Beginning and Ending a Day With Beauty

For the second day in a row we had a beautiful sunrise. Today's was accented by wispy clouds trapped among the hills and valleys that shape the city of Tegucigalpa. But a sunny day wasn't the only beauty that we experienced today.

Working in a much smaller church than they did during the first part of the week, Team A witnessed some miraculous healings in the evangelism stations. A woman who had legs that were crooked and unable to bend properly at the knees was, after receiving prayer, able to first kneel down and then walk out of the brigade on her own. She is probably still singing God's praises. It is very reminiscent of the healing of the lame man at the temple in Acts 3:6-10. Wow, what a beautiful thing!

Team B worked in a much larger church, and although we didn't experience the same kind of miracles that Team A did, we were able to serve a very large number of people. The facilities were nice and the church workers were gracious. It was a good day all around.

Both teams did painting projects and water filter installations today, which were also rewarding experiences. We are looking forward to great things on our last day tomorrow.

Please pray for our safe travel home on Saturday. We are looking forward to seeing all of you and telling you more about our special week in Honduras.

Bendiciones!

Team A Children's Ministry

Mary and Abby painting

Martin, Mary and Debbie after installing a water filter in this Honduran home

 

Tim Anderson with Noe his translator in evangelism

Chris on the autorefactor

Team B medical

Team B medical

Team B medical - note the large crowd of patients

Ron and Julie in Evangelism

Exciting Day of Rest

The sound of our alarms did not come as quickly this morning. Even walking the mission house halls you could have possibly heard some more snoring. With the clock ticking and breakfast approaching, the sounds of hair dryers blowing and coffee pouring were the abundant sounds for the rest of the morning.

We filled the dining room, filled our plates, and filled our hearts to approach our day for a fulfilling rest. Boarding the buses today our team dispersed to learn about what else WGO has done and will do at Rancho Ebenezer. The first timers were able to walk, see, and breathe the impactful work that those in the states can't quite see. Eye witnessing the soft hearts of the little kids who were once hurting now safely living in conditions that are Christ centered and loving and caring. We had the opportunity to run, laugh, and play with children who were joyful to see their sponsors and team who love and support them more than mere words can portray.

After time at the ranch, our team was reunited for a meaty lunch that incorporated rice milk beverages, beans and cheese, and plates full of various meats. Following the cycle of refills and completions of many platefuls, our hearts and bellies were stuffed full and were extremely grateful.

Up next for the day was an adventure to see the statue of the man who fulfills scripture. A massive creation of a stone built Jesus was larger than we could possibly measure. Exploring 'Parque Nacional el Picacho' we embraced the opportunities for picture taking, stair climbing, and bird's eye viewing over the city that was nothing short of breath taking.

Completing our day of rest, we concluded the way we know best. Quick wash ups and naps, the team was thankful for WGO's cooks for our dinner and continuous efforts to feed us the best food they could make. We contently ended the night with coffee and cake, and an incredible meeting regarding the future steps that WGO is looking to take.

Da Big Guy

Donna and Matt

Aaron, Matt and Meghan at El Picacho park

The Colorado Team

We are well rested for tomorrow's adventures as we set off to new churches. We thank you for following along with your thoughts and prayers, we hope to keep you informed of all of the day's endeavors.

Tuesday in Tegucigalpa

The power of prayer was revealed in awe striking moments throughout the day here in Tegucigalpa. With a hearty and fruity breakfast, morning devotional, and a sunrise that quickly humbled our hearts, the WGO team began the day well equipped. 

Returning to the churches we worked with yesterday, our teams blended with the hearts of those who served alongside us with such graciousness. We were reminded that no matter what workstation we were at, we were all doing evangelism and sharing the love of Christ.

A member of our medical team had the opportunity to minister to a young man who wanted to continue pursuing a life greater than what he came from. Within the children's area, a child with lice was full of joy when he had his hair washed. An optical team member had the opportunity to witness a young boy see out into the distance for the first time and watch his smile grow bigger and bigger. In the moment when a woman mentioned she was unable to read the Bible, one of our team members gave her a salvation bracelet that tells the Gospel story of Jesus Christ. Now she can carry the Gospel with her every single day. Speaking to a woman who mentioned she had a mass on her side, an incredible translator and team member prayed for healing. As the woman arose she no longer had a lump on her side, and all glory was given to the Lord. 

Our teams had the opportunity to bless the community beyond the concrete block walls of the church buildings by placing water filters in two homes and in two prison half-way houses in great need of clean water. It brought joy to our hearts as well as theirs and, even though it was a simple task, it filled a great need and made a huge impact! Community and church members selflessy joined our teams, and we were able to watch God work in their hearts as well. They all welcomed these water filters with such gratitude. There was no translation necessary as the tears of thankfulness flowed from one church member. A daughter of a woman housed in the half-way house revealed a pure reaction to the purified water.

