Adios y Hola

Windblown, bearded and filled with the Spirit after 9 incredible days with our Honduran hermanos, we are ready to head home. Here are pictures of Paulino's home and the Sunday School rooms, but what we can't show are the relationships that were built over the last 2 weeks, which are more substantial than the concrete block that was laid.




Hasta Luego y Dios te bendiga siempre.

We forgot what you looked like

Team Uno says: We haven't seen many photos lately. I guess Glenn's camera taking a soccer hit really cut down on your production capacity. Your wives are starting to glaze over trying to recall what you look like after being gone for 9 days.


So just to pass the time while you pack and get ready for one last McDonald's Cuarto Poundero at the airport terminal, here are some photos of the sites in Tegucigalpa.



Toss the guard a Dios te ama tennis ball on your way out.

The Last Day A Lasting Day

We had an incredible example of the power of God today as we delivered bags of beans, flour, rice and coffee to the extremely needy in a location where we served two years ago. As we walked down the dusty, rocky roads around Rock of Salvation church, we reconnected with friends and made new ones. People were amazed that we actually came back to see them. Their faces beamed as we recalled their names and told them how great it was to see them. Building a building is one thing. Building a friendship through the love of God is something else altogether.

One of the people we were most excited to reconnect with was Nixon. Nixon is a great life lesson on how we need to be careful of prejudgment. When we met him two years ago, he was one of the workers helping us on the construction site. Forty something years old and slight of build, Nixon kept to himself and spent much of the first day shoveling dirt and mixing the concrete for the mortar. He did not make much eye contact. He seemed unremarkable in almost every way except for his work ethic. By the end of day two he was best friends with everyone. His incredible singing voice inspired us all. He and Bob played guitars on the front porch, entertaining throngs of children of all ages. He outplayed everyone on the soccer field. He looked everyone in the eye, grinned widely, and hugged dearly. Everyone loved him.

We still do. As we walked up to his house today, he met us halfway, riding his bike and laughing. He jumped off and hugs multiplied. We gave him a very special gift: a life sized cardboard Bob. He was so excited! Baptist Men is building Nixon a new house and we are sure Bob will have a prominent place.

We had one bag of food left to deliver. We asked Nixon who needed food the most. He led us down a rugged path to a ramshackle two room hut. He introduced us to Arianna, a forty year old single mother with eight children. She was a wonderful woman and graciously invited us into her home. Her eyes welled with joyful tears when we delivered her the bag of food. She hugged us all and thanked us continuously. As we turned to leave, we noticed a handwritten message that summarized so much for us. On her front door was painted:

"Dios bendiga este hogar", which translated means "God Bless This Home".

By anyone's standard, this woman had incredible needs. Yet she was happy and thankful for what she had. She is a great example for all of us.

We are all excited to travel home to our families tomorrow. We pray that as we return to our lives back home, we carry the lessons we have learned this week with us and always keep them in our hearts.

Dios te ama. To God be the glory.

Not Good-bye

We had another awesome day yesterday with stories that will rock your soul. They rocked ours. As we gave our final hugs to our new El Corizzo family, we did not tell them good-bye. We told them, we will see you later. Because we will.

Today we will be delivering food to families in areas we have served previously. We'll report on that later.

Our prayers and love to you all.

Dios te ama.

The Biggest Godwink

Okay, one more story. Keep in mind that there were dozens of stories like this today, but none bigger for Jeremiah.

Jeremiah (Jota) was on the roof of the Sunday School building a few days ago when he noticed a young boy, about six years old, in the distance. He was too far away for Jota to see his face. The boy was struggling to balance five large empty water containers on his bicycle to go fill them. He tried and tried and tried and finally figured how to balance them while riding his bike. Around the corner of the house another young boy, about five, came running and knocked the water bottles off of the bike and laughed and laughed as he ran away.

Jota was struck how that playful relationship reminded him of his deceased brother when they were little. He could not get that little boy and his bicycle out of his mind the rest of that day and the next as he worked. He made up his mind to go over to that little boy's house at some point to get to know him.

