Toque de Queda

Toque de queda is basically curfew. The country has been under a curfew since 4:00 pm yesterday afternoon. It was pretty sudden but is a result of ex president Mel deciding to sneak back into the country and hole up in the Brazilian embassy. I'll update on the political situation in my next post right now we'll just do our day.

Today was extremely boring. We slept in and spent a lot of the day nursing on Lucy. She's been really sick lately, really since we brought her home, and today was a good day to give her some extra attention and hopefully she's on the road to recovery. Just before lunch we decided to head out in the car in our neighborhood looking for water. We were out and I would like to avoid boiling the tap water for as long as possible. Luckily we were able to find water at a local pulperia without getting out on any of the major roads and avoided any problems. We're now 15 gallons of drinking water richer. That should hold us for a couple of weeks.

We ate up the last of the meat in the house for lunch so dinner proved interesting. Nothing is open and we're supposed to be staying in our houses so Darwin and I made tortillas from the cornmeal I had in the cupboard. That's right, we made them. Tortillas have proven to be my nemesis in my time in Honduras but today we mastered them, mostly Darwin mastered them, and we made tortillas con quesillo. Yum!

I also went for a walk up to our neighborhood park today. It was a good time to sit and pray over this city that is going through so much tormoil right now. It is eery to watch this busy busy city sit in total silence. Our neighborhood was silent all day, definitely safe. Please continue to pray for this country.

No Luck!

No luck uploading pics but I'll try and come back and edit them when I finish writing or I'm going to give up on my next two posts. Love you guys!

Saturday's Post

I continue to try and get over this sickness even today (Tuesday) but luckily my energy level has come way up. On Saturday I was a little stir crazy but still not too energetic so I decided to make some cookies. These lovely ladies came out of MY oven. Any of you that have experienced the broiled cookies, or the toaster oven cookies, these are a huge improvement.

We've started visiting 3 different places for the homeless feeding which has led to an increase in our rice and bean levels. I think I'm going to have to buy another pot for the rice. We almost overflowed this time. The food will no longer fit in our big pot so we take it in this plastic box. So far it's holding up well against the heat of the beans.

At the stadium we saw Marta and Suyapa, two ladies that we've been hoping to see since coming back. I think we've finally seen all of our friends from before we left. It is so great to see everyone and make sure that they are doing ok. It was a great night and we had no problem getting rid of all our extra food. I think we even had some people show up once it was gone so we may be incrementing again. We called about the building near Chimbomba and they are asking $600,000 for it. That is definitely WAY out of the question, so we continue to look for a center where we can more fully meet the needs of our friends.

I'm so proud

Well today I found out that both Lucy and I are fighting infections but we are on antibiotics and sure to heal soon. Tonight was wonderful. 7 boys from the youth came over to help us with handing out food. I was pretty much out of commission as far as the labor side of things so they jumped in with Darwin at their lead and got things done. When I told Darwin it was time to go he said, "okay, just give me 5 minutes." The next thing I know, all the boys are sitting around in Darwin's room praying for safety and blessings on the people at the stadium. All of the boys really look to Darwin for leadership and it's so neat to watch him shine in that role.

Feeding went really well. Josue brought kitten and they had a great time trying to get Lucy and the kitten to play together. I also saw Freddy and Jasmine a couple I love dearly, who I hadn't seen in a while. Freddy is the kid that always calls me "hungry" and as we were feeding down at La Chimbomba I heard, "Hungry!, Hungry!" I was so so happy to see them.

Afterwards we all went out for pizza and the boys went to play soccer at Baxter. It has definitely been a successful night.

A long day

I woke up this morning not feeling great. Not anything specific, just not great, so Lucy and I's walk was kept pretty short but it was nice just the same. Then I was woken up from my post walk doze on the coach at 8 by Roberto, a good friend from the stadium, calling. He had been hit by a car at about 11 last night and spent the night in the hospital. So Darwin and I ran out to Diego, who does NOT like to start in the mornings, especially if you're in a hurry, and spent the next 30 minutes cleaning the battery and getting the car to start. I really need to just go buy another battery but that's a chore for another day. This is an old Pic of Roberto with Jon and Rachel, some med students that worked at Baxter earlier this year.

So we finally get to the hospital, drive around for 30 minutes to find a place to park and end up parking in a field across the street, and walk to the emergency room entrance. Well we can't get into the emergency room entrance we have to go to gate number 1, of course, gate number 1 is on the opposite side of the hospital, here we go. Five gates and a lot of direction asking later we are told we can come back at 3. After wheedling and begging for another 10 minutes we finally get in the gate and are sent to the 5th floor. Let me tell you, the 5th floor in Honduras is actually the 6th floor, ground floor plus 5 and there are NO elevators, AND all the stairs are a different size (don't ask me why). Sooo we climb up to the 6th floor, sans air conditioning sweating like hogs. Nope no Roberto here, try the 2nd floor (actually the 3rd floor). So we head down to the 2nd floor, no no Roberto here, let me make some calls to find out, ground floor recovery alright here we go. Nope not there either, at this point you could have wrung my shirt out into a cup. he must still be in emergency (remember we started there at the gate). Oh yeah he's here, but you can't come in. WHAT! okay more wheedling, only one at a time, Darwin goes in and finds him and talks to the doc who sends him back for me. The security guard could care less what the doc said, neither one of us are going in now. Are you kidding me?! Heated words exchanged, money offered, finally I get in. Thankfully Roberto is doing well and very happy to see me. We get the plates and pins he needs to repair his ankle ordered and surgery scheduled for Friday and head on our way. Many prayers of thanks went up for Roberto's safety. He often comes to church with us and is a blessing to be around.

