Blog Posts - His Eyes

Smoke gets in your eyes

5/7/2024

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.

brief update

4/23/2024

Also installed/moved/improved is the group from Sonlight that did everything on the clinic, adding battery backup (yet to be tested) and moved the old system to the apartment building (which is our second biggest monthy bill)

This will take a few months to see how it all shakes out, but we are praying it is the answer we need to the high bills, and to better solution when the power is out.

No time for the poetic, let's just get to some news.

Started with this month's group was the cement for the former man cave (new name yet to be decided...maybe just cave?)

Still plenty of work to come. Should be done by the end of the summer. Then...we can sell the containers parked outside.

The donation of many beds we got from the US DOD has made visiting and blessing many families of the Milk Project possible this month. Working with the pastors, this has made huge changes to many homes.

Seen here is a new bed...on top of the old bed it will replace.

Many beds in...and soon, all will be serving new families.

In the second picture though, you can see Marvin sharing with a mother of a Milk Project child, along with Consuelo (Sampedrana director) and Juan, the pastor in Sampedrana. This is a family that not long ago those three might not have been welcome inside the house, as they are members of the Catholic church. But although there is visible resistance still...one day at a time.

Deliveries

3/22/2024

We have another delivery that will be coming soon...another truck load of corn! This corn is the same as we received last year, which this year now that we know, should be able to planted as well and hopefully produce even more for the families and Milk Project to use. Praying that our costs on this are low this year and that everything goes well!

Our clinic evangelist Jose Luis is working well so far, visiting more homes, prayer services, and helping with devotionals for the clinic staff.

Where will this lead? For now, we are just praising God for progress on something we have wanted to do for years, but we are praying for how God will use this and grow this.

We had a team in March of 33 that was a huge help...helping with kids in four different Milk Projects, and working on the three different farms of the mission (road work, putting in windows, working on the play area) and...planting 50 fruit trees in Cantarranas. We have received funds to plant more trees, and the good news is that we have plenty of space to put those trees. Plus...when we can find them, there is also more space and need on the other farms as well. A delivery that will provide more deliveries in Christ's name in the future.

TTWWADI

2/8/2024

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.

As we are continuing to seek ways to mature, and deepen those coming to church, and as well the children in the Milk Project.

We are now putting more emphasis between church and Milk Project with the pastor's participating...talking with the kids, getting to know them, and doing some house visits as well with the staff.

That gives rise to the possibility of blurring lines, of some conflict or turf wars, but the benefit if that is managed well is obvious.

We don't publicize much about doing home projects, and it is a lot of extra work in many cases...but the difference it can mean to the kids in the Milk Project and their family.

Beds and the like are easier sometimes. Roofs and floors require calculations, who can do the work (whether the family or someone hired) and also depend on availability of materials...Sampedrana doesn't have hardware stores.

The needs are overwhelming. Sometimes sponsors step up, and then we do what we can.

Maria wrote me to ask if we could help Celenia get her uniform to go to school (something which we do not do in the Milk Project as a matter of course.)

I asked why, and she sent me this picture, to tell me that Celenia lives with her dad, just the two of them, and that he is confined to a wheelchair and has very limited mobility with his hands as well. She is his primary caregiver, and the food he gets is from the kindness of neighbors. Celenia gets fed at the project, and when we have a little extra, some of that. Maria pushed for her to go to school, even writing her previous teacher from some time ago. But no uniform means no school.

She will get a uniform.

Via a gift from a generous benefactor with long standing ties to the Milk Project, we have new books to use, including these Bibles that are very good to have in the new locations where we were short supplied.

Good for reading, studying, and some handwriting practice as well.

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

ups and downs

1/27/2024

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.

The clinic staff gave this cane to a 60 year old patient named Pedro, who is from Lepaterique. He didn't ask for it, he was there for an eye exam. They just noticed what he was currently using and offered that new one to him as it seemed better for his needs.

They said he started to cry when they gave it to him.

Also in the optometry part of the clinic...having to break the news to a 29 year old father of two that he has end stage glaucoma. His vision is already very bad, and will lead to blindness soon.

Back to school is coming soon...February. We are working on getting new school shoes for all the children in the Milk Project. (black dress shoes are required to attend school in Honduras.)

