Yesterday we were made aware of the fact that a Taca airline jet had crashed "in our backyard". Tegucigalpa has one of the most dangerous airports in the world. Due to a short runway, high elevation and mountains surrounding the landing strip, only experienced pilots can land here. Yesterday however the pilot evidently didn't have the required experience. He was bringing a flight of passengers from El Salvador. When he landed, he landed "half way" down the airstrip. That wasn't near enough space to stop the plane. It shot through a fence, down over a cliff and landed over a nearby highway smashing several cars. Immediatly it was panic and chaos. The pilot was killed, along with the wife of the Brazilian ambassador, the president of one of the banks and a passenger in one of the cars below.

Hannah and I made our way down to the wreck site. By the time we arrived they had evacuated all the passengers and there was a relative calm. We stood about eight feet away from the cockpit and peered inside and saw the daily newspaper bloodied from the pilot who had died. It was an eerie sight.

We watched as firemen and military personnel worked on freeing some of the smashed vehicles trapped underneath the wreckage. Nobody ever thinks a plane could hit your car. Can you imagine what a shock it must have been to see a jetliner come crashing off the hill and smash your car? It's a reminder that life is short and anything can happen. It pays to live ready.

The way I look at it I have the best dad in the world. He is tender hearted, level headed and agressively competitive. He can do and build anything. He can still beat me at basketball and he can do math like a whiz. My dad is awesome!! Today he is celebrating another year, I hope there are many more to come. Happy Birthday Dad!! We love you!!

Joseph has a new hobby! It's called "How many places and things can I get into?" He loves to get into the fridge and take things out. One day I found him walking around with an uncooked egg, saying "num num ... mmmm" so I made the egg for him.

In these pictures you will see where he got the blueberries out and was eating them on the stairs. The box was full. I had made a few blueberry pancakes for Eric in the morning and Joseph helped himself to the rest.

...But the story dose not end there...

The other day we had a friend over. Here comes Joseph with a juice pack with the straw already in it and offered it to our friend. I thought that was so sweet until I walked over to his little table and found not one, not two, but three juice packs open with the straws in them.

One thing is for sure I don't have to worry about this kid going hungry.

One of the things that I hate to do is look through the pockets of clothes before washing them to make sure that nothing is in them. Well now not only do I have to look in my sweetie's clothes,I have my little guys pants to look through.

I learned the hard way. a few weeks ago when I pulled my jean skirt out of the dryer there were red marks on it. As I searched I found that the reason for that was a red crayon floating around and melting on the clothes. Thank the Lord it was only my jean skirt and that it came out in the next wash.

However I learned that I better look through my little 2 year old's pockets. In this picture you will see what I found in them yesterday. There were b-day candles, peanuts and a connect 4 game piece. I can't wait to see what he will be bringing home in a few years... but then again maybe I can.

Friday night we invited Carmen and her family for an American meal! Hannah cooked up a roast, corn, mashed potatoes, mac and cheese the whole works!! It was sooo good.

This was our first time to meet her husband Emerson. He is very nice. They told us their story of how they immigrated to the United States. On their way, they stayed a week at a stranger's house in Mexico. They said the place was horrible. Rats ran wild, cochroaches joined them at the supper table and the lady of the house never took a bath or washed the dishes. The youngest of her children was only a year old.

When it was time to go to the States, they had to swim the Rio Bravo. The river was contaminated. Emerson used make-shift bouyes by inflating garbag bags and told the kids to hold on as he pushed them across the river. One of the boys fell into the water and Emerson had to dive under to get him, swallowing a mouth full of the black water.

Upon arriving safely on the other side of the river, immigration caught them. They gave Carmen a two month pass for the sake of the children and put Emerson in jail for three months before sending him back to Honduras. He was in jail the day of 9-11 when the towers fell. For a whole week afterwards, he only got a sandwich and water and was confined to his cell for security reasons.

Three months after arriving back in Honduras Emerson made the trip back to the United States (a trip he has made several times) to meet up with his family in Miami. They lived in the states for seven years.

