Reaching Out

The past month has been a calm and peaceful time of continued studying and learning. The weather is pleasant with warm days and cool nights. We are blessed to be in Siguatepeque, Honduras.

We students and our teachers visited a local Kindergarten for a couple of hours one morning. There were about 25 children so we were able to interact and play games with them. They had swings and see-saws where the children played every day so we had games to play: I Spy, What Time is it, Mr. Fox, Hot Potato, Hokie Pokie, and Duck Duck Goose. It was great to see the children laugh and have fun, we all had a good time. It is not normal for children to play games here, board games are expensive and other games are just not known. So when missionaries or visitors come in and introduce different games it is so much fun.

Recently we started attending a local church, Rey de Reyes (King of Kings), one of our teachers, Carlos, attends there. It is a church of about 60-70 spirit filled people who truly love and praise the Lord. We don’t understand all that the Pastor says but we pick up the scriptures and follow along pretty well.  Also, Carlos sits nearby and shares his notes with us (they are in Spanish also). We know it is important to hear Spanish being spoken so we can train our ears to hear and understand so we go and learn. Their worship is powerful and thankfully they put the words to the songs on the wall, when we can read and hear the words we understand better. God is good and being in His presence with a group of believers is inspiring.

Last week was a celebration of the pines, yes there are pine trees here! Saturday we walked to el centro, the center of town, where vendors were set up around the square selling handmade bracelets, wood objects, t-shirts, along with food!  The food vendors had large tents over tables and chairs and their deep fryers, portable stoves, large skillets and grills preparing meats (pollo-chicken, res-beef, cerdo-pork and chorizo-sausage), tajadas (banana chips), frijoles (beans), slaw (cabbage in beet juice) and chismo (onion, tomatoes & peppers salsa).  Later in the afternoon was a parade and exhibition of traditional dances.  My teacher said in the past they would go to the parks and and have picnics and many activities among the pine trees but now they are working to “save the trees and natural forests” so the celebrations are in town.

On two days this month, Gene and another student, along with their teachers, went to the Centro de Salud (Health department) here is Siguatepeque.  The purpose of the visit was to talk with and pray with the people seeking treatment for their illnesses.  It was a great experience and many were blessed with prayer.  Also, this month as a class exercise, Gene has been holding a “Bible study” (in Spanish) with his teacher to better prepare for ministry in the rural aldeas (villages).  He has been teaching the material from the Life Foundations class we had at Charis. His teacher is a native from Honduras and a Catholic.  It has been very

interesting and informative responding to the questions raised.

Yes, the weather is warming up and our spirits are warming up as we continue to prepare for ministry. No truck yet, but this is the month, no details for future plans other than continue to follow His leading.  It’s poco a poco, one step at a time.  His timing is not always our timing, but His timing is perfect.  Thanks for the emails, texts, calls and prayers to encourage us, they really do help!

Serving the Lord with gladness,