His Eyes

Recently we had some trouble in Sampedrana...the Milk Project director reported that the pastor was turning off the water valve to the building.  (like most of us...we need to work on some interpersonal communication tools there.)  

Turns out, that was not the case, the pastor was not fiddling with the water control valves.

Instead, they had been stolen.  

That's right, someone found the right spot, turned off the water, and made off with the key, so to speak, to prevent the entire campus from having water. 

Why?  There is no material gain here in this "theft" but rather just the opportunity to be a nuisance.  

Go back where you came from, that sort of thing.  Being a Christian in Sampedrana certainly does not make you popular, and sometimes, there are even consequences to that.  

We pray for safety, we pray for encouragement...but we also pray for those that would rather us leave, for Christ to touch their hearts.  

In Talanga, Manuel has had some help the last month.  Alexis finished his training up North, and while they are formulating a plan for him to help maybe in Cantarranas, him spending a few months in Talanga to help evangelize and visit families.  

Working in Talanga also isn't easy sometimes.   Knocking on more doors though and getting a no means you are just that much closer to someone who will say yes.  But after years of that...it can be hard to keep going, and having someone else to help you can be very powerful, and encouraging.  

The Milk Project is trying to take advantage of the new finished garden behind the clinic and fresh dirt to plant some vegetables.  They are going to try eggplant, cherry tomatoes, carrots, cilantro and others.  

They are excited.  I am excited.  It won't be easy, that is the way of good things.  But they are not alone, and they have help.  

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I have been told before to go back where I came from.  Not agreeing with someone, what I believe perhaps not being tolerated, or just appearing threatening to someone's normalcy sometimes can produce that reaction.  

I am instead looking forward to where I will go, and how many people we can help go there as well, not by forcing, hating, or convincing.

Plant some seeds, have some conversations...with others, and most importantly, with God.  It is amazing where it will take you...sometimes the journey being within your own mind.

Getting to hold the hands of Milk Project children that are dealing with scarring allergies and no money for medicine...seeing on their faces the telltale look of being made fun of and ashamed for how they look, and to get to hug them and ignore the superficial is hard...and good for the soul.  Knowing their emotional and spiritual needs and thinking about our staff trying to meet those and nurture them daily...the clinic trying to heal and encourage every day, pastors doing the same, coffee farmers trying in their way the same as well...overwhelming.  Overwhelming what they are doing, and what could be to come.  

I continue to pray about hiring an English teacher for the Milk Project.  I can see down the tube of time and see opportunities for work with this language skill developed, doors opened, and lives changed...actually beyond what I can conceive.  

I got to see some of the English classes that some of the kids actually get.  It is more written than verbal, and the picture to the right is just one example of classes that are...close I suppose.  

It won't be easy, it will require change, patience, and quite a bit of effort, but I can see it will be worth it.  



In seeing the Milk Project kids doing homework and what they have copied in school I saw the page to the right.  It says:

​"What we know is that we live in difficult times, but the exit to this crisis is not migration, but looking for mechanisms to survive in our land.  We can take advantage of the opportunities that present themselves to us in the community where we live, and work hard so that we do not lack what is necessary."  

We have had a great group from Christ's Church here this week.  Thanks to their help in our coffee ministry, we have been able to grow quite a bit, in building our new raised drying beds, new wash plant (both in Las Botijas) and in starting a huge nursery to plant while they were with us this week.  

It is hard to put into words what it is like to get to see guys being employed in all this, to see them eager to work, and to see our farm managers eager to use the opportunities to reach them, and help the mission overall do more all around Honduras.  

But there are always setbacks...it is just a fact of life.  This past week, while Rony was at a marriage seminar/retreat for pastors, there was a hail storm that came through in Las Botijas.  It wiped out the beans he planted two months ago (one more month and they would have been harvested...about an acre's worth) and did considerable damage to many of the trees on the property all around...and especially to our nursery for the planting we were to do, losing around 2000 saplings to the pounding they took.  We almost had enough for the property even with the damage, but that financial loss in those broken and damaged saplings hurts.  But to talk to Oscar and Rony, they lament the loss but at the same time recognize it is normal and don't let it seem to bother them.  

