It has been one of our main concerns that we find a house here in Tegucigalpa. We asked you to help us pray and God has answered prayer. In an absolutely incredible way He helped us find this house. The second level is divided into two apartments. A couple is living in the front apartment, Hannah and I are living in the back. We will be living in the upstairs apartment only temporarily. There is a family living in the downstairs house until the 15th of May. They are building a new house in the neighborhood and need a place to stay until it is finished. When they move out, we will move in. The house has two bedrooms, a kitchen, two bathrooms and a living room. What is great is that behind the house is a large area that will work perfect to start a new church. We are really excited about this new development. God has certainly been answering prayers. He is so good.

OK! So this was not what I was expecting to see when our furniture was delivered. Let me tell you the story from the beginning. Since finding a house, Eric and I have been going through some culture shock. We have been searching the city for nice yet cheap furniture that would fit into our budget. Hounduras is a little more expensive than we thought. Last Saturday Roger came to help us purchase our things. That morning I was not feeling the greatest so he and Eric went to town on their own. (Don´t worry ladies I had already picked things out). Eric came home and said that the furniture would be delivered between 1-1:30. We got there about 1:15. We knew that they had not come yet.

Now imagine in your mind what is happening. It´s hot, humid, no chairs or anything in the house, no toilet paper, no water, I was sick and couldn´t breath, Eric was all worried they were not going to show up...etc. We waited and waited and waited and waited. Finally at 3:30 the guys pull up in the truck. When I looked down and saw the truck I couldn´t believe it. There was our new furniture. No boxes. Just ropes holding things together in the open air. Oh, did I mention that it had just rained? Needless to say I was ready to cry. So the guys started unloading and a pieace fell off the fridge. We still don´t know what the piece was because we can´t use the fridge this month. We couldn´t get it through the door. So we asked to keep it in the house downstairs where we will eventually move. Then they brought up the stove. It fit through the door but we can´t use it cause there is no 220 hook- ups. Don´t worry we can use our beds. Wait a min. When we took the plastic off the beds there was a hole in our BRAND NEW mattress. We´ve trained for culture shock but there are a few things you can´t train for.

I know this might seem like I´m complaining, but I´m really not! I asked for excitment and that´s what I got. When I was little I always used to tell my mom that nothing exciting ever happens to me. I can´t say that any more. Sometimes I have too much excitment in one day. There is nothing like being a missionary. I wouldn´t trade it for the world.

Here is one of the children that came to Sunday school on Easter Sunday. These kids are so cute.

Here is Roger and I preaching together in a little garage. Two people were saved that night. Praise God!

On Good Friday, Roger asked me to preach at a nearby church that they have recently started. The people are meeting in a little garage. They have grown to about 25 or 30 people. Well, I was nervous to preach because I´m not fluent in Spanish yet, and Roger isn´t fluent in English either. I wasn´t sure how we were going to pull this off. We came up with an idea that I would write my sermon in English, then we would sit down together and between the both of us, we would write out a Spanish translation. Then I would read the first sentence, and he would read his sentence back and forth. This was going to be interesting. That night, Roger picked up several people from his church who wanted to go along with us to the service. The van was full. It was an eight passenger van and there was maybe 18 of us crammed together. Well, the service went great. God came and met with us in that garage as we sang and testified. It was very refreshing. Then it was my turn to preach. I gave a greeting in Spanish as best I could and then preached. It worked pretty well, except for a few times Roger was reading lines ahead of my lines, but we got it together. At the end of the message we asked if anyone wanted to pray. Two people came forward to pray. A man came forward to rededicate his life to Christ, and also the lady who owned the garage where we were meeting wanted to pray. God helped both of them that night. It was exciting. This was the very first time this lady had ever prayed to accept Christ as her Saviour. She is a widow lady who has been coming to the services but had never prayed until that night. Thank the Lord for a brand new soul!! Pray for her, her name is Estella.

After the service we had more people to take home then what had come with us. We weren´t sure how we were going to get them home. One by one they got in the van, when it was all said and done, there were 25 of us and Hannah was sitting on my lap on the front seat. It was hilarious. Off we went, laughing and having a good time. On the way home we had to pass a toll booth and just on the other side was a police check point. I thought for sure we were going to get in big time trouble, sure enough the police officer waved us over to the side of the road. There we sat, people on top of people, hot as ever and this police officer wants to talk to Roger. Well, as we waited the people in the back of the van start singing, they were singing so loud Roger could hardly hear what the officer was saying. Hannah and I just sat there and laughed. We couldn´t believe this. Finally after chatting with the officer for several minutes Roger gets back in the van and away we go. We came close to getting a fine. The officer said that Roger´s tail lights were broken and we had too many people in the van, he wanted some money. Roger had asked to speak to the officer´s boss and maybe explain the situation, well once the officer knew Roger wasn´t about to pay this guy off he let us go. To say the least, it was a very memorable ride home.

