It is unbelievable that a week has passed since my last update and now we are less than a week from being home! Like every football team in America preparing for the last 12-15 minutes of competition, we held four fingers in the air this week and declared, “Fourth quarter’s ours!” Okay, perhaps WE did not, but I did…
Please join me in praying that we will finish strong! God has given us a lot of great work to do here and we want to honor him through the finish line! Lord willing, Sarah and I will lead three more afternoon devotions (Friday, Monday, and Wednesday). I will potentially lead music and preach on Sunday morning and I will probably preach next Wednesday night as well! For those who are counting, that is eight times that we will be responsible for handling God’s Word in less than a week! Pray that we would realize the gravity of the task and trust the leading of God’s Spirit!
In addition to the teaching responsibilities, we continue to work around Emmanuel, particularly in the clinic. We have had some welcomed breaks from the clinic in the last few days but that will change. The volunteers will be very shorthanded in the clinic when we are gone, so we are going to try to pull a little extra weight in the coming days! You can pray for Leigh, Leah, and Owen as they get ready to staff a clinic that has been covered by 7-8 people at other times, or you could pray that God would eradicate Chicken Pox!
Thursday, September 9, 2010
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Hola Gordito – THURSDAY (Day 18)
Sarah reminded me that I have neglected to share with you perhaps the greatest ministry we have had here and the most fun as well! We have been so blessed by the support of so many to get us here and it is our desire to share that blessing with others. One way we have been able to do that is by having Emmanuel staff families over for dinner! We have already shared meals with several of the staff families, some of the volunteers, and Evelyn (a young woman that Sarah sponsored for a few years). What a blessing it has been to share with these amazing people and to hear the incredible stories of how God is moving in their lives.
While we are on the subject of meals, it is no secret that I do not miss a meal. That fact has not been lost on the children at Emmanuel either! Tonight we were walking back to our apartment from having dinner with some of the volunteers. As we passed by the clinic, we stuck our heads in the window to say hello and see who was there. A few of the children have been in the clinic for two weeks and we have gotten to know them well. As always, they were excited to see us (Sarah really, they just tolerate me)! A beautiful 9-year-old girl named Natalia came to the window and I greeted her, “Hola Natalia.” With all of the excitement she could muster, she responded, “Hola Gordito.”
For those of you that are not chuckling already, “Gordito” translates something like “little fat one”. How is that for the refreshing honesty of children? I am going to give it a little further research, but I am told that Gordito is actually a term of endearment in Spanish speaking cultures. My suspicion is that it is endearing when speaking to a chubby infant and it is a reminder to me to go for a run!
Please pray for the health of the children as Chicken Pox continues to spread among them. We know that Chicken pox is not necessarily dangerous, but it is very uncomfortable for some of the kids and creates a lot of work for those caring for them.
Walk Worthy,
The little fat one
While we are on the subject of meals, it is no secret that I do not miss a meal. That fact has not been lost on the children at Emmanuel either! Tonight we were walking back to our apartment from having dinner with some of the volunteers. As we passed by the clinic, we stuck our heads in the window to say hello and see who was there. A few of the children have been in the clinic for two weeks and we have gotten to know them well. As always, they were excited to see us (Sarah really, they just tolerate me)! A beautiful 9-year-old girl named Natalia came to the window and I greeted her, “Hola Natalia.” With all of the excitement she could muster, she responded, “Hola Gordito.”
For those of you that are not chuckling already, “Gordito” translates something like “little fat one”. How is that for the refreshing honesty of children? I am going to give it a little further research, but I am told that Gordito is actually a term of endearment in Spanish speaking cultures. My suspicion is that it is endearing when speaking to a chubby infant and it is a reminder to me to go for a run!
Please pray for the health of the children as Chicken Pox continues to spread among them. We know that Chicken pox is not necessarily dangerous, but it is very uncomfortable for some of the kids and creates a lot of work for those caring for them.
Walk Worthy,
The little fat one
Recipe for Disaster – WEDNESDAY (Day 17)
After a long, hot, Central American day, what are we going to do for dinner? Well the thought comes to mind that we do not want to cook anything on the stove tonight because that just heats-up the house and all we need is more heat! Here is the plan; we will make conventional macaroni and cheese in the microwave and stir-in some tuna for protein. Not a bad idea in theory, TERRIBLE in reality! Something about cooking in the microwave made the noodles sticky and nasty and the whole thing was a bust! I could not eat enough crackers or put enough hot sauce on it to make it tolerable…
Sarah and I both taught in our respective venues today. Neither of us felt great about the way the lessons went! Please pray for us on Monday and Friday at about 4:30CDT and on Wednesdays around 5:30CDT. We deeply desire for the Word of God to be real to these students, but that is the work of the Holy Spirit and we covet your prayers to that end.
