Well, it’s a rough life but somebody has to live it so we’re thinking “it might as well be us.” Today the team that is here took all 83 kids, house parents, missionaries, and the team to a nice pool to swim for about four hours. In addition they served all of us lunch. This is something the kids only get to do once or twice a year and they love it. The only time any of the children complained was when they had to get out of the pool to leave. Then on the bus ride home most of them fell asleep – they were so tired. There is nothing more fun than hear screams of joy and laughter from children – many of whom have come out of horrendous situations.
Several of the members of the team that are here sponsor some of the children. This evening they hosted for dinner the children they sponsor and then gave them each a special gift. Of course, before we could get the kids to dinner we had to wake up several of them who were still exhausted from the pool adventure. Not sure who enjoyed the evening more, the children or the adults.
There are 18 members of this team that have never been to Honduras and it’s fun to watch their reaction as they experience Honduras and Faith Home for the first time.
We promise to send/and or post pics soon. We’re telling you this because we know by posting this we will tie ourselves down and make it happen.
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
January 26, 2008
Cindy is now training a new helper in her medical practice. One of her patients, Fernando a nine year old boy, now understands the routine and has taken it upon himself to assist Cindy as she sees her patients. Fernando is taking an antibiotic every day from a syringe. When Cindy gets him to give him his medicine she also get a you girl named Gravie who soaks her foot for awhile and then has some lotion rubbed on her. Today after Fernando took his medicine he rinsed out the syringe just like Cindy has been doing and then put in back in it’s place. Before Cindy could get outside to Gravie Fernando had gotten the lotion and was outside rubbing it on Gravie. Now she has two trained helpers.
January 25, 2008
Brad had the opportunity to meet with several of the pastors from the area around where we live. The meeting included five pastors, Saul, and Brad. Brad shared his background, why we came to Honduras, and the vision God has given to start churches in Central America, Mexico, and Cuba. He then asked them to spend some time praying and thinking about whether they wanted to be a part of this vision. He told them if they said “Yes” all he could promise them was that God would ask a lot of them and we all must be prepared to suffer to take the gospel to those who have not heard. He was concerned that most of these pastors are struggling just to pastor and provide for their families and this would scare them off. He told them he wasn’t wanting an answer tonight but for them to pray about it and they would all get back together in a few weeks. To his surprise not only were they excited about it but it was as if they also have had much bigger dreams of what they thought God wanted them to do but were having trouble finding a way to make it happen.
After Brad shared each of the pastors then they shared their story of becoming a Christian and then a pastor. There was a common theme with every pastor. All of theme became a Christian in their late teens or early twenties and none of them wanted to be a pastor. They had to be asked many times to be the pastor before they accepted because they didn’t think they were worthy. It was great learning their stories. One of the pastors wanted to know when he could share with Brad the plans he has for his church.
We have the privilege of being able to work with a wonderful group of committed men. Please pray as the pastors and Brad develop their relationships and look to God for direction in what to do next.
After Brad shared each of the pastors then they shared their story of becoming a Christian and then a pastor. There was a common theme with every pastor. All of theme became a Christian in their late teens or early twenties and none of them wanted to be a pastor. They had to be asked many times to be the pastor before they accepted because they didn’t think they were worthy. It was great learning their stories. One of the pastors wanted to know when he could share with Brad the plans he has for his church.
We have the privilege of being able to work with a wonderful group of committed men. Please pray as the pastors and Brad develop their relationships and look to God for direction in what to do next.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
January 23, 2008
Today we went a different direction. The MVP team here wants to hand out beans and rice. We took Saul and went to find a place for them to do this. We went past San Manuel and almost to Villanueva. We then turned on a dirt road and quickly found ourselves in a very poor area.
Cindy’s medical practice is still growing. She has six in her “practice” and has made several new friends with the kids as she goes in and out of houses. Today she may have started training her new photography assistant and christened her as an enfermera pequena (little nurse) as Cindy had her helping put some lotion on one of the children (patients). Her name is Fanny and she’s about 10.
Saul took our truck and headed to Danli today. He is taking some money to help out one of the pastors there pay for a medical test he needs and to help another pastor get his national ID card so he can come to the Bible Institute in February. It’s about a six hour drive and it’s an adventure.
Brad checked all the student houses for the Bible Institute to see what work was needed on each one and then walked up to the Bible Institute. While he was standing on the second floor balcony he looked behind him and there was a rainbow. It was neat being so high up that he was looking straight across at the top of the rainbow. While he was at the Bible Institute one of the pastors (Marcial) was cutting the grass with his machete. As Brad was leaving the building Marcial was taking a break so they sat and talked for a brief time. With a limited Spanish vocabulary all conversations are brief.
Cindy’s medical practice is still growing. She has six in her “practice” and has made several new friends with the kids as she goes in and out of houses. Today she may have started training her new photography assistant and christened her as an enfermera pequena (little nurse) as Cindy had her helping put some lotion on one of the children (patients). Her name is Fanny and she’s about 10.
Saul took our truck and headed to Danli today. He is taking some money to help out one of the pastors there pay for a medical test he needs and to help another pastor get his national ID card so he can come to the Bible Institute in February. It’s about a six hour drive and it’s an adventure.
Brad checked all the student houses for the Bible Institute to see what work was needed on each one and then walked up to the Bible Institute. While he was standing on the second floor balcony he looked behind him and there was a rainbow. It was neat being so high up that he was looking straight across at the top of the rainbow. While he was at the Bible Institute one of the pastors (Marcial) was cutting the grass with his machete. As Brad was leaving the building Marcial was taking a break so they sat and talked for a brief time. With a limited Spanish vocabulary all conversations are brief.
January 21 – 22, 2008
Guess where we went again? Back to San Pedro Sula. On Monday Brad went with Saul. They went to the school to arrange for translators for the Med/Den team in February. It went well and the principal is very agreeable to provide some students. They also went to run some errands for other team members and then stopped by the lumber yard on the way home to get quotes for a couple of projects. The best part of the trip was Brad got to spend some time with Saul. They were able to share with each other more about their vision for the future. They had also planned to go see the site for the Med/Den team but by the time they finished all the errands for everybody else they didn’t get home until about 4:00 pm
On Tuesday we had planned to go to the Med/Den site again but before we could leave a couple of our female team members asked if we could take them to San Pedro Sula to run some errands with them. It’s not really a safe place to send women by themselves. If everything goes as expected while in the city than it’s not a concern. If there is a problem then it’s a good idea to have a guy along. So we left in the morning and got back about 3:30. Any trip to San Pedro Sula means an entire day taken up.
While we waited for Tania and Julia to finish their stuff at the bank we went into the American Airlines office to see about setting up our Advantage Miles account. Found out we can’t get credit for miles already flown before we setup the account. The man who helped us spoke perfect English. We thought he would be a great person to ask what he thought is the best way to learn Spanish. So, we ask him “How did you learn English so well?” His response “I attended a bilingual school for 12 years and had to speak English all day.” Not exactly what we had hoped to hear. Then he proceeds to tell us that Spanish is a very difficult language to learn because of the grammar. Now that did make us feel better. Maybe we’re not as dumb and slow as we thought.
Tuesday night we went with the team to the Faith Home church service. The team seemed to enjoy being around the kids and the kids seemed to enjoy having the team.
Something you can pray about is someone to fill the role of a pastor/mentor for the older kids at Faith Home. Just like in the States the older kids are a little bored by the service because it’s geared more toward the younger kids. We need someone who is focused on the older kids. Pastor Miguel can’t do it all.
On Tuesday we had planned to go to the Med/Den site again but before we could leave a couple of our female team members asked if we could take them to San Pedro Sula to run some errands with them. It’s not really a safe place to send women by themselves. If everything goes as expected while in the city than it’s not a concern. If there is a problem then it’s a good idea to have a guy along. So we left in the morning and got back about 3:30. Any trip to San Pedro Sula means an entire day taken up.
While we waited for Tania and Julia to finish their stuff at the bank we went into the American Airlines office to see about setting up our Advantage Miles account. Found out we can’t get credit for miles already flown before we setup the account. The man who helped us spoke perfect English. We thought he would be a great person to ask what he thought is the best way to learn Spanish. So, we ask him “How did you learn English so well?” His response “I attended a bilingual school for 12 years and had to speak English all day.” Not exactly what we had hoped to hear. Then he proceeds to tell us that Spanish is a very difficult language to learn because of the grammar. Now that did make us feel better. Maybe we’re not as dumb and slow as we thought.
Tuesday night we went with the team to the Faith Home church service. The team seemed to enjoy being around the kids and the kids seemed to enjoy having the team.
Something you can pray about is someone to fill the role of a pastor/mentor for the older kids at Faith Home. Just like in the States the older kids are a little bored by the service because it’s geared more toward the younger kids. We need someone who is focused on the older kids. Pastor Miguel can’t do it all.
January 20, 2008 (con’t)
Tonight we went to the El Barro church which is within walking distance of Faith Home. The service was in Spanish but one of the girls from Faith Home, Rosa, translated. Saul (the head of the Bible Institute) spoke. It was great to hear his heart. He has such a passion for sharing the gospel and the power of the gospel.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
January 20, 2008
Cindy and I had to go to the airport to pick up a late arriving MVP team member who had been delayed because of ice storms in Atlanta. On our way to the airport we were stopped for the first time by one of the many roadblocks the police have set up. Most cars they let pass and will only pull over a few. Our teammates tell us the average is about once every eight trips you will get pulled over. We're told when they pull you over they want to see your registration and insurance info. So Brad pulls the info out and hands it to the nice officer. He begins asking us how we are. We say fine and ask him how he is. (This is all taking place in Spanish). He tells us he is working. Cindy responds she is so sorry he has to work on a Sunday. The entire conversation he has been holding our information and not once has he looked at it. He tells us he has no gas for his truck. It’s obvious we are going to have to pay something to get back on the road. We just have no idea what’s the going rate for a police truck needing gas problem. Brad gives him 100 limpiras (about $5) hoping we are in the ballpark. He responds “Dos”. We guess meaning 200 limpiras would be the appropriate amount for a police truck needing gas problem. Brad hands him another 100 limpiras. He gives us our information back. Smiles and says “Buenos Dias” (have a good day).
