A vision for an alcohol treatment center in Tegucigalpa

There is a Nazarene Pastor named Yanuario who has a vision and he has shared this vision with Tom and I.  He is PASSIONATE about this vision and has been praying for several years that God would bless the vision and what he would like to do.  I am sharing his story with all of you in hopes that you, too, will help him by praying.  As Jesus has said, there is power in the prayers of the saints.  After reading his testimony, if any of you are led to help in his vision, you can contact us.  This is his story as told to Tom and Paul Jetter:

One night Yanuario heard someone moaning in the weeds behind his church.  Upon investigating he found a drunk who had dirtied himself with his own excrement.  Yanuario carried him to the church, helped clean him up, and offered to let him sleep in the church.  The man refused, saying he was not worthy.  So he slept outside the church instead.  This happened several nights within a short period of time.  Then the man asked Yanuario if he could help him get sober.  Yanuario found a Christian rehab center, got him in, and now the man is an active member of his church.  Yanuario then started a rehab program of his own.  He has 20 to 30 men in it.  So far, four or five have gone sober.  One is in heaven, three are in his church, and the other in another church. 

There is additional land behind Yanuario's church.  He has the dream of building a rehab center there.  Unless the land is purchased soon, it will likely be filled with houses and then unavailable.  He ask the price, the the owner offered it for about 1.2 millionlempiras.  (Exchange rate is about 19 to one dollar.)  Yanuario didn't have that kind of money, so he for weeks he would walk around the land praying.  The owner came down to one million.  Yanuario kept walking and praying and the owner came down to about 750,000.  It went on that way until the owner came down to 425,000 ($21,700 US dollars), and said that was as low as he would go.

Yanuario raised 100,000 ($5,107 US dollars) (I don't know how) and made a down payment.  I have promised him 100,000($5,107 US dollars).  I think he said that he thought he could raise another 20,000($1,021) to 40,000($2042), but the payment date is in January, 2013.  I do not know where the rest of the money will come from, but he is praying($11,000 US dollars are still needed)

I asked Yanuario why he was so interested in a rehab center, and with tears in his eyes he said that it was because about ten years ago he was like the man in weeds, drunk and lost, but that God had rescued him and that he felt called to help others.

Alcoholism affects everyone around the world. When in a poor country, there is no insurance or welfare programs to assist these people.  They are on their own, which is why they fail so much of the time.  This man, once in the same situation, was used by God and is now a passionate man of God, trying to reach people for Christ.

PLEASE PLEASE join us in prayer that his vision will one day become reality.

thanks to all

Blessings!

This is a picture of Yanuario and his family

you should never use defensive tactics against a piñata .

July 31st was Tom's birthday. We celebrated it along with two other team members with a special dinner, dessert and a piñata. The two teens went first and then it was Tom's turn.  Tom grabbed the thing as if it was the "red man" in a training class for the police department and started kneeing it in the chest. It was hilarious.  He didn't bother with the stick.  He didn't need it.  Apparently someone took a video of it so it might appear in the next training class for the Genoa Police department( or Facebook).

Pastor Rigo took the opportunity, when it was his turn to try it, to "choke" and shake Bob the Builder (the piñata), so the candy came out in no time.  I think Tom started a new way to break a piñata.  I don't believe Rigo was ever that aggressive until he saw Tom...  we all had a big huge laugh , which should remain in people's memories for a long time.

Today was the last day the team had here in Siguatepeque.  What a great way to end our time here than with a day at a small pool, riding horses and participating in a baptism. Four of the church members got baptized AND 3 of the team members.  It was a super special day for the coming together of two different worlds for the same cause; Jesus.

 Pastor Greg had never been on a horse before.  He mentioned that it was amazing what a youth pastor will do that is so far outside their own comfort zone.  He thought the horse was very relieved when he got off of it.

