a rich vegetable soup. Additionally, we helped deliver a full container of beans to the San Pedro Sula area. About 1000 pounds of the beans will be used with both Casa de Esperanza and with the Sunday feeding program in Los Pinos.

In June, I was able to meet with Ricardo Alveraz - the mayor of Tegucigalpa. We are working together on a project to help people displaced from areas condemned by unstable land. There are about 3000 homes in these areas and we agreed that - as a start, we would help 20 of the famlies that are in immediate danger. So far, we have built 11 homes and have plans to complete the balance of our comittment by the end of October. When one business heard about our plans, they donated enough tin to provide roofs for our next 90 houses.

Churches in Los Pinos and in Santa Ana continue to grow in both numbers and in discipleship. Both congregations meet at least 3 times during the week - in addition to Sunday worship. In Los Pinos, the mid week studies are seeing about the same number of adults as they see on Sunday mornings - about 100. In Santa Ana, we typically have about 45 adults on Sunday mornings and our mid week classes average 25 to 35.

Terri and I will be travelling to the states in September and plan to be in Columbus, MS; Atlanta, GA, North Carolina, and in the SF Bay area of California. We will also have the blessing of being able to spend time with our children and our grandkids. We were blessed in July with the birth of Haley Grace - the daughter of Matt and Nicole. We will be able to have Camille with us during part of our travel in Sept - Can't wait!

We are blessed with so very many that lift us up in prayer, support us with encouragement, and help us eat. We love you and we thank you for all you do.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc & Terri

July 2009

2009-07-20T15:44:00.000-07:00

Here in Honduras, July is typically one that it is very difficult to get a flight - in or out of the country. Most every flight in a typical July is filled with mission groups and others coming to be a part of helping this nation. The reason that the people keep coming back year after year is that most of the folks here appreciate the work and efforts of the visitors from the USA. There are amazing friendships developed between the villagers and the mission teams from the USA. Personally, July 2009 was going to be an amazing month. I had scheduled teams from the 28th of June all the way to the last of the teams departing on August 9. My teams were coming from all over the USA and all of us had planned to make July 2009 an amazing month of work for our Master. Through the month there would have been close to 250 people coming and going - every week from 50 to 85 people would have been here working, building, feeding, teaching, comforting, and serving. We planned to build something like 60 houses, one and maybe 2 school buildings, a small but much needed foot bridge, work on the Santa Katerina feeding center / church plant, feed more than 4,000 families, treat more than 1500 in med/ dental clinics, teach the gospel to many many people.
Most of this didn't happen - obviously something jumped in the way and stopped the plan in it's tracks.
Everybody following this blog knows that there is a governmental crisis here and that has sent most folks from the USA and the mission groups that come here scrambling for cover. Bringing people here right now just was not a prudent thing so - I cancelled all of the July groups and had to send the end of June group home early. Needless to say, I am not alone. I was in the airport today and there was not another "gringo" there - not one. The lines for the airlines were empty and nobody is coming or going to Honduras this July.
I gotta tell you this is a real problem for many of the mountain villages where we work. I was in Nueva Oriental on Saturday and talked to many many of the people that live there and are friends with many Americans. They are so sad that nobody is coming. The community still needs the 30 to 40 houses that the teams would have built there. They still need the food that is desperatly short in many many of the homes there. Nueva Oriental still needs the medical and dental clinics and the people that would normally come to share the gospel. They will really miss the new school building and the bridge that our teams would have built. It is truly sad that a poliitcal mess can do this to the people that the governments are set up to serve.
Makes me so sad!
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Article By Brandon Smith

2009-07-13T19:56:00.000-07:00

In a dark and warm room, a group of men gathered in secret to discuss what they should do. In this room are people who were vehemently opposed to each other’s politics, religion, and more. However, they were drawn together for one cause, to fight for freedom and liberty in their small country. They made a decision, the leader of their country, had to go. Who were these leaders? Where they the zealots of a political party? Were they religious extremists? Was it a military force? No. The men and women who decided to oust Manuel Zelaya from his role has President of Honduras represent an overwhelming majority of the nation’s people. Imagine the American equivalent. General Colin Powell, General David Petraeus, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele, Nancy Pelosi-the Democrat-Speaker of the House, Sara Palin, Justices Scalia, Ginsberg and Kennedy (my law school friends will appreciate this!), and Presidents Bush and Clinton: no imagine all of them coming together to condemn the actions of a leader as dangerous to the future of America’s existence as a democracy. Now imagine that all of these people worked together to kick the current president (republican or democrat) out of office. They do this openly, after months of public debate, and with the support of the public. Would this be condemned? Of course not!This is what happened in Honduras. The majority of the legislature, the High Court, the military generals, and the leaders of Zeleya’s own political party choose Roberto Michelett to replace him. Michelet is the leader of Zeleya’s political party in order to preserve democracy. This was supported by over 80% of the population. Obama says "We do so because we respect the universal principle that people should choose their own leaders, whether they are leaders we agree with or not.” If this is really true, why does Obama ignore the actions of all of the other elected officials in Honduras, acting in concert, to defend their democratic form of government? The High Court of Honduras ordered Zeleya to be arrested, and kicked out of office. There was no violence or even significant level of unrest until Zeleya tried to return, one week after he was kicked out of office. So, what did Zeleya do to warrant such a drastic response from the ENTIRE government of Honduras? He was attempting to eliminate term limits so he could remain in office. Admittedly, this does not seem very dangerous. However, if you are familiar with the rise and fall of so many other Latin American democracies, you will understand just how dangerous this action is. In 2004, for example, Venezuelan despot, Hugo Chavez, rewrote the constitution, so as to take over the judicial system, the national electoral council, militarize the government, and began his anti-American/anti-democracy rhetoric. He has since proposed to spread this “revolution” around the world. The “election” he then held was approved by Jimmy Carter and many democrats in America, but has since been widely seen as illegitimate and corrupt. He the poured his nations money into disrupting the Bolivian and Ecuadorean democracies, and helped sex-offender, Nicaraguan Daniel Ortega return to power, as he once was while a member of the military leadership in the Sandinista revolution. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Hondurans have seen their neighbor struggle and fall into despair as their liberty is lost and their oppressive leaders rise to power. Hondurans had the gall to push back. Rather, they had the courage and the strength of will to say NO to the end of democracy in Honduras. The Obama administration is simply pandering to undemocratic despots like Hugo Chavez. What else can explain Chavez, Castro and Obama all supporting Zeleya in his unilateral attempt to rewrite the Honduran constitution? Americans must speak out. Whether we like it, or not, our voice is strong in the Americas. We must choose to support the rule of law, and democracies. Remember what we just celebrated this past weekend. A group of rebels who had a vision of a free and democratic nation. A group of doctors, lawyers, inventors, farmers, preachers, who came together to take a stand against oppression. This is what Hondurans have done. IN the name of democracy, we must choose to support Honduras’ recent actions. Our President has made it clear that he does not support the Honduran fight for democracy, but rather, is appeasing the dictators of South America. DO NOT BE CONFUSED! This is a fight not just for Honduran freedom, but for the perception of freedom worldwide. If we don’t support those who fight against oppression, we are sending a message to all dictators that they can do what they want. This is a fight for freedom in Honduras, it is also a fight for the preservation of Democracy’s place in the Market Place of Ideas. We must choose to speak out on behalf of democracy, on the behalf of freedom and on behalf of the Honduran people who have been silenced in the international media. The number one message coming from Honduran citizens to American citizens is “pray for me.” My family recently left Honduras, and the most trouble they had was the large groups of men, women and children begging them to pray for democracy and to tell Obama to support them. We must make the choice to be voices of truth. If you think this battle is not important to you, here in America, or elsewhere, you are wrong. Democracy is on trial in the international court of public opinion, and we must weigh in. After all, God has called us to:“Speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.”

TORCH 2009 NEWS

2009-07-10T14:45:00.001-07:00

Dear TORCH,
As you know, there is a mess here in Honduras. On June 28th, the situation became volitile as this small nation made the decision to remove their president Mel Zelaya. Mr Zelaya was doing a number of illegal things and both the Supreme Court and the National Congress approved of the ouster - 100%.
The world has not supported this change and there are factions within the country that continue to cause disturbances - some violent. The US State Department has recommended that US Citicizens not travel to Honduras during this crisis. This advisory continues through the 29th of July.
I would love to be able to tell all of you that none of this makes a difference and we need to move ahead with our July 20 mission. At this time, I just can't. We need to cancel the July 20 - August 2 mission to Honduras. The nation remains unstable, the chance of further problems here remain high, and if those happen, we could see Tegucigalpa and the airport shut down for a much longer period than we have already experienced. Additionally, I am not willing to risk your safety.
We are working with the airlines to determine how refunds, flight credits, etc will work. At this time we just don't know.
I know that some of you would love to say, I am coming any way. At this time, I would encourage you to wait and be patient.
We do have some fall and winter mission opportunities planned and we would gladly move you to some of those groups. Email Terri or me for details on those trips.
You cannot imagine my saddness in making this announcement. Our team is a big part of my life and I have waited as long as possible to make this decision. I am truly sorry that it is necessary.
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc Tindall
Ps: People here that depend on groups like ours are still in need of homes and food. Please consider allowing us to utilize the portion of your trip that was to be dedicated to this effort. We will build the houses and distribute the food that would have happened anyway. Thanks for considering this.

Letter To USA

2009-07-07T05:13:00.000-07:00

Here is an open letter to the USA from the president of the Tegucigalpa Rotary Club

Everybody here knows what is going on (exceptCNN En Espaloñ,which I formally denounce on misreporting the story.Even their CNN En Español map of Honduras is offensive tous, they place Tegucigalpa in another part ofthe country, much like we placed Las Vegas,Nevada as it were in Washington,D.C.).You already know that is was not a military coup -they havebeen and are being applauded as heroes- but as was reported and also mentioned on Catracho News "El Amigo de la Patria", they had to make a delicate decision -which although not the best legal solution,was the correct one.

Does somebody monitor the MEDIA in the US? We denounce CNN En Español, misreporting on our PLIGHT by the likes of "JOURNALISTS" Krupskaia Alis and Glenda Umaña, to be intentionally misrepresenting our GOVERMENT and Constitutional authorities POSITIONS,damaging Honduran precious interests.

Are they FOR Chávez-Castro-Ortega-José Miguel Insulza-Migueld´Escoto B. from UN-Correa-Morales-C. Kirchner XXIstCentury socialism???

CNN En Español reports only show they want, taking our benefit of the doubt, much like the weak O.A.S.,which we had to denounce The Carta Democrática Interamericana on Friday July 3, before Insulza and the rest of the O.A.S. members -who did not review our side of the case-accused and suspended us for the "savagemilitary coup". It was not a coup,much less a miltiary coup, and it was not savage: Not a drop of blood was shed.

Also, the Courts reuquested the Military to assist, because Mel Zelaya had sorrounded himselhwith thugs for the Círculos Bolivarianos (from Venezuela) BODYGUARDS and SECURITY PERSONNEL ?? Why in the world woulda HONDURAN PRESIDENT BE SORROUNDED BY FOREIGN MILITARY OR SECURITY PERSONNEL SENT BY HUGO CHAVEZ???

So,all in all, the way things happened was for the best.

Extraordinary (Excellent) job by the brave, professional, non-deliberative honduran military... then they needed to make a decision... and they wanted to prevent bloodshed, so they -and this was also a difficult decision- selected the best option avaliable and promptly sent citizen José Manuel "Mel" Zelaya Rosales to another country (Costa Rica).

Mel had -apparently forced by his own illegal position, that he created by going against the law.. againts the CONSTITUTION he swore to uphold and respect, under God- ...even his main legal advisors, including former Supreme Court of Justice President advised nottogoon with his illegalENCUESTA orSRUVEY (which it was not!), Mel´s stupidity, since no one is above the law, forced him to present a signed Letter of Resignation (We can, for all purposes admit he signed it on his own accord, but there is room to consider, that pressured by the circumstances he had created -a trap crap- he was forced to sign it.That might be the case, or not. We have not seen or reviewed a copy of his Letter of Resignation, and I am not a government authority to confirm or deny this specific issue).

So now there is no CONSTITUTIONAL way to turn the page back to Sunday june 28, 2009, before 4:00 a.m. anymore.That is history. And Honduras has broken the paradigms in defense of democracy. WE will be an example for generations to come.This is the DAWN of the ALBA and XXIst. Centrury Socialism by force and interference and violation of the principle of selfdetermination!!!

So, yes, we are not happy this had to be done, but we are EXTREMELY proud to have saved and defended our DEMOCRACY and CONSTITUTION..

Has anybody taken a survey oh happiness levels right now in Cuba, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc. BRAVE PEOPLE THERE have contacted us, sending messages and inviting us to go and assist them in getting their countries back!!! (We have our one little mess or "reyerta" here, and will will never surrender to the castrocommunist puppets,so that´s is why they call us "pitiyanquis", "oligarchs" and tell us -or spray paint or walls with "Death to the oligarchs".

The also in a very "organized"manner, throw, rocks, break windows, have hidden weapons -grenades included-, baseball bats, and spray paint messages where they refer to the CARDINAL Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga as "DOG". (God bless and protect our Cardinal and all of HONDURANS). We have plenty of pictures.

So we will not accept this -and the OAS condemned us without hearing us-, since we really, do not like that type of new Mel lies here. (Read the Catracho News)

Baron de Montesquieu lives in HONDURAS now...and would be proud, as would be our heroes Valle, Morazán, Cabañas and Lempira, whom we honored in a PEACEFUL manner, in order to promote PEACE, SOCIAL JUSTICE, RECONCILIATION and UNITY of the Honduran Family (total of 7.7 millions persons).

Has anybody mentioned to your US Authorities that U.S. businesses, like FRANCHISES such as Burger King, McDonalds, Chili´s, etc. have been damaged by the thugs infiltrated amongst the few thousand the Mel-Chávez (dictator-thug)-Castro (dictator)-CHE GUEVARA (democracy icon or legend?)- Ortega-Insulza-Morales-Correa-C. Kirchner-Fernando Lugo followers -which include the Bloque Popular and UD, and -as always- the TEACHERS (permanently on strike) and some labour organizations, and -if you know them- you know they do not need anything (or very little) to be "provoked!!!"

You can also follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/GValle1 .

We know that today Tuesday July7 in the US (Staples Center?) many thousands ofpersonas -millions nationwide and all over the world- will be mourning during Michael Jackson´s (RIP) burial ceremony, probably us from here as well (he was truly a genius icon singer-dancer), but we will continue our 24/7 fight for DEMOCRACY, until the last day of our lifes... even if that last day that is TODAY!

But we are always working for peace,in a non-violent, non-provoking way.

