May 24, 2009 Mercedes

We just learned that the son of one of our pastors (Mercedes) was killed last night. They live in the capital city Tegucigalpa. Please pray for Mercedes and her family.

May 22, 2009

An amazing event occurred this morning. We left the house about 7:40 this morning with Saul and headed to the Transito office in San Pedro Sula to try and get our Honduran Driver's License. You can't get the license until you have your residency card. Today was the first opportunity we've had since we received our residency cards while in the States.

We arrived at the Transito office at 8:00 am. After 3,000 limpira, showing them a lot of forms, being photographed and fingerprinted we walked out one hour later with our Driver's License. We are both now authorized to drive cars, trucks, semi-trucks, buses, and just about any other type of vehicle on the roads in any Central American country. Makes you feel safer doesn't it.

We had the option of going to three days of driver training classes all in Spanish, taking a written exam in Spanish, having to get a physical by a doctor, and then doing the driving test on the road OR we could pay 1,500 limpira each instead of the 480 limpira and get our license today. We opted for the extra money option. By 9:30 we were back at our house.

Rarely does something go as smoothly as this here in Honduras.

May 21, 2009

Today we went to re-visit all the orphanages we had visited in February and arranged for the med/den team to work in next week. The team arrives on Saturday and will be working next week. None of the orphanages seem to remember we had talked with them in February and made the arrangements. So much for trying to plan ahead. We think we are on their schedule. We say think but somethings you just can't be sure of until you show up and see what happens.

May 8, 2009

We got on a plane early this morning in Evansville. Had a little surprise when we got to the airport. There to greet us were John and Stella Bennett and Ken Parkman. It was nice to have good friends take time out of their early morning to see us off.

We boarded the plane and away we went. Our normally one hour or less flight to Atlanta took two hours because they routed us around some storms. No problem except it made our connection in Atlanta very tight. As is in, when we got to our terminal they told us they were re-opening the door for us to be able to get on the plane.

Three hours later we were in Honduras and being screened for the swine flu before they would allow us to enter the country. Or as the kids around here call it "Gripe Pig".

The truth is we were not excited to be returning to Honduras. Good or bad, right or wrong, strong or weak, our honest feeling was we would have preferred not to return. We would have preferred to have remained in the States with family, friends, a familiar culture, and not return. But, we also knew God wanted us in Honduras. So we got on the plane and here we are.

May 8, 2009 Back in Honduras

(l to r) Glenda, Luisa, and Kency hanging out in our house after we got back. Watching movies, eating hot tamales and smarties (thanks Mark), talking, and just having a good time together.

May 8, 2009 Back in Honduras

Ah, back in Honduras. Today we returned to Honduras after two months in the States. Heat, humidity, men urinating on the side of the highway, police check points, and kids. Yep, we had been in our house maybe 30 minutes after arriving from the airport when there was a knock a the door. We opened the door to find Glenda (one of the girls at Faith Home). She was all smiles and happy to see us - well especially happy to see Cindy. She came in the house and hung out with us for maybe 45 minutes when there was another knock at he door. Luisa and Kency were at the door. Once again smiles and hugs all around. Boy, it sure felt good. We have missed the kids.

Maybe another 45 minutes and Saul, Marcos, Jose Luis, and Pastor (some of the pastors) were at the door. Otra vez, hugs and smiles all around. We then all proceeded to sit down and watch a kids movie for a few minutes while we joked around a caught up a little.

After another short period of time Erika and Doris show up at the house. Once again smiles and hugs all around. The girls really like Cindy and Cindy is crazy about these girls. We do have some good kids here at Hogar de Fe.