In the meantime, Jota struck up a friendship with two boys at the worksite. Reynaldo is about six years and full of fire. He helped around the work site and became Jota's little shadow. At the worship services at the church, Reynaldo and his brother sat in Jota's lap.

Today, Jota decided to seek out the little boy with the bicycle and asked Reynaldo through gestures to help him navigate through the neighborhood. Reynaldo eagerly led the way, but had misinterpreted Jota's request. Reynaldo thought Jota wanted to go to HIS house. After walking together down the path away from the church. Reynaldo broke into a run to his house. THE house. The house that Jota was watching days before. Reynaldo ran under a tree and brought his bike to show Jota. THE bike. Jota could not speak. Could it be?

About that time Reynaldo's brother came running out of the house. Jota was overcome with emotion. Fighting back tears, he jumped on Reynaldo's bike with Renaldo on his lap. As they rode through the village, Jota was in two places at the same time. In Honduras with his good buddy Reynaldo, and also riding bikes with his brother at some wonderful point in time in their childhood.

Anything is possible with God.

Too Big To Describe

When we had devotion last night, we commented on how big our God is. Whenever we think we have an idea, He shows us something so much bigger we are amazed. Today was that day.

Workwise, the roof for the Sunday School building was installed and two rooms now have concrete floors. We left one room for the best reason to do anything - love. No one loves concrete more than our brother Wiley Jones who has spent the last couple of days recovering from a nasty head cold. He greeted us tonight when we got back to the mission house with a Rocky Balboa hands over the head dance that told us he was better. A hundred percent better in fact. He will be wallowing in cement grinning from ear to ear in less than twelve hours. It will be a wonderful gift for all of us!

God was everywhere today. If all were written here it would be enough for a good novel...hmmm. Anyway, when we get back to the U.S. you can ask any one of us and you will get at least three different Godwinks from every team member. Pictures will have to suffice for now. Team one, we all thank you for your hard work. Without you we would not have had the flexibility to experience God the way we did today.


Ok. One story. Can't help it. Next to the house we built is a courtyard and a couple of mud houses. The village desperately needed a well, so they prayed about where to dig. The location was chosen. In twenty days, using only a pick axe, shovel, and bucket, the well is now thirty feet deep and eight feet in diameter. That's right. Twenty days. Thirty feet deep. But to the great disappointment of the village, work had stopped. Even though the soil was beginning to get moist, the man digging the well could not dig any deeper for fear the walls would start collapsing without concrete reinforcement. We all looked at each other and had a prayer meeting without saying a word. Today we delivered a dozen bags of cement to his house. The look of pure amazement was soon replaced with a gold toothed grin. The feeling of God being in that place at that moment washed over everyone. As he headed back down the well to begin digging, the man told us that he was going to put an extra marker beside the well. On it he was going to write two words: Jeremias' team.

Several people at devotion tonight said that today was the closest to God they have ever felt.

So, how big is YOUR God?

You Can't Outgive God

During worship service this morning, everyone stood and sang a song, smiling and clapping and moving with the beat. Two women in the congregation began to pass baskets for the offering. Almost every member of our team began to hand out limpira (each one worth about 20 cents) to the children around them. Astonished eyes filled the room as the children looked at each other. The children did not wait for the basket to come to them. They rushed to the women to put their offering to God in the wicker baskets. For some of them it was the first time they had something to put in the basket. Their hearts were very glad. Their beautiful grins told the story. We smiled too, only some of us emphasized our smiles with tears of joy streaking down our cheeks.

It was almost like the loaves and fishes story. Just a few limpira seemed to multiply. The children kept coming and dropping their offering in the baskets. Then one little barefooted boy in ragged blue pants walked up to the basket with his hand full of limpira that had been given him and put them in one of the overflowing baskets. Almost unnoticed, without a pause, he then reached into his pocket and pulled it inside out as he took out the single crumpled limpira he had brought himself. He gently balanced it on the top of the pile in the basket and grinned all the way back to his seat, showing a gap where his two front teeth had been.

There was no gap in his heart.