Chiminike

Today Justin and I got to go to a museum, Chiminike. We went with the Toddlers and Special Needs girls. Last week, Blanca, an older girl that helps with the special needs told me that the toddlers and the girls were going to Tegucigalpa the next week. I was surprised and she said that I would be going. I wasn’t really sure if I was going but it sounded fun. Then the girls were talking about it again and told me I was on the list. I decided to talk to my boss Katja because she would know more. I went to Katja and asked what was going on and she said how do you know about? We just decided about that this afternoon. That is one thing about this place. The kids know a lot about what is going on. It is pretty interesting to how much the kids know.
Anyways back to the story, Katja also told me that Justin was going to get to go on the trip. I waited till I got back to the house to tell Justin he was going. He was really excited. It is good for him because he basically does the same thing everyday. I get to play with the kids a lot, but Justin is usually trying to get them to work.
We left this morning at 6:30 AM to get to the museum. The kids were all dressed up and looking their best. In the beginning all the kids were singing and laughing. About half way through the ride some of the kids started looking a little ill. Then the girl that was sitting with us started dry heaving. At first we thought she had just burped or made a funny noise. Then about 10 minutes later it happened again. We got the attention of Miranda (the staff person on the trip) and she had the little girl sit up front with a bucket. Another little boy that we had sitting with us, Simon, was so funny. After we left the orphanage property he would point out every bus, chicken and horse along the way. He was serious about it and he would point out if the bus was new or old, what color, etc… He ended up falling asleep about 15 min before we got there and I was just looking at him and thinking how people just discard children. I think that we forget that these kids were rejected by their families because we work with them daily and it gets forgotten.
All in all the kids did really well and we made it safely to the museum. When we got there and getting out of the bus, the little girl, Michell, ended up throwing up all over Miranda’s left side and her shoes. It dried pretty quickly actually and it never really smelled.
We went in and it was a nice museum like you would find in the States. The staff there did some activities and then we broke into groups. Our group consisted of the special needs girls and some toddlers. Justin and I were in charge of 8 little girls. They were cute and were fairly tame. Some of the girls were really scared and did not want to participate. Then there was the girl who was climbing up on a table where there was a display on how the rain works with rivers and dams.
There was a bed of nails were Dilcia was asked to get on it. It was pretty neat and the kids really enjoyed seeing her up there. Miranda had done it with the previous group. There was another girl in our group that decided she had enough and was going to escape back to Emmanuel. Justin saw her run out and was able to chase her down. She apparently has a hard time being away from home!
We made it safely back to Emmanuel at about 2:30 PM.

Rebekah

Day 69

On the Farm

I found myself dragging Dorateo down the hill, planning to get the road in time to catch Max as he drives by with his truck. The timing was perfect, but as I was pulling Dorateo into the road and towards Max he started pounding my back with his fist and then he kicked me square in the butt. I think I’m still a bit sour. After the kick I had to walk away from the situation and by that time Max reached Dorateo to take over. I went away excited and laughing, but I feel sorry for him because I don’t think he has much control over himself. This kid is an interesting and challenging one as he’ll hug and play with you one minute and the next absolutely refuse to move. After each time I’ve had to forcefully move him he’ll throw of his hat, shirt or even shoes. Once he got so mad he got all the way to his socks and threw them. This boy is extremely challenged mentally and can’t be left alone so that’s why we have to forcefully keep him with us sometimes. He ran away the other day and was actually gone overnight. This was scary as he’s absolutely unable to think or defend for himself. He came back then next day and from what we can gather he was behind the rabbit shed.
I’ve enjoyed the work this week as we’ve been clearing a field. I read in a book once about some Americans in the good ol days. Talking about a man the woman said that she could marry him if he knew how to clear a field. There is something special about clearing a field. This has actually been weeks in the process. 1st they chop down the trees and brush (with machetes)! Then we chop for firewood and remove it from the field. Lastly we raked around the edge of the field to get it ready for the burn. Now we’ll burn the entire field of stumps and brush. Then they’ll plant grass for a pasture for the cattle. Clearing of the field was great because it’s so practical. This field could have been for a variety kinds of veggies or fields for pasture. There’s a very real sense of core survivorship. It seemed so natural and even manly to be working on the land like that. Looking back as I write I feel a sense of bond with those boys who helped. It’s hard to enjoy the moment because we’re doing so much re-directing of the boys, but looking back it’s an honor to have taught (or at least tried to teach) them something that could help them survive in the future.

