For the first time since being overseas one of us is really sick. Tyler has always struggled with asthma but normally we are able to keep it under control. For 10 days now though he has really had a hard time and our normal methods of taking care of him are not working. After listening to him cough for so many days and not being able to find a doctor here, I called a doctor in Texas. He had come here on a mission trip back in July, right after we moved here, and left me his email. He was so great to walk me through what I needed to do differently. Of course, it is all a guessing game as to what is wrong since there are no x-ray machines here in Gracias. I felt bad for the doctor. I am sure it is not easy to diagnose a kid you have never seen over the phone but he was great about it. By just listening to Tyler’s symptoms he thinks that Tyler has a-typical pneumonia. We have been this route before so I was not too worried after the doctor gave me all the prescriptions that I needed to get Tyler on. So we went looking today. One of the things on the list was a scale so that we can know how much medicine to give him. We looked in four stores to no avail. We asked around and were told that they were not sold here. We are going to try to find a doctor with one this afternoon. We were also looking for antibiotics, albuterol and nasal spray. I found none of them. I have made a list of what we do have here and hopefully one of those will work. I know that God is in control but it is much easier to believe that when things are going easy. However regardless of how I feel, my God is in control and cares for my children. Please pray that He will help us find the right medication and heal Tyler quickly.
First Church Service on 6 Months
Today was our first day back in the States and I attended church at Bluff Dale with my parents. As I sat listening to the service I was struck by the stark differences and yet similarities between our church in Honduras and the service here in the States. I thought I would share a few of the differences.
1.) I got out of my car and walked into the church without crawling through a fence, stepping over cow poo, going around pigs, and walking over a log to get into the house church.
2.) It started on time. Our church is supposed to start at 10:00 but that is very flexible. When they see our truck pull up the kids will run from various houses to come to Sunday School. Adults will trickle in, eventually the final one may come about 10:30.
3.) I understood the whole service! I speak decent Spanish but it takes a lot of concentration and even then I miss a good deal of what’s said so it was nice to just sit and understand all that was said.
4.) People look very different here. Of course the most obvious is the hair and skin tone differences. I saw blonde hair, brown hair, light brown hair, dark brown hair, no hair, black hair, gray hair and all the in-betweens. The same with skin tones. In our church, and in our country, we typically see only black hair and dark skin… and then us.
5.) Everyone was all dressed up and looking pretty. In Honduras, people do not typically dress up for church. Most kids come barefoot, with dirty or stained clothes and the adults are not much different.
6.) Everyone was quiet during the service. In our church it is culturally acceptable to talk during church and for kids to walk around and come and go as they please. It was a little strange for the service today to be so orderly.
7.) When the offering is taken in Honduras it is done by an individual walking to ask each person for their offering. Here, it is much less personal and no one would not notice if you gave money or not.
8.) The singing was on key and there were instrurments with the singing. No further comment needed.
9.) I sat in a comfy pew, was warm and did not get bitten by any bugs. Our churches have homemade benches made of tree trunks and no back and certainly no cushion.
10.) No chickens came pecking around my feet in the middle of service.
11.) There was no cooking stove being tended to in the kitchen where the kids meet. The lady of the house is usually cooking supper or tending the fire for the oven while church is going on. Unfortunately this does not keep the house warm so I am still cold in the winter.
11.) In America, when someone prays, others pray silently or day dream. In Honduras, when one person prays, everyone else joins in prayer out loud. At first this was very distracting and after a couple months annoying. However, I have come to appriciate this over time. There is something very special about hearing many people lifting up their prayers as one voice. Try it sometime… you might find you like it.
However, with all the differences the most important things stays the same here as well as in Honduras. We all worship the same God and Savior, Jesus Christ; who looks past our differences and sees a group of people, His people.
Ruth
Two weeks ago we were proud to be a part of a mission team that came from Texas to minister here in Gracias. The team consisted of 10 members. The vision was to split the team up for the first part of the week. One part of the team stayed in Gracias at the hotel and hosted a Sunday School Training Conference for the pastors and church leaders. There were over 40 in attendance for the 2 ½ day conference. The second part of the team slit into pairs and went to three villages. The vision was to make house visits, invite families to church, and if possible share the Gospel. I was teamed up Bert and George. We were sent to a village near the radio station called La Puerta.