Later today TUESDAY, July 7 around 10:00 a.m. Tegucigalpa time we will HOLD -called by Unión Cívica Democrática (UCD)- a MILLION PERSON PEACEFUL DEMONSTRATION ("Plantón") ALL OVER THE COUNTRY!!!

Please WATCH THE NEWS (BUT not the biased CNN En Español, which people here now refer to as Chávez-Castro News Network).

I enclose the final version of the CATRACHO NEWS, latest two numbers.

What can we do now? We must move forward, hold or move to a sooner date the 2009 General Elections,scheduled for Nov.29.

To now citizen Mel Zelaya we respectfully say: "Why don´t you stay there!" (in Nicaragua, Venezuela, etc.). That is the way it will most likey occur.

If he -stubborn as he is- chooses to come back, and he might (but not very likely), he will probably be apprehended by the authorities, face trial, and end in jail (99% probability).

Of course, the authorities have documented proof of the illegal acts-several of them like treason-and he has been charged. INTERPOL will now be looking for him in 187 countries or so.

We will gladly meet with your Honourable Senators or arranged the meetings with our constitutional authorites, so your Government can have information from both sides (Insulza should be fired or sanctioned, by not being reelected, for being anti-democratic. Why doesn´t Insulza or the OAS denounce or CONDEMN and suspend Venezuelas torturer-dicatator? Because of the PETRODOLLARS, which is what this is all about for Insulza and other countires).

Enclosed please find a word file with a drawing or "caricatura" of the Central American Map or new landscape being drawn up by Chávez-Castro-Insulza PERVERSE ALLIANCE. It´s not funny, because we know it´s TRUE, we received it from Nicaragua yesterday night! Scary would be a better word, but nothing scares me (us).

So everything we say and do, CNN En Español just lies about it. And, much like TeleSur, they do not give us equal or equitative coverage. How can we contribute to correct this problem with CNN en Español?

Regarding the DIALOGUE that we would like to have: To the O.A.S., our new government authorities -being totally respectful of national and international law-, mainly the Ministry of Foreign Relations (Chancellor Enrique Ortez Colíndres and Under-Secretary Martha Lorena Alvarado de Casco) confirmed, vía a National Radio and TV Message, to them that we would meet with 2nd. level personnel (since we know Insulza would notand will not LISTEN toour side of the story at all, because he is going for his OAS Secretary General reelection -he needs Chávez influence (A.K..A. Petrodollars to obtain the votes needed- and you know how he -a former presidential socialist candidate from Chile- thinks, so we do not like or trusts Insulza at all or anymore). And that is the truth.

It would be nice to have CNN En Español investigated. The joke today is that CNN En Español just confirmed Bernard Madoff had not PLEAD GUILTY,but now CNN has about US$5 billion more in the bank. (Or so it goes)

We do not want interventions from José Miguel Insulza, that is why on FRIDAY JULY 3, 2009 our Government, presided by our constitutional President Roberto Micheletti Bain DENOUNCED the OAS´ Carta Democrática Interamericana. So we left before they were going to KICK US OUT (suspension). UNCHARTERED TERRITORY indeed!

We might just be a small nation in the complicated world of the big political chess game, but we are working very hard to improve our democracy.

We are also very brave and despite promoting Non-Violence, we will NEVER GIVE UP and accept Castrocommunism, H. Chávez Socialism, Daniel Ortega Inc. Communism, etc.

And we condemn the death of a young pro-Zelaya protester, apparently by a rock thrown by his fellow protesters -when they were running scrambling from the tear gas- or a bullet from the military (the first option is very possible. The doctors from the morgue will determine exact cause of death). So that´s how things were on Sunday. Everything peaceful Monday. 98% of the population just want to -and need to- go on in peace, in this democracy.
If you would have all seen some of the videos of former President Zelaya (from Thursday June 25 at night to around 2:00 a.m.on Friday June 26, 2009), where according to a professional Dr., now citizen Zelaya appeared to be on drugs (actually this doctor told us it was COCAINE, but -of course-, no one did a drug test). This would have been enough proof that he was on something.

May Gos bless Honduras!

Best regards and YIR,

GValle
Honduran Citizen, Patriot
Tegucigalpa, M.D.C., Honduras

WSJ Today July 6,2009

2009-07-06T17:02:00.000-07:00

Hundreds of emails from Hondurans flooded my in-box last week after I reported on the military's arrest of President Manuel Zelaya, as ordered by the Supreme Court, and his subsequent banishment from the country.
Mr. Zelaya's violations of the rule of law in recent months were numerous. But the tipping point came 10 days ago, when he led a violent mob that stormed a military base to seize and distribute Venezuelan-printed ballots for an illegal referendum.
All but a handful of my letters pleaded for international understanding of the threat to the constitutional democracy that Mr. Zelaya presented. One phrase occurred again and again: "Please pray for us."
Associated Press
Raul Castro, left, Manuel Zelaya, center, and Hugo Chavez in Managua, Nicaragua, June 29.
Hondurans have good cause for calling on divine intervention: Reason has gone AWOL in places like Turtle Bay and Foggy Bottom. Ruling the debate on Mr. Zelaya's behavior is Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chávez, who is now the reigning international authority on "democracy."
Mr. Chávez is demanding that Mr. Zelaya be reinstated and is even threatening to overthrow the new Honduran president, Roberto Micheletti. He's leading the charge from the Organization of American States (OAS). The United Nations and the Obama administration are falling in line.
Is this insane? You bet. We have fallen through the looking glass and it's time to review how hemispheric relations came to such a sad state.
The story begins in 2004, when Mr. Chávez was still an aspiring despot and the U.S. pursued a policy of appeasement toward him. Not surprisingly, that only heightened his appetite for power.
Mr. Chávez had already rewritten the Venezuelan Constitution, taken over the judiciary and the national electoral council (CNE), militarized the government, and staked out an aggressive, anti-American foreign policy promising to spread his revolution around the hemisphere.
The Americas in the News
Get the latest information in Spanish from The Wall Street Journal's Americas page.
Many Venezuelans were alarmed, and the opposition had labored to collect signatures for a presidential recall referendum permitted under the constitution. As voting day drew near, Mr. Chávez behaved as if he knew his days were numbered. The European Union refused to send an observer team, citing lack of transparency. The OAS did send observers, and in the months and weeks ahead of the vote mission chief Fernando Jaramillo complained bitterly about the state's intimidation tactics against the population. Mr. Chávez gave OAS Secretary General César Gaviria an ultimatum: Either get Mr. Jaramillo out of the country or the referendum would be quashed. Mr. Chávez was appeased. Mr. Jaramillo was withdrawn.
The Carter Center was also invited to "observe," and former President Jimmy Carter was welcomed warmly by Mr. Chávez upon his arrival in Venezuela.
A key problem, beyond the corrupted voter rolls and government intimidation, was that Mr. Chávez did not allow an audit of his electronic voting machines. Exit polls showed him losing the vote decisively. But in the middle of the night, the minority members of the CNE were kicked out of the election command center. Shortly thereafter, Mr. Chávez claimed victory. There was never a credible audit of the paper ballots against the tallies in the voting machines.
Mr. Carter's approval notwithstanding, the proper U.S. and OAS response was obvious: The process had been shrouded in state secrets and therefore it was impossible to endorse or reject the results. Venezuelan patriots begged for help from the outside world. Instead, the U.S. assistant secretary of state for the Western Hemisphere, Roger Noriega, and the OAS blessed the charade.
There was never any explanation for the blind endorsement, but behind the scenes there were claims that Mr. Chávez threatened to call his militia to the streets and spill blood. The oil fields were to be burned. To this day, the opposition contends that the U.S. and Mr. Gaviria made a cold calculation that caving in to Mr. Chávez would avoid violence.
Predictably, Washington's endorsement of the flawed electoral process was a green light. Mr. Chávez grew more aggressive, emboldened by his "legitimate" status. He set about using his oil money to destabilize the Bolivian and Ecuadorean democracies and to help Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega and Argentina's Cristina Kirchner get elected. Soviet-backed Fidel Castro was able to intimidate his neighbors in the 1960s and '70s, and Mr. Chávez has done the same thing in the new millennium. This has given him vast power at the OAS.
Hondurans had the courage to push back. Now Chávez-supported agitators are trying to stir up violence. Yesterday afternoon airline service was suspended in Tegucigalpa when Mr. Zelaya tried to return to the country and his plane was not permitted to land. There were reports of violence between his backers and troops.
This is a moment when the U.S. ought to be on the side of the rule of law, which the Honduran court and Congress upheld. If Washington does not reverse course, it will be one more act of appeasement toward an ambitious and increasingly dangerous dictator.
Write to O'Grady@wsj.com

2009 Adventures

2009-06-22T19:29:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving week we will be hosting an amazing building project.
The Plan - let's build 30 houses in 5 or 6 days, spend Thanksgiving day in a feast, and show our thanks by giving! It's simple, make your flight reservations, start asking everyone you know to help us build houses, and come on down.
December 9th will be the Jesus Banquet at the dump. We are going to have a sit down meal for everybody that spends their days in the dump. We will follow lunch with a Christmas party for the people there too.
Any and everyone is invited to come and be a part of either or both of these events.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc

Finally

2009-06-20T18:16:00.000-07:00

When we ship a container from the USA to here - it usually takes about 10 to 14 days from shipment to our warehouse here in Tegucigalpa. On May 9th we shipped a container of rice meals from Minneapolis to here - expecting that the time would be a bit more. The load went through the Great Lakes and Erie Canal - to NYC and then to Puerto Cortez. It arrived in the country on June 3 and we did everything to make sure that the inspections and paperwork would allow the shipment to be released quickly. Bad paper work means that your shipment doesn't get released and demurage charges then add up. Well, our good intentions didn't make the system work very fast and instead of 3 or 4 days in port, it took 17 days. Finally the container shipped out of Puerto Cortez yesterday and was to arrive at my warehouse on Monday or Tuesday. Got a call at 11:45 this morning and surprise, the truck was rolling and would be at the bodega at 1:00. Quickly changed plans and FINALLY, soemthing like 300,000 servings of a wonderful rice and vegetable meal have been unloaded in the warehouse. I can't wait to see the kids that will benefit from this food.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

May 2009

2009-06-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

May began in Texas for me. I was able to spend about a week in the Texas Panhandle visiting with my parents and speaking in 3 different locations.
On May the 5th, an amazing event took place. Trey Morgan, the minister of the Childress, TX Church of Christ had heard about our work in the Tegucigalpa city dump. Trey writes a very popular blog and for several weeks he had been announcing that May 5 was going to be "dump day". The goal was to raise funds to help us with food purchases for the weekly feeding program. Nobody really knew just how much would be raised and we were all amazed that the end of the day total was almost $11,500. Most of the pledges have been sent and the total is very close to the amount that was pledged.
I returned on the 8th of May and quickly began to prepare for the coming TORCH Mission season. My first group of the year arrived on May the 20th. It was a small first time group from Middle Tennessee State University. There is a CoC student center there and in late 2008 they decided that they wanted to come to Honduras. We were blessed to have this team and they worked very hard while they were here (20th to the 31st). We built 3 houses, distributed food to 150 families, helped complete a block house and added walls to another house, we fed the people at the dump - the first home cooked hot meal -, we visited the Santa Katerina mission area, Hospital Escuela, the special needs home, and Casa de Esperanza.
The dump fund raiser was instrumental in allowing us to change the menu and the first home prepared hot meal was a rousing success.
While in the Santa Katerina area, I was able to interview a young family man that has experience in preaching and has a desire to work in the church plant project. I secured a list of references from him and will be making contact with them to help make a decision. The ground in Santa Katerina is prepared for construction and the community is more than ready to begin. I plan to begin making block and supply purchases within 2 weeks. We hope to begin feeding and teaching in July. There is a container on the water with food for the center. It should arrive in Tegucigalpa within days and there are more than 271,000 rice/vegetable meals that are dedicated to feeding the children of Santa Katerina.
Casa de Esperanza is doing very well and we are preparing to add children to our new house. This will happen in the month of June. Cash flow here is a bit slow so please pray that people that have made pledges to take care of our kids are able to continue to do so.
June and July are very very busy months. I will be helping with several mission teams in June and from June 28 to August 9 will be leading more than 250 people as they come here to work and minister. Please pray for the work this summer.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc L Tindall

From the Garden to the Dump!

2009-05-31T16:00:00.000-07:00

Last month we had friends here from Atlanta. We spent one day at the dump in Tegucigalpa. The dump has a big effect on almost everybody that we take with us and the Atlanta group was no exception. One of the group - Sherri Hubright was so touched that she wanted to write about the experience. She submitted her writtings to New Wineskins Magazine and it was accepted for the May/June 2009 edition. You can read it online at this link. http://wineskins.org/filter.asp?SID=2&fi_key=219&co_key=1820
Please take the time to share this with others.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc L Tindall

Lots of confusion!

2009-05-14T06:10:00.000-07:00

I think that there is a lot of confusion about a lot of things - especially in things that people have never personally experienced and have only heard about. I may actually be confusing you right now. Here are some of the things that I'm talking about -

I think there is a lot of confusion about the poor - for example, I grew up thinking - and for a long time as an adult, had the thought that people that were poor were mostly poor by their own choice. I thought that anybody with a little initiative and work ethic could change their situation and could "choose to no longer be poor". Well, I was completly wrong (see Terri, I can say I was wrong). Here in Honduras - where the poor are also the hungry, the children are set up for a lifetime of being poor because the families aren't able to provide proper nutrition and without proper nutrition, the kids brains are permanently damaged. There are many many folks that grow up without the capacity to learn. Without the capacity to learn, there is little hope to break the cycle of poverty. That doesn't mean that they are unable to work, it just means that the work won't be the sort that will ever move them to the next level. Food and nutrition is one of the keys to breaking the cycle. We pray that the feeding center in Santa Katerina will play a role in helping to break this cycle.

Another confusing thing is the thought that you cannot be happy unless you have lots of stuff. That is a lie and I am pretty sure that Jesus tried to drive this point home with the "rich young ruler". Some of the most happy, kind, and generous people I have ever met are those with nothing. There are many folks that have nothing that would gladly give up their last bit of food to help a neighbor. I have seen that happen with my own eyes. I have experienced this in a very personal way - when a man offered me his only food - just because he though I was hungry.

Many people are confused about some of the business that use workers that are from poor nations. Here most of these businesses are in the clothing and textile business. The media in the states call them "sweat shops". Here - they are considered great jobs. I have a friend that owns several of the companies that provide jobs to the women that grew up with poor nutrition and would have a difficult time finding work - other than that of a domestic worker. My friend provides transportation, medical care, help with school for the children of the workers, and many other benefits. The work isn't easy but, it feeds families and helps the workers that are 90% single moms. Remember, in Honduras, the average age that young women begin to have babies is 15. Don't believe everything you hear about "sweat shops".