Rebekah

Rebekah had a good week with the special needs girls. They visited the farm a couple of times and enjoyed holding the pigs and the rabbits. They got lucky one day and were able ride one of the horses. It seems like every week something changes. Last week the volunteer who was helping Rebekah left and this past week Rebekah had new work partners. Both of the new work partners are Danish and very creative. They wanted to have the girls create paper dolls. It was a really fun activity and the girls loved it! The coolest part about it though was that the volunteers drew all the paper dolls and the clothing freehand. All the girls had to do was decorate them. They enjoyed that activity immensely! Rebekah is excited about the new ideas that the new work partners are bringing … We will share more on that when it happens!
Phyllis, a fellow member of 1st Baptist Church Hendersonville, arrived safely on Thursday to volunteer here for 6 weeks! It’s great to see a mature lady willing to serve at this magnitude. Most of the volunteers here are in their late teens and early 20’s. Now, all the volunteers are 30 or younger save one. It’s a good balance.
On Monday Rebekah had excruciating pain in her gums. The pain gradually increased throughout the day and at night it was almost unbearable. We prayed and pumped her up with some Tylenol and Ibuprofen. We were prepared to get a taxi to the capital city the next day for a root canal or something. Thank God she was able to sleep through most of the night. We were blessed the next day by the visiting team who are doctors! They were able to look at her gums and diagnose an infection and give her antibiotics and real pain killers. She’s all better now!
Yesterday I had the afternoon off so I joined Rebekah and some of the volunteers in a slipping slide session with the toddlers. Rebekah had a blast playing with them. We both enjoyed hold a couple of them afterwards to keep them warm. Rebekah even went down the slip n slide (and ended up with a huge bruise on the back of her leg)!
Here at Emmanuel we have 3 Danish volunteers. They have become our friends and are really neat and fun people. We ended up having a French Fry Birthday Party for another American volunteer here who turned 30. Two of the Danish girls and Rebekah went into town on Friday afternoon to buy the 25 pounds of potatoes. It was quite a seen seeing them come back with all those potatoes plus fruits and then all their groceries. The fun part came with preparing all the foods for the party. They really know how to have fun and balance it out with getting things done too. They got all the potatoes cut and then we got the brownies and cakes in the oven. While they were cooking they ran out of gas and that was fun trying to find gas to borrow from someone else here. Luckily we found some not to far away! After that fiasco they were able to sit around and talk. Rebekah was able to share some of her testimony with them. After that we fried and baked all the French Fries. It was a great party and all the fries gotten eaten! Tonight (Sunday) they are coming over for a meal and fellowship.

Day 61

Rebekah is free to do more activities
The last several weeks Rebekah has been assigned completely to the special needs house. She’s enjoyed it tremendously but she was relieved when they assigned her to sponsorship work on Friday and some afternoons in other yards. She’ll still remain with the special needs, but she’ll now get some needed variety. Here's a pic of some of her girls.

On the Farm
I’m still on the farm 7 days a week. I’m leading groups 5 full days and 1 half a day. On Sunday I feed the pigs and chickens. Thank God we’ve received 3 new volunteers on the farm and their helping out tremendously with supervision, commanding and disciplining. It has been difficult to adjust to leading boys in hard labor 6 days a week in the morning and afternoon, but I believe I’ve now found comfort in the mundane redirecting. I hit the bottom the day after Matt left. As I was walking to help get the boys out of the house around 6AM I had to stop and beg the Lord to help me continue because I was in a desperate state of mind. My flesh just wanted to run back to the house and hide out all morning, but God helped me and I trudged on. After that day my outlook has been much better and I’ve accepted the reality of how good it is here. If you step outside these orphanage walls you find wood shacks, lack of running water, lack of electricity and lack of so much more. It’s not just that though, there are many Christians suffering with so much more. I read in 1st Peter 2:11 that our flesh is at war with our soul. We have to remember that and continue to love and do the right thing whether we want to or not.
As for life on the farm there’s so much that happens in a day it’s hard to choice what to say. Friday and Saturday my group of boys have been particularly rowdy and I’m not sure why. I have 2 of the new volunteers helping me so maybe the boys are testing, I’m not sure. Just yesterday my group seemed almost completely out of control. Dorateo was upset and escaped under the orphanage fence and was sulking on the other side. Some town kids came near by and 3 of our kids began to throw dirt clods at them! It was all Mike (one of the other volunteers) and I could do to get our kids away from the fence. At another point during the day I found myself chasing a kid through the field. I then asked myself what it must look like to see a 28 yr old man chasing around a 10 yr old boy. When I caught him I went to take his shoes off to hopefully slow him down a bit in the future. I had to cut the laces because he had them all up his leg. Unfortunately this didn’t slow him down. That’s when I called for Hector (an older boy) to help. I then sent 2 unruly kids with Hector to see Max. I ended up having to sit 4 boys out of lunch. As you can imagine this has always been hard for me, but I can see its effectiveness. Without the physical redirection and food disciplines we would have so many more problems.

