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 9th or 10th
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 13th. 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 16th. 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 12th. 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 16th 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 27th 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 15th and just got
back to Teguc last Friday, the 27th.
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!!!
