thank you!!!

A huge thank you to the Womack family for their continued support and prayers!!!

The Belpre Group has come and gone (part 2)…

One of the greatest things that happened throughout the week was the great privilege and honor to have Talanga and Josue from the Homeless Ministry come and work alongside our group. What better way to reach out to the people of Honduras, then to have some of your very own out there pounding nails, handing out food, cleaning rooms, working hard to serve our father! It was a great way for them, to give back as well! God is continually showing us ways to better serve the Honduran people!

Josue and Talanga mixing concrete for the support posts :)

Carlos, my son, on the roof finishing up the last touches!

Josue lining up the rafters!

Me and Brian discussing what to do with all the extra lumber... Opps!

While the men worked on the shelter the ladies made some AWESOME bookcases!

The Belpre Group has come and gone…

What a great week of service! Building a total two homes, a pavilion so that some kiddos will have some shade to eat lunch under at a great school, visited lots of kids, visited some of the saddest places on earth, all while continuing to show the love of Christ! We spent one morning handing out flowers and 'care packages' inside Hospital Escuela! It was awesome to see the kiddos light up when pulled out toys and candy!

Its not every often that you see and father in the hospital, looking after his son...

This boy had gone to have surgery on his leg, then the surgery was canceled so they brought him back to his room. His mother could not lift him back into bed, so joined in and helped...

Picture of the 100 flower arrangements we made in the foyer of the hospital

Arrangement

Then God kept sending his blessings!!!

A week later, Renia, Talanga’s wife was baptized as well. She wanted to wait, pray and see if this was the decision she really wanted to make, to take the leap of faith and step out and prove to the world that she is God’s child. It was a great testimony to watch a drug using, alcoholic couple come to know the Lord and his goodness. (the only bad thing was, we didn’t have a camera there that night! L )

Talanga Got Baptized!!!

About three weeks ago Talanga, a great man at the homeless ministry was baptized into Christ! For the past few months we have been studying the word with him, sharing stories about life and just allowing him to ask questions when he had them. We did not want to pressure him, we wanted him to make the decision on his own!

God is always, always faithful. He continues to show his mercy through Talanga!

Darwin (in the blue shirt) is Amber's Son. He is a very sweet young man. God has blessed him with the opportunity to serve these people, the people that most others wouldn't touch!

After a couple of weeks of studying and LOTS of time investing in ways to show God's love and mercy, HIS LOVE always prevails!!!

In the middle of the homeless ministry, there is a courtyard and a fountain that worked great as a baptistery!

Probably my new favorite picture... God is always ALWAYS faithful!

Where to even begin!!

This is the part I hate MOST about blogging, that SOO much has happened, God has opened SOO many doors and given us SOO many opportunities to share His love and grace and SOO many things to rejoice in that I DO NOT know where to start, so bare with me was start from where I left off and get ready for some great stories and pictures!

One night at the homeless ministry, the power was out in the building. So we fed everyone under a streetlight, just down the street!

Me and Josue, one of the young guys that lives in the building.

Renia and all of us touching her pregnant belly!!! She is scheduled to have the baby this coming Monday!!!

Monday Afternoon Bible Study!

Max Lucado - Experiencing the Heart of Jesus

On Monday afternoon we had our first Bible study with the people in the homeless ministry. Amber and I expected about three to four people to show up, but by the end of the Bible study there was ten people, not including us white people :)

Everyone was really excited to talk and share life stories and experiences!

Amber came with print outs from the book, so that everyone can write their answers out.

God was honored by these people, sitting down and just sharing what He does in their lives, even when they didn't realize it was Him! I was very impressed with how many of the people wanted to sit down and read!!!

Closing prayer! After the prayer, since so many were in attendance and we had such a good response with lots of feed back and lots of comments we asked if they would like to have more then one meeting a week to sit down and study. They all agreed that they wanted two gathering times a week! God is always, always Faithful!!!

Whats Next??

God has allowed me the opportunity to help serve the poor and homeless with Breaking the Chains Ministry. It is something that I have grown to LOVE to do. Last week, my good friend Amber sat down with the couple that oversee the grounds at the building, because they asked about baptism. After a steady about what it means, what importance it is, both Talanga and Renia deicded that they wanted to pray more about it and see what God wanted them to do. God will honor their hearts and I CANNOT wait for the day that they are baptized into Christ!

Renia and Talanga sitting and discussing their future lives with God :)

Children's Church

We never know how many kids to expect if any at all. Today we had five kiddos come and participate in Children's Church. It was good fun trying to remember words to VBS songs, while at the same time doing hand motions and trying to sing those VBS songs in Spanish! This week we started a 'series' with the kiddos on creation and they all seemed to catch on pretty quickly!

