Dream On!

January and February have both been busy months with lots being done.  In January, the Daycare was finally finished and opened back up.  There are lots of pictures on our Facebook page for you to take a look at.  There is a link at the top of the blog that will lead you to our Facebook page.  We are averaging 25-30 kids a day with over 40 registered.  The Manna Project is also doing really well.  We have had a slight increase in kids that come to eat everyday.  With the way the economy is dipping and the increases in taxes this year, we may start to see numbers increase a little more.  All in all, it has been a great start to the year. 

This month school has started back in Honduras.  The Honduran school schedule runs from February until November.  Most kids are now back in school which could be a reason for our increase in the number of kids who eat at the feeding center.  The schools do not provide lunch and if your friend at school is eating there and you are hungry, well I think we'd all go eat there too.  There is a morning session as well as an afternoon session.  So about 11 am, the kids who attend the afternoon classes come for lunch and then go to class, about 12pm the kids who just finished the morning session come for lunch.  The start of school also means it is time to buy school supplies for the kids who need really need them.  I feel like I am now an expert school supply shopper.  For an entire week nearly all I did was buy school supplies and hand them out.  We were able to buy for 106 kids and are still working to get list from families who we know cannot afford any supplies for their kids.  The money is nearly all spent however.  I felt so accomplished on the day that I bought supplies for the 106^th list I had, the last one.  Then, when we gave out those supplies that Thursday I received a few more lists.  Well….not just a few more.  At noon I had zero lists, by 5pm I had over 100 new lists.  Right now I’ve got 120+ and our funds are almost gone.  No matter how much you buy, you can never buy for all of the kids.  It’s awesome to be able to buy and give supplies to kids but it sucks to have to tell kids no, I’m out of funds. 

We are also building a new house for the preacher to live in.  The wooden house that was next to the kitchen was in rough shape.  When Noel moved out in December we really saw how bad that house was.  To repair it we were basically going to have to replace all the high priced items, corner posts, siding boards, support columns, window and door posts, fix some roof leaks.  The most expensive parts.  So instead we are building him a block house that is a little bigger and will last for quite a while.  Evelyn said that one reason she moved out of the house was because it was in poor shape and needed repair and she couldn’t see Pablo living in that house for very long.  We were all in agreement that the best action was building a new one.  It is under construction right now and will hopefully be done in a week, possibly a week and a half. 

Jorge Aguilera has also begun to take on a larger role in Mololoa.  His new clinic FEBE opened in Los Pinos last year.  He conducted a medical clinic in October as well as a follow up in early February and has found that there is a lot of malnourished kids in Mololoa.  He wants to work with us to help solve that problem. I also have a link at the top of the page to his webisite clinicfebe.org for you to take a look at.  We are wanting to find sponsors for children who are in stage 3 of malnutrition.  You can read all about what we are trying to do on his website.  One big thing we want is to build a medical clinic in Mololoa.  In my last newsletter I mentioned this and how I would like to build it on the property of the Daycare.  This would work and it would work well but as Pablo, Jorge, Dra. Romero and I have been talking, we are looking at other possible locations.  One of which is buying property very near the Church and feeding center and using that property to build a clinic.  For those of you who have been here, the family that lives next to the classroom, this property is in front of their house.  If you are standing on the bridge looking up at the Church, it’s right next to the bridge on your left.  It’s one possibility but we are going to have to find funding first.  Jorge and I will both be trying to raise money over the coming months for the children as well as the clinic. 

The reason for not building the clinic on the daycare property is because I would also like to build an afterschool program.  It makes a lot of sense to have the afterschool program near the Daycare.  Supplies can be shared and using that entire property for learning opportunities (the daycare is a center for learning as well as a potential afterschool program) will be better than having sick people coming onto and off of the property, possibly making the daycare kids sick.  It just seems to make more sense to me.  Jennifer really wanted to start an afterschool program and planted the idea in my head.   I think her idea is wonderful and I’m hoping to make it happen.  Parents aren’t always able to help their kids with schoolwork and a lot of times the parents didn’t make it very far in school themselves.  They just do not have the ability to help their kids study and learn.  We can give the kids a better chance of success by tutoring them and helping them learn.  Also the public schools aren’t too great.  If we want to help create a bright future for the kids then this is another great way to do that.

I’ve also mentioned that I would like to be able to provide breakfast for the kids in Mololoa.  We are doing a great thing by providing lunch 5 days a week but with the malnourishment problems that we face, we cannot provide the nutritional value that the kids need with just 5 lunches a week.  Don’t get me wrong, The Manna Project has been a huge blessing to the community and I’d hate to think of where those kids that are most malnourished would be if we didn’t provide lunch for them.  I just want to do a little more. 

