Pumpkin Carving

Last night we carved our pumpkin. Jack and Jennah really enjoyed helping carve the pumpkin. Joel did not enjoy the gut cleaning part. He couldn't keep from gagging every time he looked at the pumpkin or our hands. The pumpkin and the pumpkin seeds turned out great. Jennah was in charge of pictures and this one of the pumpkin turned out the best.

Lake Murray '08

We had Jonathan's family reunion at Lake Murray this weekend. The weather was nice during the day and cool enough at night that we all enjoyed the fire. It was a great time of the year to go on a road trip seeing all the fall colors this time of year. Not all the leaves have changed but just enough to get me excited about the beautiful weeks to come. The kids had a great time playing with all their cousins. Jennah even cried when Emily left.

Kids of Mogote

This is the day Will and Jon built a bench for the church building they had an audience all day. This little church is overflowing with people, a great problem to have! They packed about 150 people in the tiny building on Sunday. Amber teaches the kids class about ages one and a half to twelve years in a room about 20x12 this Sunday she had 69 kids in that small class room and until four weeks ago it was just her in there. Now she has Rachel to help. She is quite a woman! These kids just melted my heart. While Will and Jon built the bench Rachel and I walked around and handed out goodies to the kids and played with them. As we walked Rachel told me some of their home life stories that made me break down and cry, but they are so strong. I wish I could bring them all home with me! This little girl with Rachel is Marla she is the youngest of twelve. She loves to be held and just craves affection. After playing with the kids for several hours I did some manicures on some women.

Mogote

This day Amber had to be in town and we were going to work in Mogote so she dropped us off at the edge of town and we had lunch at Pollolandia (Chicken Land) it was really good. One of my greatest fears going to Honduras was getting food poisoning and I knew William had already been sick two different times since he had been there only four weeks. My theory was to eat as much yogurt as I could stand. My thinking was that the good bacteria would counter act all the bad. I don't know if that is what kept Jon and me from getting sick or not but we never got sick.

These are some of the pictures of the "road" we walked up this day to get to the church building. This town only has two toilets one at the church we worked with and one at the Life church. The living conditions there were pretty rough. As I'm sure you can see from the pictures. The picture with the little boy was taken from the church building looking across the street.

Views from the Jesus Statue

The days seemed so long and since we have arrived back home they are all starting to run together. So one of the days we went to do some sight seeing. Amber's sons took us to the Jesus statue as I said earlier it poured down raining on us the entire trip there and back. It was definitely worth the rain drenched ride though. It was so beautiful up there. We had about five minutes that it stopped raining so we could take a few pictures.

I don't know where to start. We had a wonderful eye opening trip to Honduras. As soon as we exited the plane we saw guards armed with what Jonathan called an AK47? (big scary gun) Will and Rachel had warned us this was the norm in Honduras but you really have to see it to believe it. Not only were there armed guards at the airport but also outside all restaurants and stores. Every building and home had barbwire all the way around it to keep thieves out and if they got past the barbwire there were bars on all the windows and doors to keep them out. The house we looked at with Will and Rachel that they are going to rent not only has the barbwire but also a high voltage electric fence all the way around the house.

Like I said in previous posts we spent a lot of time in the bed of a Ford Ranger truck so most of the pictures I took are from the moving truck. Honduras is such a beautiful country with lush mountains in every direction. I kept saying there is nothing like this in Oklahoma.

Where to Start

We are having a great time visiting. I have tried to post pictures now three seperate times with no success so that will have to wait until we return. Thursday started out with a scary back of the truck ride to Mogote. We then hiked up the mountain to the church where Jon and Will made a bench while babysitting about ten kids and Rachel and I played with kids and handed out all the goodies our great church group sent with us and then I was able to do some manicures for some of the ladies in town. The best was a 89 year old lady who had never had polish on her nails. We told her she didn´t have to have one if she didn´t want to but she said she would so she would have a memory of me. So sweet.

Yesterday we visited the Jesus statue and almost got struck by lightning! Jesus protected us both figuratively and literally. It was up on the top of a mountain and we could see for ever. It was pouring down rain the entire time including the 40 minute ride to and from in the back of a truck.

Today we went to the a river. I mentioned before it was raining all day yesterday and the river was very high and rapid. It was a little scary at first but I wanted to experience as much as possible so I jumped off a huge cliff GO ME! It was pretty fun. Jon didn´t join me in this experience. I can´t wait to share the pictures.

We haven´t gotten sick on the food yet at all. The no flush thing isn´t as bad as I expected it to be. My biggest fear here now is the dreaded truck rides. Friday night I cried three different times out of fear on the trip up to Mogote for church. The people here drive crazy. They drive on the wrong sides of the road on one way streets including the car we were in! I won´t miss the driving here at all.

Jacksen, Jennah, and Joel we love you and miss you guys! See you Monday night.

First Full Day

We slept very well last night. We were going on three hours of sleep in the past 48 so I think we would have slept well anywhere. Yesterday we got to go with Will and Rachel to look at a house they had not had much luck the week before finding suitable houses. We were their good luck charms and they are signing a contract today for the one we got to look at. It is a very nice house and I can´t wait to visit them in their new house. This afternoon we are going to Mogote to help Will build pews and play with the kids. The days here seem SO long. It is 1130 here and it feels like 4 or 5 in the afternoon.

We´re Here

We made it to Honduras with no trouble at the airports. We ate at Church´s Chicken for lunch and rode in the back of a truck to Amber´s house. I saw my life flash before my eyes several times in that short five minute drive. Will told me to get used to it because that is how we will be getting around all week! These people drive like crazy people! Lord protect us.