Then we headed to the mall to get ready for bible class and have some lunch before we went out to Jovenes. That went smoothly. :)

Then we headed out to Jovenes with Lucy. The kids loved her. They spent the whole afternoon chasing her around and trying to feed her grass. It was adorable. Genius that I am today, I brought my camera but forgot to grab the battery off of the charger so unfortunately no cute pics. It was really good to see all the little guys, but due to overcrowding and some serious behavioural issues a lot of my older boys, that I took care of when I lived at Jovenes, have gone to live elsewhere, either home or other centers. It's definitely for the best for the remaining kids but I've spent most of the rest of the day thinking about and praying for my boys. I'm going to see if I can't get in touch with at least some of them to keep tabs on how they are doing. It was definitely a bitter sweet trip.

Yessica, one of my favorite little girls from church, she's got a great story but I'll tell it another day when the blog is not already so long

We ran home quickly to change and drop off Lucy then headed to church. Church went well. I love my kids and the hugs always help cheer me up.

A quick game of marbles before church

Now I'm back home and just finished dinner and the boys are still on my mind. I'm also pretty sure I have some kind of infection. My throat is killing me, so I'm probably going to crash soon. Sorry this wasn't very uplifting but I SO appreciate you guys sharing my life with me. It helps the hard days be a little bit easier. I love you.

La Chimbomba

Oh my goodness I don't know where to start. Tonight was a great night. I took a picture with Marlon wanting to share his story with you and really expecting to be low on pics today. Then we went to La Chimbomba and took lots and I had a really hard time picking. So we'll start with Marlon. Marlon here has been coming since the beginning. He's precious. I think he told me he was 22 but I could be wrong there. Marlon is blind, he can only see things that are very very close but he doesn't let that stop him. He travels around everywhere by himself, always with a huge grin on his face. Tonight he showed up and said, "Hey Momma (that's what most of them call me anymore) who've you got with you tonight." It was just me and the boys but he made sure he said hi to everyone, including everyone that had come to eat. Marlon is such a joy to be around and I always leave his side with a smile.

At La Chimbomba Darwin pulled out the camera and it was a HUGE hit. All the girls love to flirt with my boys and ask them when they're going to run away with them. It cracks us all up. So Darwin with a camera was a HUGE source of flirting and showing off. We got there early tonight so Lucy and I sat down with everyone while they ate and just shared some time talking and deepening our friendships. You'll notice in this picture some cardboard on the ground. Each night one of the guys brings a bunch of cardboard from whereever he could scrounge it up, and that is their bed. Most of them sleep right there on that corner.

I love this picture. They are such a family to each other. There are a few of them that are a lot more mentally gone than the rest and then there is baby Leticia running around but they all look out for each other. They have found love and acceptance in a very unlikely place.

A few days ago I talked about Maria Leticia and her mom, whose name is Maria Elena, who live on the street. Leticia is 1 1/2 and absolutely adorable. She comes running up giggling every time we pull up. I cannot imagine raising my baby on the streets. Elena seems so tired. I can't imagine how emotionally draining it must be to feel like you can't give your baby a future. I am continually praying for ways to reach out to these two in particular and all of my friends living on the streets of Honduras.

Oh and I almost forgot. We saw Wender tonight!!! I was so happy to see him. He is the daddy of the first baby I knew to be born at the stadium and also the first of the kids to start calling me Mama. Marlen, the baby, is doing well and living with Wender's mother, a very typical arrangement here. He seemed to be doing well despite a huge hole in the side of his face where a tooth had abcessed and rotted through his cheek. It sounds horribly painful but he let Darwin clean it out and showed us his antibiotics so there's not much else we can do. We hadn't seen him since returning from the states so it was a great relief to see his smiling face again.

P.S. I'm posting extra pics from tonight, and a few of Lucy, on facebook.

Near Disaster Averted

Today started off great. Lucy and I took our walk and discovered an evidently terrifying fire hydrant (what kind of dog is terrified of a fire hydrant) and an army man in full camouflage (sp?) and carrying a huge gun guarding the house of a neighboring politician and listening to the wedding march on his cell phone, very interesting. We then came home did some cleaning and started the beans. I left the beans cooking and headed out to Will and Rachel´s new house out in the country. It is really nice and it´s going to be a great get away from the city whenever the noise just gets too much. The boys are already making camping plans. Lucy enjoyed playing with their new pup and Ranger. I enjoyed making plans with Will and Rachel for the future. I´m so excited about the potential for the homeless ministry and I come up with new hairbrained ideas daily to try and help these people.