Grace and Peace
Sarah and I both taught in our respective venues today. Neither of us felt great about the way the lessons went! Please pray for us on Monday and Friday at about 4:30CDT and on Wednesdays around 5:30CDT. We deeply desire for the Word of God to be real to these students, but that is the work of the Holy Spirit and we covet your prayers to that end.
Grace and Peace
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
HALFTIME - TUESDAY (Day 16)
I am calling today’s blog Halftime as a shout-out to my favorite holiday weekend of the year, the first weekend of September! College Football kick-off weekend! Oh, and Labor Day…who cares about Labor Day?!?! War Eagle, Go Army, and whichever Georgia team my wife is pulling for today (She said this is W The Family not W The Billy, so I had to include her team!).
Actually, the first thing that comes to mind when I say Halftime, surprisingly has nothing to do with a sporting event. It reminds me of a terrible book by that name that I read in seminary along with the Lakeview deacons. The book was roughly about reflecting on your life thus far and making the second half better or securing your legacy or some shenanigans like that! Some would say that I just did not get it because I was 22, reading a book about “mid-life”; that is possible, if not likely. Since then I have even heard one story about the tremendous impact that book had on someone and how they made great changes in their life to have a kingdom impact in their later years; hats off to Mr. Buford for his literary contribution to the Kingdom (http://www.amazon.com/Halftime-Changing-Your-Success-Significance/dp/0310215323).
Perhaps I should have entitled this blog, I Digress; that seems to be a consistent theme! The real point is that today marks the halfway point of our stay in Honduras; Halftime! Back on the subject of the greatest game ever played, halftime IS a time for evaluating performance, making adjustments, and resetting strategy before beginning the second half:
The first half has been great. We have had some setbacks, battled some sinus/allergy problems in all four of us, we have seen an eye infection come and go, we have been very tired, and we have been asked to work in some areas that we did not expect to work. However, overall we have been blessed to be apart of what God is doing here.
The second half looks like it will afford us a little more time away from the clinic. That is great news; hopefully we will be able to pitch-in a little more at the preschool, school, toddler house, and the farm. These are places we can work and take the boys with us! It seems that we will have a more consistent place of service in Bible Studies and worship services. Additionally, we have some family reading and praying that we would like to catch-up on.
Please pray that the Lord would grant us health and rest in the second half of our trip. Pray that He would daily reveal to us the work He has prepared for us.
Walk Worthy!
Actually, the first thing that comes to mind when I say Halftime, surprisingly has nothing to do with a sporting event. It reminds me of a terrible book by that name that I read in seminary along with the Lakeview deacons. The book was roughly about reflecting on your life thus far and making the second half better or securing your legacy or some shenanigans like that! Some would say that I just did not get it because I was 22, reading a book about “mid-life”; that is possible, if not likely. Since then I have even heard one story about the tremendous impact that book had on someone and how they made great changes in their life to have a kingdom impact in their later years; hats off to Mr. Buford for his literary contribution to the Kingdom (http://www.amazon.com/Halftime-Changing-Your-Success-Significance/dp/0310215323).
Perhaps I should have entitled this blog, I Digress; that seems to be a consistent theme! The real point is that today marks the halfway point of our stay in Honduras; Halftime! Back on the subject of the greatest game ever played, halftime IS a time for evaluating performance, making adjustments, and resetting strategy before beginning the second half:
The first half has been great. We have had some setbacks, battled some sinus/allergy problems in all four of us, we have seen an eye infection come and go, we have been very tired, and we have been asked to work in some areas that we did not expect to work. However, overall we have been blessed to be apart of what God is doing here.
The second half looks like it will afford us a little more time away from the clinic. That is great news; hopefully we will be able to pitch-in a little more at the preschool, school, toddler house, and the farm. These are places we can work and take the boys with us! It seems that we will have a more consistent place of service in Bible Studies and worship services. Additionally, we have some family reading and praying that we would like to catch-up on.