We have a cobbler in Tegucigalpa that can make them, to get sample sizes first, then every project has to measure every child, to get all the rest made. A lot of work, and even more walking throughout the year. They aren't the prettiest, but given some of the kids are walking an hour or more...durability is what we are looking for.

Jorge and Jeffrey spent most of the week in Cantarranas, working with Bombin (our tractor) to install new water lines to the farm as we work to put this property to work instead of laying fallow that it has for quite some time.

Hard work. Also clear that the timing is right to do this...but we haven't been given the end plan by The Boss yet. A lot of trusting right now, and seeing how we can develop this to support the mission, Milk Project and church. No coffee here, altitude is too low, but perhaps a lot of other things we could plant/develop to help people.

It's clear to move forward, but also a little scary because what lies ahead is less clear.

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.

metro boulot dodo

1/18/2024

I wish I could say I will keep up with all this blogging!

New year, and lots of new things and new opportunities. The title for today's blog is French...a little idiom saying you are living to work (subway, work, sleep)

A common sentiment, albeit depressing. Unless you love you work.

Marvin has been on the move starting the year. Moving more into his role of taking over spiritual supervisor (I like the alliteration more than saying Church development director) and that means spending time with the pastors, and even doing some evening services and spending the night. Here he is in Los Trozos, but just last night he was in Talanga and today in Cantarranas.

He will also be overseeing how we integrate the Milk Projects and churches better...and just yesterday we hired a new position...clinic greeter/evangelist. We have struggled and tried different approaches over the years to more purposefully reach those coming to the clinic spiritually. Thankfully, even though that effort has had limited success and stumbled through different volunteers and church visitors, etc., we have not lost the fervor to see that be done better. So, there will be a bit of a Venn diagram for this new position...a greeter that helps patients get to where they need to go and just helps organizationally, and then getting to know, praying for, and even seeing for those close enough to see about Bible studies in the future. This time though, being a full time position, it will help us be able to supervise, encourage, and see where this goes. 22,000 patients last year in the clinic, not counting family members, people stopping by just to get a shot or pick something up...that is something we just can't continue to do the way we have been doing.

Our latest church plant in Guayavillas has over a dozen regular attenders. Javier (seen here visiting someone in the area working on an adobe house) is entering his second year with a stipend from the mission/churches to continue, commuting from his home in Cantarranas by motorcycle.

Evaluating how to proceed there and how to grow will be a challenge for 2024. This is one of the churches that our pastors planted, not part of a "strategic plan" of the mission. A great area, albeit small...we definitely how to pray when it comes to how to divide resources, and help best.

They are currently meeting in a house that is on loan, but that will probably end this year.

Praying...what is God doing there, and what do we need to do to be in line with that?

2024 harvest is in full swing in both coffee farms. We had some turnover at the end of the year, and seeing the results of that...well, sometimes people leaving is a good thing on balance. We are trying to recover, and push forward with new staff.

Seen here is honey processed coffee drying in Sampedrana. It has several days yet to dry before being ready.

All our coffee this year will be honey processed. The taste for some is better than full wash, and others report liking it even more.

Honey processing means we pulp the coffee and dry it. Rather than the normal process of pulping, fully washing the coffee over a day or more, and then drying. Using all that water may be normal, but the process mucks the water up quite a bit going back into the ecosystem, not to mention just using all that water. So we get a better tasting process, and do a better job of just looking after things as well. We still have roughly 200 pounds from 2023 harvest to roast and get out there, but after that...everything will be this new process everyone will be drinking soon enough!

I'll leave you with a cool picture taken from the drone of the farm in Sampedrana. Lots of work will be coming there in the next months to do road improvements, and we are also doing some investigation and praying about other options for the future bringing things from the US possibly to help speed that process as well!

January 10th, 2024

1/10/2024

Progress on the office building seen from the air! The stucco progress is all on the inside, and the other side of the building. They seem to be saving the hardest two sides to do for last. It is time consuming for sure. We will equip and paint the inside of the building as soon as we can of course, and probably leave painting the outside for when a group can help.

"What will go upstairs in the unfinished area?" Is a question I have heard already. My first reply is "By the grace of God let's finish the first two floors first!" But actually, I am already anticipating that down the line, we would use that for more group sleeping space, and a porch with a great view preserved of course. You can kind of see from this angle how big the building is, and how we are using as much of the property as possible.