Upon arriving home I added water to the beans that had gotten a little dry during my hiatus to the country and started the rice. I then proceeded to update my blog list for an hour while I thought the rice was cooking. Noticing the lack of popping noises as the water splashes over the side of the overfilled boiling pot I decided to check out the progress of the rice. GASP!!! No more gas. What are we going to do!? I have to tell you I panicked a bit before reality settled back in. This was not the end of the world. Darwin was gone getting tortillas so I called him and he tried to find more gas. Nothing doing. That takes WAY too long. Nothing is simple. So I say, well I guess we´ll just give them beans. Obviously I am insane. Darwin: "Amber, you CANNOT just give them beans, they won´t eat them. You have to give them something else with it" Me: "Ok, that´s fine, but what should we give them (I´m not buying fried chicken for 75 people)". Darwin: "I don´t know but you better figure out something." LOL this went back and forth for a while when Darwin suggested Mantequilla. Well of course, sour cream is the perfect side dish for beans (insert incredulous look here). Crazy me I was trying to think of something considerably more substantial than sour cream. So that´s what we did and it was a big hit. Everyone enjoyed it. Our only issue was that we didn´t have nearly as much food as normal because of the lack of 8 lbs of rice. But we made due and we didn´t go to the park at the end of the night. God always provides what we need. I am overwhelmed with His blessings.

Lucy is a huge hit with the homeless kids. I think she´s going to really be helpful in gettting them to open up. She´s already been a great conversation starter with several of the new people at the Chimbomba.

Yummy fruit I got at the stadium fruit stand. I love lechas (the little spiky fruit in the bag) and mangos are always a hit. The avocado looking fruit is called Anona and I tried it for the first time tonight. We got 4 of them, 25 lechas, and 2 mangos for $3, not too shabby.

A Wonderful Day and a Torrential Downpour

Beautiful view from the church building right before church started.

Today was a really wonderful day. I woke up early and went on a long walk with Lucy, this is quickly becoming one of my favorite parts of the day. Then I came back and cleaned house and took a nap. It was great. Grocery shopping went smoother than normal and we had a delicious salad for lunch. Lucy is back to 100% she´s finally eating dry dog food in normal amounts. It´s so nice to not be worried about her health anymore.

Having a snack before church

It was a beautiful day all day and then about 15 minutes into the church service it began a torrential downpour. You couldn´t hear the person next to you speak because of the tin roof. It was hilarious. So Bible class was a little backward. It´s a little hard to teach a class when your students can´t hear you. So we flip flopped and colored and snacked first and had the lesson at the end when the rain finally let up. The kids did a great job adjusting to the change in schedule and we had a great night.

Hard at work filling out their "exams" after their Bible story. I never tire of watching them all intent over their Bibles finding the answers. It warms my heart.

Garage Sale?

Today we had our first ever Mogote Church of Christ Garage Sale, and it went fantastically. I was only there in the morning, I had to come home and cook for the stadium, but I was very impressed with the turn out. The majority of the church was there either selling donated items or the food they had prepared or helping clean up around the building. It was so neat to watch our church truly acting like the family we are all called to be as Christians. I´m not sure how much was raised for the Women´s Conference next spring but I know that much was earned in the name of Christ for our church family today.

Lucy Meeting the kids at church

Darwin was adorable this afternoon. We were watching Will and Rachel´s new boxer pup, Cazadora (Hunter), and all three of them fell asleep on the front porch. It was adorable.

Tonight at the stadium went great. When we were at the Chimbomba a guy came up and asked me if I could find a place for them to learn a trade and do something different with their lives. I can feel God´s gentle prodding telling me to step out in faith. I need to get on the phone and start figuring out how to get this ball rolling. Thanks Jorge for the jumpstart.

Children´s Day in Mogote

What a great day!! I don´t know where to start. In the morning I finished making my first cake with fondant. It turned out pretty well and I was very excited about it. The rest of the day was spent finishing up the cupcakes and making another sheet cake just in case there wasn´t enough. It felt great to get everything finished and I even worked in a short nap. Lucy is doing much better today, and this evening she´s even started eating again. She´s turning into the precocious little puppy I expected her to be.

Tonight at church was great. (I have lots more pics on facebook). The kids were sooo excited about the bounce house donated by MRCC this spring. I bring it up occasionally for special events and it is always a hit. The cupcakes were also a big hit. This pic says it all and makes all the hard work worth it.

This is Gabby. I have been wanting to share Gabby´s story for several days now but didn´t have a picture to go with it. Gabby is about 7 years old and is Lili and Alis´s niece. I know the family pretty well but I don´t know the older siblings at all. There are 12 total and I know the youngest 5. Anyway, about a month ago the oldest sister, Gabby´s mom, brought Gabby to her grandma´s house and left. Gabby is now being raised by her Grandma and aunts and uncles who are around her age in a completely new environment, away from anyone she grew up knowing. But you would never know it to look at her. She is always grinning from ear to ear just like she is in this picture and she always runs up and gives me a big hug like I´m her best friend. She´s quickly becoming one of my favorite kids. When we sing in church Gabby always praises God with all she has. She sings at the top of her lungs with her eyes closed and her hands held out to God. She gets self concious about it and starts giggling if she catches you watching her but truly isn´t looking attention. I love her. She has taught me so much about being content no matter your life situation.

Children´s Day at the Stadium

Well today was a bit stressful with Lucy. She hadn´t really eaten since we brought her home and today she wouldn´t even look at her food or try to eat any of it, and she was real listless. So we finally decided to take her to the vet. The vet looked her over and did some tests and decided she must have eaten something that made her sick. So she´s on medicine now and we´re hoping she´s perked up by tomorrow.