Kocca leaving

An older boy (15 yrs old) came up to me on Saturday and said good bye. At 1st I didn’t understand, I thought he was leaving for a few days or so as he usually does. This time was different. He was leaving forever. This is a kid that almost punched me two weeks after we got here and now he was hugging me goodbye. I’ll admit it was hard to see him go. In the states it was hard to see kids go, but here it felt different because I’ve seen what there likely to go back to. Just like in the states the kid will probably go back to an abusive and neglective situation but here in Honduras their likely going back to poverty. Real poverty, where the kid won’t have adequate food or shelter. What can be done? Let’s pray about it.

The Staff Here
Last night Rebekah and I were invited to eat with Max and Katja (our bosses). It was great to hear their testimony and see how God moved in their life. His story was amazing as he was one of these people that had it made. He had everything and then Jesus “wrecked” his life. He was actually THE top photographer of Honduras. He showed us his portfolio and he took pictures for the President, the rich of Honduras, Toyota ads and so much more. He had many honors and had been featured in several articles. He actually got saved while visiting here and after a couple of years he and Katja married here and committed their lives to this ministry. Katja was a Danish volunteer here and also got saved here. Mommy came right up to her one day and bluntly said, “Do you have a personal relationship with Jesus?” Katja said she didn’t know. Mommy replied, “If you don’t know then you don’t have a relationship. Do you want one”. They ended up meeting later that night and Katcha received Jesus. Going into her salvation she admitted that she wanted to live either recklessly for Jesus or recklessly for herself. She didn’t want to settle for pew warming. Rebekah and I thought about just Max’s schedule today. He works a minimal of 81 hrs a week. This week it would have at least been 85! He dismisses the night guards at 5 AM and greets the day guards and his last task of the evening is to greet the guards at 6:30PM. Pray for rest and endurance for the people of Emmanuel. Beeseech the Lord because the harvest is plentiful and the workers are few. Then ask the Lord if your one of those workers.

Justin

Fun, Fun, Fun

We’re having a great time with Matt. It’s been refreshing to get a familiar energy from Hendersonville. He jumped right in to help and hung out with the kids. The 1st morning he was here Dorateo threw a rock at Kika and scraped his cheek. Kika broke out screaming and crying and I quickly went after the rest of the rocks in Dorateo’s hands. I was having a hard time wrestling him and prying the rocks out of his hand. Matt came along and it took both of us to retrieve the rocks. Fortunately he was only able to kick me in the shins without hurting me. Dorateo is a special needs boy with down syndrome. He’s a really neat kid but he has his stubbornly mean streaks. He can’t be left alone as he would end up hurting himself. After we got the rocks he ran down the road and Matt pursued. Doreteo picked up a large piece of wood and acted like he would throw it at any second. I told Matt to be careful and called some of the older boys to help out. Dorateo submitted to the older boys and everything was back into control. Matt and I have been eating with the boys in the morning and for lunch. It’s been especially good lately. We’ve had pasta, cereal and I’m sure we’ll get tortillas soon. In the evening Rebekah has been cooking nice meals and we’ve enjoyed the fellowship. Each night we’ll read some scripture and discuss the meaning of it. Last night we had all the volunteers over for dinner. I did the devotion on 1 Peter 17-18 and presented the gospel. Some of the volunteers aren’t believers so pray for God to draw them to Jesus. At lunch today as I was eating I discovered a piece of the pig fat back in the soup. This isn’t such a big deal in itself as it’s typically how they cook the soup. This fat back stood out tremendously as the skin was still attached and there was an abundance of hairs on the meat! I wondered if I should show Matt because it looked like he was enjoying his plate. I couldn’t resist and I showed him the meat. Immediately he paused and had this sickened look on his face. I thought he was gonna puke right then in there. I gave the piece of meat to Carlos and he loved it. Matt and I both held off and enjoyed Rebekah’s fried chicken, rice and beans for dinner.