See the old red van in the background of the above picture?  Well that is one of the vans that is always breaking down and today would be no exception.  When we got back to the hotel after the day at the pool, we stopped just long enough to drop off the team and then we were going on to delver the church people back to the church.  The van wouldn't start.  No matter how much coaching, it was not to be.  We piled into the box truck and the grey van and took the church people back.  While I ran around to the store, pastor's house, etc, Tom took apart the distributor, cleaned it and put it back together.  It started. Yea Tom!  One of the team members made the comment that Tom did a great job.  Of course he did!  I think I will keep him for another 20 years.

Back to church for one last meal and one last service.  The singing was great as usual.  The people baptized were presented to the church and were prayed for as well. Even the 

little ones prayed. We had to pry the team away.  No one wanted to leave. It was pretty quiet on the way back to the hotel for the last time; not many dry eyes in the group.

I wanted leave you with a few pictures of what the landscape of Honduras REALLY looks like so you can see why people find it so beautiful AND hard to leave here.

Buenas Noches to all.

Sunday morning VBS service went really well. There were a lot of kids and they absolutely loved all the singing, dancing and the puppets.  Afterwards, we did a craft which got pretty messy. But, the kids loved it anyway.  I'm not sure how much the parents of the kids loved it when they got home, but anyway....

After lunch, I took Letty and some of the team to the grocery store.  Letty needed to buy food for the team and the rest wanted to buy coffee and vanilla. Literally when we were checking out, Letty gets a phone call from her daughter stating her son is sick.  Sure enough, I ended up taking them to the hospital.  So ONCE again, there I was sitting in a hospital waiting room. Tom met me with the other van so he could take the people and the groceries.  Apparently Moises got hit in a "sensitive" area while playing soccer yesterday and swelled up like a balloon.  The FEMALE doctor came into the room and Moises walked out of the room.  Letty told him to get back in there; he didn't have a choice about what kind of doctor to see. He was sent home with pain medicine and an antibiotic.  No slack for Moises as Letty said he was going back to church with us.  So, back to the hotel in just enough time to change my clothes and pick up the team.  Tom got a Nazarene nap, but I didn't.

Rigo told us at dinner that he has a plan for Maria and her children. His plan is to build a room for them on the church property so the girls would be safe.  He said he would give us an estimate of what it would cost to do it.  We are hoping that the cost won't be too much and just maybe, we can raise the money.  It would be so exciting to see those children being raised by a church family without the fear of these kids getting abused by the many men Maria associates with.  AND, if Maria lived near the church, the men won't be able to "visit."  We are certainly praying about this!

The evening church service was very nice.  Several of the team members gave testimonies, others sang and did sign language and Pastor Greg gave a good sermon.  It was a nice night.

Sorry this is a boring blog.  I have been so busy and fred at night that my brain isn't thinking of funny things.  Hopefully the next one will be better.

Tom and I feel like we are in the "MASH 4077" Unit

First day of work and we managed to go about two hours before someone got hurt. Apparently one of the boys thought if he swung a piece of rebar really high and hard he could get the "laja" pieces to come off better.  UNFORTUNATELY, his head got in the way.  He ended up hitting himself on the top of the head. We had a hard time trying to figure out exactly how he did it, but he did... We were going to make up a really good story of how one of the girls hit him with a pick axe, but then, his own story WAS pretty funny. FORTUNATELY his dad is on the trip and knows what really happened. No trip to the hospital was necessary (YEA) and today he is fine.

For those who don't remember the last time Tom drove the big box truck to Siguatepeque, let me remind you.  Tom hit a sign in town and had to replace it AND took down a phone line AND a cable line.  Efrain has been driving the truck this year so Tom hasn't had a repeat performance.  Efrain could NOT come with us this time so Tom is driving the box truck. Jared is his co pilot and Tom instructed  Jared that his primary and ONLY job is to make sure Tom didn't bring anything down as he passed by.  They got all the way to the church site and Jared figured he didn't have to care anymore. WRONG! Tom brought down the only electrical wire.... We are officially 0 for 4 on issues with the vehicles this time. 4 teams with 4 issues. I guess it is a good thing this is our last team for the summer or we might not have anything left to drive.