Sometimes there is confusion about the reasons we want to help people. It is really a simple proposition - we just want to show people a little bit of the unconditional love that Jesus showed us.

Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

$$$$$$$$$11,500.00$$$$$$$$$$$$$

2009-05-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

Everybody thought that the top top top of the Trey Morgan drive for feeding people at the dump would be maybe $7500. And that was a big maybe.
WRONG
As of this morning -
$11500.00
ELEVEN THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

MAY 5 For The DUMP!

2009-05-05T04:29:00.000-07:00

I met a guy last year that travels the world doing nothing except helping people with cleft lips and pallets. In the USA my friend could make close to $500,000 a year doing the same type of medical work - instead, he chooses to go to some of the poorest places in the world to work for free. Every time he does a surgery, he asks the family this question "Why do you think I do this?". Most of the time, the people answer - because you want to do good. He tells them that that is only part of the reason. He tells them "Jesus loves me so much that there isn't anything that I can ever do to make him love me more - nothing! I help people so that I can show them just a little bit of the love that Jesus has shown me."

Today, you too can show just a little bit of the love that Jesus has shown you. How? You can do this by sharing a little of what you have with people that have literally NOTHING.

Every Wednesday for more than a year we have been feeding people in the Tegucigalpa Dump. There are more than 300 people there every day and they are all hungry. All of them.

We have a friend in Texas that is leading a drive today May 5th, 2009. His name is Trey Morgan and he is working to help us fund the purchase of food for the work at the dump.

Today, there is already one person that has agreed to match up to $2500 every dollar raised over the first $2500. That means that if we are able to raise $5000, the total will actually become $7500.

You can join the fund raising drive at www.treymorgan.net

Be a blessing to somebody today!

Marc Tindall

Planning

2009-05-02T08:18:00.000-07:00

We are planning a couple of events for the end of 2009. The first will be during Thanksgiving week.
We want to start planning earlier in 2009 for a way for everyone that can to spend Thanksgiving in Honduras. We can easily sleep 11 or more in our house and we hope to fill it up with people that want to come and build houses during Thanksgiving week 2009. We tried this in 2008 and had a few takers but, we really didn't start the planning until October. Hopefully bu starting the planning in May, we can fill up the house and build 10 or more houses. To make this easy and to help everyone that comes to stay busy building, we are inviting everyone that comes to be our guests. All we ask is that you buy your airline ticket and your mission insurance (about $1.50 t0 2.00 per day depending on your age). We also ask that everyone that comes help us raise funds for building houses. We will take care of everything else including an amazing Thanksgiving Feast. If we fill up the house, we will add more beds. Make your plans and let us know.

In December we are planning Christmas at the Dump. There are friends at Trace Crossing Church in that are planning to return with gifts for everyone - especially the children. We want to make the day extra special so, our plan is to have some type of special meal for everyone that day. Wouldn't it be amazing to have some sort of "sit down" meal where we could serve a banquet to people that never expected to be invited to a banquet? That is the vision. I will nail down a date for this within the coming weeks but, wanted to let you know to make plans for the most amazing Christmas party that you can imagine.

Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc

Last Hope

2009-04-29T07:35:00.000-07:00

The Last Hope project was started by the youth group at the Campus Church of Christ in Atlanta. The project was idea that was born because of last years mission to Honduras and a visit to the dump in Tegucigalpa. So far, the project has helped feed people in the dump for a sizable portion of the past year. After another trip to Honduras in early April, the Campus youth have renewed their comittment to being a part of this ministry. As part of their effort, they have designed a T-Shirt that I want to make available to anyone that would like to show others that they are supporting the feeding of more than 300 people every week.

Here is a photo of the T-Shirt - worn by Liz and Jenny - my little sisters from Atlanta.

You can get yours for $25 with 100% of the proceeds going to feed hungry people. How great is that!

If you want one send me an email and we can get the ball rolling - marclt2003@yahoo.com

Be a blessing to somebody today!

Food Update

2009-04-23T10:53:00.000-07:00

The food will be loaded and shipped the 5th of May.
A friend from Iowa sent me an email yesterday letting me know that she and her husband will be paying the shipping invoice for the 271,000 meals that will be used to feed hungry kids in Honduras.
Awesome! That is the best word that I can think of to describe our Awesome God..... and it doesn't come close to a description of Him.
I promise to post photos of the load when it gets here.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc

271,000 Two hundred seventy-one thousand!

2009-04-16T13:17:00.000-07:00

Had a call this morning.
We have been praying for a way to feed kids in the church / feeding center project in Santa Katerina. This morning I had a call from a ministry project in Indiana offering a 40 foot container of special rice meals. The meals are specially made to provide a day of vitamin needs for a child - in one serving. There are 271,000 servings on the container. This ministry helps Christian feeding projects around the world - only 2 strings attached - the first is that 75% of the meals need to go to children and the second condition is that the food be a part of an evangelistic project. Amazing because that is exactly the design of our project - feed kids and plant a church.
The amount of food in this shipment will help us feed 225 kids a day - 5 days a week for more than a year. It will also be a source of food for the feeding project at the church in Los Pinos - it will also help feed the kids at Casa de Esperanza.
I told the group that we would find the $5000 needed to ship this food to Honduras.
Imagine 271,000 meals for $5000. That is less than 2 US Cents per serving.
Why not get your children's classes in chruch to help us pay for some of these servings. Why not get some of your adult classes to do the same. With this load of food we can serve 225 to 250 kids a day for way more than a year. That is an amazing gift from our God.
Once again, our God has given us the hard proof that He listens and he answers.
If you can help with this shipment, please let me know.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Two Month Report

2009-04-10T09:15:00.000-07:00

I apologize for failing to post a report for February. This report will serve for February and March of 2009.

During the past two months we have been involved in many adventures. Working with a not for profit from Texas called Hunger Plus, we have shipped and delivered almost a million dollars of supplies to the people of this country. The first container arrived in early February and was full of heart monitors, medicines, and other much needed supplies for clinics and other locations throughout the country. The second container arrived in early March and was filled with a bunch of food, medicines, and many other items that are needed here. We were able to supply Casa de Esperanza with several thousand pounds of mixed vegetables, green beans, and other great foods. We were also able to deliver food to many other places. The second container also had a good number of wheelchairs, crutches, and other suppplies that are needed here all of the time.
One of the items that was fun to deliver was a tricycle that has hand cranks. I delivered one of these to the special needs orphanage and where there was a little boy that cannot walk. I sat him on the bike and he took off. His smile was amazing. The second container also contained two full pallets of antibiotics that are alreay being used in 100's of places around Honduras.
During the past two months I have been working with the family of a 19 year old young lady that was involved in a horrible motercycle accident. Gabriela was on a motercycle that was hit broadside by a car and the impact pretty much destroyed her left leg. As I reported earlier, Gabriela was taken to Hospital Escuela for treatment and was told that she was going to lose her leg if the proper supplies could not be purchased. Long story made short, Gabriela layed in HE for 44 days waiting for the surgery that never happened. We were able to move her to a private hospital the end of March and she has had 5 surgeries to repair the damage. She has a long way to go but, hopefully she will be able to walk by mid-year.
In February I was asked to preach in Los Pinos. I asked - Spanish or English. The answer was speak in Spanish - you live in Honduras where that is the language! I must have had a crazy moment because I agreed to do it. I told the church that my message would only be 12 min - that is because I didn't think that I could possibly speak for much longer than that. Los Pinos is a place where the church is my family and they were very accomidating and kind. I survived and promised that I would come back in a year and give it another shot.
Learning the language is much more difficult than either Terri or I could have imagined. It seems that perhaps I am making some progress- in the past couple of weeks I have had people that I don't see very often tell me that I sound Honduran. I am not sure if that is because of my bad grammer or that I am in fact actually making progress. I practice every day with some of the people that I work with as well as with the kids here at Casa de Esperanza. For me - the best learning comes with working with people that don't speak any english - it helps.
Terri too is making a lot of progress. She works with the books here at Casa and isn't with spanish only speakers as often so she struggles a little - sometimes. I am really proud of the way she is learning and keeps on trying. It is hard.
The children's home is growing. In February we took on 2 more children. Anita and Jose came to us from another children's home that was built to house boys only. Anita was in a place with 81 boys and one little girl. The "small world" part of the story of our new children is that their dad is the guy that takes care of the mother of 4 of our other kids. Anita is 7 and Jose is 6. They are adapting to Casa very well and we have grown to love them in a very short time.
We have hired another worker to help us with child care and she will start here on April 20th. If all works out, we should be able to start bringing children into the new "Bill Brumly" house in the coming weeks. Please pray that our new worker will be the perfect Tia.
The churches in both Los Pinos and in Santa Ana are doing well and growing. Both have had new christians added in the past weeks and both continue to reach out to their communities.
It won't be long until our summer groups begin arriving - Terri and I are leading 7 teams in 2009 that will introduce more than 300 people to the work and the needs here. We are blessed with the best job in the world and we want to thank you for your constant prayer, support, and encouragement.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc & Terri

Things We See

2009-03-25T13:20:00.001-07:00

In Honduras - our lives are quite a lot different than we ever imagined.
That is an understatement!
We often pray that God will open our eyes to the needs of the world around us and He does.
Sometimes when He opens our eyes, we sit back and ask "Lord, why do you keep showing me all of these things and what do you want us to do about it?"
Examples -
Gabriela is 19, is in the hospital waiting to have surgery that will save her leg. We keep thinking that the surgery is going to be tomorrow but, every day there is some other reason that the doc's have for another delay. We tried to move her to another hospital but, Hosp. Esc won't give us the records and the other hospital can't (or won't) taker her without them. It is agonizing to know that this young girl needs to have her leg saved and frustrating that nobody seems to care.

Last week I was in a hospital in SPS. They have 5 x-Ray rooms and only one machine that works and the day I was there, the printer was broken.

Last week I was in a place called San Francisco de Cortez and met a lot of people that are working to help this community of more than 25,000. It is really spread out through tough mountain roads. They are 40 or so miles from SPS and don't have an ambulance to transport people to the hospital. Anyone that needs emergency care goes on foot, in a bus, or if they are lucky in somebody's truck. In a bus, they are at least 4 hours from the nearest hospital.

There is a little boy named David that lives mostly on the streets of Tegucigalpa. I usually see David near one of the McDonald's and almost always buy him something to eat. There are 4 or 5 little guys that have become my friends and they like it that I know their names and they always remember mine.

Today the dump was crazy. Everybody was way hungry and thirsty.
I like the dump - even though the people sometimes push and shove, they almost always thank us and when the food is gone, they hang out to talk and laugh with us. There are several that we know by name and many that remember our names. Today, we met a lady that asked for help with a house. She lives with her mom, her 3 kids, one of her grandchildren, and one other person. They live in a "plastic" house. In the states, we might call a subdivision with a bunch of look-alike houses plastic. Here is plastic house is exactly what the name implies. It is made of plastic tarps and sticks.

Every day we drive to Tegucigalpa we see many houses on the side of the road that are some of the worst living conditions that you can imagine. Most are on 'squatter' land so it would be difficult to do anything about them.
I pray that I will never be synical about what I see.
I pray that I never close my eyes to the needs and that God will pour out resources to allow us to do something about what we see.
I am blessed that every day I am here we see the 15 kids that live here at Casa de Esperanza. I try to pray for them by name and for their specific needs. I would ask you to write their names down and pray for them by name too -
they are.
Pamela
Brayan
Jose Antonio (Fito)
Jackson
Daniela
Anita
Jose
Fernando
Maryuri
Cindy
Monica
Doris
Katy
Sisi
Rosita
Pray too that we will soon find the staff that we need to openn our new house.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

The Week That Was

2009-02-28T06:08:00.000-08:00

This week has been filled with many things that are great and some that are difficult to think about.
We started on Gonzolo's house this week. Gonzolo is a man that always smiles. He worked with me for several months last year when we were building the women's center project. Work is a pleasure for Gonzolo and he is always happy. We are building him a block house in Mirador de Oriente.
My mom and dad arrived on Wednesday. Early Wednesday we were able to feed 100's at the dump. We were joined this week by Jen, David, Sam, and several of Jen's friends visiting from Ohio. Having a lot of people to help meant that I was able to visit with a bunch of folks in the dump. Mom and dad arrived on time and we are really enjoying having them here.
Wednesday's paper announced that there was a village in the Tegucigalpa area that was "bulldozed' away. The land owner had taken the squatters to court and won. He reclaimed his land by using a bull dozer to clear out 300+ families. Somebody had duped the squatters into believing that they owned the land and had sold lots for the houses. There was nothing that anyone could do.
On Wednesday morning, I had a call from my friend that is the director of Jovenes en Camino telling me that the paper work was complete for moving a couple of their kids to our home. We were able to take in Jose and Anna on Thursday afternoon. They are 7 and 8.
Also on Thursday, we found out about Gabriela. This young lady is 18 and was in a motorcycle accident 2 weeks ago. Her upper right leg was shattered and the Dr's at hospital Escuela did the best that they could to repair the mess. After 2 weeks they realized that the leg won't heal without proper orthepedic surgery materials. The family couldn't afford the more than $1000 cost of the pins, screws, and other materials needed for the surgery. Without the surgery supplies, the Dr's had told the family that the girl would loose her leg at the hip. Thank's to our amazing God, we were able to purchase the supplies and hopefully, Gabriela will have surgery this morning. PRAY!
Yesterday (Friday) I recieved a call that I had been waiting for for a long time. I have been working with friends in Nashville to put a water well in Oriental. There is a group from Texas that has a well drilling ministry and they have been promising to get us on the schedule for a long time. Yesterday I got the call that the time is here. I am meeting the manager of the operation in Oriental this afternoon to begin the process. Once complete, this village of more than 1000 will finally have a source for their water needs. What a blessing.
Please pray for the needs that I have talked about here. Please lift up thanks for the answered prayers here too.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

I Like This Quote

2009-02-11T13:41:00.000-08:00

The other day I read this quote -
"Vision without action is only a Dream!
Action without Vision is only an activity!
Combining Vision & Action can change the World!"
I like this.
Imagine adding Jesus to the center of every Vision?
Imagine waking up every day with only one purpose in mind - your Vision!
Vision with Jesus in the center and Action with Jesus as the master will surely change the world.
One soul at a time.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