Tonight was a great night. I definitely saw the fruits of some labor. They LOVED the cupcakes. Some of them even tried to trade their dinner for another cupcake. The kids were precious. I wish I had gotten more pictures but there just weren´t enough hands to go around. Tonight a lot of people we hadn´t seen since starting back up came to the stadium. It was so great to see them and know that they are doing okay. Ana, the mom of the little baby from earlier this year, was even there. I was so happy to see her and she promised to bring baby Marlen to see me soon.

We´ve added a new place to our list called Chimbomba, it´s about a mile away and a place where a lot of people are as well. I´ve not ventured to take my camera out there but we´re making new friends. One single mom, who I would guess to be mid 30´s, is living on that corner with her precious little girl, Maria Leticia. Maria Leticia is probably 2 years old and absolutely adorable. I hope to be able to find a way to help them get on their feet.
After we left the Chimbomba we still had food, we came a little late tonight because I was getting the last of the cupcakes together, and I had made extra thinking there would be a lot of people because of the cupcakes (good news travels fast at the stadium) so we went down to a park a few blocks away where we´ve heard there are a lot of kids. There we found several people that we´ve seen at the stadium and several new people. We´re going to try and include all three spots from now on but we´ll see how it goes.

We also found a building for sale very close to Chimbomba which I plan on calling about tomorrow. It would be a great central location for a feeding center and eventually a homeless shelter. Please keep these plans in your prayers.

Sitting Under The Banana Tree...

Hey Guys, this is going to be another fairly sad blog post and I apologize for the poor quality photos but I really didn´t take many pictures today.
Turns out it´s hard to wash someone´s feet and take a picture of it at the same time. Bible class was a little rambunctious tonight. Some nights are just like that.

This is Darwin sitting under our banana tree waiting for Lucy to pee. I just thought it was funny.

100 cupcakes made, now they just need iced tomorrow while I make the next 100 for Friday. You can also follow my 3 day saga to make my first fondant cake. I´ve always wanted to do this so we´ll see how it turns out. I made the fondant tonight and it was lots of fun. Ooey Gooey fun. :)

Our New Puppy Lucy

Lucy is the newest addition to our family, and probably the last one for a while. She´s a 3-month-old black lab and she has a great disposition. Tonight´s blog is really just introducing her to the world, because basically it´s late and I´m tired. The stadium went great. We took Lucy and she was a big hit. Tatiana loved her and wanted to take her home. I´m hoping Lucy will be the kind of dog I can take with me everywhere, but I know I´ve got a lot of training ahead.

This last picture is of Tatiana´s little sister Pamela who decided she would take her food back home with her on her head. Traditional Honduran custom.

Another Beautiful Baby and Brussel Sprouts!!

This beautiful tiny baby was born a month early about 9 days ago. His momma and grandma are raising him alone in a shack down by the stadium but he has a better chance at a good life than most of the kids there. This baby´s momma is not doing drugs and is doing her best to provide for him. His grandma Ruth (who is very shy about being photographed) brought him up to see me. I spent a good portion of the night tonight explaining to her that breastmilk or baby milk is necessary not regular powdered milk. I hope to be able to help them start out right with this beautiful baby boy. Please pray for grace and love in this inspiring new life.


We had a great night at the stadium. Everyone was very excited to take pictures and give us hugs. Please pray for Marvin, an old friend from the stadium, who has recently been severely beaten and is now extemely mentally handicapped. The others at the stadium are all very worried about him and it is heart warming to see how they care for him.

OH MY GOODNESS!!! I almost forgot. I had two AMAZING finds today. First I found food coloring, hard to find and really expensive normally and then hidden in the dusty back corner in the unused freezer section I found BRUSSEL SPROUTS!!!! I have a love affair with brussel sprouts so this was an awesome find. We also looked at a lot of puppies today and hopefully we will pick one tomorrow. I´m looking at a black lab, possibly a yellow lab tomorrow (my first choice) and something that they are calling a Terri, no idea what that is but it´s a small dog which my be better for my yardless house. It was an AWESOME day.

Just Your Typical 4 o´clock Church Day

My class meeting outside on the porch on Sundays until we have lights in the kitchen area. We have Baxter students teaching the youth boys and girls seperately taking up all the class space. What an AMAZING problem to have!!

Hard at work on their craft.

This little girl, Karla, was absolutely precious praying in Bible class. She should really be in Rachel´s class but wouldn´t go to class without her sister. She did a wonderful job.

Have I mentioned I LOVE having church at 4 in the afternoon. It is so relaxing. I slept in this morning then spent some time preparing for Bible class and cleaned my garage. We´re puppy shopping tomorrow so we´ve got to get the house puppy proof before the new little comes home. Then it was off to church. On Sundays now my class is out on the porch because we have TOO MANY classes. I didn´t think that would ever happen. I think we had about 20 kids in class and poor Brian was the only boy. Most of the boys that are typically in my class are a little bit older and go to the boy´s youth class on Sunday. Class went great and after church we made plans for our children´s day celebration on Sunday (this is bigger than Christmas here). I´m going to be making 100 cupcakes and at least one sheet cake for the celebration. It´s sure to be exciting. From there the boys and I went to Palacio Real, the kids´favorite chinese restaurant. It was delicious and it was great fun to listen to the kids laugh and talk about their weekend. The time apart was hard but it seems to have broughten (brung?, I´m not sure what is the right word here or if broughten is even a word LOL) us much closer.