They have since moved back to Honduras and have built their own house and own their own store. They miss the United States sooo much. Especially the dollar store, goodwill and flea markets. One of their favorite restaurants was Golden Coral. That was one of the reasons we invited them over, they really missed American food. We had such a good time talking and getting to know each other. Pray for Carmen and her family. She and the boys have been coming faithfully on Sundays. They are such a great family.

(While the boys were playing soccer, one of the boys got hurt, thus the ice pack and Dr. Joseph helping him get better)

Baudilio Flores has been such a blessing to us. He is our first faithful convert in our ministry here. On Sundays he plays the guitar for the singing. He is a great guy. This past week he celebrated 65 years with a delicious upside-down pineapple cake, his favorite!!!

I want to say a special thanks to all of you who have committed to fasting in behalf of new converts. I really appreciate it. As of yet we havn't reached our goal of 24 but we have close to half. Which is still wonderful!! Thank you so much.

Remember we are starting tomorrow night at 8:00 and fasting until 12:00 noon on Friday. We are focusing especially on new converts!! If you know of someone else who is willing to join please email me and let me know. We still have time to get another twelve people!!

This morning in our church service we had some new visitors! Carmen and her two boys Luis and Allen joined us. I first met them while distributing brochures door-to-door. Carmen also came to our Mother's day banquet and now today for the very first time she came to church! How exciting. They lived seven years in the states but returned a year ago to Honduras. Her boys speak english very well. Pray for this new family. We want to see them come faithfully.

Starting new works in metropolitan areas can be very difficult. There are already many religions that have taken root and with easier access to money and business, people tend to neglect their spiritual needs. But it is here that God has called us and we intend to fulfill his purpose. It is our desire to see a holiness church established for the glory of God. It has been revealed to me once again that it's not by might, nor by power but by the Spirit of God. We are facing a task that is much bigger than us, but nothing compared to God. We desperately need his strength and wisdom.

Recently I have been thinking about the power of prayer and fasting. I am firmly convinced it is the key to any success that we may see. Jesus himself set forth the example by fasting forty days in the wilderness before embarking on a three year ministry that changed the world. Moses fasted forty days while talking with God in Mount Horeb, before returning with the ten commandments. Elijah, after fleeing Jezabel, also fasted forty days in Mount Horeb before hearing the still small voice of God. The words of Jesus have been ringing in my mind when he told his frustrated disciples who had failed to cast out some demons that "this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting". I would like to re-echo those words and say, this kind of church that we would like to establish will not happen without prayer and fasting.

Every example we have in the Bible of someone fasting forty days, something great happened. I personally don't feel capable of fasting forty days. However, I believe that together we can see it accomplished. I am making an appeal for 24 people to fast with me forty hours. The combined hours would equal the amount of one person fasting forty days. I believe God would honor it, and would bless. We are specifically praying and fasting for new converts who will help to establish the work. Pray that God would begin to touch hearts and draw them to him. Would you be willing to be part of this fasting team? Would you be willing to sacrifice forty hours starting 8 p.m. on May 21 until 12:00 noon on May 23? If you would like to join us please let me know by leaving a comment or sending me an email. I would like to keep a tally of how many will be fasting.

This is not and endeavor to appear super spiritual. It is a sincere plea to God that he would help us and bring new souls into the kingdom. Please don't feel embarrassed or pressured if you do not feel interested or have the physical capabilities of fasting that length of time. There are some who are not physically capable. However, if you are capable and willing we would love to have you join us.

Let's pray and fast for souls in Honduras!!

Saturday night was a very special event. We hosted our very first Mother's Day banquet. Earlier in the week Hannah had mentioned that it would be great to have a special supper for the mother's of the Sunday school children. So plans were made and we sent out invitations. We had 18 mothers show up! For some of them it was the very first time for us to meet.

