We had a wonderful Christmas weekend. Our field director Roger and his family came to spend Christmas with us. They arrived early Sunday morning ready to go.

For Sunday school we had our biggest group ever!! A total of 35 people came! Two of them were adults and one was a teenager. How exciting! Roger told them the Christmas story and sang songs. Hannah made 48 red cup cakes with green icing topped with a yellow sugar star. The kids loved them!

Before everybody left we gave them each a gift. The boys received a clock, the girls a set of school supplies and the little children received a little toy.

Our house was packed! If this continues we will definitely be ready to move into the area that is being prepared behind our house. God is doing great things!

Here in Honduras the main Christmas celebration begins on Christmas Eve night. At about 10:00 at night there is a large supper and then at midnight they ring in Christmas day with fireworks and shooting guns. So we did the same, without the guns and fireworks.

Hannah and Martha provided a scrumptious meal. Roger's family brought a big ham which is the traditional meat for the Christmas dinner along with tamales. It was so nice having Roger and his family with us. They made our Christmas special.

When midnight hit it sounded like World War III outside. Kids were lighting fireworks, and it sounded like every pistol in the city was being fired. It really made for an exciting Christmas!

Hannah got the idea that on Christmas day we would make up plates of food and hand them out to the homeless. It worked great because Roger had a car that we could use. So Hannah and Martha prepared fifteen plates of food. They made rice, beans, chicken and topped it with tortillas. Then, Roger, his boys and I hit the streets.

It was amazing. The people were so thankful to have a plate of food. As soon as they got their plate they began to eat. They were so hungry.

In central park we came across a lady and her son. Her one leg was really swollen. She told us that she has a disease called elephant foot. I had never seen anything like this in my life.

When it was all said and done the satisfaction we had in helping others less fortunate was one of the best Christmas presents a person could ever receive. Jesus was right when he said " It is better to give than to receive".

On Christmas night Roger took us to a little town called Valle de Angeles ( Valley of Angels ). It is a beautiful place. It is one of the tourist attractions. The houses still look like they would have in the 1800's with terra cotta roofs and a flare of Spanish architecture and design.

Little three wheeler taxi's run the streets that are lined with little shops. The whole place just has a layed back feeling. It was great.

The previous president was married in the Cathredral pictured. It would definitely be the perfect spot!

Today in class our teacher told us that she found a store with Arabic and American foods. I was excited. She told us where it was, and after class we went to check it out. To tell you the truth I did not expect to meet any Arabs today ( I know ... ye of little faith). We walked into the store, and right away I started looking for the Arabic food. It was in the back of the store. There was falafel, zetoon (olives), magdoss (filled peppers) zet zetoon (olive oil) from Lebanon, and on goes the list.

We went up to the counter and in Spanish Eric asked the lady if she could speak Arabic. She said yes and then I started speaking to her. I asked her if she was from Honduras. She said yes, but that her family are Palestinians who lived in Amman, Jordan. I couldn´t believe it. Here I was in Honduras speaking in Arabic. I asked if there was a lot of Arabs here. She said that there´s a lot of them all over the city.

I can´t tell you how excited I am about this. The Lord has showed me over and over again that He is in control. The first two months here I thought that we would never meet Arabs. This time we have found the Jordanian embassy, there are Arab stores and restaurants, and most importantly we are meeting the people. Please continue to pray for this opportunity. Before I left I asked her if there were ways to meet some of the Arabs and she told me that it was hard, but I´ve learned that God always makes a way.

We were so excited this passed Sunday to have nine brand new children attend Sunday School. We had a total of fifteen!! The Lord really helped us. They were well behaved, listening attentively, quick to participate and easy to speak to.

Hannah is doing great with her Spanish. She taught the Bible verse and helped with the review game. She is quick on her way to becoming tri-lingual.

Continue to pray for these children and their families that they would continue to attend. Several prayed last Sunday to invite Jesus into their hearts. We want to see them become well established and future leaders in the church.

Well we have been on the go lately. We started back to school again to try to finish up our Spanish classes. They are going very well. We are both understanding and speaking much better with more confidence. Our classes are four hours a day from 1pm-5pm. Joseph goes to class with us and is doing a great job. He loves riding the buses. As you can see our teacher just thinks the world of this little guy.

Our house is still under construction. They workers finished the water tower so we now have water 24/7. This is a real blessing that we thank the Lord for. Several years ago our house used to be a kindergarden. Now it has been transformed into apartments. In the back of our house is a yard area where we eventually want to begin our church. Right now our landlord is constructing another apartment above our yard. This will be another blessing because it will provide a nice ceiling for our church. So many good things are happening.

So continue to pray for us as we study. We are encouraged with our progress but still need much more.

They really know how to decorate for Christmas here in Honduras. Many of the houses have their lights up and about every store you go into they have a Christmas tree. It is very pretty. We even heard a few Christmas songs being played in English.

Don´t be fooled. He is not always this angelic!
He wants to touch everything and have HIS way! He thinks because he has two teeth now that he can eat whatever he wants. He loves to be on the go all the time. He may not be angelic all the time, but he sure is a special little boy.

November 30th was Joseph`s five month birthday. He celebrated by eating his first bowl of cereal. He enjoyed every bite. He loved it so much he even tried eating the bowl. Happy Birthday little guy!!

It was an honor for us to attend Bayron´s graduation from sixth grade. He is one of our Sunday School children, and asked if we would be his ¨godparents¨ at his graduation.

Here in honduras when a student graduates from sixth grade the ¨godparents¨ sign the diploma.