A Sweet Little Helper

Daily Photos

Tonight Will and Rachel weren´t able to join us and Ariel was in Mogote playing soccer so it was just Darwin and I down at the stadium. We usually have someone doing water, someone dishing up the food and someone passing out the tortillas and forks but with just two of us Darwin took water duty and I was covering the rest. It didn´t take long for 6-year-old Tatiana to show up and become our helper. She was so proud of being able to hand out the tortillas and would watch up the street and squeal "another one" everytime she saw someone coming. She was definitely a joy to work with and really a big help. We are hoping to take the little kids on an outing within the next week or so, so please pray for wisdom and a successful trip.

I am now buying the rice and beans in 100 pound sacks and I don´t have a kitchen scale so I´m still working out exactly how much I need to cook. Today I ended up cooking a bit more than necessary and being Saturday, our numbers were a little down. Soo...we had about half a pot of beans left and everyone had eaten. We´ve often heard of another place down farther into the city where there are a lot of street people and have wondered about going. We were hesitant to enter such a populated area without knowing how many people would show up, but today we decided to take what was left and try it out. It was still early and daylight, which is definitely the safest time to go. So we ventured down the one way streets and finally found the place we´d heard about. We did a couple of drive by passes to be sure we felt safe then we pulled over to the curb and Darwin went to check things out. There weren´t nearly as many people as we had imagined (part of that was being saturday and part of that was being early) but we were able to very successfully give away the rest of our food and begin some new friendships. Hopefully this will become another regular stop for us. Pray for these new friends and our ability to reach out to them with wisdom and faith.

LOL I´m trying to start this back up AGAIN.

Hi Everyone!!! I´ve got internet at home now for the first time and I am SOOO excited about. I¨m hoping to be able to blog every night but that may be a little ambitious. I´m also hoping to post at least one picture per post, which will make me more excited about blogging AND encourage me to take more pictures, not that I need the help.


Today was a great day. In the morning I got Arnold enrolled for another semester of college and then went grocery shopping. Grocery shopping is pretty much a daily event here as fresh veggies and fruits go bad after a couple of days and my fridge isn´t the best thing in the world. At 2 we headed up to Mogote to get back in touch with the community. The boys played soccer and I just spent some time visiting some of the families I´ve grown so close to over the years. Then we had church tonight. I had 26 kids in my 8-12 year old class. We talked about Jesus washing the apostles feet and I washed a few of the kids´feet, as time would allow. It was neat to watch their faces as they received this special attention. I plan to continue during coloring time until all the kids get a chance to feel special.


God is so evident in my life right now. I am so thrilled to have such a close relationship with Him. I often find myself thanking Him for things that just a couple of months ago would never have occured to me. Like today after lunch I found myself having a relatively long period of thanksgiving over the existence of cheese. Man, I´m thankful for cheese. And my new stove and my new car. And the past owner of my new car who drove across town last night to replace the fan belt that broke for no charge. I am so blessed.



Here are some funny quotes from today:

The checker at the local ¨Wal-Mart¨ chain- "Are you sure you want these oranges, they are really expensive." Me, laughing, nodding, and taking my 5 oranges at $1.50 a pound. "Yes, I know how much they are, but thanks."

Today I was sitting on a step in Mogote with about 5, 6-8 year old girls braiding my hair, when one of the lighter skinned girls says in a voice of pure disgust, "Ugh, I can´t braid because I´m white. We need a black girl, they are really good at braiding."


As I was getting my hair done one of the girls (who´s name also happens to be Amber) who visits our church sometimes, came by. She´s about 14 and had obviously been in a fight in the past few days. We talked about that for a few minutes and then I asked jokingly, "were your pants in a fight, too?" (her jeans had obviously been cut up on purpose). Girl Amber "No Amber it´s the style, everyone wears pants like this". Me "My pants don´t look like that", Girl Amber, "Yeah but you go to church." (Obviously church goers know nothing about style).

1st Picture of the Day-

This little Angel is the 3 day old niece of Lili, Alis, and Miguel, 3 kids in my Bible class. She won´t have a name for a couple more months, until the family gets to know her (I love this custom). The kids were soo excited for me to come over and take pictures of her. As is typical in Mogote, the mom is 16 and the dad is completely out of the picture. When I asked about him I was told Dad doesn´t even know if she´s a boy or a girl. She makes number 15 in a house about the size of my living room. Pray that she experiences much grace in her dear life.

2nd Picture of the Day-

All the kids checking out Diego (my new vehicle), for the first time. Soon after this I loaded up 19 of them and we drove down to church (just over a block). They were thrilled.

June Update

Hi Everyone,

Thank you so much for your prayers and concerned emails as we continue to wait out the resolution to the political problems in Honduras. Things in Honduras are currently stable but have the potential to turn violent quickly if the former president decides to try a forced return. I am currently in the United States and plan to return to Honduras on July 25th if no further problems arise. Please pray for stability in the country and God hand in the whole situation.