Some of you may consider this paying a bribe and are thinking “I would never do that.” You could take that approach. Here’s how it would proceed from you saying “I’m not going to give you any money.” The officer would make sure all of our paperwork and license were correct. He would then proceed to check that every headlight, taillight, turn signal, etc. were working correctly. This would continue until he found some reason to give us a ticket. Then we would have to spend at least half a day, if not an entire day, waiting around the traffic court area to pay our ticket which would be most likely around 1000 limpiras ($50). And, the next time this same policeman makes you pullover he just may remember you.
So, we don’t look at as a bribe. We look at as part of doing business in Honduras. The other day they had an ice truck pulled over and the truck had to give up a bag of ice before they would let it pass. We are thinking about putting a cooler full of cokes in the back of our truck to offer the police the next time they pull us over. It might be a way to meet new people and eventually be able to share the gospel. It could have been worse. The day before when the MVP team was coming from the airport our teammate had to pay $500 limpiras ($25) to get the bus through. We got off cheap.
We are wondering, is the $10 we paid tax deductible as a business expense? Probably not since he didn’t give us a Factura (receipt).
Some of you may consider this paying a bribe and are thinking “I would never do that.” You could take that approach. Here’s how it would proceed from you saying “I’m not going to give you any money.” The officer would make sure all of our paperwork and license were correct. He would then proceed to check that every headlight, taillight, turn signal, etc. were working correctly. This would continue until he found some reason to give us a ticket. Then we would have to spend at least half a day, if not an entire day, waiting around the traffic court area to pay our ticket which would be most likely around 1000 limpiras ($50). And, the next time this same policeman makes you pullover he just may remember you.
So, we don’t look at as a bribe. We look at as part of doing business in Honduras. The other day they had an ice truck pulled over and the truck had to give up a bag of ice before they would let it pass. We are thinking about putting a cooler full of cokes in the back of our truck to offer the police the next time they pull us over. It might be a way to meet new people and eventually be able to share the gospel. It could have been worse. The day before when the MVP team was coming from the airport our teammate had to pay $500 limpiras ($25) to get the bus through. We got off cheap.
We are wondering, is the $10 we paid tax deductible as a business expense? Probably not since he didn’t give us a Factura (receipt).
Saturday, January 19, 2008
January 19, 2008
Another trip to the store today. Is this getting repetitive or what? We’re really not buying that much. It just takes several trips at this point in our lives here to get everything we need. We went to El Progresso today. Brad only ran two stoplights. They can be very confusing. They put them very close together and you’re either not sure which light is for and which is for another direction, or you’re concentrating so hard on the traffic around you that you relax after you see a light and don’t look for another one. Although the Hondurans don’t seem to have any issues with the lights. Fortunately no wrecks and no police around. It’s a 977 limpira (about $60) fine for driving and talking on your cellphone, eating, or drinking anything – not just alcoholic beverages. Of course you can be driving a car at night with no taillights and that’s not a problem.
We have MVP (short-term mission) team coming in today and part of our mission while out was to buy taco seasoning mix and sour cream. The store doesn’t carry either one. Guess here they make real taco seasoning from scratch and not the artificial stuff.
We are finding the nights, especially around supper time, can be the toughest time. It’s the time where concern about our kids and granddaughter are the strongest. We are learning the true power of prayer. We have begin spending time together with the Lord reminding ourselves of who He is, who this God we serve really is, the qualities and characteristics of this God we serve. We also spend a significant amount of time asking God to help us align our will and our desires with His. Asking for His help that we might see the world as He sees the world. That we might see our brief life here on this earth as He sees it. That we might view our life and our concerns/worries through the eyes of eternity and not through our eyes of the here and now. We can honestly say by the time we are through the knot in the stomach is greatly diminished, if not completely gone. But there is always tomorrow when we will pick our worries and concerns back up from the Lord’s feet and try to handle them ourselves.
Another part of our concerns/worries is just how to make happen what we feel God has sent us here to do. Just trying to do some of the routine stuff is tiring and time consuming. What is it going to be like when we really start trying to go into enemy territory? The whole process to get here has been a learning experience and God is most likely bringing us along with these, what seem like menial, tasks to prepare us for the bigger obstacles we will encounter in the future. To be honest, some days, it is just plain frightening and we wonder “Are we really qualified to do this?”
We remind ourselves all these feelings must drive us back to prayer, trusting God, being patient to move at His timing and leading, and not look at ourselves. Great teaching – WHEN YOU’RE TELLING SOMEBODY ELSE THIS STUFF. Not so simple when you’re in the middle of it and trying to apply it to your own lives.
We have said from the beginning this is a TEAM effort and we understand this much more being here than we did in the States. (we thought we understood it in the states). Your prayers, and your prayers, and your prayers, and your prayers are so greatly appreciated and much needed. Thanks for being so faithful. We know you are from the many emails we have received.
We discussed and debated whether we should write about these difficulties so early in our adventure here. We expected these to happen eventually but not almost from day one. All we had read and studied about missionaries in foreign fields led us to believe we could expect these to happen in several months. With them happening so soon thoughts creep into our minds “Are we failures already? Can we really do this? Are we strong enough? Etc”. We decided we had promised our Team that we would be honest – so honesty is honesty. We promised to share the highs and lows. How can a true Team function if secrets are kept? Knowing the type of people of which this Team is composed gives us confidence to openly share our struggles and in so doing hopefully making this Team closer, stronger, and more effective for our Great God and Savior.
To end on a little humor: (from Cindy)
SURE THEY LOOK CUTE ON THE COMMERCIAL………
Don’t buy into those cute little geckos on the commercials.
We have had our own little gecko critter living here since we moved in.
He lives in the cabinet above the stove in this little wooden dish that Anita left here.
When we cleaned out the kitchen cabinets I got rid of the wood dish thinking….well, you know what I was thinking!
Tonight when we came home from group time there was a gecko turd strategically placed on my pillow!!!! I assume this means war. For some reason I am not so anxious to go to bed tonight. How did he know which pillow was mine?
I went to google to see how you get rid of geckos. The site assured me that I could not so don’t even try. It then showed me how I could purchase a gecko of my very own. It did get me thinking of how I could supplement our income down here…HMMM!
Tonight I’m just thinking of how I can get the wood thing back.
We have MVP (short-term mission) team coming in today and part of our mission while out was to buy taco seasoning mix and sour cream. The store doesn’t carry either one. Guess here they make real taco seasoning from scratch and not the artificial stuff.
We are finding the nights, especially around supper time, can be the toughest time. It’s the time where concern about our kids and granddaughter are the strongest. We are learning the true power of prayer. We have begin spending time together with the Lord reminding ourselves of who He is, who this God we serve really is, the qualities and characteristics of this God we serve. We also spend a significant amount of time asking God to help us align our will and our desires with His. Asking for His help that we might see the world as He sees the world. That we might see our brief life here on this earth as He sees it. That we might view our life and our concerns/worries through the eyes of eternity and not through our eyes of the here and now. We can honestly say by the time we are through the knot in the stomach is greatly diminished, if not completely gone. But there is always tomorrow when we will pick our worries and concerns back up from the Lord’s feet and try to handle them ourselves.
Another part of our concerns/worries is just how to make happen what we feel God has sent us here to do. Just trying to do some of the routine stuff is tiring and time consuming. What is it going to be like when we really start trying to go into enemy territory? The whole process to get here has been a learning experience and God is most likely bringing us along with these, what seem like menial, tasks to prepare us for the bigger obstacles we will encounter in the future. To be honest, some days, it is just plain frightening and we wonder “Are we really qualified to do this?”
We remind ourselves all these feelings must drive us back to prayer, trusting God, being patient to move at His timing and leading, and not look at ourselves. Great teaching – WHEN YOU’RE TELLING SOMEBODY ELSE THIS STUFF. Not so simple when you’re in the middle of it and trying to apply it to your own lives.
We have said from the beginning this is a TEAM effort and we understand this much more being here than we did in the States. (we thought we understood it in the states). Your prayers, and your prayers, and your prayers, and your prayers are so greatly appreciated and much needed. Thanks for being so faithful. We know you are from the many emails we have received.
We discussed and debated whether we should write about these difficulties so early in our adventure here. We expected these to happen eventually but not almost from day one. All we had read and studied about missionaries in foreign fields led us to believe we could expect these to happen in several months. With them happening so soon thoughts creep into our minds “Are we failures already? Can we really do this? Are we strong enough? Etc”. We decided we had promised our Team that we would be honest – so honesty is honesty. We promised to share the highs and lows. How can a true Team function if secrets are kept? Knowing the type of people of which this Team is composed gives us confidence to openly share our struggles and in so doing hopefully making this Team closer, stronger, and more effective for our Great God and Savior.
To end on a little humor: (from Cindy)
SURE THEY LOOK CUTE ON THE COMMERCIAL………
Don’t buy into those cute little geckos on the commercials.
We have had our own little gecko critter living here since we moved in.
He lives in the cabinet above the stove in this little wooden dish that Anita left here.