January 2009 Report

2009-02-05T06:05:00.000-08:00

We finished 2008 and started 2009 in the states. While there we were blessed to be able to spend time in Fairview Heights with our home church. They are amazing! We could not have a more loving and supporting family. I was able to speak at both Sunday School and during worship.
While in Fairview Heights, I was able to meet with friends that had access to a mobile medical clinic. It is one that is built on the chassis of bus similar to those used for rent car shuttles. It is in excellent condition and we were offered the bus as a gift. Of course we accepted and we will be working to transport the vehicle to Honduras prior to the many groups working here during the summer months. In addition to summer usage, we will partner with Baxter's clinic. The Baxter institute has an ongoing clinic operation that utilizes the resources of doc's from a medical school in VA. They will be able to use the clinic in many of the remote clinics that they tie in with remote churches. It is a perfect partnership.
From IL we travelled back down to Arkansas where our son in law graduated from Harding. As soon as graduation ended we were on our way to Kansas to meet with the Overland Park Church. They had contacted me and asked me to speak to them about short term missions. This is a church of about 800 and their college plus group had been looking for a mission opportunity. This group will be joining the team from Topeka in the summer of 2009 and it looks like they will have about 30 travelling to Honduras for the first time. The total KS Torch team will be about 50 to 60 strong and this is only the second year. Pretty amazing & very exciting!
On the same Sunday we were blessed to be able to speak and meet with the Central Church in Topeka. They are very excited to be coming back to Honduras in 2009 and we are blessed once again with the family there. The Topeka team formed because one of the families there had been coming to Honduras with my large July team - they went back to Kansas and told them that they should ask me to come and speak. I was able to go and speak & preach in September of 2007 and the rest is history.
We left Kansas to spend Christmas with all of our family in Texas. While there, we were able to speak & preach in both Shamrock and Wheeler. Both of these are wonderful churches and we are again blessed because our amazing God has put them in our lives.
We ended our tour of churches in Gulfport, MS and headed back to Honduras on January 8th. We didn't arrive back in country until the 9th because our tickets required a "lay-over" at the Miami airport (landed 1:30 AM departed for Tegucigalpa 10:00 AM).
We had to hit the ground running as there was much to catch up on.
On the day we returned, our AIM'ers told us that they had decided to return to the states. There were some issues within the team that they needed to resolve and they are in Lubbock working to regroup. Please pray for them.
Terri and I are continuing the Tegucigalpa dump ministry. We make about 350 bologna sandwiches a week, we buy about 100 pounds of bananas, and 10 gallons of water to share with the hungry people - men, women, and precious children - every Wednesday. We are blessed when we are able to share this work with others and in January we were able to team up one Wednesday with Karen (director of Casa), her mom and a friend from Ohio. Yesterday we shared the work with a group of ladies from PA as well as a few other folks from here in Tegucigalpa.
In January we were able to build 3 houses for families. A container of medical supplies from Mississipi arrived and is already helping many many people that have needs. The crutches, wheelchairs, walkers, hospital beds, and many other goods were put to immediate use.
In January, we were able to spend time with a friend from California. Mandy works with a group of ladies from Danli. The ladies there assemble gift items for Mandy's business and it is exciting to see her work to get more women able to feed their families.
In January we were able to spend time with new friends from Texas. JB Roberts and Dan Carpenter were here to find out more about the work we do and to meet with a number of folks about the needs of Honduras. These gentlemen work with an organization called Hunger Plus as well as Rotary Clubs International. They have already shipped a container of medical supplies our way (should be in country today) and have plans to help us with many many projects. Once again, our Amazing God introduces us to amazing people.
In January we were diasppointed to lose the family that we had hired as house parents for Casa de Esperanza. The Montes' family made the decision to return to work as full time ministers and have moved south to work with a church there. Pray for God to deliver the families we need to help us care for the children here at Casa de Esperanza.
We are continuing our plans to plant churches in 2009. Santa Katerina - south of here has already given us land and we will be going there this weekend to survey and take some gifts to the kids there.
Once again, Terri and I want to thank you for your continued prayers, for your encouragement, and for your amazing support.
We love you,
Marc & Terri
Be a blessing to somebody today!

End of the week

2009-01-24T18:08:00.000-08:00

It's Saturday night and the week is quickly coming to a close. It was another great week in Honduras - we were able to build a house for Maria and her 3 kids on Wednesday and another for a man named Nelson and his 4 sons. I love building houses and these were great families that needed a place to live. On Wednesday - about the time I drove into the property, I got a call that a container was in town and that they needed help to unload. The container was full - very full - of medical supplies and many people will be helped by the shipment. I went back to Tegucigalpa to help unload the 60,000+ pounds of goods in the shipment.
On friday Pamala was finally able to have the surgery that she needed on her foot. This will hopefully help her to be able to walk and play without the pain that she has had for years. When she was little she was hit by a bus and the surgeon didn't quite replace her heel cushion - the surgery yesterday was designed to correct that. I was able to leave the house sight to be with Karen and Pamala for the surgery - she seems to be doing well and her pain is under control.
Last night - was the one night of the week when we don't have staff sleeping in the house with the kids - Karen usually takes on that task. Since she spent the night at the hospital, I voluntered for the duty. All went well with the kids. Everybody was asleep within a few minutes of bedtime and everybody was up and at it by 6:30 this morning becaue - today was the day that I had promised to take them to lunch and a movie.
We went to lunch at a fried chicken fast food place so that the kids would have a place to play for a few minutes before we went to the theater. As soon as we were in the resturant, Rosita started with the pee dance - she loves to go to the bathroom in any new place - she went in but came out pretty quickly because she couldn't unfasten her belt. Undoing a belt when somebody is doing the pee dance isn't easy and everybody in Popeyes was watching and smiling. The kids love Popeyes because first it is chicken and second, they have free re-fills on drinks. I thought the free re-fills on drinks was a good idea until we left to go and sit through a 2 hour movie. We headed out to the cinema - at one of the local malls. Nobody trusted me to take 12 to the movie by myself so - one of our workers went along to help me out (thank you Lord). We parked and unloaded everybody and grabbed hands so that we could keep up with everybody. Good plans don't always work. About 100 yards into the mall I heard Saundra say - "DORIS!". That was our Oh crap moment. Doris wasn't with us. I quickly made sure that the 11 remaning were close by and Saundra ran to find Doris. Thankfully, she had just stayed behind at the van. Well, we were off to the movies - which didn't start for another 20 minutes. While sitting there, there was a massive attack of free re-fills and everybody needed to GO. I took them 3 at a time and the first to visit the bano was Cindy, Daniela, and Sisi. Everybody was doing the dance so I let Cindy and Daniela go into the ladies room and since nobody was using the mens room - I sent Sisi in. The first 2 came out in a reasonable time and we were waiting on Sisi - I decided it would be a good idea to open the door to check on her. I just about fell over when I opened the door to see her washing her hands in the men's urinal - she said look poppie - they put soap in it for me.
I was able to get everybody else to the restroom - without any other happenings before the start of the movie. That wasn't the end though. After about 30 minutes of the movie, the pee wiggle started and before the end of the movie I had made 9 more trips to the restroom. Of course one was with Rosita. As you may or may not know, Rosita is unable to hear. She always thinks she needs to lock the door - so she did. While she was in the restroom, a line started. We could all hear her - first the flush and then the water and then the hand dryer. The first lady in line was really needing to go and I could see her relief when the hand dryer stopped - I could also see her panic when it immediately started again. She started knocking on the door and I told her that it wouldn't do any good beacuse the person in there couldn't hear - she kept knocking. The hand dryer went off again and started again - 6 times. There were 9 ladies in line when Rosita finally came out.
When the movie was over, I took 9 kids with me out the front door and Saundra took another 3 to the restroom. When Saundra came out of the restroom, they wouldn't let her exit the same way as my group so - we were split up. It took a while but, we both finally figured that the best thing to do would be to go to the van to wait. We finally had a reunion and were able to head home with 12 happy tired kids. Just as we pulled into Santa Ana, Jackson had a bit of car sickness hit and he left all of the chicken, popcorn, sprite, etc on the van floor. I was happy that he waited until we only had a quarter mile to go and not 20 miles.
After everybody was out of the van and it was all clean from the car sickness, I realized that in the rush to get out of the theater, I had left my backpack in under the seat - 25 miles away. My backpack contains much of my life - including my passport, my notebooks, and this week - the money to pay for 2 houses. I didn't believe that I would ever see it again. I just figured that somebody would open it and say "look what the Lord has given to me". More than $2000 in cash and a passport that is worth about $10,000 on the blackmarket. I prayed and then I called my friend Milton Estrada to rush to the mall to see if he could by chance find my backpack. Then Terri and I jumped into the car to head that way. We were barely out of Santa Ana when Milton called and told me that he had my backpack and it looked like everything was there. Our God answers prayers - even for something as simple as a backpack. We met Milton and all is well.
The end of this week was one that I won't soon forget.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

A Day In The Life

2009-01-14T16:39:00.000-08:00

Monday was pretty busy - at the end of the day I saw my friend Dennis as I drove into the gate. He had been crying and I asked him if there was a problem. He told me that his grandmother had died. In 3rd world countries, death usually results in a pretty quick burial. There isn't much formal funeral home work for the poor so - it's necesary to get some newly departed into the ground before the odor changes too much. Since Dennis' grandmother died in the afternoon on Monday, it meant that the funeral and burial was to happen on Tuesday. I told Dennis that I would drive him and that we would leave at 7:00 AM the following morning.
Early Tuesday Noel - the former minister in Santa Ana - asked if he could go with Dennis and me. Well when it was time to go, I thought that we would have 3 in the truck. Welcome to Honduras - Dennis had his 2 boys and his ex-wife. On the way into Tegucigalpa, Dennis had a call and I heard him say - red truck - double cab. As we turned off the highway toward our destination Dennis said - there is my sister. We stopped to pick her up - along with her daughter. Now we had 8 in the truck. We headed out toward Danli and the road was pretty typical - lots of holes in the road. About 10 KM short of Danli, we truned toward the final destination - a town called Taupasanti - it was listed at 29 km away and initially the road was great. After about 5 min, all that changed and the dirt soon became mud and the straight became curves and the flat became mountains and the edge became steeeeep clifs. It was pretty much a crazy ride going around the hair pin turns on mud. If I didn't believe in God before this ride, I would have still prayed!
On the way into Taupasanti, we picked up another 9 or 10 of the family and finally made it to the house - the palce of the funeral too. Dennis' mom met us at the car and immediately wanted me to "meet" her mother. The meeting was brief and then she insisted that I eat. The family is very poor and the only food was rice and tortillas - there was only 2 plates in the house and they insisted that I use one of them. I didn't realy want to eat - not because of fear of ilness but because of the fact that there wasn't enough food in the house for very many people.
After lunch, I heard Dennis ask Noel if he would preside at the funeral. The service was brief and later we left in the procession - everybody walked and the casket was carried by grandsons - about 2 blocks toward the town square and back to the cemetary for burial. The family was responsible for both digging the grave and filling it in.
Leaving Taupasanti, Dennis asked if I could give a few of his family a ride closer to their houses. The "Few" turned into about 30. Yes - there were 30 people in and out of my truck. We drove up the mountain about 10km so that the family would be closer to their houses. They still had 2 hours to walk to get home - almost all up a mountain. Crazy.
We lightened the load down to 10 back to Teguc.
We finished the day by arriving back at the house at about 6:00 - just in time for our 7:00 Tuesday "midweek" worship.
I am blessed that I was able to share this day with Dennis and his family.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

December 2008

2009-01-03T07:06:00.000-08:00

2008 waas a flash - it is over!
I plan to post a year end summary within the next week or so - in the mean time, here is a brief summary of the past couple of months.
November was extremely busy and productive. We started the month with construction of a memory house for the aunt of friends in Mississippi and finished the month with the construction of 3 more houses. In between, Terri travelled to the states on what was to be a brief trip to lead a ladies retreat in IL. She ended up in IL for a couple of weeks to take care of some medical issues and some surgery. All is well and Terri made it back home for our Thanksgiving feast. Terri and Karen prepared more than enough food for everyone at the children's home and many guests. We had more than 45 at our lunch and it was amazing. We are blessed.
Prior to thanksgiving week, we welcomed Mike and Kim Miller into our home for a few days. Mike and Kim are from Florida an have been in Honduras for about 2 years. They are working on the development of a children's home in the San Pedro Sula area. They stayed at our house while working on legal issues in Tegucigalpa. About the time that Mike and Kim departed, we were blessed with a small group for Thanksgiving week. In October we put out a call for folks that wanted to come and build - this was the week when we built the 3 houses. On Saturday of the same week, we travelled to Santa Katerina to see the land where the new church / feeding center will be built. The community has already started clearing the land. We plan to do more work there - every month beginning in January 2009.
December began with a group from Mississippi coming to help us take some Christmas joy to the people at the dump. The group brought more than 250 gifts for very needy men, women, and children. We were able to feed everybody and deliver the gifts to just about everybody and it was an amazing day.
The following week we spent time with our friends at Baxter - the ministry school in Tegucigalpa. Graduation week at Baxter is wonderful and we are blessed greatly because of the work that they do. Baxter supplies many many talented preachers to the churches in Latin America.
On the 11th, we travelled to the states to both work and spend some time with our family. We have done both - speaking in 6 churches, driving more than 3000 miles, and spending time with family in Texas and Arkansas.
Our God is faithful 100% of the time. He provides for us and tells us to leave the worrying to Him. He has planned much for us to do and has all of the resources for us to do the work that He has planned. He is awesome!
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc & Terri

Thanksgiving

2008-11-27T04:47:00.000-08:00

On Tuesday afternoon I met Maria and her two grandchildren - Nancy and Kelly. Maria lives in a village called America and it is a bad neighborhood. Her house was about 12x14 with dirt floors. There was one bed in the house and that is where Maria and the two grandchildren sleep. The mattress on the bed was one that looked like it had been discarded on the side of the road - it likely was somebody elses trash. Inside the house there was pretty much nothing - very few clothes, no toys for the two little girls, no food to speak of. The belongings that were there were what most of us would consider garbage.
Yesterday we were able to build Maria, Nancy, and Kelly a new house. When the wood truck arrived, Maria was singing a song about the strength of God. Maria sang this song most of the morning as she helped carry the wood up the mountain - about 300 yards. The slope wasn't too drastic but it takes a lot of wood to build a house. Maria never stopped the work until all of the wood was at the top of the mountain. (Maria looks to be in her 60's - I didn't ask)
When we finished the house, Maria cried. She was so happy that her little girls would not be stepping out of bed into the mud anymore. She cried when we were able to give her a big "house box" filled with all sorts of things that most of us take for granted. The box had towels, pots and pans, spices, cooking tools, and many other things that Maria could never afford. When we were all standing in the house, Maria spoke - she said, "Before today, I wasn't sure that God was there. Today, I know that he is real. He heard me - he listened to my prayer and now I have a house. He is strong."
I was blessed by Maria - she taught me a lot about thanksgiving - even though she likely doesn't even have a clue that today is when the USA celebrates the day of thanks.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Working Together