Mission Teams

Summer time is always a time to reconnect with old friends and meet lots of new ones. In June we had mission teams from Park Plaza Church of Christ, Covenant Presbyterian, Oakcrest Church of Christ, a Young Life group from OKC, University City Church of Christ, Bammel Road Church of Christ, Laurel Church of Christ, Lindburg Road Church of Christ, Adams Boulevard Church of Christ, and Prestoncrest Church of Christ. The Oakcrest group was able to build homes for three families whose homes were burned down after being struck by lightning in early June. These families lost everything and the groups built from the ashes. It was a very vivid picture of starting over and giving them a fresh start. All of the groups that came have helped us in different ways and we’ve definitely enjoyed the bonds shared. This summer 22 homes have been built and over 500 kids have participated in VBS programs and well as other projects to improve the community. One group began a project to provide a soccer field behind the church in Mogote. This was to be an ongoing summer project but will probably become a community project due to cancellations. We still have a couple of groups holding out on making their decisions about coming but most of our groups have cancelled for the rest of the summer. This is definitely in the best interest of everyone’s safety at this time.

Interns

This summer I was truly blessed with a large number of wonderful interns. Unfortunately those that had planned to stay the whole summer had to cut their trip short because of the political situation. Theresa Witt from Tulsa Oklahoma planned to stay the whole summer along with Michael Lemmons from OKC and Rachel Davis from Athens TX. These three girls quickly found their way into my heart and I pray that they find their way back to Honduras again soon so that we can continue to develop our friendship. My interns definitely become family and it’s always hard to let them go especially sooner than expected.

My short term interns who were able to complete their stay were Shelby Taylor from OKC, Audrey Smith and Brittney Kvanvig (Brittney returned early due to a family emergency) from Waco, TX, Cale Thompson and Anna Wilkes from Maryville, TN, and Edward Cox from Knoxville, TN. The short term interns are often kids that have come to Honduras throughout High School and College and then come for a longer stay, which was the case with most of these.

Roatan

One of our new groups took a trip to Roatan at the beginning of June and asked me to go with them as a guide. A friend of ours paid for Darwin to go on the trip as well. Roatan is always a refreshing time for me. I feel closest to God when I’m face to face with the wonder of the ocean. It was also a great blessing to experience Darwin’s first airplane flight and swimming in the ocean. We laughed a lot and spent some time bonding. It was really a wonderful weekend.

Stadium Feeding

The work I’m missing the most is the stadium feeding. My friends there are never far from my mind. We’ve had to put that on hold until we return to Honduras because Darwin doesn’t have a vehicle to take the food in. One of the blessings in being in the states has been new donations. We’ve received sponsorship for another night of the week at the stadium and hopefully within the next year we will be able to expand to a nightly feeding program. I pray that soon we will be able to find a facility to better reach the needs of these people and continue to show them the hope that only exists through Christ.

My Boys

Darwin and Ariel are doing well. They are definitely feeling the strains of responsibility being at home on their own but Darwin has taken on the role of caretaker well. I talk to them almost daily and while we are both feeling the strains of being apart I know that they are capable of being on their own. I’m hopeful that we will be together again soon.

Trip to the US

The last week of June I made a scheduled trip to the United States to attend the wedding of one of my best friends, Holly Deboard, to another friend, Lance Towers and also to renew my visa. At the time I had no idea it would end up being a month long stay. The wedding was beautiful and I was blessed to be a part of it. I also got to spend some time with a lot of my good friends in the Oklahoma City area. 9-year-old Mariela Gross (Cony and Guillermo’s granddaughter and Michelle’s niece) was also able to travel home with me to attend Holly’s wedding. Holly and Mariela have been very close since both Holly and I lived with her family in 2003 (when Mariela was only 3). Holly was so excited to be able to have Mariela in her wedding and also show her around the US for the first time. Experiencing “firsts” with a child is always a blessing and I truly enjoyed my time with Mariela. We ended up sending her home as an unaccompanied minor so that she could be reunited with her family and not be in the US on an expired visa. I am now in Missouri at my mom’s house. It’s always a blessing to spend time with my family. Last week was spent planning for this week’s VBS and this week has been a blessing teaching the younger kids about the wisdom of King Solomon. I was beginning to feel guilty about all the work I’m missing in Honduras and God has blessed me with work to do here in the US.

Prayer List

• Peaceful resolution to the political issues in Honduras.
  
• Peace for the boys as they await my return
  
• Hope and Peace for those at the stadium
  
• Continued growth of the church throughout Honduras
  
• Patience for me as I wait to go back to Honduras
  

Thank you all again for your love and prayers. I love to hear from you and I’m especially thankful for your concern during this trying time. I hope to hear from you soon.

