This year we kinda had a "last minute" Christmas. You see when I went to South Dakota I took advantage of the opportunity to go to Wal-Mart so I came back with a suitcase full of presents. The sad thing was my suitcase never showed up in Tegucigalpa, for some reason they left it in Atlanta. So they said to come back on Christmas Eve and maybe it would be here. It didn't show up on Christmas Eve either. Finally on Christmas day I was able to pick up my suitcase run home and wrap up the presents. Thankfully everything worked out and we had a really nice evening opening gifts together. I do have some pictures of Hannah but she is blogger shy. Sorry. All in all in was a nice Christmas!

For our Christmas dinner this year we decided to celebrate at Las Uvas with both church groups. Food always helps to draw a crowd and this time was no exception there were about 70 people. Hannah had the kids perform the play again because most of the people didn't get to see it at Tiloarque, they really enjoyed it. Then we ate a traditional menu of pork leg, salad, and rice. It was soooo good.

One of the highlights of this Christmas was the play. Hannah worked really hard with the kids and did an excellent job. We had young people from both churches working together. The night of the play we had a good turn out with several people here visiting for the very first time. It was a real blessing and the parents were so proud of the job their children did. One of the ladies in our church made all the outfits and they turned out really nice.

Ok so my trip home from South Dakota was somewhat difficult. First of all I left Sioux Falls on Monday afternoon for St. Paul Minnesota but we were delayed because we had to de-ice the plane. We sat on the runway for a good hour before we could take off. So when we landed in St. Paul my flight to Atlanta had already left, I was supposed to have spent the night in Atlanta but instead I was stuck in St. Paul. So Delta gave me a number to call and get a discount on an area hotel. So I found the shuttle to go to the hotel and when I walked in my room I was stunned. It was one of the coolest hotels I have ever stayed in. Very nice. So I guess it was a blessing in disguise. I couldn't enjoy it long because I had to be up at 3:00 to catch my 5:20 a.m. flight to Atlanta. However, we didn't leave at 5:20. Our plane didn't get to the gate until 5:20 needless to say we landed late in Atlanta. I almost had a heart attack running through the airport trying to catch my flight to Tegucigalpa. Atlanta airport is huge and you have to take a train to get to the different terminals, by the time I got to the terminal my flight was long gone. So Delta was kind enough to change my ticket for the next morning, give me food vouchers and pay for my hotel. So I had all day to explore Atlanta. So after dropping my bags off at the hotel I took the train from the airport to downtown Atlanta. I have to say that this city was one of the nicest and cleanest cities I have ever seen. I was very impressed. My first stop was CNN headquarters. Now I'm not a CNN fan, I'm a Fox faithful, but hey it's Atlanta and I had time so I thought I would take a tour of CNN. It was actually very interesting. When you first go in there is a huge food court and stores. Starting on the second floor and up are the offices. The tour took us behind the scenes to see how things operated. We got to see "The Newsroom" the brain of the whole operation. We saw several anchors shooting live. It was so neat to see how news is made and broadcast.

After my CNN tour I headed to Olympic Park. It was very relaxing. Nice fountains, monuments that kind of thing. On the other side of the park is the Coke company. It was here in Atlanta that John Pemberton invented Coca Cola so I took a tour of the Coke museum. I highly recommend it. Very cool. They take you through the history from the pharmacy to a world wide product. One of the best parts of the tour was a room that had soda fountains with coke products from around the world. You can go around taste tasting the different kind of drinks that Coke makes from different parts of the world. One of my favorites was the drinks from Asia. Very good stuff. The worst was Africa, it was really weird.

By the time I finished the Coke tour it was dark and I was tired. So I stopped by the "Underground". A famous shopping area in downtown Atlanta. I grabbed some supper there and headed back to the hotel. It was a fun day in Georgia.

I would appreciate your prayers this weekend. I will be going to South Dakota for a few days and will be returning next Tuesday. Pray for Hannah and Joseph as they stay behind. Hopefully I won't freeze to death with -4 degree weather.

I love our church people. They are willing to help out whenever they can which I appreciate so much. This past weekend several came to help decorate the church. I know we are little behind schedule but better later than never. They did a really good job.

Joseph's "handy" work.

Over the last two weeks we have been working on the Las Uvas church trying to get it closed in. We are using a tarp like material that they use to make sacks. It's actually pretty simple to do but it has taken us a little while due to lack of time and materials but we are nearing completion. This church has been kind of an experiment of mine you might say. Some people may not understand this but on the mission field it can be so difficult trying to teach the people not to be dependent on American funds. I have seen a lot of examples of missionaries and mission organizations who have come and just given everything away. Clothes, food, houses, churches, all with good intentions but it destroys the work. It creates a crippling effect. The people start to think they can't do anything without the missionary and his money. So, we have been trying hard to avoid this problem and teach them from the get-go to work for what they get.

In the case of the Las Uvas church it has been like watching a baby learning to crawl then walk. Our first service was in an open yard next to a stone wall. We met like that once a week for several months. Later land was donated to us so we could build a church. Then our first church had a garage sale to raise money to buy a roof and wooden structure and the men helped to build it. For months now we have met under this tin roof for services. It was still hard to preach with the wind blowing my papers all over the place. It was tempting to raise money and build a nice block church but then again I felt like it would destroy everything we have tried to teach them. So our church just had another garage sale and raised enough money to buy materials to close in the church from the wind and rain. We should finish it sometime this week. Even though it's not completely finished it has already been a huge blessing. We are out of the sun and the wind isn't blowing my papers all over creation. haha. It's great. What is even more exciting is that all this has been done by our own people. We can truly say this is their church. It's been a fun project!

Joseph had fun helping me decorate the Christmas tree. He calls the tree 'Frosty'.

Daniel and Tiffany Melton are working with Evangelistic Faith Missions about 6 hours from us in a little town called San Luis. I have known Daniel and Tiffany for quite a long time since they both attended Penn View Bible Institute. They were so kind to invite us to their house for thanksgiving along with Steve and Yvonne Delong also friends of ours from school days. Steve and Yvonne are working about 4 hours from us. It was so nice to all get together and share thanksgiving. The food was top notch and the atmosphere was relaxing. It was a nice get-away from our daily routine. Thanks Daniel and Tiffany for a wonderful time!! We really enjoyed it!



A few of the pics here show the compound where they are working. They have a Bible school, a radio station and a clinic. The Melton's are doing a great work. The last picture is Joseph and I standing at the edge of the compound overlooking the beautiful valley and mountains. San Luis is such a quite and relaxing place to visit. We really enjoyed our time there.

mmmmmm this watermelon was soooo good!! Anybody want a bite?

Somebody must have been praying for us because God really helped us during the revival. We had a good turn out each night and sensed the Lord's presence among us. Julio and Nemecio preached and sang with all their hearts and their ministry was blessed.

Each night I took people from our church in Tiloarque.  It was a big moral boost for the Las Uvas church to see our people take time to attend their revival.

On Sunday morning Hannah had her Sunday school class in one of the ladie's homes. We normally don't have sunday school at this church because I have to preach at our home church so this was a real treat for the kids, they really enjoyed it. After the service we had dinner on the grounds and enjoyed rice mixed with chicken and vegetables that Jose Montoya and Xiomara cooked. It was a great time!!

Thanks for praying. God really helped us and we give Him all the praise!