2nd day of work started early.  We left the hotel at 6:30 am in order to get to the worksite by 7:00.

I got there and Letty asked me where everyone else was.  I looked behind me and no one came. I waited and waited.  Still no one.  So I call Tom.  He says he was almost to the church when the guy driving the third vehicle called him and said they had to go back to the hotel for something. UGH! They didn't get there until about a half hour later.  Turned out the lady who is responsible for bringing the first aid kit forgot it and they had to go back.  The luck we are having at work sites, it was something that we needed to have.  The team worked till noon and then they REALLY got to work.  

They played with kids.  From 1pm until 3 pm, they played with small children and THEN, from 3 pm to 5 pm, they played and had devotions with the teens. The team made balloon swords and the children chased each other and the team with them.  The team painted faces and played with a parachute.  It was wonderful see them play so hard.  the kids LOVED it.



The team played A LOT of soccer. The other teens LOVED it.

Part of dinner was made by Angel, Jared, and me.  We made home made enchiladas, which are made from a corn flour mixture, rolled into balls, smashed with a small board and then deep fried. EVERYTHING Hondurans eat involve corn flour, hot oil and a flame.  They were delicious if I do say so myself.  Don't everyone get their hopes up for getting any when I get home to Ohio.  They are WAY too labor intensive AND greasy for me to do in my kitchen.  I'd be cleaning grease off my stove and cabinets forever.

Just as we were sitting down to eat, Maria's girls came by to get water for their family.  These girls range in age from 3 years old to 10 years old. They walk BY THEMSELVES over 2 miles over dangerous terrain to the church to get water.  We fill up their jugs and then they carry them all the way back.  Vehicles cannot go where they live, so they must walk and we cannot help them. These girls don't know where their next meal is coming from half the time, so they got to sit down with us and eat until they couldn't eat anymore.  And boy did they eat. Two of the girls ate 4 enchiladas, two ate 3 and even the littlest one managed to eat two.  They wanted to stay and play, but it was getting dark and they had so far to go so we made them leave.  BUT, they will be back tomorrow for church in the morning AND probably church in the evening as well.  BUT, they will come by themselves.  Their mother won't be with them.  You see she has another new baby at home; her 9th child. this single mom prostitutes herself in exchange for food...How sad...

BUT, we are God's hands and feet here in Honduras and we have answered God's request to help His children anyway we can.  Pastor Rigo and Letty minister to their spiritual and physical needs whenever they can, and we, as various team members, love on them whenever we can.  And, isn't that all God has ever asked any of us to do?

Have a blessed night.

H is for Hola

Here we are with our last team of the summer.  They are from Belair Maryland.  It was easy to spot them at the airport, wearing these "H is for Hola" T-shirts.  I must admit they practically stopped traffic with people trying to figure out what it meant.  It did bring about conversations between strangers and the team.  I guess that is what it is all about; communication.  The team arrived with no problems.

We got them back to the campground and into the work and witness house for lunch.  The AIR CONDITIONED work and witness house.  How awesome is that?  Don't know how long we will be able to use it since electricity is so high here,  but hey, someone needs to try it.  Thanks to the team from Salem Oregon, we got to put it in. Having 30 people in this space, with the temperatures over one hundred degrees is horrible.  We are VERY thankful.

7/26 - Today we went to the market and bought $300.00 worth of fruits and vegetables for the two children's homes we visit.  Since we went to the wholesale place, the items were waaaaayyyyyy cheaper.  We bought 200 bananas, 100 pounds of green beans, 100 pounds of potatoes, 20 pineapples, 200 oranges, 100 pounds of carrots, 12 watermelons, and 2 cases of papayas.  It was a blast buying like that.  I'm sure the Hondurans thought these Gringos were nuts.