We prayed big prayers of salvation, rest, healing, and more today. The good God we serve met us where we were, and He guided our steps, breathed life into our conversations, and placed urgency in the hearts of new and seasoned believers. We have an eagerness to see more of the works that God is going to do through our team.

After an enjoyable evening in which some of us played some games and others conversed, it's now time for a restful night's sleep in preparation for our trip to Rancho Ebenezer tomorrow. Hasta manana. 

Fred and Mary with the pastors

Terry with some new friends

Water filter installation

Peter finishing up some concrete work

Terrie in medical

Aaron and Scarleth after an amazing healing of this woman

Tuesday's concrete crew for Team A

Arising to our first morning, the sun met us with its orange rays through the mountains, reminding us of God's glory. A cup of coffee, a message from God, a ring of the bell, and we were prepared for a fruitful day. Today was our first day going on brigades in Tegucigalpa. We split up into two groups and spent the day at two different churches, each one about an hour away.

On our first day of brigades, we served alongside our Honduran brothers and sisters in Christ to meet the physical and spiritual needs and hear the stories of those whom we served at the 2 churches. We saw first-hand that there is no language barrier in humbly loving and caring for others. Later tonight, our hearts overflowed with Christ centered moments shared from the day, and we are excited for the promising day tomorrow.

The weather was perfect today - sun rays meeting our skin and a refreshing breeze to lighten the heat. After the brigades were over, we arrived back to the mission house to see that Peter Grass and the five missing suitcases had arrived safe and sound. We dined on a traditional Honduran dish called Tipico (literally translated as "typical" in Spanish), and it was delicious.

One thing that stuck with me today was what the pastor at Team A's church said; he encouraged everybody to be disciples and not churchgoers. We are praying for a similar zeal to take root in our hearts in the body of Christ.

A small portion of Tegucigalpa

Kate Martis in medical

The medical brigade at Iglesia Dios de la Profecia

Charmy with a new little Honduran friend

Ginny in Evangelism

Kayleigh handing out salvation bracelets in Children's ministry

Jim and Paula after the installation of a water filter system

If it's Sunday this must be Honduras

We have arrived. Mostly. Peter Grass, one of the 18 people that flew from Miami through Panama to Honduras, didn't end up with a seat on the flight from Panama to Honduras. At last word he was comfortable in his hotel room and getting ready to watch his beloved Packers take on the 49'rs. Five suitcases also didn't make it to Honduras, but we are hopeful that they will show up tomorrow along with Peter.

It was a joy to unite at the Mission House with the team members from Colorado, Georgia, Maryland and Utah who arrived here on Saturday. They weren't encumbered with the weather related delays that the Chicago portion of the team had, so they were able to do some of the preparation and organization of the supplies that we will use at the Serve Team sites this week.

The early start for most of the people who came from Miami today has left us a little bleary-eyed and tired. But we will dive into the work tomorrow with our first day of serving at the Serve Team sites. We will have two teams going to two churches for the next two days to provide the love and care that Christ would show to the people we meet.

Please pray for our safety, health and effectiveness as we serve. Thanks!

We're Getting There...

Thank God for helpful airline ticket agents! Really. Thank Him!

The portion of the team flying out of Chicago had their flight delayed due to inclement weather, which meant that we missed our connection in Miami. The American Airlines agents in Chicago tried their best to get us rebooked to go from Miami to Tegucigalpa on Sunday, but they were only able to get four of us scheduled for Sunday and 21 for Monday. So all 25 of us took off from Chicago with the hope that we would be able to find a better solution in Miami.

In Miami the customer service agents searched every option, some of which we weren't inclined to take such as flying through Bogota or San Salvador. The good news is that they were able to put three more of us on American and the rest on Copa Airlines with a connection in Panama, which means we will all make it to Tegucigalpa on Sunday. The bad news is that the Copa flights were at 5:00 am and 6:54 am! So much for a good night's sleep in Miami.

Seven of us are still in Miami as I write this blog post, but we have word that the other 18 got on their planes to Panama. It's our understanding that everyone from Colorado and other parts all made it to Tegucigalpa on Saturday, which means … "we are getting there."

Honduras 2020

Welcome and thank you for visiting our blog site. During our upcoming mission trip we will be posting daily updates of our activities, so please check in with us again to see how God is at work in us and through us in Honduras.

Our mission team will spend the week of January 18-25, 2020 in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. We will set up temporary clinics in local churches to provide medical, dental and optical services to people in need. We will also provide water filter systems in some of the church member's homes and do some painting and perhaps some concrete work in other's homes. We will also minister to the children of the churches and neighborhoods through Bible stories and hair washing.