When we cleaned out the kitchen cabinets I got rid of the wood dish thinking….well, you know what I was thinking!
Tonight when we came home from group time there was a gecko turd strategically placed on my pillow!!!! I assume this means war. For some reason I am not so anxious to go to bed tonight. How did he know which pillow was mine?
I went to google to see how you get rid of geckos. The site assured me that I could not so don’t even try. It then showed me how I could purchase a gecko of my very own. It did get me thinking of how I could supplement our income down here…HMMM!
Tonight I’m just thinking of how I can get the wood thing back.
January 18, 2008
Today was another trip to the big city San Pedro Sula. Saul went with us so we thought this trip would be less stressful because he is familiar with city and would know his way around. He does know his way around but apparently Honduran’s understanding of directions and ours are very different. Most of the day we were completely turned around and had to make several u-turns because we missed the turn on the first go around. It was stressful.
Just getting our house set up so it doesn’t feel as Cindy says “like I’m living at camp all the time” is taking a lot more time than we expected. You can’t just go to one or two stores and get everything you need. Then when you do go to the store is suppose to have what you need they may have, they may not have, or they have only one of the items and you need several. Guess it just takes awhile to learn where to go for what. At the moment we are spending way too much time just running around and accomplishing little. All part of learning a new culture. What we can say is the people we meet are, for the most part, very nice and understanding. (Every culture will have some people that are having a bad day – but we haven’t run into too many)
An example of shopping frustrations. We go to Diunsas (suppose to be similar to a Walmart type store). We can’t find any cleaning supplies, Tupperware type disposable containers, or even a wallet for Brad. He didn’t carry a wallet in the States but here you have to deal with such large quantities of money he doesn’t like having to pull this big wad of money every time he needs to pay. He’d like it to be hidden in a wallet so everyone and their brother can’t see it. To give you an idea, a 500 limpira bill here is similar to a $20 in the States. We joked today that once you break a 500 limpira bill the rest of it just disappears. Similar to once you break a $20 in the States the rest disappears quickly.
Our toilet is continuing to run so we have to turn the water supply to the tank on and off to use it. Water is a precious commodity here. We go to a hardware store to get a new flushing mechanism for the toilet. It’s ACE Fermosa (ACE Hardware). They sell complete toilets but no flushing mechanisms. However, they do sell the disposable Tupperware type containers. Huh?
At the lumber yard you can buy mp3 players, cell phones, internet routers, wireless internet cards for computers, and computer printers but not the lumber we need. We have to go to another lumber yard for that. See how it’s a little confusing for us North Americans. Not saying our system is better than theirs. We just don’t know their system yet so we spend a lot of time back tracking, front tracking, and sideways tracking.
While in the city we had to go get some quotes for various projects we have coming up. We went to several stores – sometimes to be told they don’t carry what we needed anymore. At one store we did find the doors we needed, got the price for doors (the price was marked on the door), and we were ready to go. Saul says we need to get a quote. We’re thinking why do we need a quote the price was written on the door? We wait for probably 10 minutes for one of the salesmen to get free so he can help. (once again he is very nice). The salesman and Saul discuss everything in Spanish. The salesman prints something out, hands it to Saul, and Saul turns to us and says he is giving us about a 10% discount on our entire purchase. Now we know why you should wait for a quote.
We also went to a bilingual school to line up some translators for the February medical team but the principal wasn’t there. This means we must return on Monday and try again. This is just stuff we have to adjust to and not get frustrated.
Just getting our house set up so it doesn’t feel as Cindy says “like I’m living at camp all the time” is taking a lot more time than we expected. You can’t just go to one or two stores and get everything you need. Then when you do go to the store is suppose to have what you need they may have, they may not have, or they have only one of the items and you need several. Guess it just takes awhile to learn where to go for what. At the moment we are spending way too much time just running around and accomplishing little. All part of learning a new culture. What we can say is the people we meet are, for the most part, very nice and understanding. (Every culture will have some people that are having a bad day – but we haven’t run into too many)
An example of shopping frustrations. We go to Diunsas (suppose to be similar to a Walmart type store). We can’t find any cleaning supplies, Tupperware type disposable containers, or even a wallet for Brad. He didn’t carry a wallet in the States but here you have to deal with such large quantities of money he doesn’t like having to pull this big wad of money every time he needs to pay. He’d like it to be hidden in a wallet so everyone and their brother can’t see it. To give you an idea, a 500 limpira bill here is similar to a $20 in the States. We joked today that once you break a 500 limpira bill the rest of it just disappears. Similar to once you break a $20 in the States the rest disappears quickly.
Our toilet is continuing to run so we have to turn the water supply to the tank on and off to use it. Water is a precious commodity here. We go to a hardware store to get a new flushing mechanism for the toilet. It’s ACE Fermosa (ACE Hardware). They sell complete toilets but no flushing mechanisms. However, they do sell the disposable Tupperware type containers. Huh?
At the lumber yard you can buy mp3 players, cell phones, internet routers, wireless internet cards for computers, and computer printers but not the lumber we need. We have to go to another lumber yard for that. See how it’s a little confusing for us North Americans. Not saying our system is better than theirs. We just don’t know their system yet so we spend a lot of time back tracking, front tracking, and sideways tracking.
While in the city we had to go get some quotes for various projects we have coming up. We went to several stores – sometimes to be told they don’t carry what we needed anymore. At one store we did find the doors we needed, got the price for doors (the price was marked on the door), and we were ready to go. Saul says we need to get a quote. We’re thinking why do we need a quote the price was written on the door? We wait for probably 10 minutes for one of the salesmen to get free so he can help. (once again he is very nice). The salesman and Saul discuss everything in Spanish. The salesman prints something out, hands it to Saul, and Saul turns to us and says he is giving us about a 10% discount on our entire purchase. Now we know why you should wait for a quote.
We also went to a bilingual school to line up some translators for the February medical team but the principal wasn’t there. This means we must return on Monday and try again. This is just stuff we have to adjust to and not get frustrated.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
January 17, 2008
Today we went back to San Pedro Sula (not all the way into the heart of the city) to get some items for our house. Cindy is trying to make it be “our” home. A place where we can relax in our own environment. Probably a good idea. We went to a store to pick up basic household stuff – laundry basket to take clothes back and forth to the clotheslines, towels, a pillow, sheets for the bed, etc. The shopping carts they have in the store are very small (the pillow basically filled up one cart) so we wound up with three carts and two girls (who work on commission) very willing to help us. They were very nice and very helpful and very willing to work with our lack of Spanish. (We know we keep bring up our lack of Spanish but it’s an everyday challenge to get anything done trying to communicate when you can’t speak the language) We can’t wait to go to language school so we can talk with people and get to know them. We also purchased a couch which presented a problem because it would not fit in our truck. How do you ask someone if they can deliver to your house when about all you know how to say is “How are you” and “My name is”? With sign language, pointing, our every trusty English to Spanish dictionary and one of the young ladies knowing just a few more words in English than we know in Spanish we finally understood they could deliver to where we live. Yeppiee!
While Brad had been wondering through the store Cindy had somehow managed to ask the head salesperson if we could get a discount because we were buying so much (so much is relative here). They agreed to give us a ~10% discount on everything we bought. Great. So here we go to the cashier with Cindy pushing a cart and each of the two girls pushing a cart. We get to the cashier and the two girls begin to unload our carts for us and are explaining something to the cashier. They ring up everything in our carts and we pay with our debit card. No problem so far.
Because the couch will be delivered they must ring it up separately. They do and then Brad gives them the debit card along with his ID again. There seems to be a problem because now they call an older lady/manager (older simply meaning older than the three young girls that are helping us) over and all of them begin talking amongst themselves. All we know is there seems to be a problem with our debit card and there have now been two transactions on our card for this one purchase. Now this could be a problem. She shows us both credit card receipts and begins explaining to us what happened. The only problem is she speaking Spanish – we are confused. Our best guess is that our bank denied the second charge because we were over our daily limit (not sure what our limit is) or because it’s back to back charges from a different country. Now what?
As we are discussing how we might be able to come up with the money the manager hands us a credit card receipt to sign and everything is ok. We are still not sure exactly what happened. The hurdles are not over yet. We have to give them directions to our house which is located on the grounds of an orphanage which is on a dirt/gravel road with no name. The landmark to turn is “turn across the street from the chicken farm billboard.” Our teammates the Smiths (thank goodness for them) have given us one of their cards with directions printed on the back. This appears to be working until they start asking questions. We are lost again. Cindy takes a piece of paper and draws a map which solves the problem for now. It literally took us thirty minutes to checkout. Once again by the time we were done it’s like we had made two new friends with the young ladies that were helping us. They were so nice.
After this we went shopping to see if we can buy here some of the supplies they need for the medical team coming in February. Brad and Saul also spent time working on arranging translators for the medical team. Scott Strouse is leading the medical team in February and after all this work we were doing for him today he sends us a nasty email about our blog not being updated so how can he be sure we are really working. Amazing.
On the serious side, Brad is spending more time with Saul. They are getting to know each other. What makes each other tick. Where each one’s heart is. They are developing a relationship that will hopefully grow stronger and stronger.
Cindy’s medical practice is growing and she is making daily trips to visit the kids she has seen for various things. Gracie (her first patient) now runs to Cindy when she sees her. Cindy always tells the kids “See ya, Bye” when she leaves (that is what our granddaughter says). Today when Cindy was getting ready to leave Gracie said “See ya.” It was nice.