Here are some of the girls from the Milk Project in Sampedrana, back from the holidays, and wearing some of the Christmas gifts the MP gave them in an unpromp
ted picture.

I struggle to communicate what a treat it is to get new clothes, and for Christmas in particular. It is tradition here, and one that for many is not doable.

It is a lot of work and extra funds donated, but by God's grace this is several years now we have been able to do this.

Another big prayer request right now is for digging a well...or wells.

We found a company that digs wells, and the need is somewhat urgent for Las Botijas to find a water supply. Currently the water comes via black plastic pipe that the mission put in, and runs for several miles to find a water source. However, the properties between us and the water are being sold and repurposed, and how much longer that will be viable (not to mention the many repairs and finding where the problem is along such a long tract.)

I am waiting for the analysis to be fully processed, but there is only one possible spot in all the farms in Las Botijas, which is a bit distressing, and that spot is right by the Milk Project/church play area we built.

If the preliminary analysis is correct, it could be as much as 500 feet down (not terribly uncommon here) but that would be about $25,000. Could be 5 gallons per minute, could be way higher.

So, we are praying...if we take the plunge and find donations (already $5,000 has been donated to the cause) to proceed. It would be huge obviously long term, and we would still have to pump water (via solar) around the property, but that part would be easier to fund/do when we would actually know we have the water.

So we are praying...is this the right course of action? And if so, will the funds come to help make it happen?

And while the guys from the well digging operation were on the clinic campus, they did us a basic (divining) measurement as well.

They found a much stronger reaction behind the clinic than they found in Las Botijas.

The difference is that we at least have access to water, and water trucks, for water on the clinic campus.

But...we may look into this as well, as we spend more than $1000 per year on water, even with collecting rain water.

Some of that is when we run out from the very small amount we get from the city, and have to buy from the passing water trucks, meaning sometimes, for a few hours, we have to go without.

A cleaner (not just parasites...but also just a lot of dirt sometimes) and more consistent water source would be of course preferable long term.

Another item for prayer, among many of late. (praying for the new staff in Las Botijas MP undergoing training this week, the new work starting on the farm in Cantarranas, continuing construction in Danli, and planning for the groups coming in February, March and April, among potential new hires for several areas, and a big change for our plan for church maturity/growth, and the list goes on!)

We are entering 2024 with a bang for sure!

January 05th, 2024

1/5/2024

You never stop learning it seems.

The Milk Project has a busy January every year...got to get food out to each location, update inventories on cups, utensils, etc. and meet with parents to sign the kids up for another year. It is matriculating like for school.

In Tegucigalpa this is, relatively, easy. But in the rural areas, with harvest time in full swing, it is a little more difficult to coordinate. Yesterday was a meeting in Las Botijas, and 23 of 35 children's parents were there.

The new staff there will have to visit the other 12 households, to see if they were busy, or if they have decided to not continue, and if so...visit our list of families still waiting for a spot to open up.

Our scholarship students were on hand to help and get some experience moving food, seeing how things work administratively...training up the next generation, even if we don't know specifically if any of them will end up doing something like this full time in the future.

Working with children is not easy and not always predictable. With families, even more so, and in multiple scenarios/locations...well, you get the idea. Always learning though!

Also learning that while the work upstairs continues on the office building, the tedious finishing work on all the concrete walls (stucco to be ready to paint) that we can make some progress on the "bodega" (warehouse) downstairs with a separate crew when the right block went on sale at the end of the year. Right now, just doing the side walls on the two sides that need it most (the side that faces the road, and that faces the mission house where there was a lot exposed.)

We will have to wait for groups to help us progress on this, for the funding and labor help, but hopefully it will be good enough to park cars in here soon at least. But...to be able to move in all the stuff from the containers and then sell them, that will probably not be ready until maybe the fourth quarter of the year.

Back to the Milk Project, we are also constantly learning about how to help with home issues. When it is cisterns or beds, that is relatively straight forward, but occasionally we have donations come in to help with roofs or floors.

With some of the homes though, replacing a roof isn't so easy...if the wood supporting the roof is also rotting.

So, there are some conversations and thinking/planning to see how to help best when sometimes you can't fix everything, since rebuilding the wood and the roof, a new house essentially, could cost over $2000, depending on where, when, and who can help put it all together.