 We took all the food and split it between the two homes.  The team sang songs and did a puppet show and then did crafts at the girl's home.  This baby is 2 months old.  His "mother" just turned 13 years old.  Can you even imagine a 12 year old getting pregnant?  And then, imagine that same 12 year old being thrown out of her home and placed in a home for girls at risk.  How sad is this? A child having a child.  She was even breast feeding it.  It was so obvious that she was awkward about all of it. Such a shame. Thought I'd better say here the girl in the picture is NOT the mom.  This is one of the team members (for those of you who don't know the team)      

When we got to the children's home, there was already a team there.  These kids were on attention overload by the time our team left. They were off the hook!  Our team tried to make balloon "art" but the kids kept breaking the balloons or stealing them and shooting each other with the balloons.  It was a zoo.  Note to self. NO balloons, EVER at the children's home!  The team split up and went in all the areas of the home with kids.  Some went to the special needs room and just held those same kids I talked about a couple of weeks ago.  Only this time, they have had a chicken pox outbreak there. Many of the kids were really sick.  BUT, our team held them anyway.  REALLY hope everyone has had chicken pox or at least has had the vaccine to prevent it or they might have a big surprise when they get home to the states.

We got back to the campground and we made everyone take a shower immediately upon arrival and to place their clothes somewhere that won't be touched again until they leave. Dinner was made by
Efrain's wife, Loyda.  She made Tajadas con carne and baleadas.  Everyone seemed to really enjoy the food.  Now the team is having small group time and Tom and Amy are having "missionary only" time.  It is a perfect night.

 Buenos noches everyone!

I am speaking Tomduran (special version of Spanish) not Honduran...

Sorry it has been almost a full week since I last wrote.  Also sorry that this is going to be a long one. We had one thing right after another with this team, so I never had a chance to write anything. This team was a youth team from Hagerstown Maryland. Their focus was orphanages, VBS, and concrete work. Let's try and break this down, shall we?
ORPHANAGES - this was covered on the last update.

VBS - We took off to a public school in the area to do VBS.  The team put on a puppet show, sang songs, and did crafts.  The show was all on a CD so no one had to learn spanish.  They just had to move the puppets with the words spoken.  No problem right?  Well, if you don't have electricity, it can be a problem.  Part way through the program, the electricity went out and stayed out for the entire day.  That meant the puppet show had to stop. So we did a craft. The craft was an awesome one.  It was clear plastic sleeves used for scrape booking with foamed pieces of fish and ribbon, etc to create an underwater theme.  The children LOVED it. It was a rather complicated craft, but the kids had a blast doing it.  It would have been perfect, except for the small detail of not enough staplers to close the plastic up.  The youth leader had forgotten to get staplers.  She had one decent one and one crappy one. It took FOREVER to finish the artwork. Note to self.  Ask the leader what craft they are going to do BEFORE we leave the campground. We had a couple of staplers there, but didn't know we needed them.

Since the electric was off, Tom thought that
we could pull the van into the courtyard
of the school and run the boom box off
the battery of the van.  It was a great idea.
He got the van in and hooked up the boom
 box and we gathered all 200 plus kids
out to the courtyard and we sang
all the songs.




The kids LOVED singing and using the hand motions and it was fun to see them all so happy. We sang the songs over and over again.

After school was over, Tom tried to pull the van out.  It seems that it was a REALLY tight fit going in.  When trying to go out, the angle was a little different and he ended up getting too close to the one side of the cement wall.  He was within about 1/2 inch from the wall.  He told all the kids to push on the side of the van that was closest to the wall so he wouldn't slide into the wall.  They did; and he did (slide into the wall).

This is a picture of the wall and the van. Note how they are touching....

The front of the van was hitting the gate to the school.   They ended up breaking the gate down in order to get a little more room to move the van.  The problem was the van was laying up against the cement wall on the other side so any movement at all would cause a problem. Tom tried chiseling the cement wall away from the van. At this rate we would be there a REALLY long time....