While Brad had been wondering through the store Cindy had somehow managed to ask the head salesperson if we could get a discount because we were buying so much (so much is relative here). They agreed to give us a ~10% discount on everything we bought. Great. So here we go to the cashier with Cindy pushing a cart and each of the two girls pushing a cart. We get to the cashier and the two girls begin to unload our carts for us and are explaining something to the cashier. They ring up everything in our carts and we pay with our debit card. No problem so far.
Because the couch will be delivered they must ring it up separately. They do and then Brad gives them the debit card along with his ID again. There seems to be a problem because now they call an older lady/manager (older simply meaning older than the three young girls that are helping us) over and all of them begin talking amongst themselves. All we know is there seems to be a problem with our debit card and there have now been two transactions on our card for this one purchase. Now this could be a problem. She shows us both credit card receipts and begins explaining to us what happened. The only problem is she speaking Spanish – we are confused. Our best guess is that our bank denied the second charge because we were over our daily limit (not sure what our limit is) or because it’s back to back charges from a different country. Now what?
As we are discussing how we might be able to come up with the money the manager hands us a credit card receipt to sign and everything is ok. We are still not sure exactly what happened. The hurdles are not over yet. We have to give them directions to our house which is located on the grounds of an orphanage which is on a dirt/gravel road with no name. The landmark to turn is “turn across the street from the chicken farm billboard.” Our teammates the Smiths (thank goodness for them) have given us one of their cards with directions printed on the back. This appears to be working until they start asking questions. We are lost again. Cindy takes a piece of paper and draws a map which solves the problem for now. It literally took us thirty minutes to checkout. Once again by the time we were done it’s like we had made two new friends with the young ladies that were helping us. They were so nice.
After this we went shopping to see if we can buy here some of the supplies they need for the medical team coming in February. Brad and Saul also spent time working on arranging translators for the medical team. Scott Strouse is leading the medical team in February and after all this work we were doing for him today he sends us a nasty email about our blog not being updated so how can he be sure we are really working. Amazing.
On the serious side, Brad is spending more time with Saul. They are getting to know each other. What makes each other tick. Where each one’s heart is. They are developing a relationship that will hopefully grow stronger and stronger.
Cindy’s medical practice is growing and she is making daily trips to visit the kids she has seen for various things. Gracie (her first patient) now runs to Cindy when she sees her. Cindy always tells the kids “See ya, Bye” when she leaves (that is what our granddaughter says). Today when Cindy was getting ready to leave Gracie said “See ya.” It was nice.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
January 15, 2008
Another first today. At this point many things we do are firsts. We made our first trip into San Pedro Sula driving on our own. We had several things we needed to do and nobody else was going so we decided this was the day to try it. It went well. We had no wrecks and made it back home. It was a success.
While in San Pedro Sula we needed to pick up a part for the one of the trucks from the Isuzu dealer. We saw what we thought was the Isuzu dealer. Big building with a glass front with many new cars sitting on the lot and in big red letters on the building ISUZU. It was located on one of the main streets – just like a car dealership would be expected to locate. The only problem was when we tried to enter the lot it was protected by a locked gate. The guard at the gate pointed as if we should go around to the other side of the building. We did and found another locked gate with no guard. Apparently we were not to go to this dealership (if it was a dealership).
Earlier we had passed a store that looked like a parts place and had Mazda, Datsun, Isuzu, Toyota, etc. on it’s store front. We made our way back to it. Walked in. Held up the broken part we needed replaced. And immediately got the response, is Spanish, but it was very clear they don’t have it. Using our best broken Spanish we asked if they knew where we might get it. A gentlemen sitting at one of the desks jumped up and said “I speak a little English.” Great we thought. Now we’re getting somewhere. He English was decent (much better than our Spanish). He begin giving us directions. He asked if we new where the ???? Center was. Brad thought he meant the Centro (or center of town). Brad knew how to get there and immediately responded “Yes.” As the directions continued and he begin to draw map Cindy realized he wasn’t saying the Centro but Email Center. We had no idea where that was.
Brad remembers we have a map in the truck and goes out to get the map. He brings it back in and the gentleman shows us on the map where we need to go. Based on what he showed us it looks like it’s on one of the major streets and we know how to get to the street. This doesn’t look too hard. We get in our truck and just close the doors when the gentleman comes out with another employee and tells us they have an idea. This other employee will ride with us and show us how to get to the parts store. The only problem is he will need money to take a taxi back to work. We ask how much is the taxi fare. It’s 50 Limpiras (about $2.50). We jumped on that and said “Get in.” He (Santiago) spoke no English but we had a good time getting to know each other with our limited Spanish.
Before the left for the city Faith Home’s lawyer (a Honduran gentlemen) showed us on the map the area of the city we should avoid. Guess where we had to go to get the part. Yep, that part of the city. We parked. Santiago went in with us, handled the entire transaction, made sure the part they gave of was the correct part, we paid, and we left. We thank Santiago for his help and gave him 60 Limpiras. He told us he was happy he could help us. This whole adventure was just like running down to the local Autozone and picking up a part. Cindy thinks the next time we are back that way we should stop in at the store that helped and give them so cookies.
While in San Pedro Sula we needed to pick up a part for the one of the trucks from the Isuzu dealer. We saw what we thought was the Isuzu dealer. Big building with a glass front with many new cars sitting on the lot and in big red letters on the building ISUZU. It was located on one of the main streets – just like a car dealership would be expected to locate. The only problem was when we tried to enter the lot it was protected by a locked gate. The guard at the gate pointed as if we should go around to the other side of the building. We did and found another locked gate with no guard. Apparently we were not to go to this dealership (if it was a dealership).
Earlier we had passed a store that looked like a parts place and had Mazda, Datsun, Isuzu, Toyota, etc. on it’s store front. We made our way back to it. Walked in. Held up the broken part we needed replaced. And immediately got the response, is Spanish, but it was very clear they don’t have it. Using our best broken Spanish we asked if they knew where we might get it. A gentlemen sitting at one of the desks jumped up and said “I speak a little English.” Great we thought. Now we’re getting somewhere. He English was decent (much better than our Spanish). He begin giving us directions. He asked if we new where the ???? Center was. Brad thought he meant the Centro (or center of town). Brad knew how to get there and immediately responded “Yes.” As the directions continued and he begin to draw map Cindy realized he wasn’t saying the Centro but Email Center. We had no idea where that was.
Brad remembers we have a map in the truck and goes out to get the map. He brings it back in and the gentleman shows us on the map where we need to go. Based on what he showed us it looks like it’s on one of the major streets and we know how to get to the street. This doesn’t look too hard. We get in our truck and just close the doors when the gentleman comes out with another employee and tells us they have an idea. This other employee will ride with us and show us how to get to the parts store. The only problem is he will need money to take a taxi back to work. We ask how much is the taxi fare. It’s 50 Limpiras (about $2.50). We jumped on that and said “Get in.” He (Santiago) spoke no English but we had a good time getting to know each other with our limited Spanish.
Before the left for the city Faith Home’s lawyer (a Honduran gentlemen) showed us on the map the area of the city we should avoid. Guess where we had to go to get the part. Yep, that part of the city. We parked. Santiago went in with us, handled the entire transaction, made sure the part they gave of was the correct part, we paid, and we left. We thank Santiago for his help and gave him 60 Limpiras. He told us he was happy he could help us. This whole adventure was just like running down to the local Autozone and picking up a part. Cindy thinks the next time we are back that way we should stop in at the store that helped and give them so cookies.
January 14, 2008
We spent quite a bit of time in the city today and didn’t have time to get the second coat of wax down until about 8:00 pm. So the plan now is to move in tomorrow. Cindy went to check on her first patient, little Gracie, and when Gracie saw Cindy she ran to her and jumped in her arms. Cindy thought that felt pretty good.
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
January 13, 2008
Cindy had her second patient last night. One of the kids was running, didn’t see a clothesline, and ran into it face high. So we had a three hour trip to the emergency room. So far Cindy has had two patients. The first did come back for her follow up visit today and the second one ended up at the hospital. She’s not doing too well so far.
Now here’s the real story behind the hospital visit. We had just set down to eat supper about 7:00 pm and Cindy was saying what she really needed to do was be able to watch TV for awhile (we don’t have a TV here – this is NOT a plea for a TV but it is relevant to the story). The phone rings asking her to come see the young man who ran into the clothesline. Eventually we end up at the hospital. It took five American adults to get one kid seen at the Honduran hospital. They weren’t too pleased with crowd in the emergency so they asked all of us but one to leave. We wisely chose the best Spanish speaking adult to remain with the child and the rest of us headed to the waiting room. Guess what they have in the waiting room. A TV. At this point Cindy confesses to the rest of us that the reason we all had to make this journey to the hospital is so she can get her wish of watching a little TV. Sid Smith (one of our teammates) suggested we could have solved her problem with much less hassle.
For those of you like us that did not grow up in the country I have to dispel a common myth among us city folk. We live beside several roosters. A rooster’s crowing and the sun coming up have absolutely nothing in common. Roosters crow when they want to crow and they seem to especially like crowing throughout the night hours. Sorry to burst your bubble on that one.
We went to church today. We went to an English speaking church held at a hotel in San Pedro Sula. Several missionaries attend the church and our teammates tell us they can be a great resource when we have questions.
For all our motorcycle loving buddies, on the way home from church we passed the Harley Davidson shop in San Pedro Sula. We’re sure we weren’t as excited as some of you think we should have been. We apologize.
