Last week I headed for Nicaragua with a man from our church in Las Uvas. Pablo had heard that I was going to Nicaragua to meet a TLC team coming in from Hobe Sound. Pablo has gotten saved and has been wanting to get married, baptized and start serving in the church. The problem is though, he is Nicaraguan and needed to go to Managua to get his passport and other papers in order to get married here in Honduras. So I told him that we would leave a few days early and he could go with me to get his papers. This was the first time he had been back to see his family in six years! Here he is with his mother and two of his sisters.

We traveled all day Wednesday to get to the village where Pablo grew up. Once we got there we had to figure out where his mother lived. He had lost contact with his family and wasn't even sure if she was dead or alive. He finally found some relatives who showed us where his mother was living. This is a picture of her little hut and garden. It was getting dark when we arrived.

Looking at old family pictures together.

The next day we started working on Pablo's papers. The first stop as at the police station to get a copy of his police record. Nicaragua is becoming increasingly more communist. These faces were painted on the side of the office. On the far left is Hugo Chavez who is hailed as a hero, the second one I'm not exactly sure who it is, the third is Fidel Castro and last is Daniel Ortega, who is presently in power.

The next stop was Managua where he had to apply for his passport and other paper work. While there we stopped by a large plaza where there were several monuments, and old church and a museum.

Nicaragua has seven volcanoes. In the museum was this ancient footprint frozen in time by hardened volcanic ash.

Leg bone of a wooly mammoth.

Early Friday morning we were waiting at the Managua airport for the team of 12 who were coming in from Hobe Sound. Most of the members are studying intercultural studies at Hobe Sound Bible College.

The team's first project was to paint the two outer side walls of the church in Achuapas as well as lay a small sidewalk at the entrance.

Joseph enjoyed getting in on the action as well.

Happy to serve!

The guys did a great job hand-mixing and laying the cement for the walkway.

 Mission accomplished!!

In Central America it is common to drink your soda out of a plastic bag with a straw. The red soda is called Rojita, (similar to Big Red), only found in Nicaragua.

In the evenings the team held services geared toward youth and children. They gave testimonies, and told Bible stories. This was a skit talking about different sins, this particular one was idolatry.

 On Sunday morning while I spoke to the adults, the team taught a special Sunday School class with all the kids.

The team having fun chit chatting before being served a scrumptious lunch of chicken and rice.

Everyone had to wash their plates at the pila. No electric dishwashers around here!

Scrub, scrub, scrub.

The team took an hour and a half hike up into the mountains to a little village called Sosalo. There is a family from this village that makes the trek every Sunday to pastor Julio's church.

Crossing over the cow gate to head to the end of the village.

The team brought shoes with them to hand out to poor families. Pastor Julio will be distributing the shoes at Christmas time, these children will be some of the happy recipients. Pastor Julio is holding up strings that he used to take their shoe size. Wesley, standing on the right, was responsible for bringing the shoes.

We saw a beautiful double rainbow on the way back down the mountain.

The follow day the team handed out literature, plaques with scripture verses and bookmarks. The people were so happy to receive them.

As we drove down the street in the van, the young people handed out the literature through the windows to the pedestrians. A lot of them were students walking to school.

Spreading the Good News!!

Eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches before catching the bus back to Managua for a late night flight home.

On the bus and ready to go!

Thanks team for doing an awesome job!! We enjoyed working with you all. Thanks for Touching Lives for Christ!!



When we returned from Hobe Sound, Hannah's mother returned with us. We have so enjoyed having her in our home. She is planning to spend Thanksgiving with us then return to the States on the first of December.

 She has been able to go with us on several trips while she has been here. She went along with us to the North Coast of Honduras where we visited a couple that is interested in allowing us to use some of their property for possibly a small business to help fund the work. This was our first time to see the North Coast. What a beautiful place!

Enjoying the view at Tela.

Hector and Beatrice are part of a minority group here in Honduras called the Garifuna. The Garifuna were brought from West and Central Africa as slaves during the colonization era. They mostly inhabit the Caribbean and the coast of Central America. They still speak their own dialect and hold on to many of their traditions. It was very interesting to try their foods. One meal was called machuka. They smash plantains in a bowl, then they take the mass and make little balls out of it that they put in a fish soup. We tried many new and interesting things while we visited in their home.

Hector's backdoor leads out to this beach and beautiful view!

They are happy in their little paradise.

The church where Hector and Beatrice attend worships both in Garifuna and Spanish. Here is a little taste of what it is like. They are using turtle shells as instruments.

Mom almost lost a hand to a hungry shark!

We also got away one night to some of our most favorite cabins here in Honduras. We enjoyed roasting marshmallows and hot dogs.

Breakfast at the cabins. Look at that bean face!!!!

Fun in the sun.

Our little get-away place. The perfect place to unwind.

We also got to show grammy the famous Pulhapansak Falls!!

What a gorgeous day for a drive to Lake Yojoa.

Lake Yojoa, the largest lake in Honduras.

You can't visit the lake without eating some delicious fried Tilapia. Yummmy!

We took a relaxing boat ride out to the middle of the lake.

It doesn't get any better than this!

The boys have loved having their grammy here, especially when they make cookies together.

 Does anybody know these two clowns?

Playing a game of air hockey with Dan Dan.

She has been such a blessing. Her testimony in our services, her friendliness with the people, helping out around the house, she has touched many hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

After our trip to Hobe Sound, we were privileged to be visited by Butch Heath director of Crisis Family Care. He was here to hold two marriage seminars, one in the church at Las Delicias and the second one in our church at Tiloarque.

The parsonage in Las Delicias is finally finished and painted. This was their very first marriage seminar. We started on a Wednesday afternoon with a session for youth. Then in the evening was the session for adults.

Here was the group of teens that attended the Wednesday and Thursday youth sessions. Pray for these teens that they will really sell out to God and mind Him.

The really neat thing about all of this is that three years ago when pastor Heath did a marriage seminar in Tiloarque Roberto and Jenny came to the sessions to get help for their marriage. They liked the church and continued to attend and later got saved. Today they are pastoring the church in Las Delicias and had their own marriage seminar for their people. It is amazing how God works!

Some of the couples renewing their vows at the end of the seminar.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday pastor Heath ministered in Tiloarque. Here are some of the ladies who got the church decorated for the seminar.

On Sunday morning after hearing a powerful message from pastor Heath, the church people stayed for lunch and fellowship.

We are so grateful to Brother Heath and his ministry, it was a huge blessing to all who attended!!