Just be praying for these hard workers, and for the opportunities to share Christ as they walk and work daily...and as well for opportunities for us to broaden exporting this great product to help us do even more of this!

On a positive note...those avocado trees in Sampedrana are coming along nicely enough...starting to send back fruit for use in the Milk Project, mission, and even for some group use!  

I just got some pictures from Maria.  
 
When the first picture was a train...my mind knew exactly what that meant.  You see, we don't have any working trains in Honduras.  But they do in Mexico.  

This post could very easily take a political, governmental, or ideological bent quite easily, but that is not my point or concern right now.  

Maria got these pictures as two of the children from The Milk Project are on their way to the USA.  Their father was killed last year, and their mother made the decision to leave last Saturday.  I do not think at this point that they are part of the 800-1000 people that left recently from San Pedro Sula.

I read an article today that over 300 people per day are leaving (not counting caravans) trying to go to the USA, just from Honduras.  Not all of them make it.  

Jampool and Maddison are tonight in Tapachula Mexico (just across the border on the Pacific side from Guatemala) where they sent the first two pictures.

I imagine their mother has borrowed money to make this journey, hoping she will have steady work when they get to the USA, and that her children will get to go to good schools and grow up safe.    

Their little sister was left behind though, she is staying with her grandparents.    
 
More could be said.  Right now, I am just praying for safety on this most dangerous trek for the Jampool, Maddison and their mother.    
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We try to write to our Milk Project sponsors every month with some updates on the goings on, prayer requests, etc.  

This month I just felt like sharing that update here, for others to read as well.  

The CIY group that was down visiting us in March brought supplies to de-lice all the kids.  Not everyone had lice, but it was something that Maria had been asking to do for a while.  

Group interaction with the Milk Project has been key over the years.  The day to day operations happen with the Honduran staff, but quite a few of the physical tools they have to work with come from groups, either in what they bring with them, or what they see while they are here and then send down or help us buy.  

Bonus fact...the kids are all in clothes we had on hand for the sewing ministry, clothes we sort out of the clothing ministry supply that is way too big...thus the attractive blue dress here that is actually a very big blue work shirt.





The work in Sampedrana continues, and although it has not been easy for all involved from an administrative perspective and working out a routine for everything, and some parents even changed their minds and pulled their children out due to the project being Christian, the kids are getting fed physically and spiritually,  there is homework help, games, and more.  



One sponsor this month asked for an update on their child for a college project they were working on, and while we try to update profiles every year for all the children, this special request Maria was able to handle.  When I saw this picture and the story that Maria sent with it, I thought it would be good to share it:  This is Angela Paola Escoto, she is ten years old and lives in this wooden house with her mother, sister and little brother.  Her father died years ago.  She is in the fifth grade.  Her mother works as a waitress.  They have many needs including food, and a bed since all three siblings sleep int he same bed.  Paola and her sister take care of their younger brother.  

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We celebrate birthdays every quarter, and March meant the celebration for January-March birthdays.  We do that for the morning session and afternoon session, baking cakes and sharing them.  

Here shown are Elisa, Mariza, Geisel, Cesia, Ricardo and Alex.  As it happens...the day of the celebration was actually Cesia's birthday!  


We started a new fund recently, some discretionary cash for Maria to help with small needs that the kids have off and on during the month, things that can't wait to be budgeted or to ask for sponsor help.  

Recently Maria said she helped Mervin with $4 to get back and forth to a government health center because his mother did not have the money.  

He went because he has been bitten by chinche, which is what we call bedbugs, and they have special care there that they can give for that.  

We are looking forward to using this fund in the future to buy books, supplies, uniform fixes, etc. when needed.  





Here is Lorena, one of our volunteer/scholarship recipients, teaching computer classes recently.  

We are continuing to look at ways to help the kids educationally now and in the future to help them get further ahead.  We are even looking into the possibility of bringing on more staff in the future to specifically help with this, but it is too early on to announce anything.