We stopped at a store and Brad went to use the ATM to try and get some money. (we found out it takes at least a week to get approved to cash checks at the bank after we get them our paperwork and we are done to about $70 or L1400 limpiras). Brad puts the debit card in the machine. It displays his name on the screen. Good so far, it’s at least reading our card. Ah Oh! Problem. He was hoping there would be the option to select English or Spanish. Not so. It goes immediately into asking questions in Spanish. Ok, not too bad. He can understand enough words to tell it he wants to withdraw money. But, then it comes to a screen with three options – there are now no words on the screen that he recognizes. (Why when it comes to money do we get so up tight?) He was getting up tight. Don’t want to mess this up and have our bank account emptied. Brad begins to yell to Cindy who is standing a short distance away to get her dictionary out of her bag because he needs help, and quick. While Brad is continuing to hit the “Si, necesito mas tiempo” button (yes, I need more time) Cindy is quickly paging through her dictionary trying to figure out what the screen is asking. Eventually we get if figured out. We get our money. And then the last question is “Do you want your receipt in English or Spanish.” Great! We could have figured out the receipt if it were in Spanish what we needed were the previous questions in English. Seems like we’re learning even when we think it should be a simple activity and we should be able to get through it with our limited Spanish it just doesn’t seem to work out the way we expected.
House odor update. After leaving the baking soda on the floor all night we spayed it early this afternoon with a mixture of peroxide and Palmolive soap. We let that set for a few hours and then swept up the baking soda. Then we put down a coat of wax. We will leave the wax overnight and then put another coat on tomorrow. If all goes well we should be able to move back in tomorrow night.
Now here’s the real story behind the hospital visit. We had just set down to eat supper about 7:00 pm and Cindy was saying what she really needed to do was be able to watch TV for awhile (we don’t have a TV here – this is NOT a plea for a TV but it is relevant to the story). The phone rings asking her to come see the young man who ran into the clothesline. Eventually we end up at the hospital. It took five American adults to get one kid seen at the Honduran hospital. They weren’t too pleased with crowd in the emergency so they asked all of us but one to leave. We wisely chose the best Spanish speaking adult to remain with the child and the rest of us headed to the waiting room. Guess what they have in the waiting room. A TV. At this point Cindy confesses to the rest of us that the reason we all had to make this journey to the hospital is so she can get her wish of watching a little TV. Sid Smith (one of our teammates) suggested we could have solved her problem with much less hassle.
For those of you like us that did not grow up in the country I have to dispel a common myth among us city folk. We live beside several roosters. A rooster’s crowing and the sun coming up have absolutely nothing in common. Roosters crow when they want to crow and they seem to especially like crowing throughout the night hours. Sorry to burst your bubble on that one.
We went to church today. We went to an English speaking church held at a hotel in San Pedro Sula. Several missionaries attend the church and our teammates tell us they can be a great resource when we have questions.
For all our motorcycle loving buddies, on the way home from church we passed the Harley Davidson shop in San Pedro Sula. We’re sure we weren’t as excited as some of you think we should have been. We apologize.
We stopped at a store and Brad went to use the ATM to try and get some money. (we found out it takes at least a week to get approved to cash checks at the bank after we get them our paperwork and we are done to about $70 or L1400 limpiras). Brad puts the debit card in the machine. It displays his name on the screen. Good so far, it’s at least reading our card. Ah Oh! Problem. He was hoping there would be the option to select English or Spanish. Not so. It goes immediately into asking questions in Spanish. Ok, not too bad. He can understand enough words to tell it he wants to withdraw money. But, then it comes to a screen with three options – there are now no words on the screen that he recognizes. (Why when it comes to money do we get so up tight?) He was getting up tight. Don’t want to mess this up and have our bank account emptied. Brad begins to yell to Cindy who is standing a short distance away to get her dictionary out of her bag because he needs help, and quick. While Brad is continuing to hit the “Si, necesito mas tiempo” button (yes, I need more time) Cindy is quickly paging through her dictionary trying to figure out what the screen is asking. Eventually we get if figured out. We get our money. And then the last question is “Do you want your receipt in English or Spanish.” Great! We could have figured out the receipt if it were in Spanish what we needed were the previous questions in English. Seems like we’re learning even when we think it should be a simple activity and we should be able to get through it with our limited Spanish it just doesn’t seem to work out the way we expected.
House odor update. After leaving the baking soda on the floor all night we spayed it early this afternoon with a mixture of peroxide and Palmolive soap. We let that set for a few hours and then swept up the baking soda. Then we put down a coat of wax. We will leave the wax overnight and then put another coat on tomorrow. If all goes well we should be able to move back in tomorrow night.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
January 12, 2007
Big day today. Several new adventures:
1.Cindy talked with her mom and found out the paperwork for our resident visas arrived at her house on Thursday. We haven’t sent he paperwork yet but we are amazed something even showed up. Yes, I admit it (Brad), my faith that we would ever see anything from our trip to Chicago was very weak. I’m still learning.
2.We went for our first solo drive today. We drove to El Progresso (haven’t tackled the big city San Pedro Sula yet) without incident. Ok, for those that have never been to a developing country driving here can be like the pictures you see of China, Vietnam, Africa, or any Latin American country. Vehicles, pedestrians, dogs, cows, horses, and anything else that is in the area are everywhere. They pass on both sides and the person passing seems to have the right of way. If you are making a left turn you must yield to anyone who wants to pass you before you turn. While doing all this you have to find the road signs so you know where you’re going. They seem to hide the signs just to make it more interesting. They also pass on curves which is always interesting.
3.We went to a new mall so we could go to the hardware store and the grocery to stock up on our weapons to battle the odor problem. While we were there we decided to eat lunch. We chose Popeye’s chicken because we had some idea of the what the pictures on the menu represented. We spent about five minutes discussing between us what we wanted and how to order in Spanish so we could get this done without too much hassle. We went to the counter, ordered our combo meals, our drinks, and chose our side item. Everything was going smoothly and we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. Then the young lady taking our order begin to ask us questions that didn’t follow the script we had rehearsed. It quickly went down hill fast. Cindy did pretty well at figuring out what she was asking. Brad on the other hand got completely confused. After having the young lady repeat herself several times he final figured out she was giving him several options but what they were he had no idea. So he used one of the few Spanish words he knows “primero” (which means first) and simply asked her for the first one she listed having no idea what he was going to get. The meal turned out ok. We didn’t get anything that was a real surprise.
4.Tonight we moved all of our stuff to another house and have begun the treating of the floor. First mop it with a bleach/water mixture. Follow it with a vinegar/water mixture. Then cover the floor with baking soda and leave it overnight. Next a peroxide/Palmolive mixture. Concluding with a new coat of wax. Brad is somewhat enjoying the challenge and Cindy just wants it to be done and fixed.
5.Cindy’s first patient didn’t return today. Not sure what to make of that. We’ll it to you.
6.Our granddaughter sent us her first email which I have included (she’s 21 months or meses (in Spanish). Our daughter her it would have been longer but she had to go to timeout for hitting. Here’s the email: vgggfthjiuytgfgfkghhjhgvgfgfh vvnbc (probably only grandparents will appreciate this)
7.We will be tackling a trip to the big city early this week because we are about out of Limpera (Honduran money) and we have to go to the bank to finish getting approved to write a check and exchange money. Definitely motivation to battle the traffic.
1.Cindy talked with her mom and found out the paperwork for our resident visas arrived at her house on Thursday. We haven’t sent he paperwork yet but we are amazed something even showed up. Yes, I admit it (Brad), my faith that we would ever see anything from our trip to Chicago was very weak. I’m still learning.
2.We went for our first solo drive today. We drove to El Progresso (haven’t tackled the big city San Pedro Sula yet) without incident. Ok, for those that have never been to a developing country driving here can be like the pictures you see of China, Vietnam, Africa, or any Latin American country. Vehicles, pedestrians, dogs, cows, horses, and anything else that is in the area are everywhere. They pass on both sides and the person passing seems to have the right of way. If you are making a left turn you must yield to anyone who wants to pass you before you turn. While doing all this you have to find the road signs so you know where you’re going. They seem to hide the signs just to make it more interesting. They also pass on curves which is always interesting.
3.We went to a new mall so we could go to the hardware store and the grocery to stock up on our weapons to battle the odor problem. While we were there we decided to eat lunch. We chose Popeye’s chicken because we had some idea of the what the pictures on the menu represented. We spent about five minutes discussing between us what we wanted and how to order in Spanish so we could get this done without too much hassle. We went to the counter, ordered our combo meals, our drinks, and chose our side item. Everything was going smoothly and we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. Then the young lady taking our order begin to ask us questions that didn’t follow the script we had rehearsed. It quickly went down hill fast. Cindy did pretty well at figuring out what she was asking. Brad on the other hand got completely confused. After having the young lady repeat herself several times he final figured out she was giving him several options but what they were he had no idea. So he used one of the few Spanish words he knows “primero” (which means first) and simply asked her for the first one she listed having no idea what he was going to get. The meal turned out ok. We didn’t get anything that was a real surprise.
4.Tonight we moved all of our stuff to another house and have begun the treating of the floor. First mop it with a bleach/water mixture. Follow it with a vinegar/water mixture. Then cover the floor with baking soda and leave it overnight. Next a peroxide/Palmolive mixture. Concluding with a new coat of wax. Brad is somewhat enjoying the challenge and Cindy just wants it to be done and fixed.
5.Cindy’s first patient didn’t return today. Not sure what to make of that. We’ll it to you.
6.Our granddaughter sent us her first email which I have included (she’s 21 months or meses (in Spanish). Our daughter her it would have been longer but she had to go to timeout for hitting. Here’s the email: vgggfthjiuytgfgfkghhjhgvgfgfh vvnbc (probably only grandparents will appreciate this)
7.We will be tackling a trip to the big city early this week because we are about out of Limpera (Honduran money) and we have to go to the bank to finish getting approved to write a check and exchange money. Definitely motivation to battle the traffic.