Thursday we were invited to another pastor´s house for a grill-out. His church was getting together for a time of fellowship. We were going to have grilled lamb. Wow, was it ever delicious. They had a little round grill, and Roger used a fan to keep the coals hot, and when that meat was finished, it was grilled to perfection. These guys really know how to do it!! I´m hungry just thinking about that meat. It was the best. It´s one of the best meals we have had here.

This past weekend Hannah and I made a trip by bus to San Pedro Sula, Honduras to spend some time with Roger Ortiz and his family. It was so much fun. Roger is a national pastor with H.I.M. and has been a pastor for eight years. He has three boys, Roger Jr., Samuel and Daniel. It was nice to get away from Tegucigalpa and have fellowship with Christian friends.

San Pedro is much hotter than Tegucigalpa, but just before we arrived, it had rained and the temperature was perfect. God sure does know how to take care of us. We had a great time.

Jesus is risen. He is risen indeed!

This cathedral is located in central Tegucigalpa. It dates back to the early 1800`s. Honduras is strongly Catholic with Catholicism being the official religion.

This week is Holy Week, a special time when Honduras celebrates the week of Easter. Businesses shut down and many people make trips to visit family. Wednesday is our last day of school this week and we also are making a 4 hour bus trip to San Pedro Sula to spend the weekend with our friend Roger Ortiz. This picture was taken last Saturday in central Tegucigalpa in front of the Catholic cathedral. They were preparing for palm Sunday celebrations.

Life here is interesting in so many ways. One thing is that chickens are an intiment part of life. Chicken is a very popular meat here in Honduras, even the feet are part of a few dishes. Many people raise their own chickens, but of course they are not always kept secure and often times they wander the streets with everyone else. Here is one that looks like there was an attempt made on its life. Some how it survived!

Honduras has some beautiful flowers and plants. Things are always blooming. Here are some flowers blooming just down the street from our house. Absolutely gorgeous.

There has been a lot of banging around in the house lately. Our family has been doing some remodeling, they would eventually like to rent part of the house. The carpenter who has been coming does a really great job. It´s interesting to watch him work with such primitive tools. He can do about anything. It´s going to look really nice when it´s all done.

Dirty river near the poor community.

One of the shacks in the poor community.

Yesterday morning while we were waiting for a taxi, I looked across the road and saw two little boys eating their breakfast out of the garbage. One was sitting with a head of cabbage in his lap, the other had rotten bananas. I couldn´t get this image out of my mind all day. I wanted to do something. I wished so bad that we had a house of our own where these boys could come and get a good meal, a warm bath and a bed. While we were at school I prayed that when we got home those boys would be there and I could give them some food. Those boys weren´t there. But God did bring a mother with three little girls, who were just gettting ready to cross the road to get some food out of the garbage. I asked the lady if she was hungry and would like a plate of food. She pointed to her little girl ( with the styrofoam plate ) who gladly came and received the food for her and her siblings. Later that day we walked through a poor area of the community ( pictured above ) where we saw family after family barely surviving. Many of these families were large with many young children. It has challenged me that we must do something to help. It is a ripe harvest field, and an amazing opportunity to show God´s love. We are here to give them the gospel, but it is hard to feed them spiritually when they are hungry physically. Let us not say " God loves you " with just words. We want to live it not just say it. When we first came to Honduras the idea of an orphanage seemed like a faraway dream, but I realize that the opportunity is now. These children are the future of the church.

-- Hannah

We have an important need that we would like everyone to pray about. We need to find a place to live within the next month and a half. Yesterday I went looking for a place but so far I haven´t found the perfect spot. We want a place that is easily accesible to the people, a place that would be suitable to start a house church. This is critical for our ministry. Our house will be the center point of everything we do. Please help us pray that God would direct us to that perfect place and neighborhood.