So the next best thing would be to pick up the van  and move it. Soooooo, that is what they did. Several of the guys got to the back of the van and literally picked it up and moved it over so it would not touch the cement wall.  This gave Tom the 1/2 inch back to go through the gate opening straight.  There was a second problem however.  Going straight meant Tom would drive right into a VERY deep trench. Sooooo, large boulders were picked up and carried out so when Tom did drive out, he could go over the trench. The van and the kids who were also stuck inside were released.

  

A few went back to repair the gate and all is well that ends well (except for the van). So at this point, Tom and I are tied with damaging the "new" grey van.(sigh).

Later that night, it rained like it does every night in Seguatepeque. This time we were all in our hotel rooms and the noise of the rain hitting the metal roof was very soothing.  Then came a knock on our door as I was getting out of the shower.  It seems one of the kids was running (he still insists it was more like a jog...) across the second floor tile.  He slipped on the wet floor (the rain went through the metal in some places) and fortunately broke his fall with his face.  UNFORTUNATELY, he broke his nose and chipped a tooth. Had he put his hand out he probably would have broken his wrist.  It seems this was the second time he ran across the floor, only slipping the first time.  (I guess some kids do need to be hit over the head with a 2 x 4 to get it). Soooo, we got to find out where the hospital is in Seguatepeque. The ER staff were wonderful and kind. We got back to the hotel very late. As you can see from the picture, we were VERY concerned about his injuries...

The following day, it was off to the dentist to consult about the broken tooth. Our thoughts were the dentist would check him out and then ask us what we wanted done.  We were not permitted to go into the room with him, so the youth leader and I sat in the waiting room and visited.  As we were talking I began to realize I was hearing a drill in the background.  Sure enough, that is what it was. Andrea and I just looked at each other and thought, Holy Cow! When he came out of there, he had a tooth that was straighter than his original tooth and it looked great. Whew!!!!

Each day, after VBS the kids worked on the worksite.  Some helped lay concrete, others mixed concrete, sifted sand, and dug Laja.  Laja is an extremely hard rock which the church property is built on.  Laja is used as a solid base in which to literally build the buildings.  It needs to be chipped and then pounded into fine pieces.  It is a horrible job.  But these kids hung in there and did it. Everyone EXCEPT the youth pastor, Andrea.  Pastor Rigo said she was too weak and wasn't permitted to do it. When Rigo wasn't around, she insisted on trying it...He was right. She couldn't do it...

Everyday after work, the kids played volleyball.  One time it was the Hondurans (Tom was Honduran) vs the Americans and the Hondurans ripped their butts.  It was embarrassing. The entire work team, both Honduran and American came to look forward to these games.

The ladies of the church prepared all our meals for us at the church.  This meant that we did not have to go to any restaurants, and with the new water filter system installed in the church, we didn't need to worry about getting sick from the food or the water. It was wonderful.  The teens seemed to enjoy all the Honduran food the ladies fixed and Andrea and I even helped with making pupusas, tortillas and plantains.

On the way back to the campground from our stay in Seguatepeque, we stopped off at a waterfall park to swim and zipline.  Everyone had a blast.  Even those afraid of heights and water conquered their fears long enough to enjoy the view.
There were 11 of us that actually went into the waterfall and underneath it.  Talk about a sermon series!  We had to trust each other and our guide as we could not see ANYTHING due to the constant pounding of the fall cascading down over our heads.  We had to breath through our mouths and not our noses or we would drown.  We had to feel our way with our feet, backwards, through the various cracks and crevices of the rock beneath us. It was frightful for some, exciting for others. And stupid for still others who thought we were crazy for doing it.

The team said their goodbyes on Friday and then on Saturday, we said our good byes to Monica, who was with us for 3 weeks. I must point out here, that the game of FARKLE was NOT played AT ALL this time.  So much for farkle being the work and witness game of choice.  It looks like MAFIA has won out....We celebrated Loyda's 41st birthday at Pizza Hut and then we drove back to Teguc.

