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July 12-July 21
Luke 10:2
The Harvest is plentiful but the workers are few...
Honduras update July 12 - July 21, 2010 Monday, July 12th We took Julia and Lorenzo into Sig. to get Julia's birth certificate and some other papers for their upcoming wedding.4 hours later and back in Taulabe, we headed off to San Jose to get Lorenzo's papers. As it turned out, he will need to go to the place he was born to get his papers. Apparently, that is some obscure little village near El Salvador, around 8 hours away. It was supper time by the time we got back from San Jose, and then the rains came. We do still have water though, so that is a huge blessing. Tuesday, July 13th Lorenzo left to go get his papers really early this AM. Larry got up around 5:30 to go and switch out the Access Point on the antenna. He is not sure if he will ever feel comfortable climbing to the top of a 40' tower! He was back 2 hours later. The new access point has more power, so all the customers have a lot stronger signals now. Then around 10am, Larry and Nicole took off to do another internet cafe internet installation. This one required a 20' tower. The roof was barely walkable, but only on the extra boards you had to put down between steps. They spent about 4 hours and got done before it was time to leave for New Esperanza for our regular weekly service. Neptali's friend, Juan, went with us and played the guitar. He is quite an accomplished musician, able to play along in whatever key someone decides to sing in. The rain managed to be timed perfectly, only coming during the service (held inside) and not while we were driving. It was a beautuful service. There were about 40 of us all huddled into a small 12x12 room praising the Lord together. Afterward, we took one of the women and her sick baby to the clinic in Taulabe. We made it home around 6pm. Larry went to the Chinese restaurant with Julia to ask what they put into their fried rice. The soy sauce they use has wheat in it, but they offered to cook some without it for us. The owner took Larry back into the kitchen and showed him every ingredient he used. Larry ordered a huge plate of fried rice and shrimp and took it home to the family for dinner. Wednesday, July 14th Marco and Juan, a friend of Neptali, asked to speak with us about the ministry. We had about an hour long talk. Juan asked to join our ministry. We told him that are policy for bringing new Pastors into our ministry is to invite them to go with us and be apart of our group as a volunteer for several months. During that time we talk with everyone in the ministry and discuss whether we feel God would have us work with this person. We also explained to him that even if we invited him to join us, our mission is under-funded and that we do not know when we would have any offering money available for him. Larry went over to Neptali's to design and build a little cart for Marco to transport his boxes back and forth to the market on the weekend. Neptali said that we could buy a cart in Pena Blanca for less than we could buy the parts, so Larry, Neptali, and Juan took off for Pena Blanca only to find that the 'cart' he spoke of was really just a hand truck. Juan ended up offering an old hand truck he had that was without wheels, so we just bought some new wheels and they are going to fix it up for Marco. Larry got back just in time to go to our regular Wed. night service in Jaitique. We ended up with 2 car loads of folks wanting to go to the service in Jaitique this evening. It turned out to be really special. 12 year old, Brenda, asked Jesus into her heart and another woman asked for prayer for reconciliation. It was very nice. We dodged the rain again and made it back mostly dry. Thursday, July 15th Gayle, Nicole, and Luke left early this morning for Sig. as Luke had an orthodontic appointment. Spy, the dog, chased after the truck and we didn't notice him until we were pulling onto the main highway. We stopped and Nicole managed to get him in the truck bed and we returned home and shut him inside the gate. He is only 5 mos old and is really still a puppy even though he is quite large. Afterward Luke's appt, we did some souvenir shopping and ran a couple errands. Before heading home, we made the popular stop at Wendy's. Larry, without the truck, was left to take a moto-taxi with Alex to do an internet installation in LaJas. This is the furthest customer he has, over 5 miles away. We ended up putting an antenna about 50' in the air. The guy is a welder and he just kept welding the antenna shaft longer and longer for us. Larry got done well before Gayle returned, and then headed up to Taulabe to try and figure out some other internet problem. We found out that Gayle's crown is in (porcelain tooth that is), but the Dentist couldn't see her until 2:30pm. Luke and Nicole weren't too keen on waiting around in Sig. for 2 hours until the appointment and we had groceries, so we headed home. After less than an hour at home, Gayle and Julia left again for Sig again for Gayle's appt. She got her new crown and then they did a little shopping for wedding clothes since Lorenzo was able to get his papers. Larry worked until dark on an issue, and then still had to fix an issue on the antenna tower in La Mision. It was rather exiting for him to climb the 40' tower in the dark, then he went off to try and install another client in the dark. As he was climbing up the ladder with the antenna pole he got shocked! That was all it took. Larry told the guy that his roof was electrified and he was not climbing up on it, and would return tomorrow morning and try to install it a different way. On a sad note, Mariano told us that someone had called and said that Spy, their dog, had been run over