We have now been in Honduras for one week! We are feeling right at home, except for the language barrier. But praise the Lord we are learning more Spanish each day.
Honduras is in the middle of its rainy season. It rained almost the entire first five days we have been here. Not only is it raining outside, but due to the poor condition of the roof, it is raining inside also. MEDA will be replacing the roof soon, but it will take awhile. We are staying dry for the most part, however. We just leave someone behind on “rain duty” if we go anywhere so they can place buckets and move beds. The leaks are always in different places! When our container arrives we will use our tarps to cover as much of the roof as possible.
The other night we also experienced our first power outage. The power goes out at least once a week here. We had a lot of lightning and the power was out for a few hours. It felt like we were back at The Master’s Mission again with no electricity. Thankfully, we came prepared with flashlights and candles.
Our container will be arriving at the port this week Lord willing, but we will most likely not be able to receive it here at MEDA until early next week. Mark will need to go down to the port to help clear the container. Since we arrived we learned that Honduras charges a hefty tax on items coming into the country. Our Lord is Sovereign and knew this would happen; we are trusting in Him to supply what is needed. Please continue to pray for the safe arrival of our belongings.
The boys are making friends quickly, especially Isaiah and Elijah, with their friendly smiles and talkative nature. Isaiah is a favorite among some of the seminary students at MEDA, and when he cut open his head the other day, word traveled fast, and they all came to the door to make sure “Monkey Boy” was alright. Neither Isaiah nor Elijah seem to understand there is a language barrier and will talk to anyone who stops to listen. When Isaiah heard that his Sunday School class in the States was learning a song in Spanish, he grew sad and told us, “But, I want to learn a song in Spanish too!” When we asked him if he sang songs in his Sunday School here in Honduras, he replied, “Yes, but not in Spanish!”
The older boys are playing soccer everyday and keep Christy busy with their muddy clothes. They were a little nervous about attending church for the first time, but now are eager to return. They each went to various classes and a few had help from children who spoke English. One way they are learning to adapt is getting used to their new names. While we were out at the store today, a gentleman asked Noah his name. He quickly replied without hesitating, “Noe (No-ay)”.
The other families serving at MEDA (Montoyas, Donatos, and Nunez’) have been very hospitable and gracious to our family. We are blessed to be part of a great team of families ministering here in Siguatepeque. We have also enjoyed getting to know some of the workers at MEDA. Roman, one of the maintenance men, has been particularly helpful to Mark in learning Spanish. He speaks very little English and Mark very little Spanish, but they communicate everyday about work projects and tools. Roman’s father, Agustin, works at MEDA also. He has been working on drying and separating the beans the last few days next to our house. Isaiah has been out there several times watching and talking with him.
It’s a girl! The Patterson family now has a baby girl. Well, actually a girl puppy. The Nunez family’s dog had puppies about 8 weeks ago and they gave our family one of them. The boys have wanted a dog for a long time and are really excited. Chiquita is keeping us occupied until our container arrives.
Please pray for our family as our bodies get adjusted to living in a new place and eating new foods. We have been experiencing some stomach troubles the last few days, but seem to be on the tail end of it (literally!).
We pray you are growing and delighting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
