Weekly Journal Notes
Nov 5 - 12
Luke 10:2
The Harvest is plentiful but the workers are few...
Our Latest Mission Trip to Taulabe - November 5th - 12th, 2010 November 5th, Friday An early morning or more like a really late night as we left our house in Hendersonville at 1:00 am to catch our 7:30 am flight out of Atlanta. After picking up Martie Allen, a friend and member of our mission board who was traveling with us, we got on the road. We are flying Spirit Air due to the low airfare and will be making a connection in Fort Lauderdale. We arrived in San Pedro Sula, Honduras around 1:00 pm local time only a little behind schedule. Immigration and customs went smoothly and we were soon on our way. Santos was waiting for us at the airport with the truck. He has been trying to sell it since we left but has been unsuccessful. The weather was rainy and cool and we made a quick stop by Santos’ house to say hi to his family, then on to Taulabe. We bought a fresh pineapple and a large bunch of datiles (mini bananas) at a roadside stand and arrived in Taulabe around 4:00 pm. Everyone was really happy to see us again. I think they weren’t sure if we would actually ever return. They had planned a welcome dinner for us and soon all 3 pastors and their families were at the mission house. We feasted on fried chicken, Honduran rice, salad, and of course tortillas. Everyone got a chance to meet Martie and we caught up on all the news. We went to bed tired, but happy. November 6th, Sat. The weather is rainy and cool today. Last night the temperature was in the upper 50’s which is quite chilly when you have no heat in your home. Most Hondurans were wearing winter coats, hat and gloves (if they owned them). We drove up to El Pinon to visit a family from the church there and prayed with them. Then, we drove up to El Cerron to visit and pray with a family there. El Cerron is very high on the mountain and the view is quite magnificent. You can even see Lake Yojoa. Later, at night, we held a service at the mission house and ended up cramming everyone inside (45 people in our 10x12 dining room) because it was so chilly out in the wind. Tonight’s dinner was spaghetti. November 7th, Sun. We headed into Siguatepeche for groceries for the week. We went to the San Juan market and Martie’s top priority is a warm blanket since the nights have been so cool. We knew that Jan. can be chilly but we weren’t expecting it to be quite so cold in November! After lunch we went to Nuevo Esperanza and El Porvenir and held a service in a home there. The road had washed badly from recent rains and was quite treacherous and slow going. The people were very excited to see us and we had a moving service and nice visit. Later, the evening service was at Nectali’s home. Tonight’s dinner was a warm chicken soup. November 8th, Mon. Larry is off to San Pedro Sula to meet with Mauricio ***(his friend who has been helping us with the internet) and to pick up our pastor, Mauricio Mercado, at the airport. He is flying in to join us today. We are planning another welcome dinner for him, so Martie, Doris, and Gayle cooked all afternoon in preparation. The weather has continued to be rainy and cool, which we think is from nearby Hurricane Tomas. The dinner was a great time of fellowship for everyone. We had the traditional (and everyone’s favorite), fried chicken, Honduran rice, potato salad, slaw, and tortillas. All the local pastors really enjoyed meeting Pastor Mauricio with the added benefit of being able to converse with him since he speaks Spanish fluently. November 9th, Tues. The sun is finally shining! Today we gathered everyone from all the villages and held a baptism. Several people had wanted us to be there and participate so they had waited for our return. Eight people were baptized in all. It was a beautiful baptism in the river about a mile from the Mission house. In all there were about 60-70 people in attendance. Afterward we had a joint service at the campimento church. Pastor Mauricio did a wonderful teaching and also played and sang some nice worship songs. We finished up just before dark, but still had to take the pastor back up El Cerron, which was about 70 minutes round trip. Larry and Mauricio got back after 7pm. It was late, but we went to one of the restaurants on Lake Yojoa for the famous fried fish dinners. It was quite delicious as usual. With Mauricio’s help, we even confirmed that the fried fish was gluten free, which was great! November 10th, Wed. Pastor Mauricio did a teaching on discipleship with our pastors and leaders. He gave each pastor a Spanish Concordance and some teaching material he has prepared. He also spent a great deal of time teaching them how to use the Concordance and a study bible. At the end of the teaching he washed Pastor Mariano’s, Pastor Neptali’s, and Pastor Marco’s feet and then prayed for and blessed them and their wives. It was a very touching moment. This was a beautiful sunny day and there was another service in El Porvenir, and New Esperanza. Gayle stayed home as she needed a little time to rest as she is still recovering from her surgery. She fixed us beef stew for dinner. November 11th, Thurs. So much to do so little time! We actually have to leave for San Pedro Sula in the afternoon because we have to be at the airport around midnight and don’t want to be driving on the main highway at night. We headed into Siguatepeche early to meet with the lawyer who is processing our papers to register our mission in Honduras. Afterwards, we did some souvenir shopping in the San Pablo and San Juan market areas. Chair hammocks seem to be the most popular souvenir. We arrived back in Taulabe around lunch time and packed up. We quickly met with our pastors to go over important information and instructions. It was very hectic. There were probably at least 6 families that we had wanted to visit while we were there, but were unable to as the time just flew by so quickly! We left Taulabe around 4:00 pm headed for San Pedro Sula. We met Mauricio and his wife Annie; Santos, his wife, Saira, and their 2 daughters at a restaurant. We all enjoyed a wonderful meal and a special time together. We ask for prayers for Mauricio’s 18 year old sister whose kidneys are failing. After dinner, we visited at Santos’ house until midnight when it was time to go to the airport. November 12th, Friday Our plane departed around 2:30 am and arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 5:30 am. It took us a while to get through immigration and customs and then around 7:30am we were on our way to Atlanta. We arrived in Atlanta at 9:45 and were soon driving back home. After several stops along the way we arrived safely home around 2:30pm. An exhausting week that seemed like a couple days! In all a very enjoyable and rewarding trip and we look forward to our next visit.
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