Matteo is Here!

Today was a great day. This was my 1st day to go into the capital city (2 hrs away) and it was Rebekah’s second. We were extremely excited because we were going to pick up our good friend who is a huge piece of our lives in the states. This was also a much needed rest for me. I was craving a burger for some reason and enjoyed getting one at T.G.I.F’s. We couldn’t believe the mall, it was just as fancy as the Asheville mall. However there were 5 Duncan Donuts at this mall. 3 of them you could see from one spot. We went in with our friend and volunteer here, Tammy. She was able to witness to our 3 different taxi drivers. One of them said that he didn’t know Jesus yet, another said he did now Jesus and the last one said he knew Jesus and he was a preacher. I had a boy run away yesterday and Rebekah and I have been in prayer. It’s the custom here to wait a night to see if the child would come back and then call the police. Last night was particularly scary b/c there was no electricity. Thankfully when we got back today we found out the child was back yesterday afternoon and was safe. Turn out he went to an old couples house, they gave him some money and he bought all kinds of stuff in town. Someone pointed him out to an authority and he was brought back.
Thank you mother, for your letter. Your package didn’t arrive, but hopefully it will arrive soon. Our friend Matt arrived safe and we were really blessed by the gifts from home. Thank you Beth for goodies and the supplies. Thanks to the kids from the youth group, as it was a great blessing to read your cards. I was asked if we see snakes. Just the other day I saw 4 in one day, 2 were poisonous. The boys handle them either way. It’s amazing, their afraid of no animal. Thank you Jody and Christa for your surprise letter and photo, it was a great encouragement. Thank you Nicky and Kristy Runk for your letter of encouragement. We know you guys went through a lot of what we are and we know you are praying for us!

Strange Place For A Tooth

Every day is something else here. I could write a blog almost every day. For now I’ll mention some of the highlights. Several days ago a boy from my house had a tooth logded deeply in his ear (yes I said tooth in his ear). He wouldn’t say who did it. The day before yesterday an older boy took it into his own hands to remove it. Unfortunately he removed it with a eye liner pencil. Rebekah and Tammy took the tooth boy to the hospital afterwards and it turns out he has a busted ear drum. Thankfully he should heal quickly.

Blind Love

“and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him…” 1 Pt. 1:8. That’s got to be one of the hardest thing about faith, loving and believing without seeing. That’s actually what faith is, so welcome to Christianity! For those of you who know me well enough you know good and well I’m not talking about a good ol’ love as a feeling. I’m talking about dying to yourselves for others (1 John 3:16). Jesus said in John 20:29 to Thomas, “blessed are they who did not see and yet believed”. This confirms that believing without seeing is actually possible. Unlike Thomas I will never be able to see and touch Christ’s healed and wounded body. For us it’s a blessing and a curse not to see Christ for ourselves. It’s a blessing because Christ said so. We can only imagine the blessing we’re receiving and/or will receive. It’s a curse because it’s much harder to believe without seeing. Then there’s the amazing request for Jesus from a father in Mark 9:24, “I do believe, help my unbelief”. “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen..” This love for God is like the love a family has for an unborn child. I love my own children that are yet conceived or selected for adoption. Any good person would love their unseen children and begin to lay their lives down for them. An expecting parent will increase income, set up a room, upgrade a car, stop smoking/drinking, etc… This is how we should love our Holy Father. Since this is the reality of our God’s existence and relationship to us then we need to embrace it as that. It’s one thing to believe enough to attend church, say prayers b/f meals, mind your business, live reasonable moral lives, it’s a whole other thing to take action on faith. I challenge everyone to live our your faith so strongly that you question it’s genuine nature. A life of true faith should hurt to the point of regret if you aren’t right. Paul basically said that if he isn’t right then he above all people he should be pittied. He suffered tremendously for the sake of Christ. Our faith should be uncomfortable. Examine your life and ask yourself where your suffering is coming from. Is it from your secular education, house, possessions, friend etc… or is it from your personal ministry for Jesus?

Justin