2008-11-22T05:23:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we built a house in a place called the 17th of September. The house we built was for a family of 8 - mom and 7 kids. It was a special house because it was built in memory of a special lady from Columbus, MS.
While we were on the mountain I met a lady named Saundra. Every time Saundra talked to me she started crying and asking me to come to her house to see if there was anything that we could do to help her out. On the day we built the house, I told Saundra that I would come to her house as soon as we finished the new building. I was hopeful that we would be able to help Saundra's house be more livable with a new roof and maybe a few boards to cover up some of the holes in the wall. When we climed up - and I mean way up - to the house, it became immediately obvious that the only solution to Saundra's house problem would be a new house. The place where Saundra and her little boy live is one of the worst that I have ever seen. I told Saundra "right now, I don't have the money to build you a house. We both need to pray that God will deliver the money so that you and your son can get a house." I prayed right then that God would send money soon for a house for Saundra. That was on a Thursday and on Saturday of the same week, I had an email from a friend that he wanted to help build a house for somebody - that somebody is Saundra. Next Monday we will build that house. As of right now, Saundra still does not know that she will get a new house on Monday. I plan to go up the mountain after church tomorrow to tell her - the tears then will be tears of joy. I can't wait!
We get to build 2 more houses next week - I will share details about the families as soon as I have them.
The following week, we have friends from Mississippi coming. The Trace Crossing Church in Tupelo is bringing 5 or 6 to Honduras so that they can "be Jesus" to the folks at the Tegucigalpa dump. they have assembled 250 Maji boxes - specifically for the folks at the dump. These boxes are for both adults and children and will bring joy to just about everybody that the dump. There are treats, gloves, and small gifts for every body. We will have a special day at the dump - serving a hot meal and a gift of love! This group want's to be able to return to Mississippi with the story of giving that everybody needs to hear - especially during the time of year when we celbrate the "greatest gift".
Exciting things - Happy Thanksgiving,
Be a blessing to somebody TODAY!
Marc

Gracias Dios

2008-11-19T07:02:00.000-08:00

Thank you Lord for my beautiful wife. Thank you for hearing our prayers and for your answers. Thank you for the great news that we recieved at Terri's doctor appointment this morning. Please help us to never take the blessings that we are given for granted but to always know that everything that we have is from you. Please God help us to learn from you how to be generous.
In Jesus Name!
Amen

Today Terri was given the news that the many many prayers that so many have lifted up were answered. The tissue removed from her breast last week IS NOT CANCER!
She is coming home!
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

I Can't Afford It!

2008-11-14T05:27:00.000-08:00

There are lots of times when we use the phrase "I can't afford it!". Especially now in the tougher economic times - we tighten our belts - so to speak, we cut out some vacations, try to not use credit cards, don't eat out as much, etc. We do this because "we can't afford it".
Watching all of the bad news on the ecomomy, seeing the stock market dive, seeing our "portfolio" shrink - makes us all seem poorer. Our houses have declined in value - on paper so we feel like we have lost $1000's. Read the paper, watch the news, talk to friends at work and you could hang your head and really worry about what might be in the future.
Well, if you are in this shape - worry and sleepless because of the economy, think about the words of Jesus in Matthew 6: 25 - Therefore, I tell you do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear.......26: Look at the birds of the air....your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?
We as believers are able to sleep at night because our Father has promised that he will take care of us.
Not only is now the time to stop worrying about our "stuff" we may want to consider selling off some of it - simplifying our lives and using more of what we have to help others. Consider the first century church described in Acts 2 - they sold their things and helped any brother that had needs. If we want to be the same type of believers as the first century christians, maybe we should plan a sale of the things that we are too attached to. Maybe we should look to what our God promises to those that don't hold back. In Malachi, the prophet recorded the words of God when he said (3:10) Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this. says the Lord and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have enough room for it.
Our blessing promise may not be more stuff but, our God has promised that He will take care of us and our God is true & faithful. He does what He says He will do. He even tells us to test Him!
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Happenings

2008-11-10T06:19:00.000-08:00

Last week Terri went to the states to speak at a ladies retreat. All went very well with the retreat and Terri was able to speak a couple of other times to friends with the Fairview Heights Church of Christ. We are blessed that we have such amazing friends in IL
While in the states, Terri had her annual check-up and they discovered something that needs more testing - she is having a biopsy surgery on Wednesday of this week and we covet your prayers that all will be 100% okay! Our God is faithful and we know that He is in control of everything.
In Honduras, Karen and Dorian have been visiting family in Nicaragua so - I have been spending a lot of time with the kids at Casa. On Saturday I was blessed to spend the entire day 6:30 AM to 8:00 PM with our beautiful kiddos. What a blessing they are. We have rigged a jump rope to so that one person can spin it so - on Saturday we jumped rope for about 3 hours. That helped everybody to get good and tired for bedtime. They were all up again at 6:30 on Sunday morning for pancakes and getting ready for Sunday School. Rayner - one of the AIM'ers came to help me with crowd control during church - Thank you Rayner!
My dog Skillet was treated to a "date" this weekend. (also and education for the kids). One of my friends here has a Black Lab - same as Skillet. His lab was in heat and he asked if he could bring her to have a "date" with Skillet. My poor dog was the description of "dog tired" by the end of the weekend. All of the kids are already asking "where are the puppies?"
Over the next couple of weeks we are going to be praying that God will send the resources that are so desperatly needed to rebuild some of the houses that were lost in the recent rains. We already have 3 or 4 and are hoping that we can spend or Thanksgiving week building - as many as 10 to 12 houses!. Pray with us please. Come and build with us if you can. I can't think of a better way to say thanks for our blessings than to share what you have been given with someone that has nothing - and I really mean nothing.
Well - it's monday morning and I need to get back to work. I was with the kids for devotional at 6:30 this morning and it is a pure blessing to hear the sincere prayers and the happy singing of these children. What a great way to start a day.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

October Monthly Report

2008-11-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

October was a very interesting month. I started the month heading to Copan for the annual conference on children's missions and health care missions in Honduras. Terri and I both attended the conference last year and this year she was unable to go along. The conference is a place where you can meet with many many people that are working in similar ministry around the country. It is a place where you can gather tons of helpful information about how to avoid some of the same problems that others have experineced. As a result of the conference, we have learned how to apply for a couple of grants for shipping containers into the country as well as how to utilize the resources of our own military transports to ship goods into the country.
As soon as I returned from Copan, we were blessed to have a couple of friends from Atlanta as our house guests. Our guests were able to see the Mirador Woman's Center on the day that we recieved the first of many truckloads of water from the city. Our Atlanta guests are from the Campus Church of Christ - the sponsors of the woman's center project. A later follow-up on the project was great. I have hired one of the church members to manage the facility and they are making great use of the facility for the community. It takes about 5 hours for a woman to do the family laundry so - only 10 or so ladies per day can use the pilas. The facility is being well used serving about 40 to 50 families a week.
(Other community news regarding Mirador Oriente involves the new block school building that was completed in September. In late October the roof was blown off - in a 70 MPH wind. We have put a temporary fix in place and plan to complete the repairs in November. )
Days after our Atlanta friends left, we were blessed with having friends from California for a week. We were able to take the week and do many many things including - visiting the kids at Hospital Escuela, feeding the poor at the dump, building a house for a person that lost their home in a fire, working at a children's feeding center, and meeting many many people. Additionally we took a road trip to the south. We planned to visit the community of Santa Katerina but, the rains had made the rivers too high to cross. We had purchased enough food for 100 families so we met many of the community at the river edge to distribute the food. The people that came for the food had to cross 3 rivers and walk for more than 2 hours just to get a small bag of food for their family. After we left the area, we found that the whole community had been down to having only tortillas to eat and that the food that we distributed helped them get past the crisis. Our God is amazing and we are blessed that we were His hands in answering the prayers of the hungry.
We are planning to help the community of Santa Katerina on a longer term basis in 2009. Our prayer is that we will be able to construct a community center that will function Monday - Friday as a feeding center for the local children, on Saturday's we would use the facility as a baking co-op for the women of the community to prepare bread for every family. On Sunday's we hope to utilize the facility as a place of worship. Seven days a week - feeding, helping, teaching, and delivering the hope and promise of Jesus! I have applied for a grant that will provide for one year of operations for the feeding center and it looks like we will be in a position to recieve the request. We are still working on the design and construction funding but are confident that our God will provide. After all - He has all the money in the world.
In October we were faced with lots of really bad weather. Rain for about 12 days in a row - followed by 40 to 50 MPH winds for 6 or 7 days. The rains were a dissaster for this country. There are 1000's of homes that have been destroyed and the roads and bridges are falling in or down - everywhere. We are working to try and help rebuild several houses during Thanksgiving week. So far we have comittments for 2 or 3 houses and are praying that we will be able to build as many as 10 to 12.
In the last week of October we were able to build a memory house for the family of friends in Mississippi. The new house is now in use and 8 people are living in a 16'x16' one room house. The appreciation was given to the Lord and the family was so very happy with the new home that was delivered as an answer to prayers.
The AIM Team has completed 2 months of Spanish school and has started working in various ministries. Throughout school, they have continued to feed at the dump every Wednesday. They have been able to start working in evengelism at the dump by securing the help of Richard - the minsiter of the church in Oj0jona - the small town where they live. We are blessed to have this team of young folks working with us for the next year.
We once again want to thank all of you for your prayers, your encouragement, and your support.
Thank You!
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc & Terri

And Now WIND!

2008-10-29T03:44:00.000-07:00

The news paper yesterday said that there is a "big cold front coming". It didn't say much about the wind. Yesterday morning the front hit and with it some pretty amazing winds. I don't have a wind speed reader but if I did, I would guess that we are getting a steady 45 to 50 mph with some gusts at 65 to 70. It is intense!
At noon yesterday I had a voicemail from my friend that runs the schools at Oriente and he needed to tell me about the damage that the wind had caused one of the schools - the roof had been lifted by the wind and removed from the building. TORCH has built all of the buildings so - it was natural that Carlos would call us for help getting the building repaired. I hope to pull enough resources together to get it fixed on Saturday. Obviously we won't be getting on top of a building with sheets of tin if there is still 50 MPH winds.
Coming home from Oriente yesterday was another mind altering event.
Driving north on the SPS highway, I noticed that the truck in front of me swerved left and stopped quickly in the median. I saw what I thought was the reason - a large piece of debris in the road - only as I got closer I could see that it wasn't debris - it was a man. The truck in front of mine had struck a man trying to run across the road. He was knocked out of his shoes - about 75 feet and was laying in the center of the road. He was dead - just like that. Intentions of crossing the road - not even very much traffic - one second heading to the other side and the next - on the other side of life to face his maker. There was nothing that anyone could do for him. I don't know his name but, I will never forget his face.
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc

Let's Build!

2008-10-24T09:06:00.001-07:00

In the USA, a natural disaster is met with an army of both government workers, aid, private volunteers, Red Cross, and others. The disaster isn't easy to recover from but, there is usually help on the way.
In Honduras, that isn't always the case. Many of the places where disaster strikes are remote and the help never comes. Houses are destroyed, crops lost, and people are hurt - sick - or just not able to recover very quickly. There isn't a FEMA, there is no State Farm agent, there is only pain, hunger, and suffering. It seems somewhat overwhelming.
Only when we recognize that we are called to help people - to serve our brothers - one at a time - can we see that even a little help is what we need to provide.
Driving into Tegucigalpa this morning, I came up with the idea that there may be some of you that would like to do - just a little bit to share the love of Jesus with some folks that have had the disaster of losing their home to a landslide or flood. I would like to pull a group together that can come to Honduras the week of Thanksgiving to build houses and share the love of Jesus. I have enough beds in my house to sleep 12 or so let's fill em up. Plane tickets into San Pedro Sula are running about $475 or less right now and we can build a house for about $1300. If we can act fast, I will go to the Teguc airport and see if we can't get them to discount the rate for a team of builders. I would ask anyone interested to get with their home church to ask for support of building at least one house. Terri and I can come up with enough rice and beans to feed everybody and we can go out and share Thanksgiving with people that need the hope of Jesus -right now. Even if you can't come, ask your church or Sunday School class to help us build.
Emal me at marclt2003@yahoo.com if you are interested - recruit friends and family and Let's Build!
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Damage!

2008-10-22T05:47:00.001-07:00

Rain

2008-10-18T18:16:00.000-07:00

It has been raining here for the past 4 days - NONSTOP. On Wednesday we headed down south to help feed folks in a little village where we hope to do some work next summer. The rain however has been so strong that we couldn't drive into the community. We had food for 100 families and we were able to send word ahead that we were coming. Because of the word that was sent ahead, the people of the little village came to the "end of the road" to meet us. The road ended at a river that is about 150 yards wide and rolling very fast. The river is usually a creek about 20 feet across that you can drive across. We found out that the people that came to get the food had crossed 2 other rivers and spent more than 2 hours to come to meet us. They were cold and shivering. They were also happy and greeted us with a joyful attitude. It was an amazing day.
The rain has continued - on Friday we drove east of town to take some friends to the town of Danli. We were on the same road on Monday and noticed that the pavement appeared to be sinking. By Friday, a large segment of the road was blocked off and the slight sinking was now about 3 feet lower. It appears that a big chunk of the mountain is about to fall off. The only good news about this is that if it does fall, it will be on top of a hotel that is known for exploiting young women. I hope nobody gets hurt (except for the hotel).
This morning in the newspaper there was an article about a village that is trapped by a river - an identical story to the one we observed first hand on Thursday. The headline said "Hunger drives people to ignore danger". The picture was of 3 women and some children crossing a river to get food for their families.
We had an amazing week here with friends from the Bay Area of California.
I will report on all of those activities on my monthly report. I will also outline more of our plans for helping the people in the south. We want to put something together that will address both the need for food and the need for Jesus.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

September Monthly Report

2008-10-01T08:31:00.000-07:00

We began September in the USA. We were in many places and were able to speak to a number of churches and others regarding the work in Honduras. From our speaking, we were able to secure support for several projects including one of the planned church plants for 2009. We were able to nail down our TORCH team dates for almost all of our 2009 teams and because of that, we were able to work with the airlines to secure seats for about 75% of our anticipated team members. It is much easier to communnicate with the travel desks of the airlines from the states.
We also met with the Adventures in Missions group in Lubbock to discuss the class of 2009 and the potential of having a new team here next summer.
On September 1 we also began work on the new cottage at Casa de Esperanza. We were able to start the project while in the states because we are using Milton Estrada as our construction supervisor. Milton and I had drawn up all of the plans and staked out the project prior to our departure to the states and we knew how much work we expected to complete during the first 3 weeks of Sept. In spite of all of the rain, we are on schedule for completing the new house in October. All of the walls are done and we should be closed in by sometime next week. We are excited that there will be more kiddo's here at Casa and the sooner we get this project complete, the sooner we can do the work that God has planned.
In other news - We are in the process of working with a number of churches and sunday school classes to raise the funds necessary to supply all of our kids with new beds. In our home, there isn't any place for our kids to keep a few of their own things - the new beds will have a closet and drawers built in to that every child will have a little place of their own. A place where they can keep their few private possesions. We had a prototype made and the cost was about $500 for the bunk with a clost built-in. The construction is amazing and the new buds will last for many years.
For planning, we are already working with Baxter to discuss the new church in the Tegucigalpa area. Looks like we may have preaching students working in the plant area as soon as February 2009. This will be the beginning of "seed planting" for the new congregation. In October we are planning to visit the area where the other 2009 church project will be located. Hopefully we will be building a house and distributing food to people in the community.
Terri and I have lived here for more than a year now. We can see just how blessed we are by the work that we are able to be a part of. We continue to pray thanks for all of the support, encouragement, and love that we are shown. Thank you for praying for us.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc & Terri Tindall