Sunday afternoon was spent chill in' with our feet up, watching mindlessly into the television and drinking Monte Verde coffee. Hmmmmm, the simple joys of life!!!!

Matthew 25:35-40

Today we went to the orphanages. The first one is called Las Mujeres, which is for girls ages 12 to 18 who are "at risk".  This is a place where girls who have been abused and/ or abandoned are taken.  Most are very hostile and untrusting of people. Here the team took the fresh vegetables, hygiene items, etc.  They sang songs, did a drama and decorated flip flops and colored.  The girls seemed to enjoy the attention.  There was a 13 year old girl who had a 20 day old infant. It was so sad to see a child with a child. We went to lunch in a mall and had Honduran food. ALL the teens liked it.  Couldn't believe it.  Not one of them complained or just didn't eat their food. It was amazing. Then we went to the orphanage for infants to age 12, both girls and boys.  This one was hard.  There is a 12 year old boy in a diaper and in a crib.  He doesn't speak and he doesn't walk.  He just sits there.  But there was a girl on this team who took the time to play with this boy.  She slowly won his trust and she played catch with him.  It was beautiful to watch. With the exception of maybe one or two babies, all in this room were handicapped and all were in diapers.  The smell was horrible.  We all took turns loving on these unloved, castoff children of Honduras. Each of us took a child who could not walk on their own and just held them.  The ones that could manage to smile, did.  The others who couldn't smile showed their pleasure in other ways.  THIS is what we as God's children should be doing.  This is what Jesus was talking about in Matthew 25: 35 - 40. "…And Jesus will say, I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me." This team WAS the hands of Jesus to these handicapped abandoned children.  I was so VERY proud of them.





I wish I could post pictures of what we experienced today, but the people who run the orphanages told us we were not permitted to post any pictures of the children on the internet.  I will be able to post one of us surrounding the girls in prayer as you cannot see any of them specifically, but I really want to post the ones of the handicapped children smiling and cooing as they are being held.  These will be priceless memories for me and the team.

This update is a serious one today.  We cannot experience what we did today and make light of any of it.  As one of the teens said tonight as we were debriefing the day, "It is hard to imagine what we saw because this doesn't happen in America.  There isn't a child in America that isn't wanted by SOMEONE…" How true. How very true.

Birds DO fly through open car windows

We had gone to the market in the morning to get fresh pineapple and bananas and had left the windows open to the van, since we were going to the airport in a few hours. Tom, Monica and Efrain had gone before since I ad to get the lunch cooked.  Manuel had asked to drive so he could feel useful.  I said no problem.  When we went to get into the van to leave, Manuel opened the door and just stared into the van.  He said, " you are not going to believe this." I looked in and a bird had pooped on the passenger seat of the van. 

 I accused him of already knowing that since he had asked to drive. So, back upstairs to get a scrub brush and upholstery cleaner. What a great way to start off the first day of a new team. The team was the last group of people to come out.  But they were dressed in bright yellow T-shirts so finding them wasn't a problem.

After we got them back to the campground and fed, Andrea (team leader), Tom, Monica and I went shopping to get fresh veggies, diapers, baby wipes, deodorant, and hygiene items for the children and teens of the two orphanages we will be visiting tomorrow. We have tried to prepare the group for what they are about witness, but I doubt that anything will prepare them for it.  These are very depressing places. The orphanages have requested no pictures be taken, due to people posting pictures of children on Facebook. So I doubt that we will be getting any photos, but we shall see.

On a totally side note, we received word that our beautiful "Twisted Beauty" Locust tree sustained damage during the big storm of last week.  This tree was almost as tall as our home.  Our house guest thinks it can be saved. This was a very unique looking tree and it makes me sad that it suffered damage, BUT at least our house is fine.

The house for sale across the street wasn't so lucky and sustained significant damage.  I am very thankful that we might have to replace a tree and not our home. This little white house was built in the 1800's....