As you can see below (hopefully...depends on your device) mangos are growing in Las Botijas. It is always nice to see pictures like this, of trees that a group planted last year already bearing fruit. They are small trees still, and not a lot of fruit...but it is a healthy start. I don't have to reach very hard here to see a metaphor brewing, do you? The clinic container unloaded from FAME, distributing some of the items has begun in earnest...Jose Luis in his job as spiritual development director of the clinic is doing more home visits one day a week, and taking some supplies to those that need them. He has a lot of people asking him where "our" church is in Tegucigalpa since he is doing the work of a pastor. So far, we just point them to different churches in their area, but we are praying if God is taking us down a road of starting something in Tegucigalpa, we shall see. With something like that, we want to pray, take our time, and see how God leads for sure...rather than running into something that seems so exciting. The office building is getting the pieces coming together...it feels so slow, but there are so many hands helping...a lot of group hands over the past seven weeks, and a lot of local hands as well. A group this week started the painting process on the exterior, and several helpers we hired are pushing through this week to finish it all up. Still lots to do...but so close now, you can almost see it all coming together. The garage below also has a lot left to do, but also...a lot less than just a couple months ago!
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We have been busy of late! It's like a marathon, so I haven't really been counting, but I believe we are in the middle of group 5 of 7 in a row. I happened to see another missionary while running some errands and shared of our good fortune, and she lovingly shook her head, frowned and said "Felipe, Felipe, that is not healthy!" I accepted her comment in the love it was meant, and understood that for many missionaries, groups are not as fun or advantageous for what they do, but thought I would share just a little here with you why it is hard for us to turn away teams. ![]() (I'm trying a new way to include text with a picture. If this doesn't work out...I'll remember for next time.) Home visits are a way to be an encouragement for those we are privileged enough to visit, as well as an eye opener for group members to how many of the people we meet throughout the week live. I took this picture because I liked this house, the view they had, but as we were leaving and talking to the boy that lived there I asked how much rain comes in from the neighbor above and how muddy that can get...quite a bit he said. I can't exactly explain it, but it is good sometimes to stop and chat about real life, and stuff going on, not necessarily to fix anything, just to empathize. It was a quick moment, but just one of many that so many have in group settings like this, the visits and things we wouldn't be as able to do without groups here. ![]() Construction projects, hello?!?!! Raising money is hard. For construction projects, sometimes harder. I am not sure when we would ever get to finish this garage or the new storage area it will also contain, if not for groups. Plus, seeing for a day or two how so many work for their entire adult lives, is also an eye opener. Those that have been here, have physically seen how much of the mission groups have touched with construction. The Hondurans are in charge of it getting done the right way, and often do a lot of the follow up or clean up work after we are done, but all of that is afforded from the funds the groups bring. Lumped into "construction"...how about the thousands of coffee plants, the many fruit trees, murals, etc.? ![]() Staff encouragement. I was tickled last week when Sintia asked for a copy of the group picture she lead doing house visits. Not all the staff speaks English like she does, but the encouragement groups bring to the staff and kids in the Milk Project, might be hard to measure, but you can feel it. ![]() Like pastors as well. When we can visit with a team, that is a big deal. Edwin stayed until midnight the night before we arrived, to be able to have the first church service upstairs in the new building with a group there. Even though with construction we were an hour late...they waited on us because everyone wanted us to be there. Humbling for sure. ![]() How about the way group members can pour into each other's lives...both here, and when they get back? We don't even get to see most of that when it happens. I did hear recently of a relationship being solidified on a trip ten years ago, that then led to marriage. (I can't promise that level for everyone though) Remember above, I said "share just a little." This doesn't really do teams justice what they mean to us, to the mission, and to what God is doing here and around the world. Literally, we wouldn't be here, the mission would not be here, if not for the impact
We certainly could not host teams alone, far from it. There is a team, which we need to grow (especially as 2025 looks to be DOUBLE what a "normal" year would have been just a few years ago.) and praying how to do so, but we are looking forward not only to the challenge...but what that will further mean that we can do for Christ. We are seeing fruit from some planning this week. Below you can see a His Eyes truck towing another His Eyes truck. Unlike in the past, until the end of the year, we have the ability to bring older vehicles to Honduras. (For many, many years...you couldn't import anything older than 7 years) Since there is a current exception, with lower taxes as well, we gave it some thought and realized we could save a lot of money in the next 5-10, so we bought two older Fords, double cab, long beds, manual transmissions and the coveted 7.3L turbo diesel, for groups and other work here. Especially making this possible is the help of Dave and Cecilia in going to do the actual purchasing, and coordinating getting them in tip top shape before we ship them down later this year. Their donated time, knowledge and efforts are very much appreciated. David is the son of the clinic's phlebotomist. He came to help translate in February for a visiting chiropractor. It was here that Jose Luis, who started in January working in the clinic as evangelist, got to talking to David and set up weekly Bible studies with him. This Sunday David got baptised, and Jose Luis was there with pastor Miguel to do it. We have a group here this week (and for the next six weeks as well) and I have already heard several other stories of going down the road and God bringing disparate events together for something bigger.