Returning Home

2008-09-24T12:58:00.000-07:00

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

In the states

2008-09-11T08:58:00.000-07:00

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

Gentle Touch

2008-08-26T16:59:00.000-07:00

Today I went to town to work on a couple of projects and to visit a couple of places. The projects are in Oriente and I had Milton working with me so pretty much I just needed to get him to the job site and pay the bills. The places to visit were what was really on my mind today - I took Felicia, Andrea, and Rayner with me because I wanted to visit a day care center in El Centro. This is a place that was established by the first lady of the previous administration and takes care of the kids from single working mothers. Without this place, most of the kids would be at home alone or maybe with an 8 or 9 year old brother or sister. There are about 80 kids in the center. Today we were disappointed because the center was closed - so, we didn't get to visit or get an update on the status of the center.
The next stop is a place that takes in old folks when there isn't any place else for them to go. This home is on the steepest street that I have ever seen - much less driven on. We lived in the SF Bay Area and have driven Lombard several times - this Tegucigalpa street makes Lombard look like Lubbock, Texas. Outside the home there were about 15 to 20 homeless guys waiting for lunch as this home also ministers to the homeless of the area with a hot meal every day. In the home, there are about 3o people that look to be older than 80 and some very close to 100. Today when went into the home, we spent time sitting and talking to the people. One thing that I noticed all of the girls doing was giving hugs. It was amazing to see the change of expression in the faces of those being touched. The time that we spent in this home was just like most of the ministry that we are blessed to be a part of - we were all much more blessed by going to the old folks home that we could have ever imagined.
I am guilty of not visiting the old folks homes of the states - so, what we did today is not part of my usual routine. I plan to change this. Why don't you join me in changing?
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

More On Choluteca

2008-08-19T19:19:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when you see something - especially here in Honduras, you are impacted to the point that you just can't stop thinking and praying about it. The first litle village we visited in the Choluteca area has effected me that way.
When I got home Saturday, I spent time talking with Andrea - one of our AIM team and we got up Sunday still talking about just what could happen to make the biggest impact on the community. Well, we just startd day dreaming together and so far - here is what we are dreaming about.
So far we believe that the biggest impact that we can deliver to the community is to find a way to feed the kids. We already have a pattern from the feeding center in Oriental so we won't be reinventing the wheel. We believe that using a feeding center as the base of ministry will have an immediate positive evvect on both the kids and the adults. Our aim is to build a center that will double as a church building and a place that the community can use for many other functions. We also want to find a ministry family that can act as both preacher as well as facility manager. We want to utilize the women in the community as our workers.
So - we want to build a feeding center, use the bulding as a place of worship and other community needs, we want to find a ministry family that will live in the community (in a house attached to the center), the family will manage the center and minister to the community. We believe that we can build and run the center for the first year for about $45,000 or less. That amount would allow us to build, furnish, staff - and feed about 200 kids a day - 5 days a week.
We know that our God has all the money in the world and we are praying that He will show us where the resources for this project will come from. Right now we are praying and planning.
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc

Choluteca & July Report

2008-08-15T18:32:00.000-07:00

I started to write a July report but just need to talk first about a great day (today) in Honduras. Many of you have met my good friend - Timoteo Estrada. I have known Timoteo for about 8 years and the more time I spend with him the more I love him and his love for the people of Honduras and his love for the Lord.
Today Timoteo, his son Milton, one of the AIM'ers (Felisha) and I went to the Chulateca area. Our goal was to give away a truck load of clothing and to meet some of the Christians in the area. The first area we visited was about 35km West of Choluteca - we went about 35km on pavement and then up about 10 miles of dirt and mud roads. We finally arrived in a community that is only seperated from Nicaragua by a muddy river. The little village where we were exists in a way that is totally different than even many of the poorest communities around Tegucigalpa. They are isolated from the world - no electricity, no phone service, no running water in any of the houses. There are a number of wells in the area so - you see the women pumping and filling buckets. There are about 175 houses in the community and about 800 to 900 people that live there. I was able to spend about an hour with the community president and he shared a lot about the community with me. There are only 2 school classrooms in the area - that is intended to serve more than 350 to 400 kids. There isn't a doctor within miles. Since there are few cars and no phone service, medical emergencies are handled by the women of the community.
One of the primary sources of food is corn - today we were met at our car with some freshly prepared sweet corn (boiled with shucks on).
After my walking tour of the community - the community president and I returned as Timoteo was handing out candy and toys to all of the area children. There were about 100+ kids and nobody was pushing or shoving - everybody was patiently waiting for a small gift (most were about like a happy meal gift). The kids were as excited as if it were Christmas - even with a simple gift. The entire community was as friendly as any place I have ever been and it was as poor as any I have ever seen. I wish I could do a better job of describing how the community looked - it just seems that it would be impossible to do so. The households iin the area are made up of intact families - mom, dad, and multiple kids. This is a big difference from most of the communities around Teguc - where most of the villages are made up of single moms with multiple kids.
The other area we visited was a community where Timoteo's family lives. There are 18 houses in the community and we spent time in the house of Timoteo's 90 year old aunt. Because we were guests, we were offered coffee and cake - no chance of turning it down. The cake was a corn bread cake and we truly enjoyed spending time in a place where many of the things that we see as important are not even considered.
We met people that have never used a computer, have never taken a hot shower, likely don't eat meat more than once or twice a month, likely only eat an average of one meal a day - or less and are amazingly happy. When they pray, they thank God for the bountiful blessings.
Today was a blessing and I am thankful that I was able to meet and learn from my new friends in Chulateca.
July Report
Much of our work is reported on the site - mstorch.blogspot.com
We were blessed in July to be able to lead 3 teams through TORCH (4 straight weeks). We worked with people from East Tennessee, South Carolina, Arkansas, Illinois, North Carolina, Florida, Mississippi, Texas, Alabama, New York, and other places that I have forgotten. During our work we were able to feed more than 1400 families with bags of both fresh food and with beans, rice and other staples. We were able to send teams to the dump to feed people about 10 times - we made about 3200 sandwiches. Our teams built 2 school buildings and more than 22 houses. We visited 100's of kids in the hospital and special needs orphanage. We gave away clothing to more than 1500 people and toys to more than 3000 kids. We worked in about 9 different communities and we taught the gospel to an amazing number of people. There are now 36 new Christians that have chosen Jesus to be the master of their lives. We have identified a new community to plant a church in 2009 and we continued into August with follow-up in many of the areas where we have spent the past few months working.
Our final team left the country on the 9th and we were able to spend a few days away getting a little much needed rest.
We truly appreciate all of your prayers, encouragement, and your constant support of our work here in Honduras. You are a blessing to us and we love so very many of you.
Blessings,
Marc & Terri Tindall

Just A bunch of little beggers!

2008-08-09T15:57:00.000-07:00

Today I took the end of the summer TORCH group to the airport. One surprise to a lot of groups is when the kids that they have fallen in love with come to the airport to tell them goodby. Since we are back using the Tegucigalpa Airport, the kids are back too. Today the kids were from Los Pinos - there were about 12 of them - pretty amazing since there were only 6 people leaving today.
After the group secured their boarding passes, they were in line to pay their exit fees and the kids were standing with me and 2 of the AIM girls. We were all laughing and having fun when a complete stranger walked up and said "don't bother too much with those kids, they are just a bunch of little beggers! Besides, I already bought then something to eat so they don't need anything else."
I was stunned!
I told him that these kids are my friends - that I know all of their names and where they live. I told him that they had come to the airport to tell some of my friends goodbye and that if he was able to see where they lived, he might understand a little bit about why they were asking for food.
I was amazed that this guy was wearing a shirt that said "Heart For Honduras".
As the afternoon has passed, there are a lot of things that I have thought of that I could have said - some of them were not very nice and others were just things that would hopefully provoke a little bit of thinking before you say something so stinking lame. I believe that Jesus said it best when he said "let the children come to me" and when he said " unless you become like these little children, you cannot enter the kingdom".
I pray that the words that came from this man were ones that he has choked on this afternoon.Maybe he had time to reflect on them on his flight back to the states and will somehow regret his arrogance. I hope so.
I am truly glad that the kids couldn't understand English - they just smiled at him as if he were one of their friends.
If you get a chance, come to Honduras and I will introduce you to my little friends and perhaps they will sone to the airport to see you off too.
Be a blessing to somebody today.
Marc
Ps: I will be posting a July report within days.

June Summary and Report

2008-07-07T18:20:00.000-07:00

Pretty amazing that half of 2008 is already gone.
June has been an amazing and very fast paced month. We started the month with a group of 22 from Topeka, Kansas. This was a team that had never been with TORCH and they were a great multi-generational group. We were able to serve in several communities by helping the hungry with food, constructing houses, working with children, visiting hospitals, and building a new church building. This is a team that we are certain will grow in 2009. The Central Church of Christ in Topeka is going to be a very vital part of the mission ministry in Honduras.
We followed the Topeka group with the opportuntiy to help out with a couple of other groups. Mark Connell, Donna Brothers, and Gail Davidson teams were from Alabama/ Indiana, Ohio, and Florida. The work was similar with all of the groups.
We finished the month by spending a lot of time with our friends from Tupelo, MS. Mark Halbert is the leader and the group comes from Trace Crossing Church and Lee Acres Church of Christ. Once again, the group was multi-generational and everybody left the country with a new view of the world we live in.
Our work with the AIM Team continued in June and we are very blessed to have 6 great missionaries to work with for the next year and a half to two years. Please remember and pray for Steve, Kale, Keith, Andrea, Rayner, and Felisha. They have big hearts and a strong desire to serve. They have taken on the task of ministry at the Tegucigalpa City Dump and they haven't missed a week since they arrived on May 20th. They are working on plans to further the ministry by teaching the gospel to the people that live and work at the dump.
This summer we are also blessed to be working with 3 TORCH Interns. Karis, Nolan, and Russell are a real asset to our work with TORCH and they are a blessing to our lives. They will be with us until August 2.
July will be very similar to June. I am leading 3 teams in July and will be helping with 2 others. We will wrap up TORCH for the summer on August 9th. It is likely that we will be taking a couple of days off at that time. I aoplogize for a shortage of many of the June details - we are always pretty tied up from Mid May to Mid August and 2008 is no exception.
I do want to thank you for your ongoing support of the work here in Honduras. We wouldn't be blessed with the best job in the world without prayers, encouragement, and financial support that so very many of you provide. We appreciate your emails, blog comments, and your love.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Jenny

2008-06-28T17:20:00.000-07:00

Last week we had a small group of our friends from Tupelo, MS. The week went too quickly and a lot of great things were happening. On Thursday we made a trip to Hospital Escuela to spend the morning with children in the various wards. I wasn't able to spend much time at the hospital as I had to be in a couple of differnt places to finish up some of the team's business. When I was finally able to get up to the area where the team was visiting some of the kids, I met a little 10 year old girl named Jenny. Jenny was in the hospital because on May 15th she was riding her bike when she was hit by a car. The damage to Jenny caused her to lose her right leg about 3 or 4 inches above the knee. It was sad to see this beautiful child and know that her future in Honduras isn't very bright. Folks here that are disabled are usually relagated to begging or being permanently dependent on their families.
I was able to spend a couple of minutes with Jenny's mom and found out that she was going to go home from the hospital on Friday. Jenny was excited to be going home. She is the youngest of 8 kids. I also found out that the (really bad) wheelchair that she was sitting in belonged to the hospital and that she would be going home without one. The thought of this beautiful child going home to be left laying down or pulling herself along the ground made me very sad. While visiting with Jenny and her mom I remembered that we had just recieved a new container and that there were several wheelchairs in our warehouse. I made a quick trip and discovered that there was a chair that was excactly the right size for Jenny. Several of us were able to take the wheelchair back to the hospital so that Jenny was able to go home with a little mobility. We are blessed that we were able to deliver a little bit of relief to Jenny.
We are also working to try to find a place where little Jenny might be able to be fitted with a prosthesis - one person in the group is married to a man that makes them. Could be that we were in the hospital and met Jenny because it was in the plan that is talked about in Ephesians 2:10.
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc

What I See

2008-06-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

I am able to be in a lot of places and because of that, I am able to see many different sights. Some of the things I've seen and experienced in the past week or so are why I am here. Here are a few of the sights -
Last week I saw desperation in the faces of many of the people at the Teguc dump. I was with a group that wanted to take full food bags to the city dump. Enough food in the bags to help for several days. The group took 250 bags and there was a line that streched to more than the number of bags available. I saw desperation in the folks near the end of the line - there was fear that there wouldn't be enough for them.
At the dump I also saw smiles on the faces of some of the people - even the ones that were near the end of the line. I talked to a lot of the people and asked them if they knew my friend Jesus. Many of them showed me that they had HOPE. A lot of the people that I asked told me that Jesus was the only hope that they had. They told me that they were happy because they had Jesus in their heart. There were even a few that pulled a small bible from their pocket.
Last week I observed the reason that Jesus told us "unless you are like these children...". We were working in a place called Villa Nueva - Sector 8. I met 3 or 4 little girls that were all smiles and giggles. Everytime I saw these little ones they wanted hugs. They were happy in spite - of being hungry, dirty, and living in a place where most of the world would see no reason to be happy.
In the past week I have seen hunger - a lot of hunger. We build a house for a family in the mountains above Ojojona and were able to visit the old house where the family of 5 had been living. Walking through the old house to look for how much food the family had to live on was revealing - there was a basket with maby 6 eggs, to shriveled peppers, and nothing else - nothing! The sad truth is, about 40 to 50% of the families in this country live just like this.
I also saw Hope in a man named Fernando. Fernando is a man that lost both arms in an electrical accident. I met Fernando because we are going to build a house for him - today. Fernando wasn't hopeless. After his accident, he went back to school to learn how to function and is now able to work in electrical technology - even without hands. Fernando was a happy man and was all smiles. Can't wait to see his new house.
I have seen and experienced so much more but, the time this morning is short and I need to go to work. I wish you all could be with me. I am blessed with the best job in the world!
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