Our team is made up of more than 40 people from around the United States, and we will be transporting a lot of supplies. So we ask you to join us in praying for safe travel and the timely delivery of all our checked baggage.

Bendiciones!

How Can It Be Friday Already?

Our final day of service at the ranch was a beautiful one. It rained Thursday night, but not so much to keep us out of the garden.  And that's where we spent our day, clearing out as many raised beds as possible to get them ready for planting soon.  Martin and Tom did yeoman's work with the hoe clearing the rows between the raised beds. (Their family members can check out their impressive biceps soon).

The weather was practically perfect for garden work, with a refreshing breeze to cool us off from time to time. And as a bonus, we found some "volunteer" carrots and radishes to enjoy for an afternoon snack!

After our work was done, we had a few special moments with the children of Casa Luz and Casa Paciencia, for whom we re-screened the porches this week. We prayed for Jesus' ongoing presence in their lives today and in the future, and we ask you to join in prayer for these precious children.

One more special moment was watching the kids play with a gift of Legos that Martin brought along on behalf of Alene Vandermyde and the Davenport Central High School Robotics Club. Legos are definitely an international language!

We enjoyed watching the almost daily after-school soccer game, and then enjoyed our last dinner at the ranch for this year.  Now we're heading to singing and sharing at a bonfire to wrap up our time together. 

Tomorrow morning we head home on various flights, but Janice stays for one more week.  Thank  you for your prayers and support this week!  We'll post one more update once we're all home in the no-longer-so-frigid Midwest!

That Thursday Tired Kind Of Feeling

We are tired after four days of hard work, but we have something to show for our labors. Today we finished repairing and improving the screened-in porches at Casa Luz and Casa Paciencia, two of the homes that the children stay in here at Rancho Ebenezer. As you can see from some of the photos, there were some gymnastics involved. Also, Martin was not really laying down on the job as it might appear from the one photo. But, in fact, he was trying to find a new way to smash his thumb since he had tried all the usual ways on Wednesday to great effect.

Doreen spent the second day in a row in the bathroom. Fortunately, it was time spent painting the bathrooms and not taking up residence there.

Having completed our primary tasks, we moved on to weeding the vegetable garden. We could probably have spent the whole week in the garden since it's pretty large and the weeds have done wonderfully. As it is, we will spend tomorrow doing battle with nature in the garden. WGO would like to get the garden ready to plant by the time the coffee harvest is done.

Terry is leading our devotion tonight. We've enjoyed a wide variety of spiritual conversations in the evening. It's a good way to end the day after serving Jesus through our labor during the day.

We hope you are all recovering from the polar blast. Don't worry, we are bringing warmer weather back home with us on Saturday.

Benciciones,

The Team

Wednesday at the Ranch

Yesterday (Tuesday) our team welcomed Janice Brauer to the ranch, who will be at the Ranch and Mission House through next Friday, as she provides "member care" to the staff at both places. (She picked up cookies on the way, so we were especially happy to see her!)

Today most of the team concentrated on finishing up the work on Paciencia. Everything takes more time than we expect, but the end result looks good.  Notice the three horizontal boards in the finished porch, designed to protect the screens from boys who want to play soccer whenever possible!

Doreen spent most of the day painting a bathroom in one of the homes - it's nice to see it fresh and clean, and imagine the children who will find a warm home here at the ranch.


Today was extra special because it's Terri Bagley's birthday!  We celebrated the gift of Terri together here in Honduras, and send birthday greetings to her twin sister Kathy back home!



The weather continues beautiful. Today started out cloudy, but the sun burst through and sunscreen was definitely called for.  To all of you in the frigid zone, please stay warm and safe!

Tuesday at Rancho Ebenezer

Greetings all,

Last night was a beautiful clear night and the stars were spectacular. We know because the power went out so there was no light pollution to compete with the stars. The power came on after awhile and we had a nice visit with Holly Tompkins at Casa Grande. Like many missionaries, she has an amazing life story with God showing his care for her in very interesting ways.

This morning started out with a completely clear sky and then it clouded up through the day. We've been hearing about the cold back home and we aren't sorry that we are missing it. It was a little hot, so the lemonade that Martin made from our lemon harvest came in quite handy.

We continued our work projects today and made good progress on the two screened in porches. We now have the woven wire mesh and wood pieces that we need to kid-proof the screens. Doreen and Terry took turns sanding the wood. Tom, Martin and our guests Doug and Donna all worked on demo and hanging new screens. Karen also got all the screens replaced in Casa Paciencia before joining the rest of us working on the porch.

After a dinner of papusas and salad we all got cleaned up and will have our evening devotional time as soon as this blog posting is done. Who knows, we might even do something wild and crazy like play some dominos.

Here are a few pictures of our day: