Not Our Plans

I (Matt) read a book by Elizabeth Elliot Gren entitled, "These Strange Ashes." The first time through I just thought it was such a weird book of mishaps and non-endings, and the second time it hit me that it's just real life and not everything turns out the way we plan... like today.

Our puppet team has put a lot of work into being prepared for the next set of performances.  One was for today up in the mountains of Tutule at the public primary school.

We were excited to be part of the start of the new school year and have the opportunity to perform for about 300 children.  We even practiced a new short puppet skit that we added to the start of the show as it was about staying in school and that school is fun!

Yesterday afternoon a cold front came in and was much worse up in the mountains.  This morning we received a message that it was raining badly in the mountains.  So, we sent out some quick prayer requests to cover our travels and prepare the way ahead of us.  The picture above is the mountain road and while it shows the fog that came in, you can also see on the right the tops of the banana trees just off the road growing up the side of the mountain.  This is NOT a good road to be on in impaired visibility!!

The visibility continued to get worse and worse the further up the mountain we went!!  To top it off, we received a call that the storm had knocked out the electricity in the city we were going to.  No electricity, means no speaker, and since we use recorded material that means no show.  We prayed and continued going up in hopes that the electricity would be restored.

We made it to Tutule and reached the school to find not only was there no power, but there were also only about 4 or 5 kids running about, instead of the 300+ kids that attend the school.  The teachers were all together in one classroom. They told us that it is coffee harvest time and that many kids do not come to school for the first few weeks as they are working harvesting coffee. They also said that there may have been more kids coming today but they probably walked back home because of the heavy rain.  I think they may have been actually using the puppet show to entice kids to come!

It was amazing to see the reaction of the team as they said that it was ok and all in God's timing.  If there was anyone fairly bummed it was me, but I got over it pretty quickly in hearing their God-focused response.  We visited some friends in town and had lunch at the local "comedor".  It was fried chicken and some of the best I've ever eaten! (And I've eaten a LOT!)

Our trip back down into the valley was again through thick fog and I was quite happy to be out of the mountains!

This was a neat experience in that in the end it was not about doing a great show but more about having a great attitude and keeping our eyes on God!

There is a time for everything, 

and a season for every activity under the heavens.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 

Pulhapanzak

To celebrate all the hard work by the puppet team, we headed to the Pulhapanzak waterfalls.  It should have been about a two hour trip to get there but ended up taking over three hours due to construction traffic.

 The team was pretty excited to stretch their legs once we arrived at the park.

Then we quickly dug into the lunches we brought!

Next was a dip into the river before heading to the see the waterfalls.

The swimming area is made by a little water dam.

The water was amazingly clear!!!

Silliness was everywhere!!

Great fun for all!!

The swimming area was a super beautiful site!!

Then the walk down to see the waterfalls.

The waterfalls are super gorgeous!!

 Just enjoying the view!

I want to point out that there was no sign that said we couldn't climb over the fence for a better picture!

I'm not sure they thought climbing over the fence was such a bright idea!

Next we had to climb back up to be able to continue the trail to the base of the falls.

Great group photo!

It was quite wet at the base due to the continual mist from the waterfall.

Of course the perpetual mist given off by the waterfall makes for great little rainbows!

Another fun group shot!

On the way back we stopped off at Lake Yajoa.

 Super beautiful at the lake!

The pier we walked out on turned into a little wood walkway, but we all walk out on it until it disappeared under the water.

This area of green grass is under water during the rainy season.

Ellen decided to sit out the walk and wait at what was about a halfway point.

Looking back and you can see it was just a beautiful day!

Truly a fun day!!  What made it extra fun is that in spending the entire day together, (which turned out to be almost 12 hours due to another back up on the return trip) the group shared sweet Christian fellowship. Actually, we spent some of the car time going over the next puppet script and also in reading Scripture and prayer!!  God is goood!!

Such a blessing to be treated to a fun day experiencing more of Honduras with such sweet friends!!

I (Jesus) came that they may have life and have it abundantly.  

John 10:10

Harvest at the Ag School... Graduation!

Another year has passed for the ag school with the new fruit that has ripened and is ready to be shipped out across the country... the kids are graduating and going home!

It was a big event with dignitaries at the head table, banners up, flag unfurled and pine needles on the floor!

I was invited to come and attend, along with Greg Brewster who is also with Equip, for our service at the school this year.  We were given a special introduction and warm thanks for caring for the kids and their spiritual growth.

The director of the ag school and my good friend, Mario, gave an excellent graduation speech.  In one part he said that he was reading a book and ran across a formula for success in life.  He said that he thought probably all the people there had the same book in their home too.  That it often has a black cover and of course the book was the Bible.

He said he found the formula in Joshua 1:8

• This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

So his encouragement to the graduating class was that to truly be successful they needed to know and follow God!  Awesome!

Lot's of pictures taken after everyone received their certificates.

Couple different media guys there who interviewed Mario after the ceremony!