Hannah did a fantastic job cooking and preparing for the meal. She cooked a spaghetti supper with garlic bread, salad, topped off with a flower shaped brownie. We converted our living room into a banquet hall. The whole theme was centered around the garden. We even gave little ceramic watering pots as favors.

As the ladies arrived, we had each one give their name, tell us how many children they have and a few details they cared to share about themselves. The potted flowers on the tables were given out as door prizes. The first went to Doña Marta for having the most children. A total of 10!! The other plant went to Heidi, she was the newest mother. For the other two plants we had a drawing.

After the meal, I shared a message about Hannah and her prayer for Samuel. God definitely helped me. I could sense God speaking to several of the ladies.

Before going home, we invited those who didn't attend church to come and join us in our weekly services. Please pray that some of these ladies will begin attending and give their hearts to Christ.

The whole event was just a wonderful time. We were able to build some new friendships that I feel will bear fruit in time to come.

Hannah and I feel so blessed to have such wonderful mother's. They overflow with love and compassion. It has been hard for them both having their children and grandson far away from home. But they have shown such strength and resolve in the midst of their tears. They support us 100%. We want them to know we love and appreciate them! Thanks for being such wonderful mother's. We love you!!!

After a long week of bible studies, dealing with bad traffic, passing out brochures, city smog, preparing for Sunday school, and dealing with a two year old cooped up in a small house, we like to take Mondays and spend it together as a family outside the city. Today was no different except for the fact that we decided to spend it with the two gentlemen that have been attending our service.

We took our grill with us and I brought some frijoles (refried beans) semi-seco queso (a semi-hard white cheese) chimol (a tomato, chili, and onion salad.) and rice. Eric grilled some meat and together we enjoyed a wonderful meal.

After the meal the guys decided that they wanted to play frisbee. Brother Baudilio had never played this before, but he really enjoyed himself.

Teaching people how to live as Jesus wants them to does not always come from bible studies. Sometimes these people need to see real people living the Christian life. They need to see that as Christians we can have good clean fun. They need to see how we interact with our families. If the only time they see us is when they come for bible study, how can they see the practicality of truths they are being taught. So this little picnic might not seem much in our eye, but only the Lord knows how it will impact these two men's lives.

Joseph loves animals. He calls each animal by the sound they make. He knows thier name but he would rather make the noise. For example, the other day he wanted me to read a book about cats. He said, "Mommy, Mommy ...ree, ree (read) meow, meow." Or he'll see a dog and say "el (the) Bow-wow". He can even make the horse sound. He gets the sound effect abilities from his father;-)

Here he is telling the "quack quacks" bye bye.

Saturday we had the privilege to spend the day with one of our H.I.M. pastors and his family. José Fuentes is doing a work very similar to ours. He has a small group of believers that meet together in his house. They are a wonderful family. Both José and his eldest daughter have beautiful voices. They usally always minister in music wherever they go. Pray for this precious family and their work.

Visit the Rat Temple in India. It will give you the heeby jeebies!

When I was younger and only dreaming and thinking about what my family would be like, I used to think to myself "my kids are always going to be clean and always look their best no matter what." As you can see this is a difficult task, and this is what Joseph looks like most of the time now. Any more I have to wash his hands and face every half hour.

Joseph loves to play outside. Unfortunately we have a very small front yard where we park the car. However there is a little space where he can run around and play and talk to people as they pass by our house. The other day; however, he decided he was going to do things a little differently.

After taking his bath and getting ready he walked over to the door and opened it. I was doing some work , but every once in awhile I would look out to check on him. A little later Eric walks in with this kid and this is what he looked like. I couldn't believe it. Eric said that he found him rolling around in the dirt.

"I am so ashamed"

Running for president can be big shoes to fill. But it looks like Joseph is up to the task. Vote Joseph 2008. No Adult Left Behind!

Are you tired of the bickering and mud slinging between the presidencial candidates? Are you looking for the "perfect" candidate that embodies everything you believe and stand for? Are you looking for someone who can lead our country and brings with him experience and know-how? Look no further. J.Z. Kuhns for president 2008.