January Team!

2015 started out with a POWER TEAM from the US.  We had seven folks from our home church in Maryland who came down to escape the cold weather... no, I meant to write they came down to work!  It doesn't matter what I wrote as they certainly did work, long hours, great attitudes, and all to share the love a Jesus! We squeezed in a visit to our home in Humuya to enjoy some fresh coconut water from our coconut trees.

They arrived on Saturday afternoon and first thing Sunday morning we were up in the mountains to help give a special Sunday service for children.  Our friend, Aurora, started a children's ministry there and has been faithfully discipling the children for over a year.

Just recently the attendance has dropped to around 15 children as it is the time for the coffee harvest and many kids go to help their parents harvest coffee.  We had coloring pages for the kids.  They LOVE to color!

Our coming and holding a special event was an opportunity to have new children come. There were over 60 kids that came!  They heard a Bible teaching, did some special crafts, received a nice lunch, and most importantly, they were invited back for the next Sunday when Aurora will be teaching again!  It was a great start for the team to come alongside Aurora in this ministry she is doing and help her!

Sunday night we went to the church in El Coquito where we held a VBS during the week.  Our pastor, Charlie Baile, shared a great message with translation by our own deacon, Scott Chesemore (who was a missionary in Ecuador for 10 years).

They made extra special decorations in the church to welcome the team and the church packed out to the point that some people were left having to stand around the edge. Notice the floor covered in pine needs.  It not only looked pretty, it smelled nice too.

There was a special ribbon cutting ceremony after the service, officially opening the bathrooms our church has sent funds to construct.  During the service there was a slide show of the construction and it was amazing to see that not only were the men working but also the women, and the youth - both boys and girls!  This was truly a whole church project!

Monday was a busy day preparing for the week but we did make it out to visit a local business that makes aluminum pots like the one below in the photo.  

The team was amazed to see how hard these men worked having to make a fresh mold from soil for each item cast.  The aluminum is recycled from local scrap and melted down in a blast furnace fueled by used motor oil.   The incredibly bright light in the left of the photo is the blast furnace!

When the aluminum is poured it is cherry red.  It cools quickly and the new piece will be removed in just minutes!  We had a great time discussing possible Scriptural applications from this.  Can you think of any?

We did a three day VBS with over 80 children from 5 to 12 years old.

Our team had some Spanish speakers who could lead the stations and we also had the help from Aurora and some of her siblings!  They are a strong Christian family eager to serve the Lord!

Some of the activities could be done without the need to speak Spanish!

The Bible station had a Bible verse for each day which the children quickly memorized!

There were also arts and crafts which usually included something to make and a coloring page!

We provided a lunch each day which the women faithfully prepared!

The team did skits each day as another way to teach the Bible lesson!  What lesson would you want to bring in the animals two by two?

We even had a dinosaur skeleton dig!!

What is this crazy cardboard thing with the children trapped inside???  It's a not-to-scale Noah's Ark and it was one of the favorite stations of the week!!  As you can see from the photo, we needed some duck tape to keep our Noah's Ark a float!

After a fun morning of VBS, we put on the work gloves and dug into a construction project with the men from the church.

We completed a large cement slab behind the church that will double as a church kitchen and children's Sunday school area.

One of the VBS activities had the kids following clues to find hidden treasure... just like we look for hidden treasure in the Bible!

All the children received masks and loved getting to be a variety of animals!

In fact, they were very good at acting out their animals!

The men also enjoyed afternoon games using a soccer ball in the church (don't try this in your church at home)!

The women had great fellowship time too!!

During the last VBS day as part of the arts and crafts station each child put one hand print on a sheet to make a cross!

Pastor Gustavo, who is the pastor of the El Coquito church, wrapped up the week and gave an invitation to the children to put their lives in Christ.

The VBS was over but we had one more construction project.  We put in another cement floor with the men from the church.  This time is was in a simple adobe house of one of the women in the church.  It is a small two-room house where she, as a single mother, is raising six children.  Above we are praying for the Lord's blessing on her and her family!!

The team from the states were just seven folks but here is a group picture of all the workers for the VBS program!!  We were there helping the folks from the church!!

This was a great way to kick off 2015!!  There was a special blessing in that our daughter Kelly had just started as a full time Equip missionary a few months before and so was here to help us in all the many preparations needed for the team!!

Thank you to the team for coming, for the church for sending them and for the families who let them travel!!

A big thank you also to our special friends here in Honduras who added so much in giving so freely to the Lord by loving their neighbors here in working at the VBS in a church that is not their home church!!

And how are they to proclaim Him unless they are sent? 

As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”  

Romans 10:15