March 24^th-April 23^rd I am planning on making a fundraising trip to the States and quite a few trips to Taco Bell, Oh Taco Bell how I’ve missed you.  I don’t know if I’ll get funding for all of this, or some of this, or any of this.  But you never know if you never try.  A few years ago I got a Barnabas note (an encouraging note from someone on a Terry Reeves Torch trip) that had a set verses written at the bottom.  It has become one of my favorites.   Habakkuk 1: 2-5 says: 

How long, Lord, must I call for help but you do not listen?  Or cry out to you, “Violence!” but you do not save?  Why do you make me look at injustice?  Why do you tolerate wrongdoing?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.  Therefore the law is paralyzed and justice never prevails.  The wicked hem in the righteous so that justice is perverted.  The Lord Answered, “Look at the nations and watch and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.”

I hope that God is saying the same things to us.  “Just go out and try to do what you think you need to do and then sit back and watch.  Watch me blow your minds because I want to blow your minds.”  I really, really hope that’s what He is saying but if not then that's ok too.  I think we have to dream big, see the injustice, see the wrong that is in this world, make ourselves available to The One that can change it and then let Him work but we have to understand that He is the one that is doing the changing, He is the one making it all happen.  I can only present the information to those He leads me to and He is the one that will move hearts to give.  Let your dreams be big enough and so nearly impossible enough that in order for them to be realized, God has to be involved.  Dream dreams that require the power of God to be accomplished.  So that’s what I’m doing, that’s what we are doing.  Jennifer had dreams of an afterschool program, I’m dreaming of a medical clinic, I think we’d all love to be able to provide breakfast for the kids, Jorge is dreaming of ending malnutrition.  Big dreams, a need for lots of funding, lots of fundraising, lots of prep work, lots of planning, lots of praying and it’s Honduras so lets be real, lots of frustration as well but I believe we have the Creator of the universe leading our way so lets do this.  Lets do what we can until we get to where it’s impossible for us to continue and then watch and be utterly amazed at what He will do.  If our efforts and our dreams align with His, then I’m sure we will have our minds blown.  We just have to have the faith like the size of a mustard seed.

I think I might have asked Jesus what it would look like to have faith like the size of an apple.   But then He probably would have schooled me with some answer like, “well get to the size of a mustard seed first and then we’ll talk”.

I hope everyone is doing great.  If anyone knows of a congregation or business or individual who is looking for a ministry to support, I’d love to go talk with them.  I’m open to going wherever I need to go and talking with anyone that will listen.  Just let me know.

Happy New Year!!!

No, I haven’t died.  I have just refused to sit myself down and type, for like the last 4 weeks now.  But it is now time.  Time to empty my brain of everything I’ve been up to in December, an entire month.  I really have gone too long this time.  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.  I sure did because I got to go home for just under two weeks.  It was nice to see family and friends and enjoy some cool weather for a little while, even though I don’t like the cold stuff very much, I kind of enjoyed it this time.

Ok lets see what I can remember and where I should start?  Let’s see, how about with the Church.  You may have heard that we have a new preacher now.  Noel and his family have decided to move on to a new challenge, planting a Church in Mexico.  He left December 9^th or 10^th and that’s when Pablo’s journey through life made a stop in Mololoa.  He and his family moved into the preacher’s house next to the Church on December 13^th.  It’s awesome to have Pablo here now and sad to see Noel go but everyone is able to take advantage of a new opportunity that they are excited about.

The tile was finished in the Daycare on December 16^th.  It looks great and for those of you that will be here next summer, I can’t wait for you to see it.  The whole place looks soooo much better than it did this past summer.  We have just a few small things left to do and within two weeks it better be open or I’m going to fire myself from repair work.  The ladies have already started setting things back up the way they want it so we can open soon.  I hope to have some pictures for you soon.

The kitchen is still running like a well-oiled machine.  The new color inside the kitchen has been a wonderful change.  Sonia will start working in the kitchen this week, which is awesome.  Evelyn created gift bags for all of the kids for Christmas and gave them out on Christmas day.  All of the ladies had Christmas day off but a few of them came to work in the kitchen anyway.  They said that the kids still needed to eat even if it is Christmas.  Can’t argue with that and you cannot question their dedication to this ministry.  We also had a Christmas party for everyone involved with Mololoa Ministries on December 12^th.  We all went out to Pizza Hut where we had a great time exchanging our Secret Santa gifts.  The ministry also gave them each a gift as well and they all seemed to love their presents.  I’ve also never seen pizza disappear as quickly as I did that night.  They LOVE pizza.  Everyone had a blast.

