August 7

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

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

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

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

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

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

"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

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

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?

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

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

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

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.