All in all, great time and very God honoring!  We are so thankful that Mario is the director there and has given us an open door to come in and work with the kids!!

Aiming Higher!

Pastor Gustavo, his wife Noelia, and their son, Fhares, came for lunch and planning today.   They had very exciting news to share in that every week they have new people from the community coming to church and accepting Christ as their Lord and Savior!

One of those newly saved folks used to run a cantina, or bar/liquor store, out of their home which also hosted prostitution.  Now the same people that used to get together to get drunk are getting together to pray, read the Bible and encourage each other.  Amazing miraculous transformation!!

Through the men at the church at El Coquito we have  continued the concrete floor project and have completed several.  Unfortunately the last home we installed a floor in had some adobe walls fall in on one room during the recent terrible rains and flooding of last month.  It's basically a two room house, cement was put in both rooms, and so it is currently a one room house.

I can hardly express how impressed I am with the church as the men have been working making adobe block to rebuild the walls.  They are showing great love for one another as they sacrificially work to help this sister in Christ!

As we talked about what's new I told Pastor Gustavo about the recent lesson at INFOP called, "Aim Higher," teaching about goals and seeking God.  He was very intrigued and wanted to talk more about the Scriptures we used.  He thought our Scripture selection was right on target and that it was a great lesson.

I decided to take him out to show him the blowguns we used and see if he was interested in trying them.

Perhaps being a pastor provides him with a greater lung capacity, or it's possible that his work as a mason has something to do with that, but either way he was a natural!

If you look closely you can see the targets we were shooting at and yes we hit them!  The blowguns are quite powerful!

If it wasn't for a prior engagement that they had I'm not sure they would have left!  Gustavo was very excited after actually trying the blowgun, and given what he considers an excellent spiritual lesson, he has asked me to give the lesson for the teens at his church which is over 20 youth!  Of course, I'm very excited about that opportunity!

We praise the Lord for the special friendship He has given us with Gustavo, Noelia and Fhares!!  

Happy thanksgiving to all!

This is one of the verses we share in the "Aim Higher" lesson, Colossians 3:2-4:

Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. 

For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Aim Higher

We had a lesson at INFOP entitled, "Aim Higher," and it used a blowgun as an analogy, or object lesson.  This works well because when using a blowgun a target is needed and to hit the target it is necessary to actually aim a little higher.  The further away from the target you stand the higher you need to aim.

We talked about setting goals for life and the most important goal is knowing God.  In seeking God we need to lift our eyes up and aim higher!

The Scripture we started with was Psalm 121:1-2:

I lift up my eyes to the hills.

    From where does my help come?

2 My help comes from the Lord,

    who made heaven and earth.

The lesson was with thirty some youth at the agricultural school.  The idea of the school is to prepare them to go out and work in agriculture, either for a big ag company or on their own, but to my surprise none of the students had actual goals or dreams or visions for what they would do what they were learning.

So, talking about setting goals was extremely important for them.  Talking about the importance of knowing God and surrendering their life to Him was most important.  Making darts and using the blowguns on targets and balloons was perfect fun for a bunch of teens!

We are so thankful for the opportunity we have to be here and invest in these lives.  We are thankful to the Lord and to each one of you who are praying and supporting us financially!  We work as a team together and it is all for the glory of God!!

Muppet Ministry in the Mountains!

Taking the puppet ministry to new heights... we headed for the mountains!

We had two shows in the same day.  The first in San Pedro de Tutule with over 80 kids and a bunch of adults.  The second was near the top of a mountain in the community of La Peñita with over 40 kids and several adults.

One man came up to me after the show to say he was watching the local cable channel and saw the program being aired live, so he grabbed his two kids and ran to the park to see the show!  PTL!

It is so exciting to us to be part of a group of Hondurans willing to give sacrificially of their time and effort to reach their own country with the Good News, the gospel, that there is but one way to heaven and His name is Jesus!

The First Mad Muppet Ministry Show!

This intrepid team of evangelical adventurers launched the very first Mad Muppet Ministry Show!

This photo is actually proof that we survived as it was taken after the show when we went out to celebrate with some "atol" which is a traditional corn drink... thick sweet and yummy with cinnamon on top!

Preparing for a puppet show involves a lot of prayer, practice and even a day of crafts making signs to be used in the show to help highlight important points!

We had our "puppet singers" who started and ended the program.

We had a very fun little drama explaining to kids that they are important and special to God!

Ellen followed the drama with questions to reinforce the lesson!

I (Matt) gave a short Bible lesson on Mark 10:14, "Jesus said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.""  

A peek from behind!

One of the team members concluded the program!

We concluded the program with a rousing round of "Ho-Ho-Ho-Hosanna"!

The video is a set of highlights from the show!!

I'm so proud of the volunteers who have faithfully been practicing for two hours every Wednesday in preparation, and this is just the first as we have several more performances to go!!

Paul wrote, "I have become all things to all people, that by all means I might save some." 1Cor 9:22  Seems so applicable to puppet ministries!!