There were a couple of doctors that came to work in Honduras during the middle part of the month.  On December 16^th they came out to Mololoa to have nutrition classes with any of the mothers that wanted to attend.  A report that Dr. Aguilera composed of his medical clinic that he conducted in late October revealed that a majority of the kids that come to the feeding center are malnourished.  They fall into one of the three categories of malnutrition.  The feeding center provides 5 meals a week out of the 21 meals they need per week and it’s hard to think about what the condition of the kids might be if we did not provide these meals for them.  The meals that are provided are a blessing that most of us will never comprehend.  I wish there was a way we could provide more nutrition for them and possibly expand the program to offer more meals to move them out of a state of malnourishment and on the road to being  healthy young boys and girls.  That would take a lot more funding though, funding from new places.

When I flew back to Teguc on the 27^th I also had a friend flying down to spend a couple of weeks here.  Haylie Kirkendall spent a lot of time in Mololoa this past summer having Bible classes and working with the Church.  This week she will be having a class for teenage girls, a Daughters Of The King class.  She has a few topics but one of her main goals is to help them understand that they do not have to seek their self-worth through men but rather through God.  She has lessons, crafts and games planned.  She plans to work in Mololoa this week and Nuevo Oriental next week which is great.  Just like a lot of us, she has a passion for Mololoa.

So like I said, I went home for Christmas.  I left December 15^th and just got back to Teguc last Friday, the 27^th.  It was great to be home for a little while, to see my family and get to spend some time with friends.  12 days seemed like a long time to be away from Honduras but it was definitely not enough time to be home.  I now live in two different worlds and I want to be in them both all the time but I just can’t.  If I was Superman I could just fly here and work during the day and then fly home to watch Paw Patrol with my niece at night.  But I haven’t learned to fly yet….YET!  Christmas was a lot of fun but also different for us.  We usually spend it in Alabama but with a few scheduling conflicts like me having to come back here soon afterwards and my sister-in-law having to work, we just decided to spend a rare Christmas at home which was just as wonderful and perfectly ok with me.  I had a great trip and maybe they can make a trip down here soon to see what I’ve got going on….  :P

So it's New Years Eve isn't it.  The fireworks are starting to echo across the city and in about 4 and a half hours it's going to be crazy here.  They make these manikin like figures and burn them at midnight.  I've seen them all over the city and there are lots of them in Mololoa.  The kids have had fun propping them up in odd locations and poses for nearly a month now.  They also have been standing on the side of the road asking people to donate to their firework fund.  Yesterday one group of kids laid down in the middle of the road and wouldn't let me out of Mololoa until I gave them some lemps for fireworks.  I think I've given 5 lempiras out quite a few times.  It should be a fun and crazy night.

This has been an incredible year for me.  I was able to visit Panama, Costa Rica, do a drive through of Nicaragua (thankfully avoiding scorpions and fire happy shower heads), spend over a month of my summer in Honduras only to move here a couple of months later.  I’ve met so many amazing people this year and I’m blessed to be here doing what I’m doing.  God is great and He just keeps on doing amazing things.  I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve and that you get your new year started off on the right foot.  If I could just ask one favor as we start a new year, please start praying or continue praying for the ministries here in Mololoa.  I think God can do some great things here, on top of the awesome things He has already done,  in the coming year but there are always challenges and we have to be willing to meet them and lead the charge against poverty, hunger, injustice and a world telling us that going against the word of God is ok.  But when God reads our hearts, when He hears the conviction and the passion in our voices, He listens.  When He sees people willing to work and give, when He sees our dreams and visions are all for His Kingdom, He puts things in motion that when we understand and see, will blow us away.  We just have to have a little faith, like the size of a mustard seed and he will do amazing things through us for His Kingdom. 

Jesus replied, "Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.  If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."    Matthew 21:21-22

Jesus said it not me!  So let’s pray for the AMAZING things that are happening right now but lets also dream up some INCREDIBLE things, things that seem impossible but for God, are soooo easy.  Let’s believe in them, in HIM, pray about them and watch HIM move mountains for HIS Kingdom!

Happy New Year!!!

Wedding Pictures!

The wedding was fantastic!  The only hiccup actually turned out to be pretty cool.  The wedding was at 5pm, which means it started at 6, so it was dark.  The power went out which meant a change of plans.  Candles were used to light up the Church and Tania and Nancy loved it, they said it made the wedding much more romantic.  They both really loved it, Nancy was nervous then entire night and Tania was excited and had this smile on her face all night.  The last picture I took, I was finally able to get catch Nancy smiling.

Here are a few pictures from the wedding