Love,

Amber

Welcome Back

My dear friend Ann White is trying to help me get this blog up and running again. We'll see how that goes. As I'm typing this I'm sitting on another great friend's couch in Oklahoma City waiting for her wedding on Saturday (Holly Deboard). I'm so blessed to be able to be here. Little 9-year-old Mariela was able to make the trip with me from Honduras to be in the wedding as well and it's very very exciting to share in her first trip to the US and her first plane ride. Today is our first real day in the US together and it's been a lot of first. We had a wonderful time shopping with Holly and then we went over to the Elliott's to swim in their swimming pool and jump on their trampoline. We're all exhausted but full of the special joy that comes from sharing fun with friends. God is truly blessing our lives. The summer is in full swing and we're working hard. I've been truly blessed this summer with my interns and Will and Rachel Antrikin who are holding down the fort so that I can be here. We have 26 groups this summer and they are definitely keeping us hopping. We share a lot of laughs and frustrations together but I pray that we are all growing closer to God with each encounter. As I think back over the past few months there is one story that I don't want to go untold. I pray that this is written in a way that gives glory to God and not myself but I feel like it is a good insight into the lives my friends at the stadium live. As most of you have probably gathered, feeding people at the stadium has become the highlight of my week. I love these new friends in a way that is only possible with God's hand at work. They have truly stolen my heart. Anyway...the other way we were in the middle of handing out food when some of the guys come up and ask for more. They start calling me "hambre" which began as a joke and they have begun to believe is my name. A good friend at the stadium, Freddy, likes to take everyone's name and change it into something funny. Well my name Amber sounds very much like the spanish word for hunger which is "hambre" and because of my considerable size they find it HILARIOUS to call me hambre. So Freddy has been calling me hambre for weeks and several of the other guys seem to think that is actually my name. Sooo when they're asking for food they are calling to get my attention over and over "Hambre Hambre give me more food". We're all laughing and joking around and they know they're calling me the wrong name but can't remember what the right name is. Which leads me to start teasing them and giving them a hard time for forgetting my name. I looked at one of the guys I'm particularly close to, Wender (the father of baby Marlen if you're following the homeless stories), and I said "Wender, you know my name, what's my name Wender." and Wender looks at me with his big brown eyes and he looks concerned for a minute, smiles sheepishly and then says "Mama.", and comes to give me a hug.
Let me tell you I almost had to go sit in the car and collect myself. It was all I could do not to cry. These kids are crying out for someone to care and through God's infinite mercy and grace he has allowed me to be a part of His filling that need.

Please take a moment and pray for the Wender's and Freddy's of this world. Pray that they each find God's messengers of love in their day-to-day lives and pray about who you can be a messenger of love to where ever you are.

Stadium Updates

Stadium (If you’re only going to read one part of this newsletter please choose this one!)

The feeding at the stadium continues to grow and be a blessing for everyone involved.  God has definitely used the lateness of this newsletter (not that I’m making excuses :) ) to be able to share with you 3 wonderful stories that probably would have been forgotten by the time the next newsletter rolls around.   In past couple of weeks the number of people coming to the stadium to eat on Mondays and Thursdays has grown quite a bit as has our relationship with these people.  They are no longer “the homeless people at the stadium” in my mind, but my friends that I know by name.  It is humbling and awe inspiring that as I begin to truly love these people, individually, I am graced with a small piece of what God feels towards each one of us.   I left the stadium on Thursday touched in a way I haven’t been touched in a long time and here are 3 reasons why.

Sweet, sweet Ana – Ana, the 17 year old mother of a 6 week old Marlen, told me last week that her birthday was on Friday.  So I told her I would try and do something for her birthday.  Since the group had left on Wednesday I went through the snacks and supplies they had left behind and put together a little birthday present for her.  It was nothing special, some apple sauce, candy, and cookies, some flip flops and a little toy for Marlen.   But when Ana came through the line and I told her I had a gift for her birthday she squealed like an innocent child and was so excited.  She and her friends Hada and Jessica stood to the side giggling like school girls until the line was through and she could get her gift.  They came with me to the truck and were so excited that someone had taken the time to remember her birthday.  The gift cost literally nothing but it showed them that someone really did care to remember them.  The other girls were so gracious to Ana and happy for her.  I just pray for more opportunities to show them that God cares for them. 

The wisdom of Pilo the drunk – As I mentioned before, more and more people are showing up to eat, which is a blessing but is also hard for those that have been coming since the beginning.  Before, almost anyone that wanted them could have seconds and/or take a plate to someone that didn’t come.  Now we’re scraping the bottom to give a plate to everyone that comes through.  On Thursday that was an issue for Pilo.  Pilo is probably around 24 years old, but it’s really hard to tell, he is always drunk but usually extremely happy, with a smile that splits his whole toothless face.  For some reason Pilo has earned the title “the drunk” by the homeless people even though many of them are just as drunk as Pilo, just as often.  Anyway, on Thursday Pilo wanted another plate and I couldn’t give him one because there was still a long line of people to feed.  This made Pilo very angry and he started stomping around and cursing and saying he wasn’t ever coming back (this wasn’t anything terribly uncommon by the drunk crew).  I continued serving the food but afterwards I went and sat down with Pilo to see if we could repair our friendship and end on a good note.  Pilo was still very angry but calming down quickly as he opened his mouth and shocked me with his words. “Amber, man doesn’t live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”  Talk about humbling.  This drunk, angry man was reminding me as well as himself that there is a God that is a lot more important than food and he wasn’t going to let a plate of food stand between our friendship or his relationship with God.  We ended up sitting and talking for a while then with a hug and a smile with both went on with our evening.  Occasionally we see glimpses of heaven right before our eyes. 

