Day of Worship and Fun

Dear Team Two, families, friends and Bob;

Wow! Just wow! Hard to know what to write about, we are all on sensory overload right now.

The day began with breakfast cooked by Steve, Mike and Joel. We had bacon, fried bologna, eggs cooked with cheddar and monterey jack and onions and green peppers, toast, and fresh canteloupe, watermelon and bananas. Bryan got his special Spanish omelet once again, just because he is Bryan and he wanted one. Mike spilled enough black pepper in the eggs to change the color. Muy spicy!

Sunday School was special; the kids used the new Sunday School rooms, even without floors or a roof (in other words, Team Two's contributions will be superfluous). There was a huge amount of kids there. Kristen led the girls' Sunday School class and Dennis went with the boys. The rest of us stayed with the pastor and adults. The pastor taught the lesson in English and Spanish. It was very effective.

After Sunday School it was off to Altos de Santa Martha. When we got there the church was locked up but Rosa was there with the key. Alex and Francesca soon appeared. We were asking them about Dulce when we turned around to see her smiling through the front window. Soon I hailed Ricardo riding up the street on the back of a cart. He jumped off and ran to me and hugged me, and said in perfect English, "Hello, Steve, how are you?" Ricardo is remarkable teenage young man who Dennis started teaching English last year. I have thought of him everyday since last year's trip. Pedro showed up, big and little Mario came from across the street, and then Alexis walked up the road with huge smile on his face and open arms. Ricardo ran up the street after getting us to promise not to leave before he got back, and returned with his brother Jose`. We had a great reunion in the church we built together. They asked about you guys on Team Two and we told them you would be here next week. Ricardo asked about you especially, Rambo. They asked about Roberto and we drug out the Bobo mask. They cracked up as we played the "Hola!" game in Bob's honor. While there we also met and spoke with some very nice Mennonite missionaries who have established a colony in the village.

As we got ready to leave I hugged Ricardo and said, ""I love you." He replied in perfect English, "I love you." I looked him in the eye and said, "Mi hermanos in Cristo siempre." He smiled back and said, "My brother in Christ forever." This is why we come here; and even more importantly why we come back!

We went straight to Wendy's for lunch, came back to the house, rushed to change clothes and headed for the beach. The beach was beautiful, and we had a short but restful time there before stopping at Manjaras on the way back. We saw Roberto and Belki, Jose` and the new pastor. The church is growing and building a new sanctuary across the street.

Our cultural experiences included a Honduran traffiic jam - we had to stop in the middle of the street in Monjaras and wait while an oncoming herd of cattle passed around us on all sides. We also saw fish drying on a barbed wire fence at Cedeno and stopped to take a picture. Gerardo had explained yesterday while sitting under a tree at the Flores house that all the families eat at Easter is a delicious dried fish soup (Yum!) and a special jelly made from the fruit of the tree under which we were sitting on tortillas.

By the way, Team Two, Steve and Elaine have been forced by the Baptist men to tighten the budget. We discovered after the fact that Tom's emergency trip back to Choluteca, together with the search for his medical supplies, used up one of our allotted side trips. We told Steve that was ok, just to take it out of Team Two's allotment. We thought that was fair since we had to put up with Tom's dramatic suffering. Steve agreed so there will be no beach trip for you guys. That should give you the extra time you will need for JB to teach you the correct way to lay and saw block!

We got back to the house at 5:00 and rushed to be ready to leave for worship service by 5:30. We had a beautiful worship service. Tom sang "Amazing Grace" in Spanish and English, I gave a testimony and presented the pastor with his new study Bible, and Kristen beautifully sang the verses of "Sanctuary" in Spanish, while we all sang the choruses in English. Several members of the congregation also sang special numbers in addition to the enthusiastic congregational singing. If I stood at the pulpit of our church and sang a hymn wearing a shirt with a margarita which read "Summertime!", or led the congregation by exhorting them to clap for Christ, what do you think the reaction would be? The pastor preached and eight children made public professions of faith at the invitation. Wow! Just wow! The pastor is a loving hearted, well educated, caring man blessed of God with a beautiful family. You guys are in for a treat on Team Two. Spend some time with this man, he is something special.

Finally, we rushed to get to El Torito by closing time at 8:30. Gerardo met us there, and had the Super Bowl on the TV when we got there. We were the last and only customers at that hour so we had a private dinner and Super Bowl party (we got to see most of the fourth quarter). Now the bad news! No bull fries! They were out of them - think about that one! We still had a great meal with Gerardo and Manuel (be sure to get Gerardo to tell you his Christian joke and the joke about the one-armed man) and all ate more than we should. We had more than enough to bring a lot back for Ophelio.

A full (and yes, Jeremy, a perfect) day --- meticulously planned, exquisitely choreographed, and masterfully orchestrated by our fearless TL, Dennis.

In His name,

Team One