by a car on the main highway. He had apparently followed Larry's truck again when he left to do the internet work and Larry didn't notice. Eloina took it really hard. Later, Julia reported seeing a man pulling Spy along with a leash, so we are praying that he isn't really dead. We still have water and we managed to take a refreshing showing before turning in for the night all worn out. Friday, July 16th Good news this AM. Spy, the dog, is home safe and sound! Apparently, the phone call reporting his demise was a lie to discourage anyone from searching for him. The man who had him said he bought him a few days ago, but of course, that too was a lie. Julia called the mayor's office in San Jose to see if they could do the civil wedding today and the woman there said that they could do it if we came before noon. After waiting for Julia to get ready, we set out for San Jose. Upon arrival, the woman perused their papers, only to say that Lorenzo's papers were not properly filled out and they could not get married. Back to Taulabe, and the mayor here confirmed it couldn't be done. Today we took 2 of the kittens and the mother cat to their new owners. It was a little sad to part with them but we are happy to have found them good homes. Saturday, July 17th Gayle spent quite a bit of time washing clothes and packing for our departure to the US on Tues. Larry spent a lot of time organizing all the tools and supplies for the internet business to turn it all over to Alex tomorrow when he goes over the final details with him. We gave Julia the last kitten which was everyone's favorite. Sunday, July 18th We were invited to Jackie's house for a meal today. Julia had explained the issues with gluten but she still insisted we come and agreed to follow the restrictions. We had a nice visit and she began to serve the 'meal' in courses. First, we received some type of fruity beverage that we prayed was not made from tap water. Second, came a small bowl of canned fruit cocktail. Last, was a piece of baked pataste, which is similar to a squash and some fried red plaintain. It wasn't quite what we were expecting in the way of dinner, but all good and gluten free. Tonight the service at Marco's was a special send off service for us. Everyone came and prayed for us and for the mission. It was a lovely tear filled service. It was supposed to be Julia's and Lorenzo's wedding and baptism day, but it could not happen since Lorenzo's papers were not correct. That was rather sad we have to say, but it was still a really special service and we had standing room only in the yard to the side of the shelter we meet in. Monday, July 19th Gayle continued washing and packing. Julia and Lorenzo actually went up to Esperanza for a 3rd time now to get the "correct" papers for their wedding. They received more disappointing news today. They will have to wait 3 weeks for the person who fills out the papers to return from vacation before they can get the proper papers for their marriage. They were still hoping to have the marriage this afternoon so we could do it with them before we left. Tonight, we had Julia's birthday service at her home. Her birthday is later this week, but she wanted to celebrate it with us before we left. Everyone from La Mision heard we were having another service and wanted to come too. We ended up having another send off prayer/service for us. It was another very special night, full of prayers, tears and well-wishes. Tuesday, July 20th Gayle finished up last minute packing, suitcase weighing, and repacking. Larry finished up with a final climb up the 40' antenna around 6am in the morning, passed off the remaining issues to Alex. He then stopped off to say good-bye to Pastor Marco and Neptali's family too. Then he wrote up the documents for the mission in English and Spanish and went over the Spanish versions with Julia. Then, left the needed money for the expenses through August and went over it all with Concha and Doris, as they are the Fiscal and Treasurer of the Board in Honduras. We made a quick trip to visit Erenia and then loaded the 15 suitcases and our 5 personal items into the truck. Boy it was packed tight! Thank the Lord it did not rain. Then, after some tearful goodbyes with the family, we left around noon. We stopped for a brief visit with Pastor Chepe and his family, then Santos' family in San Pedro Sula. Mauricio and his wife, Annie, met us and bought us lunch at Wendy's at the airport. After a 50 min. delay, our plane left for Fort Lauderdale. We arrived around 9:30 pm and did the immigration & custom thing. Since our connection isn't until tomorrow morning, we had reserved a hotel room. We were told that we could not recheck our luggage until tomorrow morning and had to drag all 15+ suitcases to the hotel. The kids were starving and the only options were McDonalds and Taco Bell. We finally got to bed after 1am with the alarm set for 4:20am. A short night. Wednesday, July 21st Up at 4:20 and on the 5am shuttle back to the airport. We caught our early flight and arrived safely in Atlanta around 10am. Our pastor, Mauricio, and good friend, Martie picked us up in the church van and drove us home. We finally arrived in Hendersonville around 4pm. What a long trip. We spent the next 2 hours unloading all our suitcases out-side shaking out all our clothing and other items to make sure we did not bring any unwanted guests into the apartment we are going to be living in for now. Kellie, our pastor's wife also made us a wonderful Gluten Free meal to enjoy that evening so we did not have to worry about shopping and then cooking too. That was so very nice. After diner and a quick trip to the grocery store for food for tomorrow, we turned in for the night!
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