The heartbreaking story of Marvin – Occasionally as we’re feeding we get someone passing through that just grabs a bite to eat that is probably going home to a decent place.  We don’t pass judgment we just feed everyone that comes through the line.    Thursday night (Thursday was a busy night) a young man came through that looked pretty healthy, was wearing decent clothes, but looked a little lost.  I just assumed he was a passerby and didn’t give it much thought.  But after my conversations with Ana and Pilo I realized this kid was still hanging around.  That wasn’t normal for the passersby.  So I walked over and started asking some questions and quickly realized that this kid was on the street and scared to death.  Marvin is 19 years old and has been in and out of different children’s homes since he was 8.  4 days prior Marvin had been living at the Micah Project, I don’t know much about it but it reaches out to older kids that need a place to stay.  According to Marvin he walked in and another one of the kids had set Marvin’s clothes on fire so Marvin picked up a stick and hit the guy with it breaking his arm.  After the incident both boys were kicked out of the home.   This isn’t the sweet boy next door, this kid has serious problems and issues to deal with, but he is so lost and alone on the street.  He knows he screwed up and he knows he probably blew the last chance anyone is going to give a 19-year-old with no education for a home.  So now he’s on the street and he knows no one.  But he happened by, or as I choose to believe, God led him by, our food stand and maybe, just maybe he saw a glimmer of hope in us.   Marvin was born in Guatamala and lived there until he was 8, at some point during that time dad skipped town and at 8 years old his older brothers pressured Marvin to leave the home and take pressure off of his single mom.  When he talked about his mom he cried.  He believes her to still be in Guatamala but has no way of contacting her or knowing where she is.  He truly is a lost little boy that feels completely alone in the world.  At this point Marvin is still clean but that can change overnight in a community where huffing and drinking are as natural as breathing.  I’ve promised to try and find Marvin a job so that hopefully he can get on his feet if he promises to stay away from the glue.  God can change lives and I pray that this life is spared the misery of addiction that the streets so often lead to.  On the drive home I looked over at my boys and my heart just melted.  They could so easily be in Marvin’s shoes.  It is heartbreaking to imagine them in that position but for the grace of God we could all be stadium kids. 

Recent Happenings

Boys

My boys are doing extremely well.  Ariel is really leveling out and becoming the sweet kid he used to be.  It is such a joy to see him smiling again.  Darwin was recently elected president of his High School and is very excited about that honor.  Both of them are doing relatively well in school though there is always room for improvement.  I’m very proud of my kids.  Arnold, one of the teens from Mogote, started college this month thanks to a generous family in OKC.  He is so proud and really seems to be enjoying his classes.  This is a rare opportunity for a kid from Mogote and it is really a blessing to be a part of it. 

Church

The church in Mogote continues to grow and be a blessing to the community.  Our young Christians are growing into church leaders and it is such a blessing to witness.   This past Sunday the new baptistry was used for the first time to baptize 4 new brothers and sisters in Christ.  Thanks to Will and Hector’s hard work we no longer have to drive 30 minutes down the road with overloaded pickup trucks to have a baptism.  We can do it with all of our church family right on the property.  Praise God!

Vehicle Update               

I’m still in the process of finding a vehicle that meets all of my transportation requirements.  Funds came pouring in after I began fundraising and I’m now in the process of trying to sell my wrecked truck or trade it in with available funds for another one.  I’m hoping to purchase a 4-wheel drive, diesel, SUV type vehicle with 5-7 passenger seating.   This is proving to be a challenge but I know that God is in control and I haven’t had to walk to work yet J.   Recently a couple of different vehicles have come available, so pray for wise transportation decisions J. 

Prayer List

• Baby Marlen from the stadium - that she get the nourishment that she needs and grow up healthy. 
  
• 19 year old Marvin – that he resist the temptations of the street and overcomes his past to become a successful adult.
  
• That all of us involved in the ministry at the stadium keep our eyes open to the wisdom God shares with us through these amazing people. 
  
• The groups that are preparing to come that they are changed by their experiences and live a life closer to God after seeing him in Honduras. 
  
• Safe travel
  
• Patience and kind hearts for all involved
  
• Smooth passport processes for Santiago
  

Thanks for taking the time to share in my life.  You are all such a blessing to me.  Keep praying always.  I look forward to seeing you soon.

Love,

 

Amber

Recent Visitors

Hi Friends!

I apologize for the fact that this is beyond late.  It’s hard to believe another month has rolled by and the summer time is here.  Our groups are starting to roll in.  We just finished with the second group of 23 that we have this summer.  It’s always fun to continue old friendships and meet new people. 

Visitors

At the end of April we had lots of visitors.  Laura, Beto and baby Santiago came to stay with us for a couple of weeks while they worked on getting Santiago’s American passport.  It proved to be much more difficult than expected and they are still in the process but it was a wonderful visit.  The boys and I are both completely enamored with Santiago and Laura and Beto are pretty good friends too J.  Rachel’s parents, Mike and Anthea Wrinkle, also came to visit for a week.  It was neat to get to know the family Rachel came from and show off our work to new people.   I know it was a great encouragement to Rachel to have them here.  And right now in May, Baxter is hosting 2 VCOM students doing their rotation at the clinic.  Bonnie and Kim have been here before and we’re enjoying continuing our friendship. 

VCOM Trip

Last week we had a group of 35 VCOM med students come and serve the poor communities around Tegucigalpa.  It is always fun to watch these students transform from 1st year med students to practicing doctors throughout the week.  Each team is supervised by a doctor and sees their own patients.  Their level of confidence and knowledge grows exponentially throughout the week.   All together I believe they saw over 600 patients. 

Sunshine Church of Christ

This past week we hosted Sunshine Church of Christ from Ohio.  This group of 11 is a joy to work with.  They built 3 houses, worked with the homeless population, left money for food bags, worked on the kitchen construction, visited the dump, and the special needs orphanage.  Jamie Riley, the leader of this group, fondly called them “a ragtag bunch of weirdo’s being used by God”.  They were definitely a diverse group and absolutely served God this week.  I was blown away by their dedication to develop relationships and touch lives instead of just “doing”. They were a prime example of not just doing God’s work but being God’s hands.