Please pray that the Lord would grant us health and rest in the second half of our trip. Pray that He would daily reveal to us the work He has prepared for us.
Walk Worthy!
WEDNESDAY-MONDAY (Day10-Day15)
Everything is kind of a blur! Clinic duties start to run together with Sarah's trips to the preschool and the toddler house. I check-in on the farm (La Granja) from time to time (must tend those carrots!)
We finally got our phones during this stretch. I am blown away at the thought of having a cell phone in Honduras! It is great to be able to keep in touch with staff and volunteers without having to wander the orphanage looking for them. Additionally, we learned a reasonably inexpensive way to call home! Praise God for the growth of technology around the world, may it be used to make HIS name great!
Friday, Sarah and I both started leading a regular Bible study. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday they have studies divided by gender and age. Sarah is teaching the high school girls (walking them through Ruth) and I am teaching the high school guys (walking them through Titus). Any Mon., Tue., or Wed. over the next few weeks, pray for us around 4:00PM CDT as we lead these studies. It is our observation that many of these students have grown-up at Emmanuel with bible teaching, but they have not embraced a relationship with God. Pray that God would speak to them through His Word!
Saturday, Emmanuel hosted a soccer tournament with a few teams from the local town of Guaimaca and from Tegucigalpa joining in the action. It was good fun for everyone, especially William who talked to everyone about it; the conversation went something like this:
"You like Shoccer? I like Shoccer. My daddy likes football." It was difficult to hear him speak those words, but I appreciate that he knows there is a difference. I believe he likes soccer merely as a means to be "all things to all people"; otherwise, I pray that the Lord will deliver him from this desire on the day of his salvation!
I had the privilege of preaching on Sunday and hope to be able to fill the pulpit for the next two Sundays as well.
On Monday, three volunteers came in for a 10-day stay. We are excited to have them here. We are looking forward to a lighter load at the clinic and the opportunity to contribute in other areas like the farm and the toddler house.
We finally got our phones during this stretch. I am blown away at the thought of having a cell phone in Honduras! It is great to be able to keep in touch with staff and volunteers without having to wander the orphanage looking for them. Additionally, we learned a reasonably inexpensive way to call home! Praise God for the growth of technology around the world, may it be used to make HIS name great!
Friday, Sarah and I both started leading a regular Bible study. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday they have studies divided by gender and age. Sarah is teaching the high school girls (walking them through Ruth) and I am teaching the high school guys (walking them through Titus). Any Mon., Tue., or Wed. over the next few weeks, pray for us around 4:00PM CDT as we lead these studies. It is our observation that many of these students have grown-up at Emmanuel with bible teaching, but they have not embraced a relationship with God. Pray that God would speak to them through His Word!
Saturday, Emmanuel hosted a soccer tournament with a few teams from the local town of Guaimaca and from Tegucigalpa joining in the action. It was good fun for everyone, especially William who talked to everyone about it; the conversation went something like this:
"You like Shoccer? I like Shoccer. My daddy likes football." It was difficult to hear him speak those words, but I appreciate that he knows there is a difference. I believe he likes soccer merely as a means to be "all things to all people"; otherwise, I pray that the Lord will deliver him from this desire on the day of his salvation!
I had the privilege of preaching on Sunday and hope to be able to fill the pulpit for the next two Sundays as well.
On Monday, three volunteers came in for a 10-day stay. We are excited to have them here. We are looking forward to a lighter load at the clinic and the opportunity to contribute in other areas like the farm and the toddler house.
TUESDAY (Day 9)
Sarah sent Billy to the clinic at 6:30 AM on the one day of the week that we don’t have the 6:30AM shift. As I previously stated, it's no big deal, I am a morning person anyway-ha! It was only 45 minutes into the shift before I realized why there was an extra person working that morning! Good news was I had time to go finish painting those corrals I started last week!
Monday (Day 8)
Billy got eye infection from Sarah.
Sarah and William went to town with Leigh (another volunteer from Alabama) and got the tour of the most reputable grocery stores, fruit stands, and perhaps my favorite, “My Little Bakery”(Homemade cinnamon rolls! It's a tough life here in Central America.).
Sarah and William went to town with Leigh (another volunteer from Alabama) and got the tour of the most reputable grocery stores, fruit stands, and perhaps my favorite, “My Little Bakery”(Homemade cinnamon rolls! It's a tough life here in Central America.).
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