Prayer requests:
1.  New staff person.  As just said above, we are not sure how this is going to look yet, but praying for God's guidance in this and the best way to proceed.
2.  Encouragement for Maria and the staff.  It has been a hard month in many ways, and just to be buoyed going forward with a renewed energy.
3.  For the spiritual, emotional, and educational health of these 100 children we are trying to reach daily. 

I have noticed recently my use of idioms that I enjoy is a mixed bag with other people.  The point of language is communication, and sometimes what feels right to me leaves other people scratching their heads.  Such it was when this week I used "from soup to nuts" in a conversation.  Putting this blog post together, the phrase quickly came back to me.  Turns out, the origin of this phrase that means just covering everything, comes from old meal courses, when soup was the first course, and something like six courses later, you ended with dessert nuts.  Go figure.  

​The mission house remodel continues.  Currently, tile is going in the new shower stalls, the new fancy hot water heaters are being installed in the walls, and soon we will be able to get everything painted and the bunkbeds moved downstairs.  One step at a time!  

The coffee harvest continues as well.  We have had some vehicle issues, but overall there is just a lot of hard work being done by a lot of people.

We are currently working on properly drying all the coffee we have harvested, but soon we will have to also sell on the local market (where the prices are again lower than the base of the totem pole.  

And with keeping lots of green coffee, that means finding more places where we can sell it as Hill Climber Coffee.  Part of my time in the US has been trying to find more short and long term customers, like at a Church in Indiana where we found a missions pastor with such a passion for coffee he makes his own pour over stations from reclaimed wood.  We might have to follow in his footsteps on this one.    


The Milk Project is starting off the year just like it ended last year...with no grass growing under it (to use another idiom.)  Not only the continuing physical feeding of bellies, spiritual feeding of souls, there is also play, Valentine's Day celebrations...and as seen here, more tutoring and homework help.  Joshua and Yoan are doing some Spanish homework.  

Speaking of which, I just heard recently that in the US there will be millions of Spanish speakers soon that will not be able to read or write the language, as they are learning it at home, but not studying it in school.  I found that shocking to hear, but really, that is what we see all too often in Honduras, or something close to it, where literacy and reading levels for children who are not blessed with good schools or the ability to attend schools for long suffer the same fate.


Being able to provide the kids with school supplies, backpacks, and school shoes is not just nice, but a huge deal for them impacting their ability to go to school year after year, with their parent's help and support. 

Education, learning, growing and changing our neighborhoods and our country, one child and one family at a time...not something we want to say just to sound good, but want to do, and continue to work on going forward.  College scholarships for these kids...wouldn't that be the greatest thing since sliced bread?





The clinic work continues as well.  I thought this picture was a good representation of what sometimes is very complicated and not photogenic work.  

This is Alex.  He is from Jamastran, which is out in Andy's new ground (another idiom I have heard, this one from my father, that I don't think I have heard anywhere else...it means, way far away.)  He is 14, and had an accident from a harvester that is used to cut field grass for cattle.  

He came to the clinic to have his stitches taken out (which stitches he had for over a month) and for some wound care from losing his leg, and we were able to bless him with the crutches seen in the picture.  

Praying for his health, he had originally tried to go to the emergency room with his hemoglobin at 3 (which if accurate is dangerously low) and still has recovery and adjustment of life to deal with going forward.  
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A new growth group in Talanga in a home there, this picture was sent to me recently, just one picture of many such groups in the Church there and the other Churches around the country, and that is always something worth writing home about.  
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​Well, that certainly covers quite a few of the areas of the mission.  It doesn't exactly go from soup to nuts, certainly not as close as two coats of paint, but good enough for a blog post.  

So, I have been kind of wrapped up in a bubble of thinking, "we don't have any transition issues, we are fitting in well here in the US."  For the most part, that is true.  

This license plate was just the first drop in the glass though of something I am coming to understand a little more as time goes on, and that is...I don't fit in as much as I think I do.

I saw it, laughed, and took a picture of this to show the kids, who also laughed.  Kiss me 3?  Nice.  When I showed it to a lifelong USA resident, they said "be same 3" what does that mean?  Wait...who is right?  ​