The family we are staying with are evangelical Christians and are absolutelywonderful. Andrès and his wife Sergia are retired, they are active in their local church and enjoy participating in outreaches into the local communities. Their son is currently attending the University here in Tegucigalpa so he is busy going to school and studying when he comes home. We don´t get to see him very often. They tell us they are so excited to have us in their home and we are like their son and daughter. They treat us that way too, hugs and kisses are common before we walk out the door to school. They give us their best and they have made us feel very welcomed!

Just outside our room is the washer and dryer. Well sort-of they consist of a cement holding tank, and clothes lines. I have been washing our clothes the old fashioned way. There is a cement scrubbing board right next to the holding tank where someone can scrub all the dye out of your jeans and stretch your shirts a mile long...not quite. It does get the job done. Life here is different in so many ways. This holding tank is used for more than just washing clothes. I don´t know what we would do without it. Usually every night and sometimes in the mornings the water gets turned off. So all we can use is what is in the storage tank and it sure does come in handy. Whether its flushing the toilet or washing your hair, sometimes that´s all there is to use and trust me, we are thankful.

Hannah has been holding up well under the conditions of things. Probably the biggest struggle has been some of the food. The last time we were in Honduras we had a lot of good food, however this time, the cook has a little bit of a different taste. Our first Sunday here, we had a soup called " Mondongo ". We aren´t totally sure but we think part of the ingredients was cow stomach. It was like globs of rubber. The soup she is eating in the picture she actually liked and it was one of the better meals.

She is still struggling with morning sickness but all in all she is doing great. She loves the people, some have even asked her if she was a Honduran. She looks like a Honduran and before long she will even talk like a Honduran. She is studying hard and little by little she is learning more and more Spanish. What a souper wife!

Hannah and I look forward every day after school to check our blog and see if anyone posted any comments. We love to hear from you. We are getting hits on our blog from all over the country and we are curious to know who you are. If you have never dropped us a line, we would like to hear from you. Let us know your name and where you are from. We are glad you are visiting our blog and we hope you continue to do so. Thanks so much and we hope you enjoy our updates from Honduras.

I was sitting in my room yesterday thinking about the little boy who had stopped by the house and needed batteries and I realized I didn´t have a picture of him. I thought I had heard him outside so I thought that now would be a good time to get a picture. I stepped outside the door and there he was at the other end of the alley. He was excited to get his picture taken, he posed for me and smiled real big. Then I asked him where his house was, he took me down a little path next to a steep bank that plunged to a little stream below. There he showed me a little shack painted red ( in the picture in Faith Without Works ). I couldn´t believe it, just down the street from our house was a whole community of little slap board shacks. A little lady came out the door and then an older lady. She was the little boy´s grandma. Her arm was hurt and they didn´t have any food, just rice. The grandmother was a widow for several years and the younger lady was a friend who lived with her in this little shack. I couldn´t believe it. I told them I would be back in ten minutes. I went and told Hannah about the situation and together we took the grandmother´s friend to the supermarket to get some necessary food. It seemed like this lady had never even been to the supermarket, she almost seemed lost. We walked down the aisles putting things like sugar, milk, bread, rice, beans and fruits into the cart. After we finished we carried the bags back to the little shack. The grandmother thanked us for what we had done. What started from two AA batteries ended up in feeding the poor and giving the satisfaction that we helped someone in need.

The other morning I was reading the Bible for my devotions and I came across the passage that says faith without works is dead and it began to explain how we should not give honor to the rich and neglect the poor especially when they have a need and we just send them away when we are capable of helping them. Well, that whole passage really spoke to me that morning. It was powerful. Later that evening an event took place that put God´s word into action. We were sitting in the living room when all of a sudden a little boy started knocking on the door. Sergia ( the lady that we live with ) went and opened the door. This little boy ( in the white t-shirt ) had a little electronic game but he needed two AA batteries to play it. Nobody had any, so the little boy left. All of a sudden the passage that I had read this morning hit me like a brick wall. I thought, " it´s just batteries, it´s not like he is asking for food or clothes, surely this isn´t a big deal ". But the passage wouldn´t leave me and I felt convicted. So I went outside and found the little boy and took him to a nearby store and bought two AA batteries. Sure enough the little game worked, he smiled real big, his mother was standing there and she was so happy too. He thanked me and ran down the street playing his little game. I walked back to the house satisfied that I had done what God wanted me to do, and I just made somebody elses life much happier. That´s one of the greatest feelings in the world...the satisfaction of helping someone in need, even if it is two batteries.