Friday, January 11, 2008
January 11, 2008
This morning Brad had to go to some more meetings for about an hour. We move to another country and we still have to go to meetings. Saul (the Honduran man in charge of the Bible institute)l came to the house this morning and he and Brad got to spend some time just talking. He has taken English classes for several months and his English is pretty good. Brad tries to throw in some spanish every now and then in the conversation just to see if he is even close. It's probably less than a 50% success rate at this point.
Cindy got to see her first patient today. One of the little girls here named Gracie. She got a warning that they were bring her down and some of the symptons she was having. While Cindy was waiting for Gracie to get here she was in the house looking through Cindy's medical books for a possible diagnosis. She handled the situation and has asked her first patient to come back and see her tomorrow.
Brad has been put in charge of setting up the new computer lab for the school at Faith Home. Brad is not the best or most patient person with computers. This should be interesting.
In the afternoon Brad met with Saul and the head of Genreral Baptist International missions to talk about the Bible Institute, the existiing churches, and the immediate game plan for starting new churches.
We have a plan to attack the odor situation. We are going to move to another house for a few days and try a few of the things Cindy found on the internet along with suggestions from our neighbors (the Smiths) to attack this problem. it's all out war now.
Cindy got to see her first patient today. One of the little girls here named Gracie. She got a warning that they were bring her down and some of the symptons she was having. While Cindy was waiting for Gracie to get here she was in the house looking through Cindy's medical books for a possible diagnosis. She handled the situation and has asked her first patient to come back and see her tomorrow.
Brad has been put in charge of setting up the new computer lab for the school at Faith Home. Brad is not the best or most patient person with computers. This should be interesting.
In the afternoon Brad met with Saul and the head of Genreral Baptist International missions to talk about the Bible Institute, the existiing churches, and the immediate game plan for starting new churches.
We have a plan to attack the odor situation. We are going to move to another house for a few days and try a few of the things Cindy found on the internet along with suggestions from our neighbors (the Smiths) to attack this problem. it's all out war now.
Thursday, January 10, 2008
January 10, 2008
Today is Field Council meeting day. Which means all the missionaries, the director of missions for the General Baptists, and the assistant director spend all day talking about where we are, what we want to do for the upcoming year, and problems that need addressing. This is just what Cindy loves – all day meetings. It was long but it wasn’t too bad. There was a lot of laughing and joking inter-mixed with some very serious discussions.
We all then went out for supper in San Pedro Sula. On our way to the restaurant in a little town called El Porvenir we saw a large crowd gathered on the side of the street and traffic was down to one lane. As we got closer we noticed the police were there and they had yellow tape blocking a portion of the street. When got around the police car we saw what all the commotion was about. A man had been killed in the street and the police had roped off the body and covered it with tree branches. Although you could still see the man’s legs and feet sticking out. In Honduras if someone dies and you touch the body then you are responsible to pay for the funeral costs. This apparently holds true even for the police. When someone dies the police come, rope off the body, cover it with tree branches and try to locate a next of kin to come remove the body. Our teammate told us we will see this fairly regularly. That’s definitely different from the culture where we grew up.
Tonight when we got back Cindy got online and was reading her emails. She read Martha’s email and it made her cry and Andi’s email and it made her laugh. She read Andi’s email only to find out she is currently interviewing applicants to replace me as her BFF. She emailed her that they must sign a non-compete clause for when she’s back in the states. Then she read Gretchen’s email so she can stay in touch with her hospital world.
We all then went out for supper in San Pedro Sula. On our way to the restaurant in a little town called El Porvenir we saw a large crowd gathered on the side of the street and traffic was down to one lane. As we got closer we noticed the police were there and they had yellow tape blocking a portion of the street. When got around the police car we saw what all the commotion was about. A man had been killed in the street and the police had roped off the body and covered it with tree branches. Although you could still see the man’s legs and feet sticking out. In Honduras if someone dies and you touch the body then you are responsible to pay for the funeral costs. This apparently holds true even for the police. When someone dies the police come, rope off the body, cover it with tree branches and try to locate a next of kin to come remove the body. Our teammate told us we will see this fairly regularly. That’s definitely different from the culture where we grew up.
Tonight when we got back Cindy got online and was reading her emails. She read Martha’s email and it made her cry and Andi’s email and it made her laugh. She read Andi’s email only to find out she is currently interviewing applicants to replace me as her BFF. She emailed her that they must sign a non-compete clause for when she’s back in the states. Then she read Gretchen’s email so she can stay in touch with her hospital world.
January 9, 2008
Today we slept in somewhat until around 8:00. We didn’t realize how tired we were from the past few weeks of working so hard to get ready. Our new neighbors, Sid and Vicki Smith, had given us some orange juice, bananas, granola bars, and homemade banana nut bread to eat for breakfast.
We then tried to take showers. Cindy went first and the water from the shower head spayed all over the walls as it had many leaks around the head. To make it even better after about one minute all her hot water was gone. Brad went next and had a nice hot shower. Go figure.
We then left with Sid and Vicki and go run some errands. Sid offered to let Brad drive but he declined. Still trying to get his feet under him. First we tried to go to the lumber store and order some lumber for an upcoming MVP (short-term mission) team but the lumber yard was closed for lunch. Lunch is a protected event here. We decided to go eat some lunch ourselves and then stop by the lumber yard on the way back home.
After lunch the next stop was the bank so we could sign up to write checks and exchange our U.S dollars for Honduran limpiras. Entering a bank here is different. There is a guard at the door that checks you with a wand before you are aloud to enter the door. After entering the door you remove everything from your pockets and walk through a metal detector. Then you must give the guard a photo id and they give you a visitor badge which has the floor number you are going to. This is the only floor you are allowed on while in the building. We couldn’t get the paperwork completely filled out because between the four of us we couldn’t read enough Spanish to understand all they were asking. We decided to take the applications back to Hogar de Fe (Faith Home) and get help.
The next stop was the mall so we could buy some cell phones to use in Honduras. We bought the phones but found out later that night that they didn’t work. So far we are zero for three in doing what we set out to do. We understand this can be very normal here.
Next stop the grocery so we can get some food for our home. This went pretty well except we learned that buying food here can be more expensive than the states if you don’t pay attention to what you are buying.
On the way back home we stopped by the lumber yard, ordered the lumber, and most importantly they will be able to deliver it before the team arrives. Overall, we were 50% - we got two of four things accomplished.
When we got back to Faith Home Brad had a meeting with the pastors from the northern part of Honduras. Once again, meeting with these pastors is very humbling, encouraging, and challenging.
Next on the agenda was the baptism of 14 children from Faith Home. It was done at the Faith Home baptismal which is a small cinder block structure located outside. Brad had the privilege of being able to baptize four of the children. Most of the Faith Home kids and house parents along with all the missionaries were there. Two of the house parents were playing guitars during the baptisms and the rest of use were clapping and singing. It was a lot of fun and a great way to begin our stay in Honduras.
To end the evening all of our team went to the Smith’s house for supper and a time of laughing and joking.
We have really been wrestling with strong smell of cat urine in our house and whether we should stay in it or try and move to one of the other houses. Before we went to bed Cindy read our friend of ours, Ashly Guth’s, email about her mission trip to Haiti. She talked about a little boy she was with in Haiti that was dying of AIDs and all the pain he was in. Cindy decided maybe our cat urine problem is not so big after all. Yea, we still need to decide what we’re going to do but it’s really not a life altering decision.
We then tried to take showers. Cindy went first and the water from the shower head spayed all over the walls as it had many leaks around the head. To make it even better after about one minute all her hot water was gone. Brad went next and had a nice hot shower. Go figure.
We then left with Sid and Vicki and go run some errands. Sid offered to let Brad drive but he declined. Still trying to get his feet under him. First we tried to go to the lumber store and order some lumber for an upcoming MVP (short-term mission) team but the lumber yard was closed for lunch. Lunch is a protected event here. We decided to go eat some lunch ourselves and then stop by the lumber yard on the way back home.
After lunch the next stop was the bank so we could sign up to write checks and exchange our U.S dollars for Honduran limpiras. Entering a bank here is different. There is a guard at the door that checks you with a wand before you are aloud to enter the door. After entering the door you remove everything from your pockets and walk through a metal detector. Then you must give the guard a photo id and they give you a visitor badge which has the floor number you are going to. This is the only floor you are allowed on while in the building. We couldn’t get the paperwork completely filled out because between the four of us we couldn’t read enough Spanish to understand all they were asking. We decided to take the applications back to Hogar de Fe (Faith Home) and get help.
The next stop was the mall so we could buy some cell phones to use in Honduras. We bought the phones but found out later that night that they didn’t work. So far we are zero for three in doing what we set out to do. We understand this can be very normal here.
Next stop the grocery so we can get some food for our home. This went pretty well except we learned that buying food here can be more expensive than the states if you don’t pay attention to what you are buying.
On the way back home we stopped by the lumber yard, ordered the lumber, and most importantly they will be able to deliver it before the team arrives. Overall, we were 50% - we got two of four things accomplished.
When we got back to Faith Home Brad had a meeting with the pastors from the northern part of Honduras. Once again, meeting with these pastors is very humbling, encouraging, and challenging.
Next on the agenda was the baptism of 14 children from Faith Home. It was done at the Faith Home baptismal which is a small cinder block structure located outside. Brad had the privilege of being able to baptize four of the children. Most of the Faith Home kids and house parents along with all the missionaries were there. Two of the house parents were playing guitars during the baptisms and the rest of use were clapping and singing. It was a lot of fun and a great way to begin our stay in Honduras.
To end the evening all of our team went to the Smith’s house for supper and a time of laughing and joking.