May Report and Update

2008-06-08T14:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay in getting a May report out. Our internet here is from a satelite system and for about 10 days - it was out of commission.
May started and ended with the "Oriente" project. The good news is that the end of May was also the virtual end of the construction phase of this project. The building still needs a few finishing touches but, by the end of this week we should be up and running. We look to be in full operation as soon as June 16th.
May also represented a chance for Terri and I to get a couple of days off to go to the states to enjoy the graduation of our children from Harding and to spend a week with our little grandaughter - the rest was great and a blessing.
We were back here on the 18th and our AIM'ers arrived on the 20th. Our first TORCH Team of the year arrived on the 31st and we were with them most of the time for the past week. The week with the team from Topeka was wonderful. There were 19 and all of them were first time TORCH Missionaries. This little group was able to build 4 houses and a church building, they fed more than 350 families and another 150 or so at the dump, they gave clothes to 100's of people at Los Pinos, they visited kids in hospitals and in the school for the blind, and they touched the lives of just about everyone that they came into contact with. Did I mention that they finished a block church building in the week!
Our work here continues to be exciting and fulfilling. There are also times that we struggle with why some things happen and then we reflect on how much our God has blessed us and our work. In May, we the first 5 boys that came to live with us were returned to their mom and dad. Yovani, Marvin, Mario, Francisco, and Antonio had lived here almost 2 years and we were able to see them grow, learn, and develop. They came here because their dad was in prison and their mom was unable to feed them. She took them to a place where they were cared for and they were assigned to our care. When we got the call that our little men were going home, we were sad and fearful - the simple fact is, their family loves them and they will be loved. It was our job to rescue when they needed to be rescued and to plant seeds that well always be with them.
Since the boys left, we have taken on a 6 year old boy named Johnny and an 11 year old named Doris. We are hopeful that in the coming days there will be 4 more little girls here. It looks like we will get to be home for a 3 and 5 year old sisters and another pair of sisters that are 5 and 8.
We have also started working toward having house parents as the primary care givers to our children. The first set of house parents will be starting their training this week and will be spending 60 to 90 days getting to know the kids and learning about their needs. After the initial period, they will move onto our campus.
The church here in Santa Ana is continuing to grow. Dorian is a tireless worker and he leads many classes and bible studies throughout the week.
June and July will be a challenge as we will be surrounded by the TORCH teams as well as living with 6 AIM team members and 3 TORCH interns. These young people are a great group of people and we are blessed to have them with us.
Once again, Terri and I want to thank all of our friends, families and brothers in Jesus. Every day you prove your faith over and over again. We are able to get a lot done because you support us, encourage us, and lift us up before our great and awesome God.
Thanks
Marc Tindall

Adventures In Missions

2008-05-25T12:54:00.000-07:00

AIM is a part of the Sunset International Bible Institute in Lubbock, TX. The program in designed to offer folks - mostly college aged - an opportunity to dedicate 2 years of their lives to the mission field. Last year when we decided to go full time in this ministry we applied to have an AIM team to come and be a part of our work. We made a presentation to the students in September, the director of the program visited us in Honduras in November, and we were selected to have a team in December. This past week they arrived.
We have 6 people that will be working for us for a minimum of 14 months and up to 2 years. Terri and I already feel as if we have expanded our family in a "BIG" and positive way. The three guys are Steve, Kale, and Keith - all of them are exceptionally tall and all of them are great young men that love the Lord. Our ladies are Felicia, Andrea, and Rayner and they are beautiful Christian women. I already see Jesus in all of them.
We returned from a week of rest last Sunday and have been working hard to get caught up on everything so that we will be prepared for our first team to arrive on May 31. Before that happens, we will need to finish the Oriente project, get all of the building tools ready to go, order wood - food - ect for the group to work with, and take a deep breath. I am confident that everything will happen as planned and if it doesn't, then welcome to Honduras. I think we have a container that will arrive this week and another next week. Additionally, I found out this week that we will be building a church building in Villa Nueva and that the construction needs to start on May 31 and we need to finish the work before church time on June 8. I love it! The group arriving next Saturday will be helping some with the building but, none of the 19 in the group have ever been to Honduras. We will also have all of our AIM team and interns available to mix concrete and throw block. I really think we can get this done in 5 days - leaving Saturday as a day to rest!
When you read this, pray for our family as we get adjusted to living and working with each other. We will be doing the big family thing until August when the guys will be getting a place of their own. The girls will also be living in their own place however it will likely be somewhere on the Casa property.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Down Time

2008-05-17T09:09:00.000-07:00

Down time hasn't been a part of my life in Honduras lately. It seems that most days start before 6 and work ends just before bedtime. This past week has been completely different. Last Saturday both Nathan and Nicole graduated from Harding and we celebrated with a BBQ and with our friends. On Sunday we were able to be with friends in Hot Springs - at the National Park Church. We are blessed that they are some of our partners in ministry and that they have joined our short term missions for more than 5 years. After church on Sunday - REST.
Terri and I were blessed to be with my parents and Camille for several days of great rest. It has been great!
Tomorrow we are back in Honduras and as soon as we hit the ground, we will head out to Oriente to check on progress of the project there. As soon as we finish in Oriente we will head out to Casa to check on things there. We are anxious to be home and get back into the work that our God has planned for us. The down time has been great but, it is time to go home and we are ready.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

What I've learned

2008-05-06T19:01:00.000-07:00

Over the past week, I have had the chance to do a bunch of new things and I have learned a lot. Some of the new things that I have been doing are continuing in the Oriente building project and making a trip to Nicaragua. Here are some of the things that I have learned -
- Building a second floor on a cement block building is not a simple project.
- It takes 30 bags of cement, 60 wheelbarrows of sand, 30 wheelbarrows of gravel, lots of water, 70 bars of re-bar, 30 steel beams, and 30 sheets of roofing aluminum to make a second floor.
- Today there was a wild fire in the area of the construction, We stopped the work on the building so we could save a house from burning. I learned that I am not cut out to be a firefighter.
- It takes 3 days for a cement floor to dry.
- Managua, Nicaragua is a lot hotter than Santa Ana, Honduras.
- It is against the law in Nicaragua to cross a double yellow line to pass (not so in Honduras).
- If you get caught crossing a double yellow line to pass somebody in Nicaragua, the fine is 300 Cordobas (about $15)
- The police in Nicaragua don't smile when they give you a ticket.
- Staying in a typical Nicaragan's house is a great experience.
- If you stay in a Nicaraguan's house, you can expect to eat beans, rice, and tortillias at every meal.
- Typical families in Nicaragua don't have a computer in their homes.
- Without a computer, not too many people are hooked on facebook. Instead, they have friends that they sit on the patio and visit with.
- Most typical Nicaraguan homes have more than one generation living there.
- Poor families seem just as happy as the rich folks that I know.
- It is an 8 hour bus ride from Tegucigalpa to Managua, Nicaragua.
- In 8 hours you can read one James Patterson novel (actually 6 hours).
- Even though it is hot, Nicaragua is a beautiful country.
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc

April Monthly Report

2008-05-01T16:03:00.000-07:00

April 2008 has gone by in a flash.
We started the month with a couple of TORCH teams - one about to leave and another just arriving. The first team was from Belpre, Ohio. This is an experienced team and we were blessed to be able to assist is house construction and some of the tasks that enable a team to focus on ministry.
The next team arrived on April 4th from Atlanta. This is a team that we have grown very close to - they are from the Campus Church of Christ. The team of 21 came ready to work. They packed & distributed food, built houses, taught kids about Jesus in a puppet show, worked in a feeding center, visited people in the school for the blind, fed more than 250 at the city dump - they were answers to many prayers. The Campus group was here until the 11th.
Once we were able to catch our breath, we jumped on the Oriente project. Our comittment was to start moving dirt on the 15th of April and that meant that we needed to ascess our inventory of tools and other construction material. Additionally we needed to locate all of the many supliers for constructing this "Woman's Center". By Tuesday April 15th we were ready to go and the project is rapidly moving ahead. You can read more about the project and our progress at www.hondohope.blogspot.com
The last couple of weeks, I have been spending every day on the construction project. We are dedicated to getting the center finished by May 25th. This will be a week prior to the first team arrivals of the summer and - wow, we are going to be pretty busy then. Our AIM group arrives on May 20th and our TORCH Interns arrive on the 28th so we are going to be surrounded by great folks for the coming months. I will report on the AIM goals on our May report.
The churches that we are blessed to work with here are doing great. Santa Ana continues to fill every seat almost every Sunday. The worship is uplifting and the preaching is powerful. The kids program is also growing - along with the youth group. I was blessed to be able to sponsor a youth outing a couple of weeks ago and we had 10 kids that spent a Saturday travelling to an amazing waterfall to sightsee and spend time together in fun and in devotionals. We had a great time singing in the van.
Los Pinos too continues to thrive. They have finally completed their kitchen project and they utilize the facility every Sunday to prepare a meal for the children of the community. They average feeding more than 125 children every Sunday. Additionally, there are more than 100 adults worshiping in Los Pinos.
Both of these churchs are working to "make disciples". There are classes in both communities almost every night of the week. Please pray for both of these congregations as they reach out to the lost of Honduras.
Also - please pray for Terri and I as we travel on the 8th to Searcy, Arkansas. Both of our kids will graduate from Harding on the 10th and we plan to be there!. We will be returning on the 18th.
Thanks to all of you for your support, prayers, love, and encouragement. You bless us.

Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc Tindall

Lot's Happening

2008-04-20T07:20:00.000-07:00

The past week has been filled with great stuff.
I started the week in Catacomas - in the Eastern part of the country. I was blessed to be able to take my friend that works with Por los Ninos - another children's home. PLN is a very well run facility that we can learn a great deal from. One of the different ways of operation that is in place there is the use of Honduran Christian couples as house parents. After discussing this with everyone here, we have decided to begin the search for our first houseparent couple. Please pray for God to send us the right folks.
Returning to Santa Ana meant that it was time to start to work on the women's center in Oriente. This is going to be an amazing blessing to the community and you can read a lot about this project at www.hondohope.blogspot.com or on Terri's blog. The work is very intense but, we are already a week ahead of the original plan.
Yesterday, I was able to work with Karen and Dorian in a youth group trip to "the waterfall". I had only been to the place one time - only I didn't drive on the first trip. I just knew that the waterfall was near Lake Yojoa (a big lake that is about 20 miles long). We kept asking people where the waterfall was and we kept getting different answers. We finally found the park and it was an amazing adventure for the 10 kids that were able to make the trip. I am looking forward to having the AIM Team join the work here as they will be doing much more with the church and the youth group here in Santa Ana and in other communities.
This week we were also asked by the child welfare floks if we would be willing to take on a couple more little girls. We all discussed the potential and agreed that we would love to have the blessing of two more children. Especially since we will be able to take them in before they are taken to the "children's warehouse". It looks like this will all happen next Thursday. Please pray that the older brother will be accepted into Jovenes en Camino - a home for boys.
This new week will continue to be very busy. We are blessed to be able to be a little part of answered prayers.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

The Dump In Pictures

2008-04-17T20:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I was able to go back to the dump with a few of my friends from Atlanta. As I have said earlier, there are not words that can describe life in the dump. Pictures are only a little better insight of a hopeless way of life. Our work is to try and bring a little hope to this place. The only hope - Jesus.

March Report

2008-04-04T06:26:00.000-07:00

March 2008
We started March in San Pedro Sula. Our daughter Nicole and husband Matt started spring break with a late night flight from Atlanta to SPS and we were there at 1 AM on the 1st of March to pick them up. We returned to Santa Ana early the next morning only stopping to survey a community at KM 85. The community we surveyed is the poorest place that I have ever visited. We did not see one livable house and we are in the process of planning several TORCH visits to the community for house construction, food distribution, and planting the seeds of the gospel.
The first week of the month we surveyed many areas for future work plans. We were also able to do a trial feeding at the Tegucigalpa dump. We wanted to make sure that we can safely implement some feeding programs so that we can begin to have a dialogue with the people that live there. We believe that there is a hugh opportunity to touch lives, plant seeds, and talk to desperate people about the hope and promise of Jesus. The dump itself is a place that cannot be described. Literally, men, women, & children are diving in the trash piles side by side with buzzards. The smells & the filth are overshadowed by the fact that real flesh and blood people are so desperate that they will dive into unimaninabel places to try to get something to eat or something with a small value that they can sell. Stay tuned for more on the dump.
We made a quick trip to the states during the second weekend of the month - personal stuff and taxes. We returned early the following week to begin working with some of the spring break TORCH groups. The first of those was led by Mark Connell of Alabama - the group was from the University Church at the the University of Alabama. That group was followed by one from Belpre, Ohio. TORCH Teams are always well recieved by the communities where they work and these groups were no exception. Houses were built, food was distributed (about 750 families were fed), and people saw Jesus in action as their prayers were answered. During March, final plans were developed for the Oriente Project (read about it at www.hondohope.blogspot.com ). We will begin moving dirt about April 15 and hope to finisg the project by around the first of June. This project will employ about 10 people for 6 weeks - all of them from the community that the project will serve. What a blessing!
The churches of the area are continuing to do well. Santa Ana has had 3 Sundays where attendence outnumbered the available chairs. All of these were record (non-gringo) Sundays. Of course - last week was a full house as there were 30 folks from the states visiting.
Los Pinos is also continuing to grow in both numbers and in Spirit. The church has completed it's kitchen project and is dedicated to feeding children every Sunday. They are doing this from their contributions and the weekly feeding averages about 130 to 150 children. The adult attendence is usually over 100. Los Pinos is clear evidence of how Christians plant seeds and God growing them.
Terri and I are doing well and love our work. We are blessed to be here and we truly appreciate all of the prayers, emails, and encouragement.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Inflation

2008-03-21T18:57:00.000-07:00

I remember the 1970's when the talk around the states was inflation. It was the economy and inflation that helped Reagan get elected president of the USA. I hadn't been out of college too long and inflation wasn't a terrible thing to me because it meant bigger raises.
Until now, I had never considered how inflation impacts the lives of people that live in extreme poverty. This week has opened my eyes. This past week I worked with a group from the U of Alabama. This team purchased and packed 2 loads of food to give away to families in need. When the bill for the food was paid, it was over $300 per load more expensive than it was just last summer. The food cost for basics like beans, rice, corn flour, sugar, coffee, and a few other items has risen by almost 25% in less than a year. For most of us from North America and the USA, this would be a concern yet, we would survive. We would survive by not eating out as often - since eating out for Terri and I would cost about $20 to $25, we would need to eat at home a couple of more times a month to make up for the rise in the cost of food. But - where would you be if every dime that you earned went for only two things. One of the two things is bus fare to get to your job and the other expense is food for your family. Unless you are able to start walking ot work, if your food prices increased in this situation, the only place to cut would be in the amount of food you were able to buy. You may think that the employers would be sympathetic to asking for a raise but, in a place where the unemployment rate is more than 30%, employers don't feel like they need to give raises. Compounding this is the fact that fuel costs are causing the bus fares to increase.
I don't know what one person can do about this problem of people that were already hungry being forced to cut back because of increasing prices. I do know that we will look for ways that we can offer a little relief. I also know that our God answers prayers and we are praying that He will use us to do everything that he has planned for us to do here in Honduras. One of the reasons we are here is because Jesus said " whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you have done it for me."
Be a blessing for somebody today,
Marc