Sometimes you can't see the end of the tunnel, but you have enough signs to push forward. Praying that our eyes would be open, and our minds/souls sensitive to God's leading down the road He would have us go. Especially when for the next couple months, there are going to be even more moving pieces and people involved in God's work here. The corn that IDES shipped us, which was grown in Illinois, has arrived, and is now being distributed through the churches, Milk Projects, and clinic. It is hard to really take it in, how much work was done by so many people, and how much of a help this is to many, many people here. I try to think about it, and just can't take it all in. We are planting some of that corn (seen in the picture above in Cantarranas) in all three of the farms, with the idea that if successful...it can provide even more. In that picture you can see: how much we need rain the piping to get water to the trees already planted how much room we still have to plant more trees how much work there is to be done. The idea is that with someone living on the farm, taking care of it, we can provide a lot of food for the Milk Projects and to give away, while providing a little bit of income, and who knows what else? I can't see that far yet. Pastor Edwin's daughter was blessed with a gift from the last FAME team, equipment for her to use in her studies (she is in nursing school.) That wasn't a planned gift...just something the group was able to do when someone, who wasn't even there mind you!, knew the need and saw the possibilities. Valerie was taken aback last week when pastor Manuel was in the clinic. She was super busy, he was hoping to get an eye exam. She stopped long enough to ask him what was wrong, and he said he was having difficulty reading. She relaxed and told him just to go into the optical to get some readers. He was taken aback, incredulous even...how could he just put on some glasses to fix his problem without an exam to know what he needed? She got a picture of him later, laughing, still trying to figure out how she knew without checking him out. I kid you not...almost all of these blogs seem to have a theme. And I plan almost none of them. I saved a few pictures this past week which I thought would be better explained in blog form rather than on social media. I didn't have a title or idea where that was going when I started writing. It wasn't until I was almost done I could see...I could see just a miniscule amount of what God sees, and yet again a little glimpse into how He works sometimes. Another time to look up and smile.
As frustrating as the unknown of the now, the unknown of the future, and there is plenty of that going on here (and surely there wherever you are) right now... the clues are always around us that God is there, He knows, He understands, He sees. Honesty time...so far this year, I am being continually slapped upside the proverbial head with situations and decisions to which I am expected to have an answer or course of action, and inside said head, I am thinking "I don't know." And big questions to, like with long term life implications, and mission related planning. It is both potentially extremely frustrating, and at the same time bringing me low enough to try to remember to trust in God. This week, Marvin and Maria took two days to visit Milk Project families with the pastors in Las Botijas and Talanga. It has been great to see the churches and projects work more closely together...where there is a plan we do know! To reach children, and their families, for Christ. What I don't know...how to get the remaining 20 sponsors we need for the children already in the Milk Project. Expanding is great because more can be done, but it is hard financially when getting new sponsors is so slow. Jose Luis working in the clinic this year has been a great answer to a question we have had for years of how to better care for people spiritually at the clinic. If you asked me in December 2023 how we were going to do that better this year, that definitely would have been a "I don't know" answer. The question going forward will be how to better disciple the people he is reaching, obviously more so for those living close by. What is our responsibility/what should we do? There are ideas and thoughts, but right now...I don't know. And what about doing surgeries? Yeah...we are working on that, but there are many "I don't know" aspects to that. It is particularly overwhelming...both on logistics, but also the needed finances to do that, where, when, who...you get the idea. We have been praying about drilling a well in Las Botijas. All this in the back of the Ford means preparations are underway. Will the company come through, and in time before the rains make getting there not possible? Will they find water? Enough water? Will it all work out? You know the answer. We had opportunity to visit the caves in Guasucaran last week with the medical team that was with us. Looking into a cave can be a scary proposition, the darkness, the unknown, (the bats).