We stopped at the first house in the village and had a great visit with the family. As we were walking to the next house we noticed two young people working in a field of corn. The corn harvest for most people ended about a month ago. All the corn crops were wilted and brown. I walked to the edge of the gate hoping the two workers would see me and come over to us, but they just kept working. So we decided to walk through the field and talk with them. As we got closer we announced ourselves making sure they knew we were coming with good intentions. Bert began to visit with the two workers and asked if they knew what happened after death. He talked with them for a while and then turned to me and said he was not sure where to go from here. So I said, “Lets share the Gospel”. So I began to share the message of Jesus with the two workers and after we talked a little longer they both indicated they wanted to ask Jesus to be their Lord and Savior.
After we prayed with the couple and visited a little while longer I realized we had been so distracted that we failed to ask their names. The young man said his name as Naphtali. I asked the young women what her name was and she said Ruth. I started laughing. How amazing is God! The Ruth of Honduras was gleaning corn from the fields to help support her family, just like the Ruth of the Old Testament was gleaning grain for her family.
The rest of the week was amazing. The team was part of a three day revival in six villages. Overall 23 people accepted Christ, 7 reconciled with God, and 1 man was called to start a church in another village. There was also two house churches started over the course of the week.
When we get discouraged about living here or do not see the progress we would like, it is stories like this that we can look at and know that God is at work here and is using us in the process. We are so thankful for the times that we clearly see Him.
-Shannon
Thanksgiving
What does Thanksgiving look like here, in Gracias, Honduras? Well, like any other day. Many people have ask us questions about Thanksgiving in Central America but since it is an American holiday, people here do not celebrate it. All day, Shannon and I would have thoughts like “ We are out paper towels but I guess the stores are closed today.” And then we would realize that the stores were not closed since we were the only ones celebrating today. It was kind of odd feeling. We did however have the traditional meal today at lunch. Shannon cooked while I painted our living room. He did a great job. His mom sent us dressing, and sweet potatoes which cannot be found here and then Shannon also bought ham to go with it. I made rolls and my parents had sent cheesecake and brownies. Yum!
Afterwards we decorated our miniature Christmas tree that I brought in a suitcase from the States last week when I went home for my Grandad’s funeral. Since our house is pretty small it fits perfect. I also brought our “special ornaments” so that the kids could feel like this is home.
Thanksgiving was a great today. I am so very thankful for many things this year, one of which is our friends and family in the States that I know keep us in their prayers. As Paul said “I thank my God every time I think of you.”
The orphanage (no, we are not adopting… yet)
We were invited by a couple other teachers to visit an orphanage about 45 minutes away. We were told that visiting hours were from 9-11 on Saturday so we arrived promptly at 9am. 30 minutes later we were told that the “sisters” were not there so we could not come in but we could go to a nearby church and speak to the sisters. The “sisters” turned out to be very nice nuns who allowed us to go to the orphanage and told us a little of its background. It has been around along time- at one point Mother Teresa came to visit. It houses 23 kids who right now are all under the age of 3 but can stay at the orphanage until age 6. After that they will either be adopted, the parents will return to get them in hopes they are no longer malnourished or they will be transferred to a different orphanage for older kids. I was prepared to be depressed by the circumstances of the kids but that was not at all the case. The building itself was very well taken care of and the children were all clean and clothed properly. The only thing that was painfully obvious was the lack of attention to the kids. I am positive that the workers loved the kids and did their best but there were 6 workers for 23 kids- including the cafeteria and cleaning lady. When we arrived the older kids attacked and flew into our arms. They knew we were there to play! The younger ones held back and took a few minutes to warm up but once they did, they were hungry for attention as well. We played, fed and rocked kids for about 2 hours. When it was time to go Tyler asked if we could go back next week because “those kids sure did like having someone to play with.” He has since asked several times to go back but we have not had the chance. Anyway, it was a great day and we will be going back as soon as we have a free weekend!
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