And also learning...about vehicle repair. After a long stay in the shop, with a complete overhaul and much other work (which we got into step by step before knowing how deep the hole would be), we got the white Ford back just before Christmas.

Gently using her to break her in, she broke down...right there. Better there than on the road somewhere, as apparently the clutch master cylinder went out.

So...back she goes, eventually.

Getting around the country to do everything takes vehicles, and trying to manage that and them in a sustainable, manageable, and economical way sometimes feels like we have it down, and then sometimes...like we are still learning.

Spoiler alert then for life...we are always learning. Never will the day come on earth where we have it all down, when it all makes sense, when it all goes according to plan. That can be discouraging. But knowing it is coming at least, helps. Sometimes. :-)

Changes

12/28/2023

Hector will be taking over and living on the farm property in Cantarranas... which as you can see in the picture, said house needs a lot of work before they can move in.

We tried a young pastor in this position for many months this year, but it wasn't a good fit for him or the farm. Plus he just got married and now lives 45 minutes away.

We have changes come up. I'm not alone in not being a fan of change, I don't seek change out, but over the years, I have embraced it when foisted upon me.

The mission has some changes already happening, ones worthy of prayer.

Gerardo (seen left with the first harvest in Sampedrana drying) will be taking over as farm manager in Sampedrana. Carlos stepped down to handle things elsewhere for his family.

There are upcoming changes still coming...
-There will be new staff in Las Botijas for the Milk Project (our director is leaving to attend church with her husband that just came to Christ through another church, and our cook needs to leave to care for her mother suffering from Alzheimer's.)
-We have a consult next week with a company that might be able to drill a well for us in Las Botijas (currently the water we have, when it works, comes from several miles away) which if it looks good could be expensive, but would be a huge improvement in every sense for everything on the campus there.
-there are a couple clinic staff changes coming about as well
-prayerfully in the first quarter of 2024, another NGO will be helping us modernize and get our solar systems up to snuff for the clinic and apartment building to get our bill down, and provide battery backup power for the clinic during outages.

Coffee ripening in Sampedrana above, first harvests up on the high farm.

Coffee ripens at different times, even on the same branch. The work here sometimes is the same. There is pruning involved, fertilizing, hard work and prayer.

There will be changes and things to come in 2024 we can't even see dawning on the horizon yet. But we can be praying for those we already know, and those unknown, already, for grace, mercy, and strength through it all!

Sampedrana

12/20/2023

Marvin went yesterday to Sampedrana to see how the clinic days are going, and talk to some of the patients that are coming. Part of our ongoing efforts to improve our long term impact and spiritual growth of the churches is moving Marvin to this new Church development director role. He has a big job ahead of him, that we knew, and that we are finding out as well...how are we developing the church body for future pastors, leaders, Sunday School teachers, Milk Project staff, coffee farm workers, etc. It is the same, and of course different in some ways, in each location.

He had a chance to talk to a couple of the patients, to hear from them what this once a month (currently) clinic means to them:

Maria Angela Martinez says she walks 30 minutes to get to the clinic. "Before, we had to go to Comayagua because there is no health center here. Now, we have the ease of just coming to consult in the clinic. The care has been good because my daughter Aby Perez (six months old) got over her cold."

Maria Azucena Andara says "having medical attention here is good because before you would have to go to Comayagua and get up before dawn and be there two days because if you didn't get in the first day."

Exolina Moren lives close, she told Marvin "Travelling to Comayagua required a lot of time and more money because you had to pay for transportation and a hotel in Comayagua to get seen the next day." Her son had pneumonia and recovered thanks to a brigade that came to Sampedrana.

Marvin also shared that there were people there from Rio Blanco and El Horno...a three hour walk from the church.

Harvest has begun, in the lower areas as well in Sampedrana (around 4,000'...our main farm is up at 5,600')

This starts the few months of the year where many can actually make money to try to get them by the rest of the year.

The farmers themselves won't make much though...currently a pound of coffee at market goes for $.80 per pound.

For us, selling at that price trying to do things well, would practically be a loss.

That is why we are so grateful that we can do more with Hill Climber Coffee...providing employment, outreach opportunities, ways to invest in our community.

But also with our direct trade with you, drinking our coffee, long term we can also do even more by actually generating positive revenue. We aren't there yet...but every year, with more people getting on board drinking Hill Climber, we are getting closer.