We have really been wrestling with strong smell of cat urine in our house and whether we should stay in it or try and move to one of the other houses. Before we went to bed Cindy read our friend of ours, Ashly Guth’s, email about her mission trip to Haiti. She talked about a little boy she was with in Haiti that was dying of AIDs and all the pain he was in. Cindy decided maybe our cat urine problem is not so big after all. Yea, we still need to decide what we’re going to do but it’s really not a life altering decision.
January 8, 2007
We drove back the capital, met with some more pastors and church leaders, and then went to visit some of the churches. These are not churches like we think of as churches. On our way to first church we stopped to visit one of the lady’s houses. She was so honored to have us come visit and we felt so honored to be invited.
To get to the first church we had to climb 75 steps up the side of a large hill. Wonder how many of us would climb 75 steps in the hot sun to go to church every week? These people do it every week and consider it a privilege to be able to attend this church. Who says we are here just to teach them. We can learn as much from them and they can from us.
We had to leave by 2:00 pm to get to our permanent home in Hogar de Fe (Faith in Home) near San Pedro Sula or we would be caught in severe fog as we passed the lake. So, at 2:10 we loaded up and headed out for the four hour drive to Hogar de Fe. An example of how crazy the driving is in Honduras. At one point during the trip (on a two lane highway – which about all they have) we were passing a car and a van decided they wanted to pass us. So here we are going down a two lane highway with three vehicles side-by-side and we’re in the middle. The van did clip our rearview mirror but that was it.
We arrived at Hogar de Fe about 7:00 pm and opened the door to our new living quarters only to be greeted with the strong odor of cat urine. Yes, cat urine. Wonderful. We unloaded all of our bags. They told us don’t be surprised if you wake up tomorrow and you find gecko poop on your pillow. We couldn’t get on the Internet and were afraid to use our cell phones because of the cost. Went to bed and Cindy just wanted to be home shopping at the mall. It just seemed so unreal that this was now our home.
To get to the first church we had to climb 75 steps up the side of a large hill. Wonder how many of us would climb 75 steps in the hot sun to go to church every week? These people do it every week and consider it a privilege to be able to attend this church. Who says we are here just to teach them. We can learn as much from them and they can from us.
We had to leave by 2:00 pm to get to our permanent home in Hogar de Fe (Faith in Home) near San Pedro Sula or we would be caught in severe fog as we passed the lake. So, at 2:10 we loaded up and headed out for the four hour drive to Hogar de Fe. An example of how crazy the driving is in Honduras. At one point during the trip (on a two lane highway – which about all they have) we were passing a car and a van decided they wanted to pass us. So here we are going down a two lane highway with three vehicles side-by-side and we’re in the middle. The van did clip our rearview mirror but that was it.
We arrived at Hogar de Fe about 7:00 pm and opened the door to our new living quarters only to be greeted with the strong odor of cat urine. Yes, cat urine. Wonderful. We unloaded all of our bags. They told us don’t be surprised if you wake up tomorrow and you find gecko poop on your pillow. We couldn’t get on the Internet and were afraid to use our cell phones because of the cost. Went to bed and Cindy just wanted to be home shopping at the mall. It just seemed so unreal that this was now our home.
January 7, 2008
This is the day it is really going to happen. We met Jack Eberhardt and Sam Ramdial in the hotel lobby at 5:00 am. Caught the shuttle to the airport. Checked in with all six of our bags. Ate a small breakfast. And got on the plane to Miami.
As we set on the plane we realized it would have been impossible for us to be on this plane without the help and support of a lot of wonderful friends that have helped us so much. This really is a team effort and we can’t thank each of you enough for the help and support you’ve given us and continue to give us. Thanks!!!
In Miami by the time we got to the terminal for our flight to Honduras we had about 10 minutes before they started boarding. Not bad time, huh? While we were on the plane waiting for the rest of the passengers to board Cindy called our daughter and then got to speak to our granddaughter Camille. Not such a good idea. Cindy cried for quite awhile after she hung up the phone.
Our flight from Miami to Honduras was very bumpy which didn’t make things any better for Cindy she HATES to fly. We touched down in Honduras around 12:30 local time. Immediately exiting the aircraft you realize you are in a completely different culture. This is not the orderly culture we are accustomed to. All of our bags did make it and our rides were waiting for us after we got through immigration and customs. After some disagreement over the amount of the tip with the gentlemen who took our bags to our vehicles we loaded up and were on our way to a non-stop week of activities. No need to let the new people get adjusted to their new lives.
We grabbed a bite to eat at the local Burger King. Yep, that’s right, Burger King. Except the menu is all in Spanish but the pictures were big help with ordering. After eating we loaded up the vehicles for the two hour drive from the capital to a town called Danli. If you’ve never been to a developing country driving is an adventure. As one of our teammates said “Why in this culture are they so laid back and unconcerned about time except when they get behind the wheel and then they drive like maniacs.” Boy is that ever true. Nobody follows the passing no passing zone markings on the road. They pass on curves, hills, and anywhere else they decide they want to pass. Semi’s and buses are the worst about this. “Relaxing” and “driving” are never two words that are used together in this country.
We arrived at Danli, checked into our rooms and then had a meeting with a couple of the pastors from that area of the country. These are such poor people but they love God and want so much to share the gospel with those who have not heard. It was a very enjoyable evening. The only frustrating part was not being able to speak Spanish and everything having to go through an interpreter. After the meeting we all went out to eat together. It’s fun trying to order in our limited Spanish and hope you are getting what you wanted.
As we set on the plane we realized it would have been impossible for us to be on this plane without the help and support of a lot of wonderful friends that have helped us so much. This really is a team effort and we can’t thank each of you enough for the help and support you’ve given us and continue to give us. Thanks!!!
In Miami by the time we got to the terminal for our flight to Honduras we had about 10 minutes before they started boarding. Not bad time, huh? While we were on the plane waiting for the rest of the passengers to board Cindy called our daughter and then got to speak to our granddaughter Camille. Not such a good idea. Cindy cried for quite awhile after she hung up the phone.
Our flight from Miami to Honduras was very bumpy which didn’t make things any better for Cindy she HATES to fly. We touched down in Honduras around 12:30 local time. Immediately exiting the aircraft you realize you are in a completely different culture. This is not the orderly culture we are accustomed to. All of our bags did make it and our rides were waiting for us after we got through immigration and customs. After some disagreement over the amount of the tip with the gentlemen who took our bags to our vehicles we loaded up and were on our way to a non-stop week of activities. No need to let the new people get adjusted to their new lives.
We grabbed a bite to eat at the local Burger King. Yep, that’s right, Burger King. Except the menu is all in Spanish but the pictures were big help with ordering. After eating we loaded up the vehicles for the two hour drive from the capital to a town called Danli. If you’ve never been to a developing country driving is an adventure. As one of our teammates said “Why in this culture are they so laid back and unconcerned about time except when they get behind the wheel and then they drive like maniacs.” Boy is that ever true. Nobody follows the passing no passing zone markings on the road. They pass on curves, hills, and anywhere else they decide they want to pass. Semi’s and buses are the worst about this. “Relaxing” and “driving” are never two words that are used together in this country.
We arrived at Danli, checked into our rooms and then had a meeting with a couple of the pastors from that area of the country. These are such poor people but they love God and want so much to share the gospel with those who have not heard. It was a very enjoyable evening. The only frustrating part was not being able to speak Spanish and everything having to go through an interpreter. After the meeting we all went out to eat together. It’s fun trying to order in our limited Spanish and hope you are getting what you wanted.
January 6, 2008
Today’s the day. Today we go to St. Louis and spend the night in preparation for getting on the plane tomorrow for Honduras. We went to our church in Boonville, IN this morning to say goodbye and thanks for all they’ve done. The pastor had us come up front and he read what he had written during the week. We were fighting back the tears and trying to keep our noses from running so much it becomes embarrassing.
After church we went to our Sunday School class and it was the same tears and running noses situation. They even had a cake for us. Unfortunately we were so far behind in what we still had to do before we left they we would only stay for about 15 minutes.
We have only been attending this church since April and have been gone many Sundays as we shared at other churches. The way the people of our church treated us was once again overwhelming. We know it’s an over used word but we don’t know how else to describe how we have felt for the past two months or so with the way people have treated us.
After leaving church Cindy ran some more errands and Brad went back to the apartment to get what was still left moved out. Will it ever end? Another six bags of trash. My gosh! Some good friends, Waleed and Angela, offered to keep our large plastic containers of pictures and our bigger pictures at their house. This was such a blessing because it was getting down to the wire and we still weren’t sure what we were going to do with all these pictures. Someday we may learn to trust God that He might actually know what He’s doing and the time situation.
We then had lunch with our son, our daughter and her husband, our granddaughter, and Ricardo (how did he get in there? – Ricardo is a good friend and we enjoyed having him). After lunch we went to Cindy’s mom’s house to finish packing before our ride to St. Louis arrived.
A little after 3:00 pm our ride arrived. John and Carolyn Anosky along with Stan and Susan Gregory took us to St. Louis. We originally thought we just wanted to make the drive by ourselves because it might be a little tough, but we really enjoyed riding over with them and think it made the drive easier.
They dropped us off at the hotel and headed back to St. Louis and we ate a quick supper at the restaurant, went to our room, and went to bed.
After church we went to our Sunday School class and it was the same tears and running noses situation. They even had a cake for us. Unfortunately we were so far behind in what we still had to do before we left they we would only stay for about 15 minutes.
We have only been attending this church since April and have been gone many Sundays as we shared at other churches. The way the people of our church treated us was once again overwhelming. We know it’s an over used word but we don’t know how else to describe how we have felt for the past two months or so with the way people have treated us.
