Saturday, January 20, 2007

Having some fun





















Speaking of “Prospero Año Nuevo”, I spent my first New Year’s Eve in Honduras. Terry’s group came into town on the 27th. They did a lot of great work here in Mololoa as well as some other areas. They spent time at the feeding center, built two houses, and had one day with food distribution. But among all the work, you have to have some fun…hence our ringing in of the New Year with a great game of SPOONS!














Tuesday, January 16, 2007

Holiday Celebrations

There are two huge holidays here in Honduras—Day of the Child in September and Christmas. Both the Kluge family and I have pulled a lot of our own resources as well as requesting from many others for the church and the feeding center. The Christmas meal for the feeding center was blessed by an answer to prayer through the Women’s Group in Florida. A potluck was already in plan with the church members for a lunch on the 31st to celebrate the entire holiday season. However, that still left the gifts for Sunday school kids.

A few weeks before Christmas, I E-mailed a local person requesting to be put on the list for Magi gifts from the States. He informed me that he didn’t have anything for us because the list was already full. We have 84 kids that are regular or semi-regular in attendance. Yet, on special days, we always have more. Preparing that many gifts was going to be a financial burden that we feared.

But God, once again, provided blessings for all of us. The Barker family and Harmony Holland were basically stranded in Tegucigalpa (another blog for another day). When they finally got their luggage, they had tons of toys and goodies. They spent one morning making up gift bags for each of our 84 students. YEAH! Then, the next day, I received a phone call to pick up Magi boxes. How incredible! We not only got a “yes” to our prayer, but a “yes, and there is even more than you could have asked for or imagined”. :)

On Christmas day, Melissa and Brandy had their hands full with 128 kids in class. They had to put tables in the open space between the classroom and church building to make room for the extra kids.









That day everyone received coke and cake (made by Melissa and Brandy). However, they didn’t bring all the gifts (about 10 large trash bags) to discourage kids from coming only for presents.















The next Sunday (when I had returned), we had a lesson about the three wise men. We talked about how they came much later after the birth of Jesus. We explained that, somewhat in comparison, they would receive gifts late from Christians far away that wanted to show love.















We had a list for each of the Magi boxes to correspond with their ages and sexes. So, the regular 84 students received boxes while we gave the Barkers’ gift bags to those not on the list (an additional 40). We had a total of 115 kids and babies, but not all were our “regulars”. Those who did not come from the list, we saved the boxes to give later. The remaining sacks we are saving until our next large celebration. The kids were thrilled beyond measure! Just look at their smiling faces!
Also, we celebrated as a church family in our potluck—my first in Honduras. The kids were served first during the class time (right before they got the gifts). Then the adults dug in. God used the hundreds of people involved with Magi boxes and the Barkers to bring a little extra joy to our kids. Any of you that have been here know how little they have. The gifts were treasured by each and every one of them. If you were involved in any way, thank you for allowing God to use you to brighten these days.

Feliz Navidad y Prospero Año Nuevo!

Thursday, January 11, 2007

Happy Holidays

As some of you know, I have some background in decorating cakes for special events. I have a few of my supplies here in Honduras and have done one small wedding here for friends. Jen Wright called a week before I was to leave for Christmas and asked if I wanted to help the kids with a special project.










So, on the 20th, Brandy and I headed out to Santa Ana for a visit to the children’s home. We began by making the dough—what a mess when 8 – 12 year-olds are assisting. Eduardo and Saul (two brothers that live near by and are constantly at the home), Yovani, and Marvin all had their jobs—water, vanilla, butter, and flour. They had the most fun of the bunch. Brandy got the dough rolled out, and we began punching out gingerbread men and hearts. Then, the older boys got cleaned up while the rest of the crew (Mario, Francisco, Fernando, Cindy, Monica, Kati) got their turns at pressing out shapes. The babies (Maryori and Antonio) didn’t participate, but we had some time to love on them when we weren’t making a huge mess.





Cindy is loving with everyone. She and Brandy bonded when we had time to visit.










Fernando loves to sit in my lap while I read to him--of course, the librarian loves this!





Maryori, Cindy's sister, never passes up a second helping of any food--a girl after my own heart. :)





Kati will let you hold her all day long if you dare and Francisco could get Mr. Scrooge to crack a smile. They both are so sweet.


To read more about these wonderful children, visit Jen’s blog, Karen's blog, or the Casa de Esperanza website.

Tuesday, January 09, 2007

Thanks for the tamales





Time to catch up…..I love going back to the States to see my family and friends, but it always seems to throw me off balance. Every time I get back from a trip, I spend at least one week getting back into the flow of everything. This time, I came back to a group, so I found myself really out of whack. Yesterday felt like the first normal day back.

I left on December 21st and returned on the 28th. While I was gone, the Kluges kept me informed of the happenings here in Mololoa. It was important for me to be with family for Christmas, but I missed some excellent times here.

Christmas day (25th) fell on a Monday. Melissa and I decided that the ladies needed the day off. We asked the ladies how best to make the day special for the kids as well as give them a day off. They said that the best food would be tamales and that they could make them on Friday. That sounded like a good plan, but the meal would be almost four times the normal cost. So, I got on the phone with my grandmother and asked if her women’s group would be interested in sponsoring the special day. They agreed to it and raised money amongst themselves. Thanks to their financial assistance, we were able to make a special Christmas meal.

On the Friday before Christmas, the ladies of the kitchen stayed until 9pm preparing a feast for the kids. They made tamales—a traditional Christmas item—stuffed with many items including raisins, rice, green olives, and lots of chicken. It may not sound like a lot, but the meat was the costly thing—a total of $200 was spent on the one meal. Normally, we would spend that much on 3.5 days.


Melissa, Alora, and Brandy (a good friend that came to spend the holidays helping us here) made approx. 200 cupcakes. Sprinkles and gummy bears were added for a fun touch. We didn’t have our full crowd of kids, but those who came enjoyed it all. Even Oneyda dropped by to help on her day off. After they shut down in the afternoon, the Kluges and Brandy drove around town giving out left-over tamales and cupcakes to many children and adults out on the streets begging. A giving spirit, love, and compassion were seen throughout the special day.

Once again, thanks to the Women’s Group of Ruskin, Florida!
Love you all,
Jennifer