We are looking down the coming months, and years trying to plan, trying to prepare...both as a mission and personally, and right now, I am praying for no bats, and a peaceful light at the end of the tunnel, and not multiple trains. God knows...let's ask Him to move in these situations, and help us. How will it work out? I don't know. But I know the One who does. If it sometimes doesn't feel like that is enough, that's fine...but it is enough. I'm told that when trying to read these blogs on a phone...it is hard to see the pictures in the right order with the text. So, let's try a picture, text, a picture text...and see how that helps or hurts. We got back to Honduras late Sunday, and no time for culture shock...plenty of stuff coming at us fast and furious. I knew the solar installation was completed after we left a few weeks ago, but apparently the power hadn't gone out until something like 8 times yesterday, something no doubt related to the heat wave and massive smoke pollution going around. The outages were short...but enough that while I was frustratedly trying to work on an internet router issue also for the clinic, that I had time to go down to see how the solar battery kicks on for the clinic just a few seconds after every outage. It was somewhat confusing...but I was there long enough to see the chain of energy change when the power was coming in versus not. Today when I was back...trying to chase more internet router gremlins (they need internet in the clinic to answer patient questions on WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.)...I unexpectedly ran into Doctor Carlos, who was quietly very happy going past me with a wheelchair. He was happy because we had this particular wheelchair, quiet because he was sad that his patient, Wilson age 13, has cerebral palsy and needs the chair. I was distracted...but even so, it was quite a moment. Soren came down on Sunday, and jumped in to helping with the dry wall prep work for the office building. It looks closer every week...but still a lot of details and work left to do, and a lot of money to pay for supplies, equipment, etc. You can also see progress here in Danli on the second floor. This will eventually be where the church meets, with the bottom floor for the parsonage, and the Milk Project. Lots of work to go here as well, but getting up the walls is a pretty big step. You can also see a bit of how smoky it is here right now (according to reports...so bad you shouldn't be working outside or have your windows open. Hmmm) I love this picture of pastor Manuel interacting with the kids in the Milk Project in Talanga.
#1 for how excited he looks. #2 for how not so excited some of the kids look Working with kids is hard period, let alone when it is very hot. I'm sure the picture makes it look worse than the reality, but I thought it was a good reminder we need to pray, not just for the physical projects going, for healing and encouragement to those visiting the clinic, for growth and expansion of the coffee arm of the ministry (seriously...get some coffee, help us help more people here, it is good stuff with a good aim!), but also for the entire staff pouring themselves out to reach their neighbors for Christ...no matter the weather or other circumstances.
We try to update Milk Project sponsors on a monthly basis. But some things don't fit in a neat, quick email. (Just like life, right?) I heard recently on a podcast about the term TTWWADI (pronounced Tee-tee-waddy) which is an acronym meaning That's The Way We Always Did It) There are practices and things we do in The Milk Project that are now sort of tried and true, but just like the rest of the mission of late, we are always in the throes of coming up against TTWWADI, versus what needs to change or be done different. TTWWADI as a concept of course seems stilted, or counterproductive, but of course there is comfort in doing things the way they have been done...it is comfortable, easier, known. The unknown or new is scary.
I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish we could just say TTWADI some days. To just have "the usual," but growth, change, and maturity doesn't come in quantity just doing what has always been done, as scary as that can be.
May God grant us all the faith, the strength, and the Holy Spirit powered desire, to get out of the boat of normal and walk with Him, keeping our focus on Him and not what we want to do or see. Amen y amen But, God is doing a good work. Sometimes, I have to repeat that back to myself, because of unpleasantness, whether in real life, my mind, both or whatever. We are still searching for candidates to fill the farm manager position. We interviewed someone this week, a nice guy but didn't speak English, which is going to be one of the key qualities we need for this position. He was telling us he lived in Gulfport MS for a bit and came back last year. I asked him how the process of getting to the US was (he left during the pandemic when he lost his job here and was in danger of losing his house, etc.) and he told me he used a coyote, and that it took 39 days to get across the border. He shared a little of the harrowing details. I asked him if he would do it again. "Never" he said. ![]() Marvin has been busy this month trying to get around to more of the churches to get to know the pastors, and the communities better, doing some evangelizing via house visits. We will be spending more money this year on spiritual development...of the pastors, the church body, trying to develop new Sunday school teachers, increasing impact in the communities...all part of our push to do better discipling the people we are trying to reach, including more conferences and training. That part is exciting, also somewhat daunting, but finishing the office building is less exciting and just more daunting. Mostly related to how hard it is to fundraise for something so clearly needed. We have been blessed with some help, but not nearly enough and that is...stressful. Also stressful is just how expensive everything is related to finishing the building. You would think the main construction would be the worst of it, but every other step really piles on. The stucco is still not finished...they are working on it however. Then, what flooring to pick? The above were two options...an epoxy finish or just polishing the concrete. Both options are quick...but not in the budget. The epoxy is CRAZY expensive. So...we will have to see how to take more time, and more hands away from the other projects going on, to put in tile. Traditional, fine, but just another delay because that will take several weeks to put in. And then, the staff look to me and I can just palpably feel their disappointment at another delay, another constraint. Plus we will have to find a welder to make the main doors, because buying premade doors...also too expensive to make it work...and the list continues to mount. I'll be glad when it is done...but right now just lamenting how long we are still from that point, and I'm not even going to try to guess at this point when that will be.
God is doing a good work.
I've been repeating it, and I'll be repeating it more to myself in the coming days. When it feels good, when it doesn't, when it is scary, and when it feels right. |
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