After leaving church Cindy ran some more errands and Brad went back to the apartment to get what was still left moved out. Will it ever end? Another six bags of trash. My gosh! Some good friends, Waleed and Angela, offered to keep our large plastic containers of pictures and our bigger pictures at their house. This was such a blessing because it was getting down to the wire and we still weren’t sure what we were going to do with all these pictures. Someday we may learn to trust God that He might actually know what He’s doing and the time situation.
We then had lunch with our son, our daughter and her husband, our granddaughter, and Ricardo (how did he get in there? – Ricardo is a good friend and we enjoyed having him). After lunch we went to Cindy’s mom’s house to finish packing before our ride to St. Louis arrived.
A little after 3:00 pm our ride arrived. John and Carolyn Anosky along with Stan and Susan Gregory took us to St. Louis. We originally thought we just wanted to make the drive by ourselves because it might be a little tough, but we really enjoyed riding over with them and think it made the drive easier.
They dropped us off at the hotel and headed back to St. Louis and we ate a quick supper at the restaurant, went to our room, and went to bed.
January 5, 2008
We are now spending the night at Cindy’s mom’s house. Our days are get up early, work all day getting ready to leave, fall into bed between 10:00 – 11:00 pm and get up the next day and start again. The work load is not bad. It’s the stress of the deadline of January 7th looming in front of us that makes it hard. January 7th is a hard deadline. No changing that one if we don’t get everything done.
This morning we drove to Gentryville, IN for one of Brad’s friend’s wedding. It was nice to take a little break from the getting ready to go mode and just spend time with each other in the car.
This morning we drove to Gentryville, IN for one of Brad’s friend’s wedding. It was nice to take a little break from the getting ready to go mode and just spend time with each other in the car.
January 4, 2008
This day was spent running errands. Many, many, many errands. We were giving the jeep away to a friend of a friends and it was suppose to occur today. But, with the slow pace of errand running and still trying to get all those remaining “little” items out of the apartment we decided to push it off until Saturday sometime. Somehow we generated another 25 bags or so of trash. How can this be?
Cindy said “If someone asked me if we had much stuff I would have told them no. All I want is Brad, me and one bag each of clothes. How did we get so much stuff?” Cindy told our pastor “You should preach on excess this week and use us as an example.”
Cindy spent a good part of the day at The Women’s Hospital saying goodbye to her friends. She has been working there since they opened and considers them more like family than co-workers. It was both a good day and a sad day as you can imagine.
Cindy said “If someone asked me if we had much stuff I would have told them no. All I want is Brad, me and one bag each of clothes. How did we get so much stuff?” Cindy told our pastor “You should preach on excess this week and use us as an example.”
Cindy spent a good part of the day at The Women’s Hospital saying goodbye to her friends. She has been working there since they opened and considers them more like family than co-workers. It was both a good day and a sad day as you can imagine.
January 3, 2008
MOVING DAY. Today was moving day. Between 8:00 – 8:30 am we had 10 people show up with three pickup trucks, two trailers, and one large box truck eager to help. We had to take stuff to our daughter’s apartment, our storage facility, and the bulk of it we were giving away. With the military we have moved many times and usually moving day was an all day event. By 10:30 am everything was gone. Unbelievable! Absolutely unbelievable! We were overwhelmed. We spent the rest of the day trying to sort out what to do with the stuff that remained in the apartment and transferring the title of our son’s car from our name to his. We tried to explain to him that his net worth had just increased by a couple of thousand dollars with this transfer but he didn’t seem too impressed.
January 1-2, 2008
We already covered our trip to Chicago for the failed effort at getting our visa paperwork.
December 27-31, 2007
We started packing today. This means we begin the process of sorting through everything we have to decide should we take it with us, save it for the kids, give it away, or throw it away. This is not an easy process or a fast process. We thought clothing would be an easy decision but we emailed some of our team members in Honduras about what clothing we should bring. They told us one of our team members wears sweaters frequently. What? Sweaters! Now what type of clothing do we take? Short-sleeve only or take some long-sleeve shirts? We decided to take a few long-sleeve shirts just in case.
Our trash pick up is on Friday. By Thursday afternoon we had ~25 bags of trash by the curb ready for pickup. We called our trash company to ask if we could pay an extra fee so they would pick up all the trash. They assured us it was unlimited picked. We tried to explain how much we had and we would be happy to pay some extra. They told us we didn’t need to pay extra and they would alert the guys picking up our trash. We tried not to be around when they picked up the trash because we doubted they were saying anything nice about us.
Our trash pick up is on Friday. By Thursday afternoon we had ~25 bags of trash by the curb ready for pickup. We called our trash company to ask if we could pay an extra fee so they would pick up all the trash. They assured us it was unlimited picked. We tried to explain how much we had and we would be happy to pay some extra. They told us we didn’t need to pay extra and they would alert the guys picking up our trash. We tried not to be around when they picked up the trash because we doubted they were saying anything nice about us.
December 22-26, 2007
We decided not to try and move out of the apartment on December 29th because it would have required us to spend the entire holiday period packing. We spent the holidays with family relaxing as much as we could and enjoying being around our families.
December 21, 2007 & January 1-2, 2008
Brad has been trying to reach the Honduran Consulate in Chicago for two weeks but he can’t get anyone to answer the phone. He even sent an email to anybody he thought might have a different phone number for them. Nobody had a different number. He decided to call them today just so he could say he has called every work day for two weeks – even though it’s the Friday before the holidays. Amazingly they answered the phone. We have to go there to apply for a resident visa but we’ve been told if you don’t have an appointment they may not be there. They told Brad we would have to come in January because we were moving in January. They told us to come on January 2nd. He double checked with them to make sure they would be open on January 2nd and we could get this done on that day. We also had to stop by the Secretary of State’s office in Indy so they could verify the people who notarized all of our documents were official notaries. (i.e. they had to verify the notary was really a notary - that was a new one for us. Apparently this is a common occurrence because the each state’s Secretary of State has a person specifically designated to perform this function)
So New Years day we drive to Indy and spend the night so we can be at the Secretary of States office when they open Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning we show up when they open and within ten minutes they have all of our documents authenticated and are on the road to Chicago. Are biggest concern now is that the Honduran Consulate will be closed. We drive through Chicago, pay large quantities of money of drive on their toll roads, and finally arrive at the Honduran Consulate. Much to our surprise it’s open.
We go inside and wait our turn. They call us up to the window. We explain what we are trying to do the gentleman behind the window says “You can’t do this today. It is not a one day process. The lawyer is not here today. Maybe we could do it tomorrow." Maybe Tomorrow?????? Brad tries to explain that we just drove six hours to get here based on what they had told us two ago. They could have cared less. He did offer to let us fill out an application. We filled out the application and then he brought out a list of all the documents we needed to apply for the visa. As he listed each document we were able to show him we had it (or at least something close to it that we did our best to convince him it was the document he was asking about). The then made a phone call. Came back and told us they could FedEx our documents to us. It would cost $240 each plus $20 more to cover the cost of the shipping. So, we gave him all of our original documents and $520 in cash. He proceeded to take all the documents, our application, and our $520 in cash and staple them all together. Then we left with the man’s word that they might be able to get it shipped out this week.
Yep, that’s right we left. What else were we going to do? As we were driving away for the SIX hour drive home we agreed we both felt pretty good about the status of our resident visas. We were leaving without any of our documents we had worked so hard to collect. We were out $520 cash. And we had no visas. We had no receipt or paperwork to even prove we had been there. Seemed like a pretty successful trip to us. We called the head of General Baptists International missions to tell him what had just happened and his response was “Welcome to missions.”
Since our return from Chicago we have spoken with two of the other families we will be working with in Honduras and neither of them had to see a “lawyer” or leave their original documents. Go figure!
So New Years day we drive to Indy and spend the night so we can be at the Secretary of States office when they open Wednesday morning. Wednesday morning we show up when they open and within ten minutes they have all of our documents authenticated and are on the road to Chicago. Are biggest concern now is that the Honduran Consulate will be closed. We drive through Chicago, pay large quantities of money of drive on their toll roads, and finally arrive at the Honduran Consulate. Much to our surprise it’s open.
We go inside and wait our turn. They call us up to the window. We explain what we are trying to do the gentleman behind the window says “You can’t do this today. It is not a one day process. The lawyer is not here today. Maybe we could do it tomorrow." Maybe Tomorrow?????? Brad tries to explain that we just drove six hours to get here based on what they had told us two ago. They could have cared less. He did offer to let us fill out an application. We filled out the application and then he brought out a list of all the documents we needed to apply for the visa. As he listed each document we were able to show him we had it (or at least something close to it that we did our best to convince him it was the document he was asking about). The then made a phone call. Came back and told us they could FedEx our documents to us. It would cost $240 each plus $20 more to cover the cost of the shipping. So, we gave him all of our original documents and $520 in cash. He proceeded to take all the documents, our application, and our $520 in cash and staple them all together. Then we left with the man’s word that they might be able to get it shipped out this week.
Yep, that’s right we left. What else were we going to do? As we were driving away for the SIX hour drive home we agreed we both felt pretty good about the status of our resident visas. We were leaving without any of our documents we had worked so hard to collect. We were out $520 cash. And we had no visas. We had no receipt or paperwork to even prove we had been there. Seemed like a pretty successful trip to us. We called the head of General Baptists International missions to tell him what had just happened and his response was “Welcome to missions.”
Since our return from Chicago we have spoken with two of the other families we will be working with in Honduras and neither of them had to see a “lawyer” or leave their original documents. Go figure!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)