A New Year and We are Off and Cooking

It seems amazing that 2014 is here and we're already back into ministry in Honduras!

One big joy for us is that our daughter Kelly came to Honduras mid-January and will be here for most of February.  She has completed a two year program in the Philippines in a Christian birthing clinic where she "caught" 92 babies!  She is certified by the North American Registry of Midwives and is now pursuing options to use her training on the mission field.  She's talking to some doctors, checking out clinics and visiting various ministries while in Honduras.

Kelly jumped right in with helping us here in the various daily projects we are doing.  Here she was helping to fill a new heat retention cooker.

We fill the bags with rice hulls that act as insulation for the cooker.  The wind was causing the hulls to blow all over the place, including into our eyes.

Here Kelly is closing the bag by hand sewing the fill hole.

We had our first heat retention cooking presentation at a ministry that works with single teen moms.  They have 12 girls, their 12 babies and two "Tias".  Tia means "aunt" and these are women who help oversee the daily operations.  Some of the girls come to them as young as 12 years old, their need is for help be a mom and also help in growing up themselves including finishing school.

We wanted the girls to get to taste two types of food with the heat retention cookers and so we made both chicken with rice and frijoles (beans).  We have a problem in transporting the prepared foods because we have to drive over very rocky dirt roads and some rather steep hills.  So, to minimize clean up we placed the cooker in the black trash bag and the pot with frijoles we "cooked" using our cooler.

We start the lesson by explaining the heat retention cooking process and then serving up the food.  The young moms loved the food!

Even in a nice facility like the one they live in, with an indoor kitchen and electric stove, they still cook daily with wood.  Why they do this is simply because they cook beans daily and it takes three to four hours.  That would be a lot of electricity and so they opt for an outside stovetop that uses wood.

Now imagine their reaction when they learn they can simply boil the beans for 15 to 20 minutes and then put the pot in a heat retention cooker for four, six or even eight hours!  They are really excited about heat retention cooking!  It's significantly less wood, less smoke exposure, less opportunities to be burned by the fire, less possibility that the food will be burned... there are such big positive gains from heat retention cooking!!

Kelly served Janet, home director with her husband Greg, a sample of the cooking.  Janet loved it and was thrilled to have her own cooker!

As the young moms and children finished up eating, Ellen went over the lesson and answered questions.  Most questions are really just asking for a repeat of what's already been taught and discussed.  It's ok and expected, as this is a paradigm shift in cooking and so it takes a little time and processing for anyone to accept this new way of cooking.

After they tasted how good the food was, we moved on to dessert... the spiritual lesson.  It was a sweet time of discussing "How do we, as believers, maintain our spiritual heat, our passion, for Jesus?"  We know that not all the girls are believers and this is a great opportunity to share with them what are the disciplines that need to be in a believer's life so they can see part of what it means to be a disciple.  When we share these disciplines we also read and discuss verses that go with them:

   Read the Bible: John 20:30-31, 2Timothy 3:16-17
   Fellowship: 1John 1:3, 1John 1:7
   Pray: Ephesians 6:18
   Share the Gospel: Mark 16:15, Acts 5:42
   Serve Others: Ephesians 6:7
   Go to Church: Hebrews 10:24-25:

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on 
toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, 

as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another - 

and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

The directors are doing a magnificent work loving and discipling, and have even had the pleasure of seeing some surrendering their lives to Jesus and being baptized!

We feel very privileged to be able to spend time sharing a meal, teaching and fellowshipping with these little ones loved by God.

Greg and Janet are sweet, sweet Christians who, as are we, are giving themselves freely that some may be saved!!  We are so thankful for their friendship!