Life In The Real World

2008-03-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

I have never watched "The Real World". I think it is a television series on one of the music stations - MTV or VH1. Even though I have never watched a single episode of this show, I am pretty sure that the name doesn't fit and that "The Real World" isn't anything like the real world.
In the real world, there are over 6 billion of us.
In the real world, more than half of the world population does not have enough to eat and billions don't have clean water to drink.
In the real world billions live a life where they never hear the name - Jesus. There are billions that don't have HOPE.
In the real world, simple diseases kill people because that cannot afford $2 or $3 for some medicine.
Sometimes when you come face to face with the real world, it isn't pretty and you just don't know what to do. This week I met a little girl named Isabel and she is 4 years old. Isabel weighes only 19 pounds because she is starving to near death. Isabel has never known what it is like to stand up because she has a disease that will prevent her from ever being able to sit up - much less walk. It is likely that she may never talk. Emotions tell us that we should try to make room for Isabel here at Casa de Esperanza but reason tells us that we don't have the permission that is required from the government. Even if we did, we are not equiped to do the level of care that would require nursing skills as well as round the clock care. Pray as we look for a home for Isabel.
Sometimes in the real world, people that love Jesus come to places where there is little hope and try to change that. This week, there was a team of Doctors that came here to make a big big difference in the lives of the people that they were able to serve. This team of 9 came to repair cleft lips and cleft pallets. I know it is hard to imagine, but in most of the world, the health care system isn't designed to take care of people that don't have any money. This is the case in Honduras. Here - if you get sick without money, you are not likely to recieve adequate treatment. Here is you are poor and born with a cleft lip or pallet, you are destined to live like that. This team of Dr's came to change lives - and they were able to help a large number of people.
On Wednesday evening, Terri and I ate with the docs and really enjoyed the conversation. The closest Dr at the table was named Jim. Talking with Jim - who is retired from being a physician, surgeon for money - was great. Jim shared with me how he explains to his patients or the parents of his patients why he does what he does. He starts the conversation with the patient by asking a simple question - "Why do you think I am here doing these surgeries?". Jim told me that the answer is usually something like " because you want to help people.". It is then that Jim tells the folks this story -"I am here because Jesus loves me. In fact, he loves me so much, there isn't any way that he could ever love me any more. There isn't anything in the world that I could do to make Jesus love me any more than he already does. I am here because I want to share just a little bit of the love that Jesus has shown to me."
I think that Dr Jim has discovered a part of the "real world" that billions of people would love to know about. I asked Jim if I could borrow his explination and of course he agreed. Why not, Jesus love available everyone that comes to know him and even though loves us so much that we are "completly saved" he still has love for a lost and dying "Real World".
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc

Remembering Ryan

2008-03-11T18:57:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow morning is March 12, 2008.
I don't particularly like this day on the calendar and if given the choice would have it permanently removed. March 12, 2008 is the 8th anniversary of the death of Ryan - our firstborn. It's hard to know what to say or to write about except that this is a day for my family to Remember Ryan.
Ryan Tindall - Ryan Marcus Tindall will always be my son. There are days that I feel like it has only been a little while since I have seen him and there are other days that it seems like it has been forever. I won't try to describe the feelings - I think only a parent that has lost a child would understand what I am trying to put into words.
My memories of my boy are these -
smiles - always, hugs - really big bear hugs, friends - lots of friends always at my house and always eating (lots of food), jokes - Ryan always had a joke or was planning one, going - always a new place to go and something to do, food - Ryan loved to eat and always appreciated his mom for "fixin" his "grubbin" food, kindness - my boy always had a big heart for helping others, family - Ryan would never miss being with family - he loved his family - especially his cousins and his grandparents, clothes - Ryan loved to have nice clothes and his mamaw always made sure that he had plenty, Big Brother - this should have been first - Ryan loved Nathan like no other brother could have, from the day Nate came home from the hospital, Ryan was the protector. From the time Nicole came home - Ryan was the teaser - except when somebody else tried to tease Nicole - then he was the defender.
I am blessed that we had Ryan on this earth for almost 20 years. I cannot imagine living without the promise that one day we will be together again - forever. Our God is the God of Hope and the God of Promise. His Son gave us both the hope and the promise that our end on this earth is a beginning of our eternity with him.
Thank you God for teking care of my boy until I get there to be with him. Tell him that I miss him and will see him when the time is right.
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc

February Report

2008-03-02T14:26:00.000-08:00

February started with the shingles. If you have never considered that you too could be attacked by what I had previously considered a disease for old people - think again. I found out that you can get shingles from being around a child that has chicken pox and that you don't have to be over 70 to get shingles. My shingles were on the left side of my face and head. They were in my left eye and in my mouth. The good news is, there is some amazing medicine that - once started will give you a great deal of help in about 72 hours. I know that many of you were lifting up prayers for my complete recovery and they were heard and answered. I was only down for a few days and we were able to get back to work.
During the month, we were called about the potential of helping several families with replacing houses that had burned to the ground. Literally within hours of putting out an email seeking prayers and help for the families, there was comittment to rebuild 5 houses. The timing could have not have been better either. We had previously heard from a couple (father / daughter) that wanted to come to Honduras for 8 days to work. Their arrival was one day before our scheduled day to begin construction and our new friends (Don & Sarah) were amazing helpers on the 5 houses that were constructed over the course of the next three days. We were also able to introduce Sarah to the Mi Esperanza program through my friend Janet Hines - who was in town at the time of the visit. Don was introduced to some of the tough situations at Hospital Escuela as well. - Back to the houses. It turns out that one of the houses that was built was for the aunt and uncle of Josue - from the airport. Anyone that has ever worked in Honduras with TORCH knows Josue and it just shows what a small world it really is. Josue's aunt is a very gracious lady and in discussions with her, I found out that she is a Christian and that she teaches Sunday School to about 70 children in a church not too far from her house. There were three families - a total of about 15 to 17 people living in the same house and this lady and her husband so, we did the best that we could to add a little size to the new version. We ended up with a house that is about 22x21 and we added a divided wall into the middle. We also added extra doors and windows. We were able to complete the project for these families in about 3 days. Thank you to everyone that prayed for these families. Please offer a prayer of thanksgiving that our God answered the prayers of those in need.
Once the house project was complete, we were able to committ a little time to follow-up on both the kindergarten as well as the "clean family" project in the Nueva Oriental community. The kinder is open for buisness and we were able to observe the morning portion of the classes. There were 2 teachers and a couple of mom's in the classroom that was constructed in January. Of course, the kids were the ones that were recieving the blessing of having caring Christian women helping them learn. The teachers are ladies that are also active in the church that is located in this community. As far as the "clean family" project - we are moving ahead with plans to begin building the center in mid to late April. The facility will likely be located near the church building and the Sunday School classrooms that were constructed last summer. The current plan for the building will include a number of pilas (Honduran for washing machine) and restroom / shower facilities. It is hard to imagine that there can be a community where more that 1000 people live with no sanitary restrooms, showers, or places to wash the clothing for a family however, it is true. Not just in this little community but in many others. The second floor of this facility is planned to have a place where the women of the community can meet for fellowship and for Bible study. It will also have at least 4 sewing machines for both work as well as for the use of the women of the community. We plan to seek workers from the Christian women in the community and will train them to manage the facility and the assets. We believe that this facility can be a blessing to many many people. Additionally, we believe that it can be an amazing outreach for the ladies of the church. Praise God for the group that is sponsoring the beginning of this work.
We were able to visit the church in Los Pinos one Sunday in February and we are always happy to report that the congregation is continuing to become more mature. On the Sunday that we visited, there was one young man that made a decision to follow Jesus and observing the excitement of his baptism was uplifting. The church in Los Pinos is operating independently and does not rely on any USA churches for it's operations. There is one USA church that is sending a monthly contribution of $100 to help operate the weekly feeding of the children and the youth group. The church does not depend on others and it is awsome to see that this has happened in 5 short years.
The church in Santa Ana is also continuing to grow and strengthen. There were some difficult times shortly after Noel and family moved to be closer to their family however, that seems to have changed as Dorian becomes more connected to the congregation. In February, we were blessed to have the addition of a new family of workers - The father is a Baxter grad and the rest of the family are working to plant seeds in the Santa Ana community. Additionally, our assigned Baxter student is an excellent second year student. We are blessed to be a part of the Santa Ana church.
February was also a month that closed out the drive for school supplies that Terri initiated in December. This drive was started because there are problems associated with the cost of supplies for families - especially when you compare it to the average income of the many poor families in Honduras. The church in Fairview Heights, IL helped coordinate the collection and the shipment to Healing Hands International ( or shipper). We are looking forward to the "any day" arrival of the container as it is much needed by the many communities and churches that will be touched by the generousity of so many people. Terri will be posting pictures of the arrival and the distribution of the supplies and in the mean time, I would like to thank the many people, churches, sunday school classes, and others that participated in this effort.
February also was a time when our house remodel officially ended - at least the formal construction. We were able to get most of the interior painting done and we now have room for you to come and stay with us. We would welcome your visit. It is because so many of you care and have a desire to make a difference, to share the gospel, to help kids and to follow the great comission that you are supporting our work here. We thank you for that. We are blessed to be here and we are doing our best to be good stewards of the dollars that you spend here. Thank you.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc Tindall

Who's Your Guide

2008-02-26T14:18:00.000-08:00

Well, I must say that I am not trying to keep up with Terri on the blog for February. Matter of fact, I just noticed that this is my 100th blog since starting this thing a few years ago and Terri will easily do 100 in the first year. So with that said, today is just one of those postings that is just stuff on my mind. Sometimes blog thoughts take a while to develop and sometimes - mostly in the middle of the night I have these profound thoughts that seem to dissapear with the rising of the sun. This thought "Who Is Your Guide" is one that I think about often. I have taught several series of classes over the years on the words of Jesus in the book of John - the words that he spoke in the hours just before he went to the Garden to pray and hours before he was arrested and sent to the cross for us. I love this study because every time I teach it, it reminds me of how worried Jesus was about his friends. He reminds them (and us) how much he loves them. He tells them the truth - that following him won't be easy, it will even be painful at times, it will mean that you are different and seperated from the world. His words offer promises and he assures his followers that he will not be seperated from them. One of his promises is that he will send a "Counselor" to be with us. In John 16:12 Jesus calls this Counselor a "Guide". Of course, as we study theses verses and move on into Acts, we know that Jesus is refering to the Holy Spirit. I really like this reference to the Holy Spirit as a guide, and when you think about it, you too may like this concept too. For my whole life, I have enjoyed things that are on the edge and I like adventure. It has never really bothered me to move to a new place because it is just part of the adventure of the life that God has given me. Taking chances - no problem. Once Terri and the kids and I left for a 3 week vacation without even knowing anything more than a general direction where we were going. We ended up driving more than 5000 miles and putting our feet in all 5 of the great lakes - it wat by far the best vacation we have ever had - because it was an adventure. There is one thing that all of our adventures have had in common - at least most of them - when we have moved (except for the move here), we have always had many people that have taken us by the hand and led us to neighborhoods, schools, churches, etc. Our guides helped us get settled into our new home as simply as possible. On our trip to the lakes, we had maps and Terri bought "guide books" to lead us around the lakes and that made our adventure an amazing trip.
So - what's all this got to do with the guide reference that Jesus makes in John. Well here are my "profound" thoughts.
1. If you are going somewhere that you have already been or doing something that you have already done - it is likely that you don't need anyone to take you there or show you how to do it!
2. You only need a guide to take you where you have never been or to show you how to do things that you have never done.
If you have never viewed the Holy Spirit as a guide then maybe you aren't going to any new places. If you ask in your prayers for the Holy Spirit to lead you to new places then don't be surprised when He does. And yes - we should be praying in the Spirit (Ephesians 6:18).
Be a blessing to somebody today,
Marc

The DUMP!

2008-02-19T14:56:00.000-08:00

I have been close to the town dump of Tegucigalpa before but, never right in it - that is until today. Those of you that know me know that I am an "emotional rock" and that nothing ever gets to me (just kidding). I gotta tell you that I wasn't prepared for this experience. The smell was what you would expect only stronger. The trash piles were what you would expect only bigger. I hadn't thought about there being a bunch of vultures there but they were like a swarm of mosquitoes at a swamp. I knew that there were going to be people there but I didn't expect to see so many. I suspected that there would be kids there but when you see it face to face, it is heartbreaking. When we pulled in there were 4 little boys - maybe 10 years old that came up to the window of my truck to ask for money for some water (cost is 2 limps a bag). Other kids saw me give this group some money so they came running. There were 2 little boys that were completely filthy and we asked them if they wanted food. We had eaten at Chili's and Terri had a big box of chiken and fries left - she gave it to the boys. We had one other little box that we shared with another little guy. Both of the kids with the food were no more than 8 or 7.
Last summer we did a food distribution to the houses of the people that spend their days seeking food or something of value in the dump but it did not prepare me for the sights, smells, and reality that there are 100's of people that live off of the scraps and trash of Tegucigalpa. They have to fight off the vultures so that they can look for something of value in the garbage. When you look through reality of the dump you see that the real value is the humanity that lives in a way that none of us want to know about. God made every one of these souls in His image. They are valuable to Him and because of that they should be valuable to everyone of us. I've been reading the book of James lately - especially the parts about putting faith into action. The "Message' paraphrase really hits home with what all of this is about. In the Message - in James 2, the translation says " Isn't it obvious that God talk without God-acts is outrageous nonsense? ... Faith and works, works and faith, fit together like a hand in glove!..."
My own translation of James 2 can be boiled down to this " if you know about a need and aren't doing more that talking about it, you are showing your lack of faith. Faith = doing!" (I probably won't be doing a complete paraphrase of the Bible anytime soon)
The bottom line is this. When we know people are suffering, it is the changed hearts that Jesus gave us that tells us to get up and do something.
Didn't mean to preach in a blog but the reality is, I am preaching to ME. Gotta find a way to get a little relief in the name of Jesus to the people at the dump.
Be a blessing to somebody today!
Marc