Jonathan coloring his coloring sheet!

The girls (Courtney and Jenn) cut out this really cool light bulbs to represent light, and then the kids colored their papers black to represent dark

All together now!

Its fun to watch them get so much enjoyment out of coloring

Courtney leading the song 'The Sea of Galilee' because i am not that fast at translating the words and doing the hand motions all at the same time! :)

Church with the homeless... i love them!

Homeless Church is a little, different to say the least. People sometimes shout out in the middle of a prayer, stand up and walk out to go huff some glue, people are wrestles and just come for the food afterwards but today, it seemed different yet at the same time, all the same (if that makes any sense at all). Darwin, Ambers' son, lead the service today but he was kind of hyper. Which actually turned out to be really cool. He had the people standing and acting like kids, singing and dancing to those famous VBS songs that we all loved and cherished!!! At first I thought it was a little crazy, but after I got to thinking about it, the people there probably never had a chance to attend a VBS, where they can act silly and it still be okay before God. It also allowed them a time to get out all their energy before sitting down and listening to a good lesson on love and kindness and the hope that Jesus has to offer them.

Belki's singing and dancing in her own little world!!!

Darwin starting with the first song, Belkis was SO excited!

There were over 25 people today!!! It as a great time worshiping God (like kids!)

Donation of computer monitors!!!

A couple of weeks ago, we helped TORCH/I.R.C unload a container. When we were finished Mark Connell and I were talking about some of the things that came in on the container and where the supplies would be going. Carlos, our oldest son, overheard Mark say the quicker we can get the stuff out the better. Well, on our drive home that night Carlos asked what Mark was going to do with the monitors. So after asking some questions, Carlos told me that he wanted to donate some to his old school, where he graduated from in November. After making some phone calls and talking to the right people, we brought home about twenty nine computer monitors for Carlos to clean up, fix/repair. It took three truck loads but we got them all home. Over the course of the weekend Carlos plugged every single one and made sure they worked. Then he took the time to clean them inside and out.

God is working in this boy, he doesn't see it but we do! Carlos is constantly trying to find ways to help people, constantly trying to find ways to do the right thing. He has a servant heart, he just trys to be cool, like any normal 20 year old! Love my boy, and Love that God has allowed him to be in my life!

Our living room with monitors, WOW!!! Carlos is in the back-round trying out one to make sure it works

This picture was taken only after trip #2 out of 3

Carlos' teacher, with all the monitors in their storage room

Our truck full to the top!!! (inside was full too!)

They all made it to the school safe and sound!

A Christmas Party in February?!!?

Around Christmas time, the W.O.P. team from Ohio, decided that they wanted to throw a Christmas party for the Didasko children's home. After many jumps, leaps and cancellations, God allowed us the have the party last weekend. It was a great day for everyone, fun times on the games and rides and most of all pizza and LOTS of presents from wonderful people in the states! God is always faithful!

We broke the kiddos up into different groups. Carlos had these four little guys... (Carlos is growing up to be a good man :) )

Bryan enjoying some pizza, I feel like he ate about 10 slices himself!

Jen and the girls!

Norma and her gifts!!!

She LOVED her presents!!!

A great week!

Over the last week or so, we have had the opportunity to host one of our biggest supports. This great lady prays for our ministry daily, offers advice and guidance and most importantly believes that God’s work is being done through our ministry. It was a great week of taking her around to see the different things God allows us to do here in Honduras. Michelle got to meet our boys, got to work in some of the communities that we serve in, got to visit the dump and pass out food and water, she was able to serve in the homeless ministry and most importantly show the love of Christ in everything that she did.

Michelle with Carlos as he was working on a computer

Saul and Michelle

Michelle and some of the kiddos from Casa de Esperanza!

Me, Jen and Michelle

Giving out hugs and water at the dump!

Valentines Day at the Homeless Ministry

Yesterday at the homeless ministry Amber brought cards and art supplies for the people to make valentines day cards, the people went CRAZY!!! They loved it, most of them went right to making their cards instead of eating.

Making Cards :)

Sunday Afternoon Church...

On Sunday afternoons we have been attending Breaking the Chains Church of Christ with the homeless people. Depending on the week, there can be three people to twenty people. This past week we had over twenty people come to worship Christ! It was great seeing the drug addicts and others worshiping God. After services we provide a time of fellowship and invite the people to stay and eat something. This time is my favorite part because we get to invest time with them, something they LOVE.

Making Dinner!

Cutting the Tomatoes!!!

Our Church Group